About a decade out of high school, Holden and Banky are best friends and business partners in the comicbook creation industry. At a convention, Hooper - a gay comic book author who portrays himself as a black-panther rebel type - introduces the pair to Alyssa Jones; Holden is immediately taken by her. The monkey wrench is that after falling hard for her, it turns out she is a lesbian.
I think most of us are familiar with the story. Anyway, it's been years since I have seen the View Askewniverse films, but I decided to give them all a watch, in order. All of them were exactly how I remember them, except for the third film. Chasing Amy had always been my favourite, but I don't think I appreciated just how much more I liked it than the other films, which I really like. Until a few years ago, I rewatched them frequently.
This time around, Chasing Amy, a lot of subtleties weighed a lot heavier with me, some bits were right on the nose and I didn't really take them into account. The reason is I was in the habit of always watching the film from Holden's point of view, not really examining the Banky situation too clearly, or giving much weight to Alyssa's story. So I really focused in on Alyssa's point of view this time around. It was like watching an old favourite again for the first time.
I always considered this movie to be a relationship tragedy, but now I see the story and ending completely differently.
Here's a bunch of bits which struck me more, or I interpreted differently.
* Alyssa says she' never loved a man before, Holden interprets this as her being a virgin, but the subject changes before Alyssa addresses that point. She is more concerned about the definition of virginity.
* In the friendship phase, Alyssa is falling for Holden, it's shy she always wants to hang out.
* Alyssa doesn't want to confront her feelings for Holden, she's comfortable in the role in life she's fallen into. If she confronted her feelings, she loses that comfortable life.
* The lesbian thing is a façade, as Alyssa is actually bisexual. Holden doesn't know this
* Later, Alyssa says she opened the door to women so she could broaden her horizons, and double her chances. She found girls felt right, and guys didn't interest her because they always fell into a stereotype. She hints at this earlier..
* Alyssa's anger during the rain kiss scene, just before the kiss, is because she is forced head-on to face her emotions, and they tear her world apart.
* Holden doesn't really ever appreciate the weight of Alyssa's choice, after she kisses him and they get together. He is just happy that she is with him.
* The scene with Alyssa telling her lesbian clan about Holden was tense, she gets ostracized, all her friends were plastic. This is the adjustment she predicted she'd go through, she's alone now, except for Holden.
* Banky is the third wheel. And so he becomes an obstacle in the relationship.
* A bigger obstacle is the fact that Alyssa has a lot of relationship experience. Holden does not.
* There's a scene where Alyssa has a monologue about the reason she is so happy. She says she looked thoroughly, and so is very confident in this relationship she fully invested her life into. Holden jokes about the accomplishment being that all she needed was his dick. It's a bit of a statement of the investment of the two. Alyssa is all in, Holden is more interested in the fact that he's with a girl he thinks has only been with him.
* Holden discovers that Alyssa had been with many guys in the past. He freaks out, and doesn't think he loves her any more.
* As Holden interogates Alyssa at the rink, the fight scene makes it look like the confirmation is about beating up Holden. But each bit of that conversation is like a knife getting driven into Alyssa's gut. Joey Lauren Adams does such a great job conveying through this scene.
* The fight after the rink, where Holden leaves her, was gut wrenching. Holden has Banky as a best friend still, Alyssa has no one else. She was wrong. She lost.
* She loved Holden, and Holden's asking for the threesome was to satisfy his ego. She didn't want to share him, and she didn't want him to share her. She leaves, and tells him he needs to find his path on his own. She's done with his shit in other words.
The final scene:
* Alyssa has a new girlfriend months or over a year later, they clearly aren't in love. They don't connect well.
* Alyssa is floored with emotion when she sees Holden again for the first time. She clearly still has very strong feelings.
* Before, she didn't want to close doors. She knows she loves Holden, and he loves her.
* Holden gives her a comic about their relationship, Chasing Amy, she says it must be a very personal story. It goes to a page in the book where Holden is admitting he made a mistake.
* It leaves it cuts off after the two of them part after Holden invites her to call him later.
Before I always assumed that "of course they don't get back together," she's moved on. This scene was a goodbye scene. She wasn't going to get back with him after he totally dicked her around, and ruined everything.
From Alyssa's point of view, I think she sees Holden as being done completeing his journey to find what he wants out of a relationship, and she's the one for him. The Chasing Amy comic says it all. Alyssa, made it clear that she found what she was looking for in Holden, earlier in the film. So despite the burn, the emotion is still very much there, and that scene is intense, again, GREAT acting from Joey Lauren Adams. I don't think she's closing the door on this one, it was a much bigger decision to end up with him before than it would be after this scene. Unlike the first scene, where he said he loved her (rain kiss scene), this time she wasn't angry, but she was clearly floored with emotion in the same way.
That's why I think they got back together, now.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it shows Alyssa walking out of the theatre with another girl, they bring up Chasing Amy. Most assume it is a lesbian lover; but it's actually her sister, Trisha Jones, a character from Mallrats.
I think it's a good decision that they didn't close the mystery, because I wouldn't reflect on this movie the way I did if it had been closed.
