Maybe I’m just projecting a reason to ignore this annoying discourse, but there were a few times in Licorice Pizza where it sort of felt like Alana was younger than she said. Whether it’s the fact that her older sisters still live at home too, or how her dad still treats her like a teenager when she’s coming home from dates or in a bikin…
Maybe I’m just projecting a reason to ignore this annoying discourse, but there were a few times in Licorice Pizza where it sort of felt like Alana was younger than she said. Whether it’s the fact that her older sisters still live at home too, or how her dad still treats her like a teenager when she’s coming home from dates or in a bikini, or even just how inexperienced she is with certain things like martinis. 25 isn’t old but she definitely felt like someone closer to 20 who was trying to be taken more seriously by others.
The only thing that keeps me from going full fan-theory is that guy who knows her in Wachs campaign. He definitely seems to be in his mid-20’s or even older, and there was some implication that they were in school together. So maybe Alana is just a character who is sheltered in some ways?
I think this was even mentioned by Alana in an interview where she said she was 28 (her IRL age) during an improv w/ Bradley Cooper, then corrected herself to 25. Could easily see that the character Alana is lying about being younger than she actually is as cover for still being even less mature/grown up she "should" be for someone nearly 30, let alone 25.
I think it's left ambiguous whether she's lying about her age, but either way I think the important thing is that the movie plays with our ideas about age differences and power dynamics in very important ways. Who is more accomplished and arguably has more power in this film? I would argue it's Gary. He may be younger, but he owns multiple businesses over the course of the movie, is an actor, goes to bars and acts like an adult, and generally is constantly projecting a maturity beyond his years. Yes, the movie goes out of its way to show how immature he really is at times, but he overall "has his shit together" and is confident about what he wants. Alana, meanwhile, is older than Gary but has no idea what she wants or where she's going, is really trying to figure herself out, works shitty jobs and lives with her entire family, and is berated by her dad constantly. In many ways, she is younger than her age would imply, and Gary is older than his age would imply, so they naturally meet in the middle despite the age difference, which is a pretty mild difference to begin with.
This also gets at how arbitrary age is in our society. We've collectively decided that something magical changes when you turn 18 and you become an adult, but really our brains don't finish developing until about 25, and emotional maturity is on totally different tracks for each person. It's just not that simple to, devoid of context, declare a relationship to be inappropriate based on age. And especially with people in their late teens and early 20s, it's not that odd for relationships to develop.
All that said, I don't really think Gary and Alana are developing a romantic relationship at the end of the movie. I think they care deeply about each other and will likely be lifelong friends, but I don't get the impression they are going to develop any serious romantic relationship after the movie ends. People are reading so much into the mild romantic overtures at the end of the movie, but they don't necessarily mean it went any further than that. And it comes after Alana has had a really tough experience and I think she is just taking comfort in the one person who seems to really care about her.
Maybe I’m just projecting a reason to ignore this annoying discourse, but there were a few times in Licorice Pizza where it sort of felt like Alana was younger than she said. Whether it’s the fact that her older sisters still live at home too, or how her dad still treats her like a teenager when she’s coming home from dates or in a bikini, or even just how inexperienced she is with certain things like martinis. 25 isn’t old but she definitely felt like someone closer to 20 who was trying to be taken more seriously by others.
The only thing that keeps me from going full fan-theory is that guy who knows her in Wachs campaign. He definitely seems to be in his mid-20’s or even older, and there was some implication that they were in school together. So maybe Alana is just a character who is sheltered in some ways?
I think this was even mentioned by Alana in an interview where she said she was 28 (her IRL age) during an improv w/ Bradley Cooper, then corrected herself to 25. Could easily see that the character Alana is lying about being younger than she actually is as cover for still being even less mature/grown up she "should" be for someone nearly 30, let alone 25.
I think it's left ambiguous whether she's lying about her age, but either way I think the important thing is that the movie plays with our ideas about age differences and power dynamics in very important ways. Who is more accomplished and arguably has more power in this film? I would argue it's Gary. He may be younger, but he owns multiple businesses over the course of the movie, is an actor, goes to bars and acts like an adult, and generally is constantly projecting a maturity beyond his years. Yes, the movie goes out of its way to show how immature he really is at times, but he overall "has his shit together" and is confident about what he wants. Alana, meanwhile, is older than Gary but has no idea what she wants or where she's going, is really trying to figure herself out, works shitty jobs and lives with her entire family, and is berated by her dad constantly. In many ways, she is younger than her age would imply, and Gary is older than his age would imply, so they naturally meet in the middle despite the age difference, which is a pretty mild difference to begin with.
This also gets at how arbitrary age is in our society. We've collectively decided that something magical changes when you turn 18 and you become an adult, but really our brains don't finish developing until about 25, and emotional maturity is on totally different tracks for each person. It's just not that simple to, devoid of context, declare a relationship to be inappropriate based on age. And especially with people in their late teens and early 20s, it's not that odd for relationships to develop.
All that said, I don't really think Gary and Alana are developing a romantic relationship at the end of the movie. I think they care deeply about each other and will likely be lifelong friends, but I don't get the impression they are going to develop any serious romantic relationship after the movie ends. People are reading so much into the mild romantic overtures at the end of the movie, but they don't necessarily mean it went any further than that. And it comes after Alana has had a really tough experience and I think she is just taking comfort in the one person who seems to really care about her.