Deceptive Ladies

Ever since completing Brick, I have grown increasingly suspicious of Carmen Sternwood. I had thought of her as sort of naïve and helpless, and I never would have thought she was capable of masterminding evil if the movie hadn’t been paired with this story. Carmen’s character has so far mirrored Laura’s, though there are some slight differences.

 

What leads me to believe Carmen is somewhat of a mastermind is how Laura’s character progressed along with the story Brick. Laura appears to be harmless in the beginning. She is slight and pretty with a very feminine voice, always looks lovely, is very popular, and is sweet to everyone. Though she is all of these things, she is also involved with drug dealing, tarnishing her pretty, feminine character.  Carmen is used to having men fall over themselves after her. She is also young and beautiful, and like Laura, is involved in less than savory affairs. Carmen has plunged herself into the world of smut, posing nude for Geiger to put in his infamous smut books.

 

In both stories, these women come onto the leading male characters, though in different situations in their respective stories. Carmen tries to seduce Marlowe the minute they meet, and scurries off when the butler walks in on her attempts with the detective. She makes her moves on Marlowe at his strongest, when they first meet, while he is still a stranger to her. Laura is distant throughout the story, but uses her womanly ways to comfort Brendan later on when he is exhausted from both physical beatings and the emotional toll of his girlfriend’s death. She is successful. Another difference between the two women is that Laura always seems very collected and together, and Carmen always appears emotionally unstable.

 

In my previous post I bashed Carmen’s character and said she was completely weak and disposable. My thoughts have completely changed and all of a sudden I am extremely suspicious of Carmen. Perhaps she is stronger than I thought she was. It is entirely possible she is playing every single one of these people, including our hero Marlowe, and they are all eating out of the palm of her small, delicate hand. Only time will tell.

Bryce Rubin