Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Oskar never stole the T-Röd. Eli dropped it on her way in. Found isn't stolen.
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Hmm, so if you find - let's say - a cell phone left behind on a restaurant table, you are free to keep it?Drakeule wrote:Oskar never stole the T-Röd. Eli dropped it on her way in. Found isn't stolen.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Metoo, you're better than that. Some found T-Rod , outside of a freind's residents does not makes it your own
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
I agree - it just seemed you held a different opinion (found isn't stolen).Drakeule wrote:Metoo, you're better than that. Some found T-Rod , outside of a freind's residents does not makes it your own
Some nit-picking: The T-Röd Oskar used to set his classroom on fire wasn't found outside Eli's apartment. Oskar found it in the cardboard box where Eli's money was, and it was from there he retrieved it later. The two bottles in the box most likely was those that Eli didn't drop, but brought inside his apartment. Someone - Eli or Oskar - must have put them in the cardboard box when they packed up Eli's remaining stuff in preparation for Eli's departure.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Was discussed here the influence of "The crying game" in this subject?
I remember read about that on wikipedia (in spanish) about that, however JAL statement on ELi's gender didn't name it, And it isn't in english wikipedia either.
So, that scene is also somehow also a preteen crying game, without sexual notes, and well.. without "willie".. which is THE issue in the Crying Game apparently (never watched it, but I know what is about) but I'm not sure, because in that movie I think that scene it's actually the "Reveal" while Oskar already knew about Eli, and when he saw him naked obviously looked to find "something" down there to corroborate and to his surprise, found nothing.
Wikipedia's source is this interview with JAL:
http://www.elmundo.es/encuentros/invita ... 0/04/4113/
This add to the transgender/transvestite angle of Eli's gender, although we know the whole point is "pure love" beyond all labels. Also I think what JAL tried to do, after all, was an androgynous character, and not a transgender, with Eli being both girl and boy at the same time, but with a clear tendency to the feminine. Presenting Eli as a boy would just ruin the story.
PS: It also say that Hakan was first think as a Bateman from American Psycho
I remember read about that on wikipedia (in spanish) about that, however JAL statement on ELi's gender didn't name it, And it isn't in english wikipedia either.
So, that scene is also somehow also a preteen crying game, without sexual notes, and well.. without "willie".. which is THE issue in the Crying Game apparently (never watched it, but I know what is about) but I'm not sure, because in that movie I think that scene it's actually the "Reveal" while Oskar already knew about Eli, and when he saw him naked obviously looked to find "something" down there to corroborate and to his surprise, found nothing.
Wikipedia's source is this interview with JAL:
http://www.elmundo.es/encuentros/invita ... 0/04/4113/
This add to the transgender/transvestite angle of Eli's gender, although we know the whole point is "pure love" beyond all labels. Also I think what JAL tried to do, after all, was an androgynous character, and not a transgender, with Eli being both girl and boy at the same time, but with a clear tendency to the feminine. Presenting Eli as a boy would just ruin the story.
PS: It also say that Hakan was first think as a Bateman from American Psycho
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
You can keep the cell phone in case it's someone you want to meet on the chance that she rings it. But you have to turn in the T-Röd in case it belongs to an arsonist.
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Eli's choice to dress like a girl in the movie Let the Right One In is likely a combination of a few factors. First, it could be a result of a hormonal imbalance due to his castration at a young age. This could lead to him feeling more comfortable dressing in traditionally feminine clothing. Second, it could be a survival strategy, as it could make it easier for him to attract prey or hide from those who would want to hurt him. Lastly, it could just be that he likes the way it makes him feel, and it could be seen as a form of self-expression. Ultimately, it is unclear why Eli chooses to dress like a girl, and each person may interpret it differently.ltroifanatic wrote: ↑Thu Nov 26, 2015 4:09 amEven when Oskar knows that Eli is a boy, he still dresses like a girl . Why is that? ..Hormonal imbalance at being castrated so young? . . or a survival strategy (easier to attract prey?) or easier to hide maybe ?.. or maybe just likes being a girl? I can imagine him wearing this blue bohemian dress from this website .. I'm sure someone has asked this already but I can't find the thread.. Thanks for you patience.
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
The novel leaves us guessing.
Another reason might simply be that the most recent set of clothing Elias had managed to find had him looking like a young girl. The Elias that exists at the start of the novel, before Oskar strokes "her" chin and starts an awakening with, does not appear to be one that is concerned with masculine or feminine attributes. Whatever survival skills along with whatever tactics work, I suspect, would be the long-worn approach. For example, acquiring clothing that is the right size (for the most part) and dressing so as to not be noticeable would be what allows Eli to move from night to night (I can't use the more common phrase 'from day to day', huh?) without much more than a glance from whomever might notice him. 'Odd time for a child to be out,' is hopefully the worst attention he receives; that would be the goal.
