Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting

Precocious, bohemian teenager Placid Lake, finishes high school and decides to do the one thing that will annoy his new age parents the most--go straight! With a few weeks spent reading a library of self-help manuals, Placid has it all sorted out--and he has the haircut and the cheap suit to prove it.

Can Placid Lake retire his rage in the pursuit of beige; embrace conformity and leap on the fast track to corporate success. Will his 'brainiac' friend Gemma be able to talk him out of this economic rationalist madness? And will poor Doug and Sylvia survive the ignominy of having a son with a burgeoning future in insurance? Never underestimate the evil of banality.

This Australian gem, written and directed by Tony Mc Namara, was nominated for multiple awards among moviegoers and critics in Australia, and won Best Screenplay (AFI), and the Australian Writers Guild.

The movie can be viewed on Hulu.


This movie contains examples of:[]

  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Placid is so embarrassed by his hippie parents (who among other things send him to his first day of school in a girl's uniform) that he deliberately becomes the ultimate conformist.
  • Brainy Brunette: Gemma.
  • The Cameo: Claire Danes at the insurance agency.
  • Hands Off Parenting: Placid's parents
  • Conversational Troping: Placid and Gemma, when Placid leaves for work at the insurance agency. Played more as banter than pointed discussion.
  • Cool Loser: Placid could be considered this. Potentially averted, since it's brought up that he convinced one of the popular girls (Jenny) to have sex with him. See Manipulative Bastard.
  • Dragged Into Drag: Young Placid's parents sending him to his first day of school in a dress. Subverted slightly by the fact that Placid's mother is trying to challenge gender stereotypes.
Cquote1

 "Darling, just remember you're challenging their pre-conceived notions of sexuality."

Cquote2
Cquote1

 Jenny: You tricked me into having sex with you!

Placid: How? By talking to you? By connecting with something deep within you?

Jenny: Yes! ...Don't look at me like that.

Placid: I'm looking at a facade, on top of a person who I think has something special inside of her, who hasn't got the guts to show it, who wants to hide who she really is, but is torn because she wants to burst out and say, "This is who I am, what I want, but have I the courage to be free of them?"

Jenny: God. You're doing it again, aren't you?

Cquote2
Advertisement