The Goldfinch (2019) isn't that bad (but the book kind of is)
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Examining the successes and failures of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch and its film adaptation. This video has everything: literary snobbery, cable-knit sweaters, criticism of modern libertarianism, 90s British pop, you name it!
Check out my Patreon for bonus content: patreon.com/JaneMulcahy?...
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:51 The book
12:59 The good in the film
17:46 The bad in the film (TW sexual assault and suicide)
28:07 Little stupid things
34:33 Conclusion
Twitter: / jane_mulcahy
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Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/janemulch/ - Krátké a kreslené filmy
If Sia can’t make “music” then Finn wolf hard can’t play a Slav change my mind
What ?
Yeah it's a bit cringe.. why not just get an actual Russian actor?!
the big difference is that autistic people are a suppressed minority and slavic people aren't (coming from a neurodivergent half-russian)
@@solisglam to be clear, the commenter is one of my friends irl and they're very much joking! not actually equating misrepresentation of neurodivergence to misrepresentation of Slavs don't worry 😭
@@jane-mulcahy oh whoops my bad. it's a good joke hahhah
I adore The Goldfinch book. Well, half of it. I've read it several times and each time I do, I skip pretty much all of the art theft plot. As soon as Theo becomes an adult the book just seems to disintegrate? The complex, undefinable love between Theo and Boris in Vegas is one of my favourite sections and I wish the book had continued on that sort of trajectory.
Agreed!
THIS. this is exactly how i feel about this book. i actually never finished the book, because i loved the beginning in vegas, but just fell off when he became an adult. this was several years ago so i don’t think i could have articulated why. you’re right though
Its not a book about boris tho its about theo
the whole second act is soo good honestly is the best part of the book
A 700+ page book that ends in the conclusion that life is short... you've gotta admire it for being the rare work to textually invalidate it's own existence, at least
Donna Tartt really thought she did something
The ending was bad but cmon that was like one page. And also. Let theo have his boring cliches, at least he has peace. Kind of
It has 863 pages
Right, a bestseller, critically well reviewed novel is a waste of time, but commenting shite on CZcams is a valuable use of your time- you know what, I’m
Not surprised that someone who thinks an absolutely shit movie is better than Donna Tarts novel lol
I haven't read the book (despite downloading it from my library ap atleast twice) but on the subject the movies gay subtext; I really enjoyed how it was handled. It came off as messy and confusing and something the ML didn't even have the brain space to decifer and unpack. Thats how relationships often are when we are young. They had this intense meaningful friendship as children that slipped into something atleast alittle romantic and they can't even talk about it as a adults because they don't even know how to articulate what thier relationships was. It worked, for me atleast. And I can't say I've seen a film that depicted that specific of relationship so well.
that's totally fair! I do think it was handled better in the movie than the book, because like you're saying it is a believable thing and they don't try to include too much. but in the book it just comes off as confusing and underdeveloped. if it had explored some of what you're talking about, like having Theo acknowledge to us that that's the conflict (not being able to articulate what it was and thus not talking about it) I think it could've been effective, but instead they pretty much drop it entirely in the second half.
@@jane-mulcahy the point is that it is confusing and under developed. Theo probably is bisexual, but this is something that he doesnt want to think about, when boris brings it up, he doesnt say anything. Its a facet of his character but its not one of the main themes. Not everything should be developed, that would be way to messy
@@flask223i completely agree !!
When you address the author as Donna, I had forgotten it was the author of the book and thought your choice of audience stand-in was Donna from That 70s Show... I didn’t know why but I agreed with it
This book had the most realistic suicide scene of any book ive read
So relieved to find a critic who shares the opinion that Ansel is a bad actor.
I haven't even seen the movie so from the clips you showed I literally thought nicole kidman was the villain
It’s almost like she THOUGHT she was playing the villain
i hated her for the first half of the movie because i genuinely thought she was a villain
I was with my friend who knows Ansel Elgort personally when that news broke about him being a predator and she said it absolutely tracks and that he’s a huge asshole
The cigarette is killing me😆
I agree with this so much, and I also think a lot of people fail to mention the subtle racism in the book? And a lot of people of skim over the fact that Donna has made Boris say the n slur twice in the book - casually.
