A Character Analysis Of Connie In The Movie Smooth Talk

Smooth Talk is a movie about a 15-year-old girl named, Connie. She was known to be a very beautiful, but wild. Connie and her friends went out almost every weekend to the mall to meet boys and go shopping. The Connie outside of her home was very different from the Connie inside her house. She dressed, talked, and acted differently when she was with her family. It was only because of the relationship she had with them, especially her mother. Because she was such a pretty girl, her mother resented her. She didn’t like the way she paid so much attention to herself. When she looked in the mirror, she stared. She admired her looks and the way she put her clothes together. Its safe to say that Connie was self- centered and naÏve.

At the end of the movie, a stranger named Arnold Friend encountered Connie at her home while she was home alone. Arnold was a vicious, but alluring character. The way he dressed was as if he tried to imitate a young teenage boy. First, his intentions for Connie were kind of blurry. Connie, being as

naive as she was, acted as if it wasn’t dangerous enough that a total stranger randomly showed up at her house. She was so friendly with him, that she went to his car and had quite a normal conversation with him. As the conversation continues, she began to notice that arnold Friend was not exactly a friend. It became clear to her that he was a predator, and she had gotten caught in his trap.
In comparison, Teenage Wasteland was quite a close shot to the movie, Smooth Talk. Donny was also a teenage boy around Connie's age. His issue wasn’t so much of him being naive and self- centered, but he wasn’t responsible either. His parents weren’t very good at making decisions that would help him. Much like Connie's mother, Donny's mother did try at least. Her being a former teacher, she had an idea of how important a child's education was. Also like Connie's mother, Donny's mother had a very low self- esteem. The difference was that this made her defend her child rather than go against him.
Donny made a lot of bad decisions, especially when it came to his school work.

His grades were very bad and he wasn’t known to be a good student in class. He was described as, “ noisy,disruptive, always fooling around with his friends”. When his mother was notified about this, although her help was limited, it seemed to help him for a little bit, but then he fell back into same place as he was before. Donny was set up with a tutor, by the name of Cal. Cal was not the type of tutor any parent would intentionally set their child up with. He encouraged the child to rebel against authority. He criticized every attempt Donny's mother made to help her child. Donny unsurprisingly enjoyed the sessions with Cal. At the end of the story Donnys tutor was dropped and Donny was sent to a new school. His grades began to look better, but after a few months he disappeared. No one knew where he could be, not even Cal. Donnys parents are now left with a lost

son.
These two stories have a lot in common. Starting with the homes of the children, both seem to be rather broken. Not in a physical state, but considering that hey boy had a battered relationship with their parents. As stated above, the mothers from both stories were both burdened with low self- esteem. Connie’s mother resulted in her treating her daughter poorly rather than being an encouragement toward her. Donny’s mother used her self- esteem to back up her son to make herself feel as if she was a better parent. This affected both Connie and Donny in a negative way. This made Connie want to be away from her family all the time. Not so much in a rebellious way, but in a selfishly manner. Donny on the other hand, rebelled against his parents. It was no way he would sit and actually listen and allow them to help him.
The environment or society these kids were living in had a big effect of them as well. They both were surrounded by pressure. Connie had the pressure of other girls her age being exposed to the type of clothes they were to wear, and being older than what they really were. Donny was surrounded by peer pressure. It kind of seemed like there was a lot of other students who did the things he was doing. If he environment wasn’t so bad, maybe it would have made a difference as well. Then they wouldn’t have been exposed to so much.
Lasly, their consequences. They were ad indeed, but we saw it coming, especially for connie. Her being so naive basically gave herself the opportunity to get herself in the position she was in. Donny being so irresponsible and careless as well resulted in him “disappearing”. In both cases their actions throughout the story/ movie caused them to get in these situations.