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Why Holly Golightly Bugs Guys
One man reveals his true feelings about the sinister Holly Golightly.
by Dave Itzkoff
I’m not proud to admit this, but there was once a time, in my single days, when I was so desperate that I agreed to take a girl on a Sunday morning date that began with brunch and ended with us at an old movie theater watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
You don’t have to know that my favorite films usually have words like “Star” and “Wars” and “Godfather” in their titles to appreciate what a tremendous concession this was on my part—what a paramount sacrifice it would be for any self-respecting guy to subject himself to the soapy, sudsy, 1961 progenitor from which all other frothy chick flicks have bubbled up.
Why my disdain? Audrey Hepburn, as the peculiar socialite Holly Golightly, remains the pop-culture template for any woman who believes that impulsiveness and self-involvement are necessary, even admirable, qualities. And it’s Holly who convinced Hollywood to mint more women like her. Had she never noshed on pastries outside that famous Fifth Avenue locale, we’d have been spared the spectacle of Julia Roberts as a $3,000-a-week “pretty woman,” Thelma and Louise would never have enjoyed their aerial view of the Grand Canyon, and Elle Woods would never have gone to Harvard Law School.
Also, I’d be a much happier man today. My brunch date and I didn’t last very long, but my memories of that film still endure: Hepburn’s sweet performance of “Moon River” on a Manhattan fire escape; her steadfast insistence on calling George Peppard’s frustrated-author character “Fred” instead of by his real name, Paul; her willingness to accept money from all manner of men, from predatory party animals to incarcerated mobsters; and my nagging sense that Holly Golightly might be the most disturbingly selfish and sinister woman in all of cinema.
From the moment Holly is introduced— when it’s clear she has no qualms about accepting favors from men who expect much more than a goodnight kiss at the end of the evening, that her whole life has been spent stringing along one sugar daddy after another—we begin to see that anything in her life that isn’t about her is blithely shoved to the periphery. The woman hasn’t even taken the time to name her cat.
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1 Michael // Aug 12, 2008 at 1:05 pm
God, men who don’t read are such a bore…
2 Lisa // Apr 11, 2008 at 11:52 am
Breakfast at Tiffany’s isn’t a happy sweet indulgence about a self-centered socialite…did you even TRY to pay attention?
Holly is a runaway who fled to New York to escape the marriage she was forced into as a child.
When she gets to New York, she realizes she’s completely incapable of taking care of her self and resorts to prostitution to survive.
She isn’t self-centered - she’s still mentally a child and just trying to survive the life she’s living. Really, do you think prostitution was top on her list of life goals?
BAT is a sad story of a woman who is best trying to deal with what life gave her - a choice between a miserable marriage to a much older man or a life of prostitution where she has some semblance of freedom - and who covers up her misery (and mental instability) with parties, alcohol, and general refusal to accept reality.
3 julia // Feb 23, 2008 at 11:22 am
Her husband was a child mollester, he married her when she was fourteen remember? in fact he should have been put in jail. And those weren’t her children. She was a chid herself at the time. How about that
4 Heather // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:37 pm
If you read the novella (not short story) you would know that Holly is certainly not a socialite - she’s a prostitute, as is her friend ‘Fred’. Maybe you should watch the movie again, or read the book. She’s selfish and hard-hearted for a reason.