I agree! I think race is a bit of a blind spot in a lot of Tartt's work
I mean kids do that tho. Its not good but it does happen. I know at least one white boy who used to say the n word. Now that hes older its embarrassing. But like boris is a 13yo boy. Thats just what they do
This video is 2 years old and I wasn’t going to comment but then we got to Thoreau’s Walden and I loathed that book so much- Thoreau spends the entire book talking about how superior he is to the common man, how enlightened he is for his decision to live alone in the woods- in the same breath as he condescends to the forester he meets just because the man is illiterate… meanwhile like you said, Thoreau can’t even do his own laundry (or build his own cabin, hunt his own food, etc, skills that the people he condescends to are very capable of).
There’s nothing inherently wrong with possessing a certain set of skills or not, but when you look down on people for not having your skills while refusing to acknowledge your own deficiencies (and in fact painting yourself as a paragon of humanity) it just annoys me SO much.
As another commentator pointed out, the goldfinch should have been a book about theo and boris in vegas. once theo is old, everything goes to shit. But the part about them two was genuinely so sweet heartbreaking and endearing
i love the book. not because of the plot though but because i am so emotionally attached to the characters. after theo leaves vegas i am struggling to finish the book. i do not give a shit abt new york im sorry 😭
to me the only thing that saved this movie was the las vegas section and theo/boris section. i honestly wish the story was more focused on that part, or honestly? i just wish it would’ve picked one plot to focus on, i feel like it was trying to do too much and ended up achieving little to nothing
i read this when it first came out. the first two hundred pages? LOVED it. i excitedly recommended it to my advisor/fave professor (i was a lit major). then i got to the second half. i had to skulk back and, with my tail between my legs, retract my recommendation to my advisor. the lack of focus…. the kitchen-sink aspect of the plot… donna, donna, donna, what to heck.
interestingly enough, though, her other books are very nice IMO. if you enjoyed her prose check out her book “the little friend,” which i loved beginning to end and absolutely zoomed through. “the secret history,” tumblr’s favorite dark academia book, is alright as well but the characters are so downright hateable that it dampens my enjoyment of the book.
I totally agree! the first third or so really had potential as this twisty bildungsroman, but then it just completely falls off.
and I've been meaning to read The Little Friend, but I actually really enjoyed The Secret History! I loved that all the characters sucked so much. I thought Richard was normal/relatable enough that it's like he gives us a window into the lives of these awful, vapid rich people around him. in that sense it actually reminded me of The Great Gatsby by the end? like, look at how these careless people just go through life without paying any attention to how they affect the people around them. the tumblr dark academia worked on me 🙈
@@jane-mulcahy yeah i should mention i still got through the secret history in two, maybe three days, and couldn’t stop reading it to the point that i was reading in between tasks at the waitressing job i had at that time lol. i think donna tartt’s problem is she’s pretty good at thinking of interesting things to happen in a story, but she can’t pare down very well. i suspect that when she was writing the little friend she probably felt bored because it’s a much more simple plot, and was like “whew, can’t do THAT again” and turned it up to 11 in the goldfinch.
As a fellow Degrassi lover, please confirm my full-hearted belief that Munro Chambers with his black dyed Eli hair would have played an excellent grown-up Finn Wolfhard
I'm not sure I can tell you in good faith that I believe that's true, but I WOULD like to see him in the role
This is kind of besides the point and also ten months late, but I just wanted to say, while The Secret History is definitely the better novel, I think it has similar problems with class (and also race) to the Goldfinch. Like I know that Henry and co. are like supposed to be bad and also literally murderers. It's not that I think it's wrong to portray classist and racist characters, and this behavior is condemned to an extent in the novel. But like, in addition to being murderers, they're also all portrayed as cooler and smarter and more galaxy brain than everyone else in the college. And it sort of comes off like Tartt is criticizing these poor simpletons for like, having the gall to not obsess over ancient Greek culture to the point of insanity.
Also, this is a really minor pet peeve, but there's this one moment where Henry makes some comment about Sanskrit and how comparatively simple ancient Indian culture is. I sent it to my dad, who's a Sanskrit professor, and he was like, not only is this deeply racist it's also just plain wrong and a mistranslation. And Henry is supposed to be this super genius who knows everything. So apparently Donna Tartt is willing to do meticulous research about Classics and Greek culture, but when it comes to a non-white ancient culture, she's perfectly willing to present easily correctible Orientalist bullshit without comment.
