Art & Identity in New Orleans

The Moviegoer, in my opinion, is a softly tragic story that demonstrates the unfulfillment of society’s focus on the arbitrary and the lack of intrinsic value that comes with the constraints of falsity. John “Binx” Bolling is a character who rejects these notions and has seen beyond the illusions of living for the mundane. He prefers the idea of cultivating true authenticity without the constraints of social norms and holds a desire to search for the true meaning of life. Aunt Emily represents the pressures to live to benefit society and how that pressure can recycle through generations of children being taught broken values that will leave one feeling empty inside. Kate, like Binx, feels it necessary to reject the life that she feels has been assigned to her, and because of the constraints of belonging, falls prey to a life of disillusionment and represents how the pressure to fit into a certain category will ruin a person’s desire to live for themselves. The central themes stated above to reach a culmination at the end of the story when Kate and Binx, stampeded by pressure, finally fall into the very lives they least desire to live.