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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The End of Chasing Amy - Interpretations?

deletia

07:24 / 31.08.01

WARNING!!!!

If you are genuinely stupid enough not to realise that a thread titled "The End of Chasing Amy - Interpretations?" may contain interpretations of the end of "Chasing Amy", and thus potentially SPOILERS, please be warned at this point that this thread is likely to contain SPOILERS as to the end of "Chasing Amy", and interpretations thereof.

You may also want to find an adult to help you wiht cutting out this coupon.

Thank you for your time.

Right. This spun off to avoid (hopefully) more blithering about acceptable forms of argumentation in the Spectacle, and debates about whether Kevin Smith's opus, considered as a whole, makes him one of the all-time great directors.

Just curious about people's impressions of the last scene of Chasing Amy, as people on the Jay and Silent Bob thread are advancing the idea that there was a suggestion that Alyssa and Holden were going to get back together.

I had always assumed that the point was that she and he met, spoke briefly, got on reasonably well, and that was it; they weren't going to look each other up, they weren't going to seek each other out, and that was pretty much it...

And, on the subject, what do people think the exchange of hand gestures between Holden and Banky meant? I haven't seen it for years...

[ 01-09-2001: Message edited by: The Haus of Willow ]

07:56 / 31.08.01

The hand motions reference earlier on in the film, when Banky and Holden are discussing a "shared moment".

deletia

08:11 / 31.08.01

Please assume ignorance. "Shared experience"? Come on geekboys, talk me through, gesture by gesture.

[ 31-08-2001: Message edited by: The Haus of Guides ]

08:24 / 31.08.01

I wasn't taking the piss or anything, you asked and i answered...

Just before Holden (Affleck) is about to go meet Alyssa (Adams) for the second time, Banky (Lee) gives him shit about being interested in her. Holden says something like :

"The other night in that bar, Alyssa and I, we shared a moment, alright?"

As he's saying that, he brings his index fingers together... the shared moment.

[ 31-08-2001: Message edited by: johnny whatif ]

deletia

08:33 / 31.08.01

But there's an entire sign-language conversation...

08:45 / 31.08.01

As far as i know, Banky's gesturing hello/how are you-type things, and motioning that Alyssa's at another table across that way...

They kind of have a "gesture-conversation" (the kind of thing that good mates can have, where facial expression and hand movements replace words) generally about how the two are getting on in life.

If i remember right, Holden holds up the comic Banky's working on, and makes nodding/thumbs-up motions, indicating that he likes the work.

Umm... it's the kind of thing, that, yes, you have to be watching to realise clearly what they're saying to each other, and as i possess no VCR in work (Bastards! They say it'll interfere with productivity, whatever that means, what productivity, i say...), i can only give a vague personal interpretation.

But i'm definite about the "shared moment" thing. Yes.

08:45 / 31.08.01

isnt there a gift giving ceremony as well - Holden gives Alyssa his comic 'Chasing Amy' showing how he has learnt his lesson and wont be asking her for any more fingercuffing? I think that was partly why I took it to imply that they will be reunited - Banky having been returned to repression and Alyssa's friend of undetermined sexual persuasion looking like no fun....
But then I've only seen it the once, maybe they walked off in opposite directions without looking back.

[ 31-08-2001: Message edited by: Blue-Stocking ]

10:01 / 31.08.01

I reckon that Holden giving Alyssa the comic is simply an apology - he realises that he destroyed what they had with his insecurities, and in trying to fix it (with the Holden/Banky/Alyssa threesome), he only damaged their relationship further.

From a reading of the script, it could easily be inferred that Holden and Alyssa will (eventually) try again, but what i get from actually watching that last scene is that there's regret and sadness there, and an attempt to explain Holden's feelings (through the comic), rather than an attempt at reconciliation.