Although they did close out Banky's story, he ends up with Hooper as shown in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Also, in Japan, there was a Manga version of Chasing Amy which graphically depicts all of the sex scenes.
I think most of us are familiar with the story. Anyway, it's been years since I have seen the View Askewniverse films, but I decided to give them all a watch, in order. All of them were exactly how I remember them, except for the third film. Chasing Amy had always been my favourite, but I don't think I appreciated just how much more I liked it than the other films, which I really like. Until a few years ago, I rewatched them frequently.
This time around, Chasing Amy, a lot of subtleties weighed a lot heavier with me, some bits were right on the nose and I didn't really take them into account. The reason is I was in the habit of always watching the film from Holden's point of view, not really examining the Banky situation too clearly, or giving much weight to Alyssa's story. So I really focused in on Alyssa's point of view this time around. It was like watching an old favourite again for the first time.
I always considered this movie to be a relationship tragedy, but now I see the story and ending completely differently.
Here's a bunch of bits which struck me more, or I interpreted differently.
* Alyssa says she' never loved a man before, Holden interprets this as her being a virgin, but the subject changes before Alyssa addresses that point. She is more concerned about the definition of virginity.
* In the friendship phase, Alyssa is falling for Holden, it's shy she always wants to hang out.
* Alyssa doesn't want to confront her feelings for Holden, she's comfortable in the role in life she's fallen into. If she confronted her feelings, she loses that comfortable life.
* The lesbian thing is a façade, as Alyssa is actually bisexual. Holden doesn't know this
* Later, Alyssa says she opened the door to women so she could broaden her horizons, and double her chances. She found girls felt right, and guys didn't interest her because they always fell into a stereotype. She hints at this earlier..
* Alyssa's anger during the rain kiss scene, just before the kiss, is because she is forced head-on to face her emotions, and they tear her world apart.
* Holden doesn't really ever appreciate the weight of Alyssa's choice, after she kisses him and they get together. He is just happy that she is with him.
* The scene with Alyssa telling her lesbian clan about Holden was tense, she gets ostracized, all her friends were plastic. This is the adjustment she predicted she'd go through, she's alone now, except for Holden.
* Banky is the third wheel. And so he becomes an obstacle in the relationship.
* A bigger obstacle is the fact that Alyssa has a lot of relationship experience. Holden does not.
* There's a scene where Alyssa has a monologue about the reason she is so happy. She says she looked thoroughly, and so is very confident in this relationship she fully invested her life into. Holden jokes about the accomplishment being that all she needed was his dick. It's a bit of a statement of the investment of the two. Alyssa is all in, Holden is more interested in the fact that he's with a girl he thinks has only been with him.
* Holden discovers that Alyssa had been with many guys in the past. He freaks out, and doesn't think he loves her any more.
* As Holden interogates Alyssa at the rink, the fight scene makes it look like the confirmation is about beating up Holden. But each bit of that conversation is like a knife getting driven into Alyssa's gut. Joey Lauren Adams does such a great job conveying through this scene.
* The fight after the rink, where Holden leaves her, was gut wrenching. Holden has Banky as a best friend still, Alyssa has no one else. She was wrong. She lost.
* She loved Holden, and Holden's asking for the threesome was to satisfy his ego. She didn't want to share him, and she didn't want him to share her. She leaves, and tells him he needs to find his path on his own. She's done with his shit in other words.
The final scene:
* Alyssa has a new girlfriend months or over a year later, they clearly aren't in love. They don't connect well.
* Alyssa is floored with emotion when she sees Holden again for the first time. She clearly still has very strong feelings.
* Before, she didn't want to close doors. She knows she loves Holden, and he loves her.
* Holden gives her a comic about their relationship, Chasing Amy, she says it must be a very personal story. It goes to a page in the book where Holden is admitting he made a mistake.
* It leaves it cuts off after the two of them part after Holden invites her to call him later.
Before I always assumed that "of course they don't get back together," she's moved on. This scene was a goodbye scene. She wasn't going to get back with him after he totally dicked her around, and ruined everything.
From Alyssa's point of view, I think she sees Holden as being done completeing his journey to find what he wants out of a relationship, and she's the one for him. The Chasing Amy comic says it all. Alyssa, made it clear that she found what she was looking for in Holden, earlier in the film. So despite the burn, the emotion is still very much there, and that scene is intense, again, GREAT acting from Joey Lauren Adams. I don't think she's closing the door on this one, it was a much bigger decision to end up with him before than it would be after this scene. Unlike the first scene, where he said he loved her (rain kiss scene), this time she wasn't angry, but she was clearly floored with emotion in the same way.
That's why I think they got back together, now.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it shows Alyssa walking out of the theatre with another girl, they bring up Chasing Amy. Most assume it is a lesbian lover; but it's actually her sister, Trisha Jones, a character from Mallrats.
Spoiler: show
Although they did close out Banky's story, he ends up with Hooper as shown in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Also, in Japan, there was a Manga version of Chasing Amy which graphically depicts all of the sex scenes.
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
