Sep 22 2012
WASP, A Short Film That Stings
WASP, written and directed by Andrea Arnold, is filled with emotion– anger, sadness, pity, endearment, love. It depicts an eventful day in the life of Zoe, a single mother, and her children. The family lives in a dingy apartment, surviving off very little money. The innocent, dirty faces of the kids pull on the audience’s heartstrings, while the actions of their irresponsible yet loving mother pluck them violently. In the first few scenes Zoe takes action against one of her kids being bullied by attempting to beat-up the other girl’s mother. Oh, and she brings her kids with her to watch. I would really like to be doing the job of the other mother at this point (kicking Zoe’s a**), but I also feel a sense of pride for her misguided attempt at defending her children. The same feelings occur when Zoe has her kids wait outside a bar while she goes on a date with this guy David. I couldn’t help but to feel pride for Zoe that she is trying to get her life moving, but I also couldn’t help to want to kill her. How can you leave your kids outside a bar? and then only feed them chips and soda? Zoe continually walks a tightrope for the night, balancing taking care of her children and making a good impression on Dave. And in the end, Arnold reveals that Zoe’s love for her children is an overbearing emotion for her. She runs to her kids when they scream, as opposed to hooking-up with David. I really like Zoe at this point, she runs to her children and holds them. And the best moment of the whole movie is when David (the nice guy) takes the kids to get some real food for once, and tells Zoe that they “have to talk.” I laugh in delight when the little blonde girl pushes her hair behind her ears and stuffs her face with french fries.
Photo Credit: http://dearcinema.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Wasp-2003.jpg
I also love the part where Dave takes the kids out to eat. Do you think He did it just to get to Zoe though? I cant help but feel like he might be taking advantage- feeding her kids and playing the loving father so he can come into the family and be the hero.
Dave is legit! He wouldn’t have asked to talk things out if he wasn’t being sincere.
I honestly thought David was the bad guy not the good guy. That was actually a big surprise for me. And I think you kind of hinted at this but Zoe is trying to do her best and she has good intentions in the treatment of her kids. Because she’s a misguided mother she doesn’t always make the right decisions.
Zoe is not misguided at all. There is a huge difference in not knowing and in pretending not to know. I mean what kind of mother denies her kids?
Zoe just sucks at being a mother. She is not mature enough to be a mother because she is selfish.