Fancy That

Random Deep Thought: Material World vs. Reality

Breakfast at Tiffany's is undeniably the original "chick flick". After watching the film for the 123,430 time I had a thought: there's actually a deeper lesson in the film to be learned than merely a socialite's fashion sense. Most girls came to idolize Audrey Hepburn from her role as the dazzling, conflicted and always glamorous Holly Golightly. The audience connects so powerfully to Hepburn because of her character's widely identifiable qualities; Holly Golightly is a free-spirited, material girl with an inner battle of self-discovery. In my honest opinion, Paul Varjak is a character that's been slighted. He doesn't get the all the attention and credit he deserves as the wise voice of reason. In the final scene, he word-slaps Miss Golightly with a resounding reality check:

"You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness. You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself."

 The valuable take-away from Breakfast at Tiffany's isn't about a girl's need for diamonds and pearls. It's about facing the truths that are often suppressed by the masks we wear.