Another reason might simply be that the most recent set of clothing Elias had managed to find had him looking like a young girl. The Elias that exists at the start of the novel, before Oskar strokes "her" chin and starts an awakening with, does not appear to be one that is concerned with masculine or feminine attributes. Whatever survival skills along with whatever tactics work, I suspect, would be the long-worn approach. For example, acquiring clothing that is the right size (for the most part) and dressing so as to not be noticeable would be what allows Eli to move from night to night (I can't use the more common phrase 'from day to day', huh?) without much more than a glance from whomever might notice him. 'Odd time for a child to be out,' is hopefully the worst attention he receives; that would be the goal.
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sauvin
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Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
Towards the end of the second "Kill Bill" movie (Uma Thurman, David Carradine, a few other familiar faces), Bill argues to Beatrix Kiddo that Superman stands out among superheroes in that he doesn’t have to don some kind of costume in order to become the superhero; he’s Superman solid through when he rolls out of bed in the morning, and has to wear a costume in order to blend in and interact with people more or less anonymously. Clark Kent, he argues, is weak, shy and self-effacing, the perfect little cipher of a skin suit to reflect what he sees in humanity. The point of this observation was to liken Kiddo to Superman, she whose past profession as an elite assassin meant that “no matter how many barbecues you go to, or how many beers you drink or how fat your ass gets, you’ll always be a killer”.
His argument that Superman stands out in this isn’t very accurate. Diana Prince is the born daughter of Hippolyta, too, when she rolls out of bed. Her Wonder Woman outfits are her native apparel and work clothes. Likewise, Peter Parker is still friendly to the neighbourhood and inhumanly strong and agile when he’s showering in the locker room at school. Diana (in all the TV or movies I’ve seen, can’t comment about the comics) sees humanity through the lenses of a Themysciran, and her elegant, refined and lovingly protective nature reflects what she sees in humanity, regardless of what she might happen to be wearing at the moment: potential. Parker is a mirror of what he feels humanity should be, with or without his arachnid-themed clown suit: kind, decent, honest, friendly, tolerant and a few dozen other virtuous adjectives. The various comic book universes are loaded with people who’d been bitten by radioactive spiders, exposed to heavy water, born in some other time or place, or maybe just people who’d eaten the wrong kinds of apples – and who all still find humanity in general worth fighting for and protecting.
Everybody, it seems, should be held to the ideals exemplified by characters in these works of fiction – but not necessarily by the superheros themselves or by their alternate personas. Prince has her Steve Trevor, Parker his Mary Jane Watson and Superman his Lois Lane. These are the people we’d like to be, the people we’d love to see in ourselves and the people we’d love to share our lives pillows with. People, in other words, whose softly and warmly glowing candles form part of the matrix of what humanity should be, and often is barring some extreme circumstance.
Why does Eli wear the clothes she does? It seems she often has minders to do the grocery shopping, after all, so why not also send them to Walmart to pick up a few decent duds?
We’ve speculated that long centuries of experience have taught her the value of invisibility, given that hers may well be the most hazardous diet known to man, and homeless people throughout the world can testify eloquently to what the word “invisible” actually means. Access may be another factor: twelve year old children aren’t usually seen shopping at Walmart unchaperoned in the later evening, and she doesn’t always have a minder handy. Nobody is ever going to notice a child doing some dumpster diving in the wee hours of a moonless morning, not even in the posher parts of the city.
Plus, you know, there’s the laundry problem. About the best you could really do with a bright pink and yellow jumpsuit after a good meal would probably involve some gasoline and a match.
What would Bill say? That she’s exactly what she claims to be, not young, not old, not a boy, not a girl, nothing, that she can’t have anything because she should be dead? Nothing doesn’t usually leave gangs of boys resting in swimming pools in pieces.
Whatever she is or isn’t, that’s just what she is when she rolls out of her tub, and the costume she wriggles into, Bill might argue, is a reflection of how she perceives humanity. She wasn’t good for much before her radioactive spider or splash of heavy water in the guise of some exotic colonising microfauna made her what she’s become, and so she’s become much of an extrapolation of what people expected of her: the ultimate self-centered mooch whose pangs of conscience are always overruled by her desire to live, not born to defend Truth, Justice and the Swedish way, never having been inspired to lead the world through (or into) the dark by example and apparently blithely ignoring the cost that accrues to the human condition that her own personal condition demands.
And whom, Bill might argue further, does she choose to share her life and pillow with to uphold and affirm this view? An incontinent liar and thief who keeps a scrapbook of murders and harbors fantasies of bloody revenge.
Bill might argue that this is how Eli views humanity, and that her attire and hygiene are a reflection of that view. She doesn’t send minders to Walmart for backpacks and changes of wardrobe whenever feasible because she sees no point in struggling to achieve and maintain a thin and forever cracked veneer.