That's very interesting! I guess I had kind of taken it for granted that the novel was criticizing those characters, but it's true that it still romanticizes them in many ways. Plus Richard seems like the only non-rich character that the book really respects intellectually, and of course he's studied the classics and whatever lol.
The only thing I would say is maybe it's possible Tartt had Henry say that about Sanskrit on purpose to imply that he actually is ignorant about some things? Because I do remember it seeming like the novel really emphasized that he was wrong about a lot of things towards the end (like you said, literal murderer, etc.) But I haven't read the book in a while and it's totally possible it was not self-aware. I've studied Hindi and yeah, Sanskrit is far from simple!
well, it was kind of the point of the book. richard admires that group of classics students because they're o-so-smart and o-so-cool. they all get brainwashed by their teacher, and all the other characters (that french teacher, judy, that drug dealer guy, etc) seem like they're the stupid ones, when this is only what richard's narration lets you believe. the story brainwashes you into siding with elitist, classist, racist, murderer characters, and that's the point.
Its literally written from Richard pov. Because a character has a set of values does not mean the author has them too, for fucks sake, some people are illiterate
0:41 - cat trying to get you to stop smoking
The love of beauty and aesthetic purity is what ties it all together I think. Theo’s relationship with his mother, the theft of the painting, and how Theo judges/relates to the world around him.
This is actually such a well thought out video I love this type of stuff so I will be binging your videos for the next few days
The Goldfinch is one of the only books I haven't been able to finish. It sits on my shelf, mocking me, but it is just so slow, and unnecessarily dense and verbose, and even though I loved the Secret History, I wonder if it's worth it. Oddly enough, this video has inspired me to try again. I will also actually check out the movie, which I avoided when it came out because the book just did not click with me.
I’m curious if you finished the book
I'm obsessed with your videos and binging all of them I love your humor sm
Boris and Vegas is objectively the best part of the goldfinch.
As a lover of this book and your content I'm choosing to watch this video even though it might hurt me
Ok so--I pretty much agree that The Goldfinch is flawed, but I think the book works better than the movie because those flaws are able to be overlooked because the story has so much heart and depth, which the movie completely sucks out. Most of the flaws within the movie I have to put on the casting. Almost none of the actors, with the exception of the kids, convey emotions well, and as a result the story just seems bland. Also a consequence of losing a lot of the inner monologue. I think I also just happen to be one of the people where the themes of the book, scattered though they are, resonate enough for me to love it. Probably the only thing I truly disagree on is the handling of Theo's suicide attempt in the film--they remove a lot of the importance of that moment for his character by having Boris intervene.
fair enough! the casting in the film, especially of Ansel Elgort, arguably made it a lot less nuanced/profound. I admit, I'm not much of a book critic. I'm glad you were able to get more out of the book than I was!
@@jane-mulcahy Wow, wasn't expecting a reply to my opinion dump in your comments, haha! Going to take this opportunity to share that your Degrassi video has lived rent free in my head at all times since I watched it. Especially Tristan's bad posture in that one scene--a masterpiece.
@@beckidouglas9642 true so much of the book is in theo's inner thoughts
@@beckidouglas9642 true i mean the fact that boris didnt even know theo attempted when he came back and that determined their entire back and forth with the painting. I havent seen the movie but that change just doesnt make sense
I haven’t seen the film and I actually just assumed Nicole Kidman was one of the antagonists until you brought it up! Just based on the clips you showed 😂
I agree with so much of this video. I saw this movie and liked it for what it was trying to do, with some caveats, obvi. I remember seeing a review about this movie saying that Nicole Kidman was the only one "dialed in" to what the movie was trying to do, and I was like ?????? She's exuding villain energy when she shouldn't be? What are you talking about?!
I really think the child actors did well, but the older Theo/Boris casting is so weird and bad that it kind of holds back the movie from being good throughout. If someone other than a lifeless door was playing adult Theo, maybe we could've had it all lol.
I love Ansel Elgort, but he's one of those very sought-after young actors. So, after some really big roles, they probably just wanted him for the notoriety. I feel like they could have casted somebody better suited for the role.
