Questions to ponder

1. What is the movie about?
The movie “High Fidelity” revolves around the life of Rob Gordon who had just been dumped by his girlfriend Laura. The movie started with the fighting scene of Rob and Laura that eventually leads to their break up. Because he is hurt, he started to list down his top 5 break ups that he has experienced since he is young. At first, Laura was not included in his list, but he eventually includes her as he finally admits to himself that he is hurt by their separation. Rob, who owns a record shop, tried to console his two employees/friends, Dick and Barry, but unfortunately, he didn’t feel better, but much worst. To ease his injured ego, he tried to recall his past loves and also tried to contact them to find out the reasons behind his previous breakups. It is also a way for him to find peace and as a mean to forget about Laura.
In his effort to revise his previous relationship, he realizes that unlike to his previous relationship, he wants Laura back. When he found out that Laura is staying at his neighbor’s house just above his roof, he erupts in anger and in a courting spree to get Laura to come back to him.
Laura father died while he was trying to get Laura back and he attended her father’s funeral. Here he realizes that he should let Laura decides who she wanted to be with because he realizes that her family didn’t like him so much and others, including his friend Liz, resents him for what he had done to Laura. But Laura changes her mind and wants to give their relationship another try. The climax of the story is when Rob proposes to Laura because he realizes that he could not live a single day without Laura, and not one women in this world could make him feel the same as what Laura had been able to make him feel.

2. How is the story different from other common fiction?
This story is different from any common fiction because the love story that the writer is trying to convey or portray is viewed from a different perspective and is played from a different character. Usually, the main character is always rich, handsome and charming. But Rob is a direct opposite. Furthermore, the central mode of conveying the message is not actually through dialogues among the actors but through Rob’s inner monologue. This is uncommon in most fiction.


3. Who is your favourite character and why?
I have two favourite characters and they are Dick and Barry. I like Dick because at the first half of the movie, he portrays the character of a gay. But as he met a girl at the record shop, it is finally clear that he is straight. His effort to be noticed by Rob is hilarious and his fight with Barry is even more hilarious. I like Barry because he is Jack Black, and Jack Black is always funny. The funniest moments that involve Barry is when he criticizes a customer for his choice of music and suggested for the customer to choose more heavy metal records. But at the end of the movie, he performed with his band and their music is so classic and evergreen.

4. Provide an alternate ending.
If I were to create an alternate ending for this movie, the movie would have a tragic ending. After Laura’s father’s funeral, she drove around the neighbourhood to look for Rob. But she never found him. This is because after Rob realizes that Laura deserves a better man than him, he jumps over the bridge and drowned. His body was found a month later, without his arms and legs because it was eaten by fishes. His eyes are gone and his mouth is distorted like a crooked smile.