His argument that Superman stands out in this isn’t very accurate. Diana Prince is the born daughter of Hippolyta, too, when she rolls out of bed. Her Wonder Woman outfits are her native apparel and work clothes. Likewise, Peter Parker is still friendly to the neighbourhood and inhumanly strong and agile when he’s showering in the locker room at school. Diana (in all the TV or movies I’ve seen, can’t comment about the comics) sees humanity through the lenses of a Themysciran, and her elegant, refined and lovingly protective nature reflects what she sees in humanity, regardless of what she might happen to be wearing at the moment: potential. Parker is a mirror of what he feels humanity should be, with or without his arachnid-themed clown suit: kind, decent, honest, friendly, tolerant and a few dozen other virtuous adjectives. The various comic book universes are loaded with people who’d been bitten by radioactive spiders, exposed to heavy water, born in some other time or place, or maybe just people who’d eaten the wrong kinds of apples – and who all still find humanity in general worth fighting for and protecting.
Everybody, it seems, should be held to the ideals exemplified by characters in these works of fiction – but not necessarily by the superheros themselves or by their alternate personas. Prince has her Steve Trevor, Parker his Mary Jane Watson and Superman his Lois Lane. These are the people we’d like to be, the people we’d love to see in ourselves and the people we’d love to share our lives pillows with. People, in other words, whose softly and warmly glowing candles form part of the matrix of what humanity should be, and often is barring some extreme circumstance.
Why does Eli wear the clothes she does? It seems she often has minders to do the grocery shopping, after all, so why not also send them to Walmart to pick up a few decent duds?
We’ve speculated that long centuries of experience have taught her the value of invisibility, given that hers may well be the most hazardous diet known to man, and homeless people throughout the world can testify eloquently to what the word “invisible” actually means. Access may be another factor: twelve year old children aren’t usually seen shopping at Walmart unchaperoned in the later evening, and she doesn’t always have a minder handy. Nobody is ever going to notice a child doing some dumpster diving in the wee hours of a moonless morning, not even in the posher parts of the city.
Plus, you know, there’s the laundry problem. About the best you could really do with a bright pink and yellow jumpsuit after a good meal would probably involve some gasoline and a match.
What would Bill say? That she’s exactly what she claims to be, not young, not old, not a boy, not a girl, nothing, that she can’t have anything because she should be dead? Nothing doesn’t usually leave gangs of boys resting in swimming pools in pieces.
Whatever she is or isn’t, that’s just what she is when she rolls out of her tub, and the costume she wriggles into, Bill might argue, is a reflection of how she perceives humanity. She wasn’t good for much before her radioactive spider or splash of heavy water in the guise of some exotic colonising microfauna made her what she’s become, and so she’s become much of an extrapolation of what people expected of her: the ultimate self-centered mooch whose pangs of conscience are always overruled by her desire to live, not born to defend Truth, Justice and the Swedish way, never having been inspired to lead the world through (or into) the dark by example and apparently blithely ignoring the cost that accrues to the human condition that her own personal condition demands.
And whom, Bill might argue further, does she choose to share her life and pillow with to uphold and affirm this view? An incontinent liar and thief who keeps a scrapbook of murders and harbors fantasies of bloody revenge.
Bill might argue that this is how Eli views humanity, and that her attire and hygiene are a reflection of that view. She doesn’t send minders to Walmart for backpacks and changes of wardrobe whenever feasible because she sees no point in struggling to achieve and maintain a thin and forever cracked veneer.
Fais tomber les barrières entre nous qui sommes tous des frères
Re: Why does Eli dress like a girl?
As usual, Sauvin startles us with his usual frank reality check, as brutal (and sad) as reality can often be.sauvin wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:16 pm
...
What would Bill say? That she’s exactly what she claims to be, not young, not old, not a boy, not a girl, nothing, that she can’t have anything because she should be dead? Nothing doesn’t usually leave gangs of boys resting in swimming pools in pieces.
Whatever she is or isn’t, that’s just what she is when she rolls out of her tub, and the costume she wriggles into, Bill might argue, is a reflection of how she perceives humanity. She wasn’t good for much before her radioactive spider or splash of heavy water in the guise of some exotic colonising microfauna made her what she’s become, and so she’s become much of an extrapolation of what people expected of her: the ultimate self-centered mooch whose pangs of conscience are always overruled by her desire to live, not born to defend Truth, Justice and the Swedish way, never having been inspired to lead the world through (or into) the dark by example and apparently blithely ignoring the cost that accrues to the human condition that her own personal condition demands.
And whom, Bill might argue further, does she choose to share her life and pillow with to uphold and affirm this view? An incontinent liar and thief who keeps a scrapbook of murders and harbors fantasies of bloody revenge.
Bill might argue that this is how Eli views humanity, and that her attire and hygiene are a reflection of that view. She doesn’t send minders to Walmart for backpacks and changes of wardrobe whenever feasible because she sees no point in struggling to achieve and maintain a thin and forever cracked veneer.
His argument summation begins with one of the saddest lines in the book (IMO), in response to Oskar asking, "Then what are you?"
Eli answers, "I'm nothing. Not a child. Not old. Not a boy. Not a girl. Nothing."
But I'd like to think that Eli didn't pick Oskar only because he was 'An incontinent liar and thief who keeps a scrapbook of murders and harbors fantasies of bloody revenge,' although that was certainly the ice breaker.
I think it was because his own dark life made it easy for him to embrace who Eli really was (or wasn't) and damn the rest of us.
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)