The message of The Goldfinch is giving "Black or White" by Maya Matlin 😭😭
i think the second half of the book really gets dull, and the only parts that i enjoyed were with boris. theo gets nihilistic and its rather miserable to read at some points.
This video was really enjoyable and I really liked it! This will make absolutely no sense but in video game journalism circles (lol) there's a guy named Nick Robinson who was ousted for being a predator about four years ago and let me tell you the confusion I felt when you said that Nick Robinson is the only big lipped actor you trust was incredible. I was so horrified I was going to have to break the news to you and then I remembered that there's another guy and I'm just a fool. Thanks for the great video!
9:35 tbf the book is in theo's perspective and he really cares about antiques. His whole thing is selling fake antiques to rich people who couldnt care less. Idk if this reflects the opinions of the author
I would totally watch that Nicole Kidman horror movie though 🍿
I generally don't pay attention to reviews so I thought this movie was popular because it had a pretty active fan base on tumblr
For me the confusion starts with the Goldfinch itself. I've seen that painting in The Hague on weekend outings since I was a child, you want me to believe it was stolen since the 90s?
If that's what takes you out of story then I'm not sure you understand stories, without sounding too mean. For some stories there is a certain suspension of disbelief necessary and the theft of a famous painting is not that far out there.
Tartt used a world famous painting that comes with a certain history (the fate of the painter) and a commonly accepted interpretation. Either she fit the story around the painting or found a painting that matched her vision. I think this works better than if she had invented a new painting.
(For example in Glass Onion, how did they show the billionaire was a prick? By letting him play around and destroy world famous artifacts like the Mona Lisa or Paul McCartney's guitar instead of some random rich-looking painting or statue)
Going kind of off-topic here, but I think the current backlash against Thoreau is mostly the fault of teachers who de-politicize him and reduce his work down to nothing but Walden, and reduce Walden down to a stale "rugged individualism" narrative.
For me, Thoreau's most important work isn't Walden; it's Civil Disobedience. He was an abolitionist and a vocal supporter of John Brown. He opposed the Mexican-American war and went to jail for refusing to pay a poll tax in protest of that war. He believed that people had a responsibility to defy the laws of an unjust government. His writings formed the basis of multiple civil rights movements. He wasn't just some guy who wanted to live in the woods.
The main theme of Walden wasn't just "everybody should go and live in the woods." It was that people shouldn't have to struggle and suffer just to live, that when you have time to think and look at the world around you instead of working yourself to death, you feel better.
And, if teachers would actually engage with Thoreau's politics, I think more people would understand that.
Good video, by the way. I've been watching your stuff for a while, and I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to this one.
The only answer to me was to cast Bill Hader to play adult Boris in The Goldfinch
tbf it would be extremely funny to have a 20-something Theo and a 40-something Boris and just never explain it
@@jane-mulcahyhe’s just worn out from years of being a criminal
I saw a couple of those crappy scene shorts youtube randomly starts pushing of the dad trying to steal his inheritance, and the preview and immediately thought: An entire whiny movie about a rich kid's mom dies and life is tough for poor rich kid... And found this video that reinforced it.
I love your voice and ur videos so much like I adore you 🥺 thank you for being so calming and so funny love
The secret history adaptation is long overdue!
I have watched 10 of your videos so far (the one time the CZcams algorithm gets it right). And I feel you are my par-asocial best friend.
The ending philosophical monologs is actually my favorite part of the book
Congrats on capturing my own experience with the goldfinch on tumblr
I just watched the movie and had a similar feeling; I had no idea what message it was trying to convey lol
What an excellent review, super complete, objective while still being fun. I appreciate it a lot.
I had been debating whether to just watch the movie or also read the book but I think you made it clear that the movie is good enough on its own.
