Oh, Lily

[litlover12]

At my request, ever_maedhros has made a gorgeous batch of House of Mirth icons. Go check 'em out!

I don't think I've mentioned before that Lily Bart is one of my favorite heroines ever. She makes me want to shake her until her teeth rattle . . . and yet I love her so. I can't help it. She makes stupid mistakes, and yet through all of it, through the sheer brutality of her life, she has such a purity of heart. She loves luxury and ease and beautiful surroundings -- loves them too much, in fact -- but she can't make herself do wrong things, or even expedient things, to get them, and so life beats her down. A really clever woman could perhaps find a way to get those things by honorable means, but she can't even do that. She breaks my heart, but I feel like I understand her, and I love her.

The way that Lawrence yells, "Oh, LILY!" in that half-horrified, half-exasperated way at the end of the film always makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. In any other film, with any other characters, it would be way over the top, but right there it's so fitting. It's just so . . . Lily.

Comments

[goldvermilion87.livejournal.com]

Hmm... have you read the book? Because that doesn't sound like her to me, really. I enjoyed it, but it was horribly depressing, and I didn't really like Lily.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was referring to both the book and the movie. I guess we must have just seen her differently. (But I agree it was a depressing story!)

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

OH, THAT MOVIE!

*shakes fist*

I have never read the book. I should try, since I bought it because it had a special GA cover.

I remember sitting there being totally lost as to why this woman was behaving as she was. (Or why anyone was. I hated everyone!) If I had not been in public I would have been shrieking at the screen at the top of my voice.

WHY didn't she tell all these rich, stuck up people to drop dead? WHY didn't she accept help from that one guy who cared about her? What was oh-so-awful about having to work for a living? And then she dies for nothing at the end?! It's like she just let herself die, when she really didn't need to! I just...

:::sputters:::

For the life of me, I could not relate to this woman or comprehend ANYTHING she did.

Gillian Anderson, the things I put myself through for you!

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Having read half the book and watched the entire movie over the course of this week, I also feel like shaking Lily--except I can't, because she really needs a hug! I can definitely sympathize with her being a pretty girl that wants pretty things she can't afford. Poor thing!

However, I can't forgive her for the pain she brought to Seldon by her death. She burns compromising letters for him . . . and then she kills herself! No, that's not right! *cries along with Seldon*

[jobey-in-error.livejournal.com]

Wow, strong reactions here--and the opposite of mine! I read the book two years ago and it was just the book that year that absolutely blew me away... and yes, I couldn't help but love Lily, though I could never figure out why until this entry. That's exactly it.

I never realized there was a movie! I'm adding it to my Netflix queue now. I have this vision of my-Selden shouting "OH, LILY" and it's fairly epic!

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I hope you like the adaptation. I think it was really well done. Of course, there are changes, as there usually are with adaptations. Less Gerty, for instance, which I thought was a shame (I'm very fond of Gerty). But an excellent adaptation on the whole.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

That's all right! To each her own. :-)

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

Now I know I should really watch this! And read it too! I wonder if there's a good audio version *plots*