First question: What does he mean by "phony"?
Second question, yes or no, is Holly a phony?
NOTE: The entry from here on is just for fun.
Real quick, anyone notice this from yesterday?
(1) Holly keeps a bottle of perfume and a mirror in her mailbox. Brilliant. (2) For better or worse, here's what George Peppard is most famous for:
(3) And here are some Buddy Ebsen treats:
Buddy was supposed to play the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz, but he had an alergic reaction to the silver paint.
OJ means phony as in is Holly a prostitute/tease. he did not want to come out and say the exact words, so he made the viewers read in between the lines. I think Holly is a phony, i think she works for the mob, teases mean, lures their money, and than sets them off after she gets what she needs. i also think that Holly is planning on doing the same thing to Paul but in the end she will realize what she does it disgusting, and will fall in love with Paul.
ReplyDeleteOJ was questioning Holly's character. OJ hears the stuff people must say about Holly but does not know what to believe. We as the audience as supposed to figure out if Holly's personality and presence is a lie or not. Later in the movie, we do find this out, but not about her whoring herself off. We find out that Holly has run away from her life, almost living in what she considers as a fairy tale. We discover why Holly is so sad with her life and why she does the things she does. I think in the end of the movie, Paul will help Holly go back to her old personality, not necessarily her old life, and make her happy again.
ReplyDeleteAllen - "OJ means phony as in is Holly a prostitute/tease." I'm not sure I'm buying your reading, here. Need some evidence.
ReplyDeleteRachel - "We discover why Holly is so sad with her life and why she does the things she does." This intrigues me. I agree in general, but I'm having a difficult time figuring out specific examples. How about some help?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Berman's use of the word "phony" seems awefully close to Holden's use of the word througout The Catcher in the Rye. Anyone care to comment?
ReplyDeleteFirst, when he uses the word phony, i think he is refering to how she both acts fake, as in how she is based in makeup and dresses, not personality, as well as how she isn't really holly, and that she has a double life. Holly is definitely a phony, she has become a new person, imitating an ideal in her mind, not being who she really is. she throws parties and sells herself to people with a false happiness, yet her true identity comes out when shes around Paul. so yes, she is definitely fake. as for the extra posts, her having a makeup kit in the mailbox makes me think she's missing some marbles, and that must have sucked to be allergic to that suit, as i'm sure he found out from experience. fail.
ReplyDeleteWhat O.J. Berman actually means when he asks Paul if Holly is a "phony" is if she is really the person that she portrays herself to be. In other words, are the things Berman hears about her true or are they fake rumors going around. In the beginning of the movie, the audience sees Holly as an elegant, yet disorganized young socialite. As we get to know her more and more, we begin to see the pain and loss that has led her to lead the current lifestyle. Holly seems to have had a lonely past full of decisions she wasn't ready to make. She now tries to surround herself with a happy and upbeat lifestyle to cover up for her sad past. Therefore, Holly is definitely a phony, in the sense that she pretends to hide away her dreadful past and live as a completely different person now.
ReplyDeleteO.J. Berman's use of the word phony means that he wants to know if Holly is really all that she says she is. He wants to know if she is telling him lies about her life because, to him, it seems like something she would do (or has already done). I wouldn't say Holly is "phony", but she might exaggerate her life a little when talking to people because of the people she's around. She'll tell white lies. For example, she told "Fred" that she left home when she was 14 and that it was the last time she saw her brother, but really she was getting married to an old hillbilly. She avoids telling people significant events in her life because they might change the way people think about her, but I don't think that's considered a "phony".
ReplyDeleteO.J. is a boisterous middle aged man who seems as though he would try his best to pry into somebody's life just to be satisfied. But at the same time, seems a bit harmless. What he meant when he called Holly a "phony" was that he really does not know who she is, and possibly that many others don't either. Like O.J. mentioned, "She's always coming and going." There are so many different stories he has heard about this one young, mysterious woman that he doesn't know what he should believe and what he shouldn't. She acts so extravagant all the time, that maybe he's suspicious it isn't real. Truly, Holly is not a phony. I think she's scared of the tragic truth of her own life and environment. She portrays herself as though she knows exactly what she wants, and knows exactly who she is but once her life started to unravel in front of her's and Paul's eyes it seemed as though she began to question herself. She's a young woman realizing she doesn't truly know what she wants out of life. She's hiding her true self, and showing another face. She is honestly such a lonely young girl living in her past, dwelling on old pain. She bats her eyes, puts on a pretty dress and a flirty attitude and that's who she is for the moment. She doesn't have anyone in her life who she can genuinely reveal herself to, so then why should she to all the strangers in her house? She's the type of girl who doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve.
ReplyDeleteJudging from the opening scenes of Breakfast at Tiffany's and also from the plot summary found online, O.J. is Holly's agent who tells Paul about her transformation from an old country girl to a classy city woman. Then he goes on to talk about her free spirit and how it still has not changed in her two identities. Even though O.J. knows who Holly has been, he still asks Paul whether or not Holly is a 'phony.' By this I believe that OJ is referring to her character. It is intresting because, OJ who is her 'agent' is still befuddled by her character, showing the paradoxical lifestyle that Holly appears to be living. Is she really an upper class elite woman, or is she just playing it off superbly well? I don't know, and neither does O.J. or anyone else for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI think when he says "phony" he means that she isn't all that she's cracked up to be. Like we talked about with Daisy today, they all just put on a facade to appear a lot more sophisticated than they actually are. She is not who she appears. I do think she is a phony. She just seems too perfect and too fake. I think everything that she says comes out sounding thoughtout and fake, so that she seems interesting. She appears fearful of what would happen if someone saw who she truly was, which is seen when Paul gets a little nosy and Holly says she hates snoops and storms off. She is very protective of who she truly is and that intrigues me. I want to know her true self.
ReplyDeleteI think when he uses the tern "Phony" he is refering to how Holly acs to everybody. She is nice and acts innocent calling everybody darling. He probably thinks that she is somebody else. Somebody smart, or that she doesnt like he people she is nice to.
ReplyDeleteI think that she is a phony. However I think that later in to movie she will be more open to John. Everything she says is nice and elegant filling with "Darlings" and "would I evers." Hey personality is to perfect.
Her real personality is messy, chaotic, and lonely. But she often she hides it with her actions, such as when she teases other men. She pretends to be more of a nice genuine girl when really she is selfish and just wants happiness through what the money can buy her. She doesn't care about anyone but herself and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants, regardless of who she hurts in the process. This is why OJ refers to her as a phony person.
ReplyDeleteWhat he means is that who Holly is now is not who she really is. She is really a hillbilly country girl who married young and ran away. Everyone looks at her as if she was brought up to be this elegant, witty. classy young lady, but not at all. Everything she does, everything she is is this fake person that she made up and is now pretending to be. She is trying to be this new person she made up while figuring out what she wants from life. To everyone she seems like the ideal lady, when all she is is phony.
ReplyDelete