Love your take about the fantasy of "rugged individualism", how people who preach that fail to acknowledge how much they benefit from and rely on the contributions of society, especially less privileged groups
love how everyone on tumblr hates the movie and loves the book (and i agree!!) but you actually kind of convinced me otherwise i loved this video
but have to disagree with the aneurin slander... hes perfect as boris yes he looks nothing like finn but he has that look in his eyes you only find in eastern european gay porn. i truly wish that the film played more into the indescribabley inlove and slightly obsessive connection boris and theo have in the first half of the book as i think that would have made boris even more interesting as an adult. the film (and in turn the book) really let the characters down in the second half but there we go.
this was really interesting. i remember when i watched this film i thought that i had expected more because i heard so much praise towards the book, but it is curious to think what the perception would be if this were an original script, without previous expectations.
the only minor thing i would like to say is that i actually really enjoyed the actor who played older boris. but to me both him and the younger version of this character read more like romani ppl than slavik. and i am slavik so idk
This video is so well thought out. While I personally disagree with a few things, I overall loved hearing your insight. I hope you do get to bring The Secret Society to life one day!
before i started this video i disagreed with u and now i agree with u. also i like ur donna tartt decorative cigarette
wow that means a lot to me! and thank you I thought it was on brand
What an excellent, informative and tasteful review. I came for some information and left with that, but also a pleasant feeling. Taste and talent are alive and well in this contribution 👌
Loved this whole review! You honestly make me laugh so much.
21:26 FYI: I think Ezra Miller uses they/them pronouns. And thanks for another great video!
oh thank you for the info!! I looked it up and found an interview where they said they're okay with any pronouns? but that was a couple years ago so it might've changed. if I ever talk about them again I'll remember that!
@@jane-mulcahy What's weird is I was debating deleting my comment while I double-checked. LOL. Big Freedia (a musical artist) has said the same thing about pronouns so I was like...' should I delete this until I'm sure?' Anyhoo, thanks for the chill response. :)
of course! I'm glad you commented, I think it's always wise to err on the side of caution with people's pronouns.
youtube keeps recommending me this video because i have been re-binging all your videos and going through the ones i missed, and it's like I've seen this multiple times youtube, please stop telling me to watch this. but i had to watch it again, cuz its so good. also i thought i commented on it already but apparently i hadn't but like
- i think we all agree the second he leaves las vegas the book falls apart, that's the consensus. i choose to live in a world where boris and the are in love, donna tartt is really confusing with her queer characters, it's gotta be those years of liberal arts college i tell ya!
- i think the secret history would be better suited as a mini series, mainly cuz i'd want to develop everyone more, basically give it the queen's gambit treatment.
- donna released the secret history in 1992, the little friend in 2002, and the goldfinch in 2013, so me thinks we are due for another donna tartt book in 2023 if she keeps to the pattern
I confuse ansel algort with tye sheridan so much, i was so upset when the accusations came out to give up my comfort movie ready player one cause I didn’t know it was the Sheridan 🤪
as a hobbyist high-brow literary type, I haven't really heard of this novel but the notion of a Dickensian novel in the 21st century is somewhat interesting, given the contemporary climate around wealth disparity, but the fact that there seems to be a fixation on the antique seems rather misplaced in bringing new life to those kinds of ideas.
And honestly? I've always found Dickens... to my taste, too mild, and would really enjoy a novel with that inspiration with modern social commentary and notions about character, but the fact that this novel seems to escape the core of Dickens, that is the Well-Made Novel: it is characterised by concise plotting, compelling narrative and a largely standardised structure, with little emphasis on characterisation and intellectual ideas. [sic]
i also made the grave mistake of watching the turning for finn wolfhard and i regret it to this day
So this book is about how we should eat the rich. Got it
I am 3 years late on this, but I'd like to raise a point that nobody is talking about for some reason: the way how stereotypically the Slavic characters were depicted in the novel. I mean, it's infuriating! "Boris, let's drink some vodka and read Dostoevsky.." Urgh, not to mention that Boris is actually Ukrainian and it made me mad as hell when I read the lines about Ukraine in this book. Haven't seen the film, but to me, the book is just a Dickens parody and Donna Tartt is another pseudointellectual. I totally agree that the ending of the book is frustrating. It looks like she worked hard on the first part of the book, but then just finished the rest in a hurry. The conclusion she draws in the end is just random.