It's the shot where Alyssa stares out, watching Holden leave, and then slowly goes back to her signings and her friend, that makes me feel that this is a bittersweet ending. All the people involved know that there's no going back, but there's closure (jeebus i hate that word) and acceptance of the faults and mistakes of all three.

10:26 / 31.08.01

At the very start of the film we see a pissed off borg-like woman all alone.
The last thing we see is a borg-like happy couple.
I took this to mean that Alyssa and holden get back together.
Or I could be just mad.

11:01 / 31.08.01

In the simplest of terms, I took the end of "Chasing Amy" to imply that Holden had fucked up and blown it with Alyssa through his own stupidity, the comic he drew was both an expression of his regret and kind of an elegy for their romance, and when Alyssa saw him at the signing, there was definitely a rekindling of feelings but not enough for her to go backwards (to Holden) instead of forwards (with her life).

11:38 / 31.08.01

I watched this movie dozens of times on video (too cheap to get cable) and it never occured to me that they would try to get back together. If they did it would take away any emotional impact that the story had*. It also seemed to me that Banky and Holden were no longer best buds. Not all stories have happy endings. People move on.

Doesn't everyone have a friend that you used to hang with, or a girl/ boy you used to love, that you no longer have the same relationship with- and you know you can't go back. Its part of growing up.

*It would be like killing a comic character only to bring him back two months later; the origional story loses all relivence.

11:45 / 31.08.01

<rot?>
When Banky and Alyssa are trading sex injury stories near the beginning of the film Banky mentions a girl (the name escapes me) that he had sex with in college: its the girlfriend from Mallrats (the one on the game show). Poor T.S.</rot?>

12:21 / 31.08.01

Brandi Svenning? You sure? Okay...

In a similar vein, when Holden and Alyssa are arguing outside the hockey game, and Alyssa tells Holden about taking a guy to her prom and leaving halfway through to have sex with him and Gwen Turner in the back of a limo, she's talking about the character that Joey Lauren Adams played in Mallrats.

Also, later in that scene, she says that when she was sleeping with Shannon Hamilton, she let him videotape them having sex - Shannon Hamilton is the character Ben Affleck played in Mallrats.

Oh lordy, i'm a geek. Ah well...

18:41 / 31.08.01

I took the ending to mean that they weren't gonna get back together, ever. The comic book was a sort of explanation/apology, not a way for Holden to get back in Alyssa's pants. I think the characters made their peace with each other, but were never going to get back to what once was there; this is reinforced in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back by the fact that Holden and Banky don't talk anymore and that Holden is still single and Alyssa has a girlfriend at the end.

05:31 / 01.09.01

Thanks for the spoiler warning.

asshole.

The Sinister Haiku Bureau

17:40 / 01.09.01

I'm in a rush, so I'm gonna be brief but:

1. Do a search for the unedited script- it contains a fair few scenes which weren't in the final film.
2. Also worthy of debate: The last word banky says in the entire film is 'Bye'. I interpreted this, along with his ponderous look shortly afterwards to mean he had realised he has (just?) come to terms with the fact that he was bisexual....could just be me though...
3. Theres also an implication that Hooper's a closet (bi/hetero)sexual: His last word in the film is the name of an artiste who's name means 'cunt' if I remember rightly, for more info, see the script- don't wanna spoil the script for those who haven't read it yet...
4. The Borg(s) are VERY symbolic- I always took it to be about people's inability to face the truth of their own feelings, and that the only way to be happy in a relationship was to supress your feelings, like a borg.
Ultimately though, I don't know if they get back together in the end. I think it's implicit that the girl Alyssa's with on the panel is her girlfriend, given that she seems to know nothing about comics and conventions and whatnot...although she keeps making references to her and holden's relationship, so i think she still has feelings for him....

gonna have to rewatch it though....

