NOTES ON BAD MANNERS (1997)

From the moment that Wes makes contact with Kim, he is making love to her. Her cigarette smoking becomes the pretext for his expression of desire. Her vandalism seems to be a violation of the sanctity of the homestead. She is using a relic incense burner as an ashtray. He forbids her smoking indoors. But in allowing her violation, he is asserting a more invasive gesture towards her. Under the circumstances, it is the height of bad manners to bring attention to his desire: "He wants me.". His desire makes her guilty.

In terms of the events of the story, her guilt needs to be registered. Hence she is accused of stealing the fifty. This "theft" allows Wes to enter the guest bedroom. In turn this permits the audience to view an expression of his desire. This "fantasy" is framed by the cigarette smoke of Kim's. Since Kim's "theft" appears to sanction his rifling through her underwear, she further challenges him to take off her sweater. Once he starts to oblige, she ends up stripping the sweater herself. Through all these scenes, she appears to lead all the actions. This further underlines her guilt. Even if the scenes are played only for Wes, the suggestion is that actual experience will only confirm the same point of view.

The missing fifty is interlocked with the Luther quote in the Minh Shuman piece. The fiction of the missing fifty suggests the quote has been fabricated in the Shuman. This conflict can now be expressed on the objective level. But the resolution to the objective is contingent on Kim's bad manners. Wes refers to the fraud of the quote as equivalent to the missing fifty. Hence his knowledge has its direct reference. At the same time, Kim can use the ambiguity of this reference to express Wes's desire for her. He will admit to a desire to know about the money since in this situation such knowledge implies a carnal knowledge of Kim. In this way he can admit to wanting it, her confession. Otherwise, a confession of desire for the married Wes would be bad manners.

To express the justification for the her confession, Kim watches Matt kiss Nancy. This is framed by the smoke from Kim's cigarette. This somewhat emphasizes a quality of her consent to the event. Matt has already provoked a hollow in her experience with Wes. So Matt does not appear to be the source of these actions, he needs to be embarrassed during his visit to Harvard. Kim's secret knowledge of Nancy's betrayal sets up the seduction scene with Wes. As in the fantasy scene, Kim appears to initiate all actions. She directs the conversation as underlined by her closeup at the foreground of the screen. She put her fingers in Wes's mouth in a further intensification of the interaction. Under this presentation there appears no distinction between a conquest and a consensual interaction.

The unraveling of the hoax further escalates the accusation against Kim. She suffers utter disgrace and is left at the station. She has been unmasked, exposed as the she-demon. The only way to effect this image is for her to act out the seduction and fraud. The director plants the fifty in the chair so he can disingenuously appear to contradict this portrait of the she-demon. The demon enters the house and desecrates it, steals money, engenders a hoax, seduces the master, and insults the mistress. The fantasy emphasizes this image as part of the entertainment. But the discovery of the fifty appears to qualify the negative attribution towards her. The accusation against Kim is engineered entirely with the complicity of the audience. They enjoy the fruits of her seduction as well as observing the utter humiliation of her accusation. Under the circumstances this is the guilt itself. It is an even more intense form of seduction. Nevertheless, she is reprieved in the same way so the audience does not appear to endorse the sexism of her portrayal.

ADDED COMMENTARY

It is rather late in the conflict at the Westlund home that Kim asserts that "[Wes] did make love to me." Last class I drew attention to our overly narrow application of the phrase "to make love", and how this interpretation did not capture the subtle nuances that Kim emphasized. Indeed we see how Wes tolerates Kim's advances as they only confirm a perspective that he already holds. It is under the narrow interpretation that Wes hides. He directs the interaction to insure his overall satisfaction. Under the legalese he can more or less dismiss his actions while characterizing her as the temptress. She first denies that she had sexual relations with Wes as this corresponds with the narrow definition. But when Wes claims to have not participated, she asserts that he did "make love." He gestured towards her in a seductive manner. Under the conditions in which she has been demonized, she cannot accurately declare his abuse of the situation. Both Wes and Matt have hidden behind this narrow definition. The language of polite manners does not allow her to describe the full effect of her mistreatment. By saying words that offend good manners, she excludes herself from the polite society.

Note how Roger Ebert in his review of the movie develops the notion of the she-demon:

"It seems likely only because Kim is such a game player anyway, a woman who draws out the worst in everyone around her, for her private delight."

"She wanders about the house wearing less than she should [ha!], and she seduces Wes once in a fantasy sequence and probably again for real, although the truth is obscured by much game playing."

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1998/12/121802.html