why did i love both
I love this book, and I was ready to write a whole paragraph to explain why its in fact good, but she said facts. I love Donna Tartt writting style, my favorite book ever is the secret history, but dude, I cannot deny that she is a classist who is obsessed with beauty, and yought (and homosexuals semi canon relationships), she is in fact, a middle age woman who belives herself better than others because she is cult. But, for real, I don´t remember reading ANY black or brown characters in goldfinch or the TSH. And, funny enough, I notice a TERRIBLE mistake in goldfinch. At Theo´s monologue she says that he went in october to Mexico close to the day of the dead (día de muertos), and mentions types of flowers. BULLSHIT, first, I´m Mexican, I know what I´m talking about: jwe don´t celebrate it, it´s not a celebration, second, we don´t decorate in October, in October, EVEN HERE most of the states put effort in Halloween, there´s Charros AND Wiches, THEN, 1 and 2 of November is when Día de muertos happens, And most important. she google the flowers we used, and didn´t though we have ways to called it. For example, I had to google a name she put, just to find out it was flor de terciopelo...that doesn´t makes sense, If Theo asked for the name of the flowers they would have tell him: Cempasúchil, flor de terciopelo, o nube, So... she had no idea, and she try to pretend she did, so now i´m thinking ´´Did this thing happen more times and I didn´t noticed?. For intance, ´´Cubbitum eamus´´ in the secret history can be just, JUST traduced Latin to English, in Spanish it means ´´Would you sleep in my elbow?´´ instead of ´´Would you sleep with me?´´ And I know that´s not complety her fault and dictionnaries tend to change everytime a new traductor makes discovers... but it keeps me up at night. Did she knew what in hell she was talking about?
"subscribe for overly long reviews of media that isn't relevant anymore"
*Hits subscribe button so I can subscribe again*
Why do u have a cigarette? Is it gonna be there the whole time? Im distracted
it's a stage cigarette, it was supposed to be a joke representing like the wannabe dark academia aesthetic 😔
I may be wrong but I think a lot of the movies you cite as better regarded than The Goldfinch were actually also not loved by critics. Harriet was widely regarded as not great but the titular performance was outstanding, IIRC.
That being said, yeah things like outstanding cinematography are often underrated by critics compared to say, plot or acting.
So a little of this a little of that?
Like, critics aren't in the Academy and have their own completely separate awards that often choose weird films to love.
Really appreciated the video though!
As a woman whose only celebrity lookalike is Finn Wolfhard, thank you for saying he's weird-looking. It's kind of true.
Also, I stumbled upon your videos by chance (the *~AlGoRiThM~* did its magic, I suppose) and I have to say, I really love them all. Your debit is great, I love your calm tone, your acute and accurate insights and just the right amount of snark. Thank you for making them~
@@soup_death You can be weird looking AND attractive!
Great video!
Why do you just hold the cigarette 🚬
I need to know
because it's a fake stage cigarette and I am only holding it to poke fun at the Donna Tartt edgy dark academia aesthetic
The title is angering me but ill hear u out
I know I’m 3 years late to this and maybe this is just me but is 20 and 17 that bad of age difference?? I mean 3 years is pushing it but I feel like it’s not that bad? Not discounting the allegations in general he obviously could have still done something bad and I haven’t really looked into the allegations I don’t know if anything has changed these past few years.
I think it's less the "3 years"/specific amount part and more the context it communicates -- the stages of life that those 3 years separate.
When one member of a relationship is still in high school while the other is considered an adult, that frequently involves a large difference in autonomy over one's life as well as the amount of experience/confidence that informs their communication and boundaries (with the younger party almost guaranteed to be at a certain disadvantage/higher level of vulnerability).
There's the built-in power difference of your partner being your senior/an adult: which can lead to a lack of equal footing and respect in any relationship, but is particularly rife for abuse within romantic relationships. There's also the added imbalance of fame/wealth/social status in this case, which can create an unsafe dynamic both during and after a relationship.
It's never just about the numbers -- and the important part of cases like these is taking the experience of the participants into account. Abuse in relationships doesn't require an age gap like this to happen, but it can often facilitate abuse more easily. Age gaps aren't always a problem (not by a long shot, especially as people get older and are on more equal footing experience and autonomy-wise) but there should be a lot of scrutiny when an adult/someone out of high school is interested in pursuing someone in high school/who is in a significantly younger or more vulnerable position in their life.
I love luv love your look in this vid
Smoke a joint!!! Cigarettes are for the ignorant
it's a fake cigarette that I'm holding as a joke brother
Not gonna watch the video, just came here to say that saying the book is bad AND preferring the movie over it gotta be the hardest L in history in conclusion I hear anyone say that again, I WILL find you.
be honest, did you like your own comment?