Interesting thoughts on Annie Hall. I like Woody Allen, but I never quite trust his take on anything -- there are just layers and layers of neurosis, with him, and sometimes you just end up thoroughly disapproving of what he seems to be suggesting about his characters, and what his alter-ego seems to stand for.
I wonder if it's fair to say Annie doesn't have a career, defines herself through the men in her life. I suspect she's supposed to be much younger than Alvy, just really starting out and being a young person in a new city, which is sort of (insidiously) her appeal to Alvy. She really is a cipher at the start, living out some aimless New York fantasy of becoming a singer, presumably at her indulgent family's expense. I sort of think that's necessary for the story, to get Alvy into Pygmalion mode, and the point is maybe that what he's really infatuated with is this woman who's an empty enough vessel to be filled at will according to his own fantasy and need. And of course, in keeping with the Pygmalion myth, once she eventualy gets her act together she moves on and his quest to recover her is doomed.
As for the vacuity or silliness of her actual adventure with the Paul Simon character -- again, I don't quite know how to take Woody's take. The LA scenes always bothered me, in that they reflect so much classic New York snobbery toward California -- and so much resentment and petty tearing down of Annie's openness to new things, whatever their various sillinesses -- but nothing about Alvy's own character suggests that the snobbery or critical perspective is earned. For all his alleged sophistication, he sort of classically moves in circles, obsessively repeats experiences, where Annie seeks and learns and moves on. I don't know if this is a deliberate irony, but given WA's limitations, I suspect not. :)
The closing riff about "needing the eggs" always struck me as nihilistic and despairing, and I walk away with very little sympathy for the self-justifying Alvy, and maybe some sneaking admiration for Annie, who despite her naivete is at least trying things out, having her life and her adventure and going along wherever it takes her.
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I wonder if it's fair to say Annie doesn't have a career, defines herself through the men in her life. I suspect she's supposed to be much younger than Alvy, just really starting out and being a young person in a new city, which is sort of (insidiously) her appeal to Alvy. She really is a cipher at the start, living out some aimless New York fantasy of becoming a singer, presumably at her indulgent family's expense. I sort of think that's necessary for the story, to get Alvy into Pygmalion mode, and the point is maybe that what he's really infatuated with is this woman who's an empty enough vessel to be filled at will according to his own fantasy and need. And of course, in keeping with the Pygmalion myth, once she eventualy gets her act together she moves on and his quest to recover her is doomed.
As for the vacuity or silliness of her actual adventure with the Paul Simon character -- again, I don't quite know how to take Woody's take. The LA scenes always bothered me, in that they reflect so much classic New York snobbery toward California -- and so much resentment and petty tearing down of Annie's openness to new things, whatever their various sillinesses -- but nothing about Alvy's own character suggests that the snobbery or critical perspective is earned. For all his alleged sophistication, he sort of classically moves in circles, obsessively repeats experiences, where Annie seeks and learns and moves on. I don't know if this is a deliberate irony, but given WA's limitations, I suspect not. :)
The closing riff about "needing the eggs" always struck me as nihilistic and despairing, and I walk away with very little sympathy for the self-justifying Alvy, and maybe some sneaking admiration for Annie, who despite her naivete is at least trying things out, having her life and her adventure and going along wherever it takes her.