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

03:45 / 02.09.01

My take is much like everyone else's here on the thread. Holden and Alyssa will not get back together because him going to the con to show her the comic he wrote symbolizes that he, in fact, is apologizing for his behavior and actions of yore. He doesn't expect to be taken back with open arms; he just expects to be forgiven. It's his way of saying he's sorry. I mean, look at what Alyssa does after he leaves! She gives the comic the cursory "I know what you mean by this gesture" look and then goes back talking to her lesbe-friend. And as for Banky, it's clear they are not as close as they were, so the whole hand-gesturing thing is like an old joke you share with someone you used to be close with; you run through the motions so no one loses face, but you poignantly realize that there was something cool lost and it can never be replaced.

07:12 / 02.09.01

I thought the end was intentionally ambiguous. But in real life, Smith broke up with Joey Lauren Adams, and as Cop Killer pointed out, the Jay and Silent Bob film reinforces the interpretation that no one gets back together. So perhaps Smith always intended that to be what happened.

05:11 / 03.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Biodegradable K-9:
Thanks for the spoiler warning.

asshole.

Sorry about that, it's just that I'm so unhip that if I've done something I figure everyone else has done it waaaay before me.

09:26 / 04.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Cop Killer:
in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back by the fact that Holden and Banky don't talk anymore and that Holden is still single and Alyssa has a girlfriend at the end.

that wasn't Alyssa's girl friend at the end of Jay & Silent Bob, it was Alyssa Jones' little sister Trisha Jones from Mallrats... who's the bigger geek now? i think it's me...

13:44 / 04.09.01

The important thing to make clear is that Jason Lee is just WAY cuter as a love interest than Ben Affleck.

"See that man?

He's the DEVIL..."

Our Lady of The Two Towers

14:02 / 04.09.01

Only when he's clean-shaven though...

14:47 / 04.09.01

quote:Originally posted by The Ungodly Lozt and Found Office:
Only when he's clean-shaven though...

WRONG!! He's so HOT in "Almost Famous" with his little rock god look!!!

/threadrot

deletia

15:42 / 04.09.01

I do love the slash in front of "threadrot". As if this was going to be the end of it. As if it ever ended.

17:42 / 04.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Cop Killer:

Sorry about that, it's just that I'm so unhip that if I've done something I figure everyone else has done it waaaay before me.

Oh well. Not like you gave away the ending of The Usual Suspects...

And Haus, if that edit about SPOILERS in the first post was for my benefit you can stick it up your ass/arse. I was ticked about the spoiler for the Jay and Silent Bob movie (which isn't the title of this thread).

18:06 / 04.09.01

Don't worry, they were there before...

13:42 / 11.06.03

It's a couple of years behind, but just in case anyone still cares, I just watched Chasing Amy with commentary on the DVD, and Smith says that they were going to include a scene where Holden and Alyssa embrace at the end, but that would give people the idea that they were getting back together, which wasn't what he intended.

14:44 / 11.06.03

Re. the relative attractiveness of the male leads: I used to think Jason Lee was cute, but for me, Ben Affleck will always be ButtMan (as in 'Mallrats'), which makes me unable to take him seriously or like him in anything ever. Because that character was just so loathsome. Talk about giving anal sex a bad name...

I didn't get the impression that Banky had refused to stick his head out of the closet. He seemed more subdued in the scene at the end, and I prefer to think that means he'd come to terms with himself somewhat. As for Holden and Alyssa...never occurred to me they'd get back together. I think it was fairly clear he'd screwed up that relationship royally and irredeemably.

15:44 / 11.06.03

In Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back Holden mentions that "At times like this I miss dating a lesbian" so they definately don't get back together. Also Alyssa is with a new girlfriend (Only its not, its actually her sister. Who feels stupid for not reading the thread properly!) and Banky meanwhile has got together with Hooper (the Black Power comicbook guy).

16:52 / 11.06.03

Ugh. Yeah, I had forgotten...I blocked the horror that is Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back from my mind.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:13 / 11.06.03

Yeah, but were they together or just together at the cinema. I got the impression they were just there to argue about whether more comic characters were gay or not...