Deconstructing Harry: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|"Who are you?" |
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"It's me, Ken!" |
"It's me, Ken!" |
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"... |
"...Ken?" |
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"Look at this guy! You created me, now you doesn't recognize me?" |
"Look at this guy! You created me, now you doesn't recognize me?"}} |
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'''''Deconstructing Harry''''' is a film by [[Woody Allen]]. |
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⚫ | Successful author [[Meaningful Name|Harry Block]] has been [[Muse Abuse|routinely mining his real life for material]]. After his latest divorce, he's been dating a young fan of his work - who just left him. Now he has to deal with an upcoming trip to his alma mater, and some of his characters start checking up on him in real life. A pretty poignant case of [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] follows. |
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⚫ | Successful author [[Meaningful Name|Harry Block]] has been [[Muse Abuse|routinely mining his real life for material]]. After his latest divorce, he's been dating a young fan of his work - who just left him. Now he has to deal with an upcoming trip to his alma mater, and some of his characters start checking up on him in real life. A pretty poignant case of [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] follows. |
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{{tropelist}} |
{{tropelist}} |
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* {{spoiler| |
* [[Affably Evil]]: {{spoiler|The Devil}}. |
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* [[Actor Allusion]]: Judy Davis' character (Lucy) is dealing with a broken marriage and being jilted for a younger woman; the same fate she suffered in Allen's ''[[Husbands and Wives]]'' a few years earlier. |
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* [[Affably Evil]]: {{spoiler|the Devil.}} |
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* [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]]: Whatever it is. |
* [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]]: Whatever it is. |
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* [[Functional Addict]]: Harry sees himself as one, as far as booze and anti-anxiety pills are concerned. Other characters don't agree. |
* [[Functional Addict]]: Harry sees himself as one, as far as booze and anti-anxiety pills are concerned. Other characters don't agree. |
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* [[The Fundamentalist]]: Played with, twice: |
* [[The Fundamentalist]]: Played with, twice: |
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** In one of Harry's stories, this is the reason his marriage to [[Florence Nightingale Effect|his former psychoanalyst]] failed: after the birth of their son, she rediscovered her Jewish roots, became obsessed with faith and tradition, and ended up leaving Harry for a dashing Israeli patient. In real life, though, |
** In one of Harry's stories, this is the reason his marriage to [[Florence Nightingale Effect|his former psychoanalyst]] failed: after the birth of their son, she rediscovered her Jewish roots, became obsessed with faith and tradition, and ended up leaving Harry for a dashing Israeli patient. In real life, though, {{spoiler|Harry cheated on Joan with one of her patients}}. |
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** Then there's Bert, Harry's brother-in-law; an observant Jew who Harry despises to the point of becoming estranged from his sister. |
** Then there's Bert, Harry's brother-in-law; an observant Jew who Harry despises to the point of becoming estranged from his sister. {{spoiler|They later briefly reconnect}}. |
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* [[High-Class Call Girl]]: The Asian prostitute in one of the stories-within-a-story. |
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* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: [[Paul Giamatti]] pops up near the end as a Lit professor; there's also a 5-second glimpse into [[Alias (TV)|Sydney Bristow]] before she became an agent. |
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* [[ |
* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: Mostly played for laughs, of the smug variety. |
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* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: Mostly played for laughs, of the smug variety. |
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* {{spoiler|[[Ironic Hell]]}} |
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* [[The Shrink]]: Joan and her fictional counterpart. |
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* [[ |
* [[Sidekick]]: Harry's friend and colleague Richard. |
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⚫ | * [[Unproblematic Prostitution]]: Played with: Cookie comes off as a self-assured, reasonably content sex worker, who accepts Harry's offer of {{spoiler|money in exchange for accompanying him to his old college}} even if she met him a couple hours before (and therefore has no idea whether he could posit a danger to her). She's also treated far more nicely than any other female character in-universe. |
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* [[Sidekick]]: Harry's friend and colleague Richard. |
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⚫ | * [[Unproblematic Prostitution]]: Played with: Cookie comes off as a self-assured, reasonably content sex worker, who |
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* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Happens at least twice, with characters from Harry's stories ("Ken" and "Helen", the latter being a mix between his ex-wife and his sister) lecturing him on the mistakes he made in his personal life. |
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* [[ |
* [[Write Who You Know]]: With almost no exception, Harry's characters are thinly-veiled versions of people he knows; considering in real life he's a bit of a [[Magnificent Bastard]], every time he's got a new novel out, at least one of his personal relationships goes ''very'' sour. |
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* [[Write Who You Know]]: With almost no exception, Harry's characters are thinly-veiled versions of people he knows; considering in real life he's a bit of a [[Magnificent Bastard]], every time he's got a new novel out, at least one of his personal relationships goes ''very'' sour. |
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'''Harry''': "Leslie, please..." |
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''' |
'''Lucy''': "''Lucy''. I'm Lucy, motherfucker. ''Not'' Leslie."}} |
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'''Lucy''': "''Lucy''. I'm Lucy, motherfucker. ''Not'' Leslie." }} |
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* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: In his own words, Harry's cheated on each and every one of his wives. |
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: In his own words, Harry's cheated on each and every one of his wives. |
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[[Category:Deconstructing Harry]] |
[[Category:Deconstructing Harry]] |
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[[Category:Film]] |
[[Category:Film]] |
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[[Category:Works by Woody Allen]] |
Latest revision as of 17:55, 8 May 2022
"Who are you?" |
Deconstructing Harry is a film by Woody Allen.
