Comparative Study


Ending The ending of Some Like It Hot is overwhelmingly optimistic. The various webs of lies are torn down as Joe and Jerry tell Sugar and Osgood the truth.


The most uplifting moments in the film occur in the final few scenes. Joe finally acknowledges just how much he cares for Sugar when he sees her onstage singing the lyrics of ‘I’m Through with Love’ with heartbreaking conviction. Deeply moved, Joe – dressed as Josephine – steps forward, takes Sugar in his arms and kisses her. He tells her not to cry and, in his own voice, says ‘no guy is worth it’, before leaving to escape the pursuing mobsters. Sugar’s eyes widen as she realises that Josephine and Junior kiss the same way. She looks at the bracelet on her wrist and suddenly she knows everything. Despite learning that her new lover is a fraud, Sugar rushes to join Joe as he prepares to sail away with Jerry and Osgood. The most positive aspect of this relationship is that Joe is totally honest. Even when Sugar jumps onto the boat, Joe encourages her to leave and find herself a millionaire: ‘You don’t want me, Sugar. I’m a liar and a phony – a saxophone player – one of those no-goodnicks you’ve been running away from’. Sugar, who initially set out to capture a millionaire, realises that she has fallen for Joe regardless of his financial status. What began as a cynical exercise in taking advantage of another person has, for both Joe and Sugar, turned into something real.


Jerry and Osgood also come to an understanding. Their situation is even more complicated than Sugar and Joe’s and we could be forgiven for assuming that there could not be a happy conclusion. Jerry lists all the reasons he cannot possibly marry Osgood, but the doggedly determined old man refuses to be put off in the slightest. When confronted with the fact that his beloved Daphne is in fact a man, Osgood is unfazed. He loves who he loves and simply smiles happily, saying, ‘Well, nobody’s perfect’. The screenplay ends with the comment that Osgood and Daphne’s story is ‘another story – and we’re not quite sure the public is ready for it’. However, the film pushes the boundaries of traditional gender roles of the time and is a marvellously positive depiction of love conquering all.


The ending of the film presents us with the message that everyone can be loved for who they really are and that honesty is the best policy. Such a viewpoint would be optimistic and uplifting in our time and is even more impressive when we consider that the film was released in 1959.


General vision and viewpoint in Persepolis


Opening The first section of Persepolis, called ‘The Veil’, sets the tone for the general vision and viewpoint of the graphic novel, which charts Marjane’s struggle to hold on to her sense of self in a rapidly changing country and, later, a move to another country that regards her homeland as backward and repressive.


In ‘The Veil’, ten-year-old Marjane is pictured wearing the newly imposed headwear. Government policy has made it obligatory for all girls and women to wear a veil covering their hair and part of their face. It is a symbol of an oppressive regime that targets women in particular and aims to eliminate Western influences in Iranian society. While Marjane is religious, she resents the Islamic Republic’s hardline approach. In the first panel of the novel Marjane is alone. Her facial expression, though simply drawn, is glum and resentful. In the second panel she is sitting with her classmates but positioned so that most of her head and body is cut off by the left-hand side of the frame. These two pictures establish Marjane’s viewpoint. She feels a growing isolation in her homeland and is beginning to realise that her future and her opportunities are being curtailed by hardline politicians simply because she is a girl. Already she is


370 King Lear and Comparatives


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