Re: "You're a prince"
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sat, 26 Jun 1999 11:24:10 +1000
I guess if you want to get *really* theoretical about it you could call
`prince' another one of Holden's subversions of traditional authority. A
prince is someone everybody's supposed to bow down to, and Holden doesn't
bow down to anybody but the people he thinks he should. By using the term
in a derogatory way he's devaluing it as a symbol of oppression; he's on
top of things. It reminds me of his opinion of Stradlater - you could
imagine him being handsome in a `princey' kind of wholesome, too-perfect
way, but we know the truth about him and it lies on his rusty razor (:
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest
Rick and Mirijam wrote:
> Thor --
>
> "Prince" is just a colloquialism from the 40's & 50's (and maybe a bit
> earlier), a sort of wise-guy (non-gangster), quick-hip usage. If you
think of
> Preston Sturges -- or his most brilliant modern-day offspring, Joel &
Ethan
> Coen ("Miller's Crossing") -- I think you may get a sense of this shoot
from
> the lip, stacatto, tommygun vocal delivery. It seems to be Holden's
temporary
> slide into B-movie shorthand. It seems the difference between phony and
> prince, at least in usage ... well, the former seems like the utterance
of a
> somewhat petulant child, while the latter sounds like the utterance of a
> somewhat delinquent juvenile.
>
> Mirjam and Rick