I've been off the grid for a bit, so forgive me for being tardy to the party. Ah, our Joelle. She is a sneaky little minx indeed... and yet, I'm still inclined to take pretty much everything she says at face value (no pun intended). I really like Joelle, and I wonder if that's part of the trick of her: that Wallace lures me in with her likability just so she can lie to my face and I'll believe her. Something that's sparking in my mind and by no means fully-developed yet is the idea that Joelle is a collection of different female stereotypes that comes together in some kind of intangible whole. I mean: she's the archetypal mother, she's daddy's little girl, she's the PGOAT, she's the cheerleader, she's Holly Golightly, she's the nun (something I never picked up on--silly me--thanks Marie!), she's the victim... and despite all these things we know about her, we still can't grasp who she REALLY is. Kind of reminds me of that old Berlin song...
So... again--not fully formed here--what if DFW is playing with the idea of bringing the quintessential stereotyped female to life? She's a mirror in the sense that we view her through the eyes of others as a projection of what they want to see (Orin and the PGOAT, JOI's death mother vision), but that's not to say she's without substance... We could say she is the great "signifying nothing," of course, and functions solely as a mirror, but I want to believe about Joelle that it's just no one has gotten to the real her yet. Gately seems to try, and I happen to think that Joelle does tell him the truth (the revelation of her hideous beauty) but Gately's not ready to believe that. Anyhow: I ramble. More to think about.
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ninetydegrees
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on 2008-10-25 06:27 am (UTC)Ah, our Joelle. She is a sneaky little minx indeed... and yet, I'm still inclined to take pretty much everything she says at face value (no pun intended). I really like Joelle, and I wonder if that's part of the trick of her: that Wallace lures me in with her likability just so she can lie to my face and I'll believe her.
Something that's sparking in my mind and by no means fully-developed yet is the idea that Joelle is a collection of different female stereotypes that comes together in some kind of intangible whole. I mean: she's the archetypal mother, she's daddy's little girl, she's the PGOAT, she's the cheerleader, she's Holly Golightly, she's the nun (something I never picked up on--silly me--thanks Marie!), she's the victim... and despite all these things we know about her, we still can't grasp who she REALLY is. Kind of reminds me of that old Berlin song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXc8lxXP59c
So... again--not fully formed here--what if DFW is playing with the idea of bringing the quintessential stereotyped female to life? She's a mirror in the sense that we view her through the eyes of others as a projection of what they want to see (Orin and the PGOAT, JOI's death mother vision), but that's not to say she's without substance... We could say she is the great "signifying nothing," of course, and functions solely as a mirror, but I want to believe about Joelle that it's just no one has gotten to the real her yet. Gately seems to try, and I happen to think that Joelle does tell him the truth (the revelation of her hideous beauty) but Gately's not ready to believe that.
Anyhow: I ramble. More to think about.