The Gift of Friendship
Lou quotes author Robert Louis Stevenson when he tells Nina that “a friend is a gift you give yourself.” The quote is right, but the meaning is ironically inverted. Stevenson’s implication was that when you make a friend you have enlarged your own sense of self. Lou means that a friend is a shiny new present to enjoy, use and toss away when no longer wanted.
Absurdia in Suburbia
Nina exploits Lou for the purpose of pushing her station’s ratings agenda: scaring white suburbanites into thinking “victims, preferably well-off and/or white, injured at the hands of the poor, or a minority” present the greatest threat. Young, polite, upwardly mobile Lou Bloom proves to be the biggest threat in the story.
Define Anti-Hero
By any rational measure of judgment, Lou Bloom is not a figure to be admired or imitated. Yes, Lou ends the film as a success, but not as an anti-hero. Lou is no Travis Bickle who used extreme violence to save a pre-teen prostitute. Lou uses extreme violence to save Lou. The irony? The exact same psychological traits and learned behavior manifested by the unquestionably villainous Lou Bloom are manifested every single day by respected CEOs and politicians.
The End: Happily Ever After
Lou is a terrible human being, possessing not one single admirable quality. And most of the characters with whom he interacts know this as well as the audience. Still, for Lou, this is a story with a happily ever after ending that moves well beyond irony and into the realm of the caustic social commentary.
How to Succeed in Business
The film begins with Lou (inappropriately) taking on the persona of a job interview candidate spewing out a litany of vacuous answers to questions never asked. The film ends with Lou actually inhabiting the role of a job interviewer spewing out a litany of vacuous congratulatory advice to his most recent hirelings.
