The film "Diner" follows five guys- Eddie, Shrevie, Boogie, Billy, and Timothy, and the problems they encounter when facing adulthood. Diner is one of my favorite movies because of the way it's characters are portrayed by the writers; with a wide range of colors, and acceptance for their flaws. Many movies released at that time (Diner was made in 1982) were about how men and women in their 20s typically acted. Diner chose to show how difficult the process of growing up is, and how it changes everyone. I chose to closely read a scene where Shrevie, (played by Daniel Stern) and his recently married wife Beth (played by Ellen Barkin), argue over their records.
Beth and Shrevie are at home, engaged in separate activities. Beth is painting her nails in the kitchen, while Shrevie flips through records in his record cabinet. Shrevie angrily calls for Beth to come over, and he begins their argument. In these first few moments, you can see that they're both happier without each other. As soon as they come together, they start to argue.
Shrevie asks if Beth's been messing up his detailed record filing procedure. Beth seems to think it isn't that big of a deal. This only makes Shrevie more angry, and he yells at Beth, telling her she completely misplaced his James Brown record. "It's too complicated, Shrevie... I just want to listen to the music," says Beth. "It's not that complicated, just follow my procedure!"He mentions a famous jazz musician, who Beth doesn't recognize. When Beth she doesn't recognize him, Shrevie gets even madder, telling her that he was the greatest jazz saxophone player of all time Beth seems like all she wants is for Shrevie not to yell at her. Shrevie ignores her attempts to make him let it go, signaling that they have bigger problems than just the records. "It's just music," she repeats. "Don't you understand?!" he says. "This is important to me!"
Beth asks why Shrevie always yells at her, and never at his friends. He ignores this and tells her to pick a record at random from the ones he's holding. He shows her that he knows the flips side of every record he owns- the label, the producer, the year it was made. "You never ask me stuff like that, do you? You never ask me what's on the flip side." She responds by asking him who cares what's on the flip side of a record? "I do!" he yells. There is a pause. Shrevie wants Beth to love the things that he does, and Beth doesn't understand what she's doing to make him so angry. You are able to sympathize for both characters, because you can see that they weren't prepared for what marriage would bring for them. They're both good people, but they misjudged the difficulties of getting married so early. Shrevie seems to think that Beth is supposed to care about all of his interests, but she can't. It isn't her job in their relationship. At the same time, Beth doesn't know what she's doing wrong, because her not caring as much as he does about records shouldn't make him angry. It's perfectly normal.
He then explains to Beth that each of his records means something to him. They take him back to different points in his life. He leaves by telling her that when they first met, "Ain't That a Shame" was playing when he walked in the door. Beth is left behind, crying.
In conclusion, the Record scene displayed the difficult and sudden transition between dating and marriage. Both characters wanted things from each other that they don't know how to provide. Beth wants him not to yell at her, and Shrevie wants her to be the wife he imagined she would be. They both want to be happy. They just don't know how to solve their problems. In an earlier scene, Shrevie tells his friend Eddie about his problem with their marriage. "I can sit here and talk all night with you," says Shrevie, "but I can't hold a five minute conversation with Beth." It was very interesting to deconstruct the Record scene, because there was so much behind it. I discovered a lot of new things that tie in to close reading; sequence of events, dialogue, pace, etc. I'll be thinking about these things more as I continue to analyze more extensively with both movies and books.
So – my three favorite Starbucks in Manhattan – at Bond and Broadway, at 17th and Union Square, at 39th and 8th – always remind me of Diner. Why is that? At first blush it seems these types of hangouts are quite different. Of course, they are. I’ll confess that when I’m in one of these places I’m not, like the ensemble six of Diner, debating the relative merits of Mathis vs. Sinatra or engaging in braggadocio about how I can get a girl to grab my pecker on our first date – but I certainly see groups of young men who are the 2014 versions of these guys.
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