Successful author Harry Block has been routinely mining his real life for material. After his latest divorce, he's been dating a young fan of his work - who just left him. Now he has to deal with an upcoming trip to his alma mater, and some of his characters start checking up on him in real life. A pretty poignant case of Family-Unfriendly Aesop follows.
- Affably Evil: The Devil.
"To Evil! It keeps things hummin'." |
- Author Avatar: To some degree, each and every main character from Harry's stories resembles him.
- Brick Joke: One of Harry's (perhaps unfinished) short stories deals with an actor (Mel) going out of focus as he's shooting what appears to be a TV commercial. Later on, the same thing happens to Harry, in lieu of a panic attack.
- The Cameo: Robin Williams as the out-of-focus actor, Tobey Maguire as a young Author Avatar.
- Canon Sue: In-universe: "Ken", the main character in Harry's last novel, comes off as a charming, laid-back guy, all too happy to explain what went wrong in Harry's life. He's right every time.
Harry: "How do you know so much?" |
- A Chat with Satan
- Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: Joan might have needed a lot of help after being cheated on with one of her patients and getting divorced; we know she didn't take it well.
- Death by Childbirth: Happened to Harry's mom; his father never quite forgave him for that.
- Family-Unfriendly Aesop: Whatever it is.
- Functional Addict: Harry sees himself as one, as far as booze and anti-anxiety pills are concerned. Other characters don't agree.
- The Fundamentalist: Played with, twice:
- In one of Harry's stories, this is the reason his marriage to his former psychoanalyst failed: after the birth of their son, she rediscovered her Jewish roots, became obsessed with faith and tradition, and ended up leaving Harry for a dashing Israeli patient. In real life, though, Harry cheated on Joan with one of her patients.
- Then there's Bert, Harry's brother-in-law; an observant Jew who Harry despises to the point of becoming estranged from his sister. They later briefly reconnect.
- High-Class Call Girl: The Asian prostitute in one of the stories-within-a-story.
- Hollywood Atheist: Mostly played for laughs, of the smug variety.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Cookie.
- Ironic Hell
- The Lancer: Larry.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Borrow a sick friend's apartment, pretend it's your bachelor pad, use his name to introduce yourself to a High-Class Call Girl... hey, that's The Grim Reaper at the door. And he won't believe you're not the guy.
- May-December Romance: Applied twice. Fay, Harry's last girlfriend, left him for Larry, who's older than her as well: the key difference here is Larry's positive outlook on life. They're married by the end of the movie.
- Meaningful Name: Harry Block, although Writer's Block is just a symptom of his depression.
- Morality Pet: Played with. Harry's very fond of his young son Hilliard, who he enjoys spending time with; too bad all his life lessons to the kid are variations on Good Is Boring.
- Muse Abuse:
- Pygmalion Plot: Seems to have played a major role in Harry and Fay's romantic relationship; he considered her "a fan, then a pupil", but in the end he fell in love and she didn't truly reciprocate his feelings.
- Show Within a Show: Harry's stories within the film - and then The Reveal that the entire movie is the new story by Harry about himself.
- The Shrink: Joan and her fictional counterpart.
- Sidekick: Harry's friend and colleague Richard.
- Unproblematic Prostitution: Played with: Cookie comes off as a self-assured, reasonably content sex worker, who accepts Harry's offer of money in exchange for accompanying him to his old college even if she met him a couple hours before (and therefore has no idea whether he could posit a danger to her). She's also treated far more nicely than any other female character in-universe.
Harry: "Every hooker I ever speak to tells me that it beats the hell out of waitressing. Waitressing's gotta be the worst fucking job in the world." |
- Villainous BSOD: Once the group arrive at Harry's alma mater, they find out his friend Richard - who they thought was simply dozing off - has died in his sleep, presumably of a heart attack; Harry panics and briefly goes out of focus.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Happens at least twice, with characters from Harry's stories ("Ken" and "Helen", the latter being a mix between his ex-wife and his sister) lecturing him on the mistakes he made in his personal life.
- Write Who You Know: With almost no exception, Harry's characters are thinly-veiled versions of people he knows; considering in real life he's a bit of a Magnificent Bastard, every time he's got a new novel out, at least one of his personal relationships goes very sour.
"And of course there's Jane, or, as you pathetically disguised her... Janet." |
- Even he occasionally can't tell the difference between real life and fiction.
Lucy: "Oh big fucking deal, you gave her large breasts!" |
- Your Cheating Heart: In his own words, Harry's cheated on each and every one of his wives.