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NO, Glen Close is the Mom; Amy Adams is the sister !!!
Actually, Amy Adams plays the role of Bev, J.D. Vance's mother, and Glenn Close plays the role of his grandmother, Mamaw. (I don't know who plays his sister.)
Keep in mind, this movie is based on his book. As I remember it, the book didn't really discuss his time in the Marines or his time at Ohio State, and only briefly discussed his time at Yale law school. Most of the book discussed his childhood. It seems pretty clear to me that what Vance thought was the most important, most formative, was his screwed up childhood.
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He didn't put a lot of pages to it, but what else would have turned his life around? He grew up in complete dysfunction. The Marines gave him the discipline to do the rest of what he did.
It would have been much harder to get into Yale Law if he had ended up at Youngstown State, Kent St., or Cincinnati. Ivy Leaguers may dismiss Ohio State, but it's a very good school. A motivated young man with a Marine background going to Yale Law from Ohio State isn't that big of a stretch. I grew up with quite a lot of people who went to state schools then onto Ivy, public Ivy, or other top-tier research institutions in their field for a graduate degree. It is not all that rare.
I know TONS of people like his mother and his peers. I didn't grow up in the dysfunction that he did, but I grew up with many friends and peers in that level of dysfunction and worse. It was commonplace here.
I also know people who grew up in familial dysfunction here who have likely made a lot more money than JD. A high school friend of mine, who is 32 now, sold a tech company for well into the eight figures, and has started other businesses since then. Entirely self-made. He grew up in a dysfunctional home with a dad who beat his mom - both are now dead of natural causes. He doesn't need to write a book - he just writes six figure checks to regional school districts for science education for charity.
Today, one of my biggest regrets in life was turning down a nearly full scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis to stay close to home when I was 18 back in 2004. That would have opened up so many more doors. While I'm a 5%er in my local area as a single guy and really have nothing to complain about, that could have propelled me to career success in a major city that has since eluded me.
JD's book is great, and I agree with a lot of it. That said, he hit the jackpot at the publishing time. Had that book come out this year, it would have been a footnote on Amazon, and he'd make a few bucks, but he certainly wouldn't be viewed at this important talking head.
As someone from core Appalachia, the fact that someone from Ohio, who is much closer to major city resources than those of us down here in coal country are, wants to speak for me is a bit perplexing. He spent summers, an inconsequential period, in Kentucky. I wouldn't call him a hillbilly at all. He is someone who has hillbilly roots, but I think he actually knows quite little about the "daily grind" in that part of the country. A lot of his stories strike me as that of a tourist reporter who comes around, asking questions, then extrapolates that into a lifelong understanding of a very complex area.
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Originally Posted by Serious Conversation
He didn't put a lot of pages to it, but what else would have turned his life around? He grew up in complete dysfunction. The Marines gave him the discipline to do the rest of what he did.
It would have been much harder to get into Yale Law if he had ended up at Youngstown State, Kent St., or Cincinnati. Ivy Leaguers may dismiss Ohio State, but it's a very good school. A motivated young man with a Marine background going to Yale Law from Ohio State isn't that big of a stretch. I grew up with quite a lot of people who went to state schools then onto Ivy, public Ivy, or other top-tier research institutions in their field for a graduate degree. It is not all that rare.
I know TONS of people like his mother and his peers. I didn't grow up in the dysfunction that he did, but I grew up with many friends and peers in that level of dysfunction and worse. It was commonplace here.
I also know people who grew up in familial dysfunction here who have likely made a lot more money than JD. A high school friend of mine, who is 32 now, sold a tech company for well into the eight figures, and has started other businesses since then. Entirely self-made. He grew up in a dysfunctional home with a dad who beat his mom - both are now dead of natural causes. He doesn't need to write a book - he just writes six figure checks to regional school districts for science education for charity.
Today, one of my biggest regrets in life was turning down a nearly full scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis to stay close to home when I was 18 back in 2004. That would have opened up so many more doors. While I'm a 5%er in my local area as a single guy and really have nothing to complain about, that could have propelled me to career success in a major city that has since eluded me.
JD's book is great, and I agree with a lot of it. That said, he hit the jackpot at the publishing time. Had that book come out this year, it would have been a footnote on Amazon, and he'd make a few bucks, but he certainly wouldn't be viewed at this important talking head.
As someone from core Appalachia, the fact that someone from Ohio, who is much closer to major city resources than those of us down here in coal country are, wants to speak for me is a bit perplexing. He spent summers, an inconsequential period, in Kentucky. I wouldn't call him a hillbilly at all. He is someone who has hillbilly roots, but I think he actually knows quite little about the "daily grind" in that part of the country. A lot of his stories strike me as that of a tourist reporter who comes around, asking questions, then extrapolates that into a lifelong understanding of a very complex area.
Thank you, you expressed very nicely what I was also trying to point out.
It would have been much harder to get into Yale Law if he had ended up at Youngstown State, Kent St., or Cincinnati. Ivy Leaguers may dismiss Ohio State, but it's a very good school. A motivated young man with a Marine background going to Yale Law from Ohio State isn't that big of a stretch. I grew up with quite a lot of people who went to state schools then onto Ivy, public Ivy, or other top-tier research institutions in their field for a graduate degree. It is not all that rare.
I went to Wayne State University undergrad. A tier 2 or 3 public university in Detroit. I did not have a 4.0 GPA, but went on to University of Michigan Law School. Which, for that year was ranked above Harvard as the number two law school in the USA in many of the rankings. (Yale was number 1 - Harvard fell for a short time because they had some internal problems and a number of professors left).
It is more about your LSAT score than about what college you attended or what GPA you finagled. For Yale and Harvard, being a minority, extremely poor, or an otherwise oppressed person, also gives you a significant advantage. If he had a high enough LSAT score, he was likely to get in anywhere. Undergraduate school is not that critical.
It focused way too much on the mom’s addictions to where JD became an afterthought. The movie should have charted his upbringing, through the Marines, to Ohio State, and then Yale. Had he never gotten into the Marines, I doubt much of the rest would have ever happened.
The movie’s focus was created by the screenwriters—
There was no trip back at that point in JD’s Yale career because of his mom’s addiction
The dinner/interview was mentioned to show how culturally separated he was from the firms he was applying for and his girlfriend’s knowledge of that upper caste life
His mom’s dysfunction was a strong theme in the book though because that was what caused him to live with his grand mother
And I think I remember in the book he was much more at odds with his mom instead of that befuddled bewilderment about her choices
He didn't put a lot of pages to it, but what else would have turned his life around? He grew up in complete dysfunction. The Marines gave him the discipline to do the rest of what he did.
Except you don't know that. And Vance doesn't allege that in the book. He barely talks about his time in the Marine Corps at all. I think it's best that we let J.D. Vance decide which part of his life was most formative.
Actually, Amy Adams plays the role of Bev, J.D. Vance's mother, and Glenn Close plays the role of his grandmother, Mamaw. (I don't know who plays his sister.)
You are RIGHT !! I apologize for a lousy memory ! Amy Adams was great as the Mom.
I've heard it got horrible reviews but everyone I spoke with who saw it says its amazing. I mean with two actresses like that it just cannot suck
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