IF you didn't know, the term "mansplaining" has been around since 2008, and, in 2010, The New York Times designated it one of its "Words of the Year." "The Oxford" gives the definition:
"the explanation of something by a man, typically to a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing"
...which is described in such a way as to be its own illustration in the dictionary. Here's another example—approximately one-third of every episode of "I Love Lucy" was "mansplaining."
Fully 100% of these little "The Story" bits in Every Sunday Scene feature is "mansplaining." (Well, certainly this one is).
In this scene, David finally "just bursts" after Nancy blows their $100,000 savings on a bad run at the roulette wheel. It is uncomfortable (but not as uncomfortable as the scripted argument is—see below) and is dominated by a David rant that is hysterical and funny and manic—David swings between manic and depressive, and, in fact, their decision to "drop out" has come from his own panic attack before moving into a new house.
It's funny because there's no perspective here. The two have the opportunity to drop out because of their own success. People living paycheck to paycheck don't even consider the move unless they are so desperate they are forced to live in their car, or wander gypsy-like from mobile park to mobile park (I amuse myself sometimes to think what would have happened if the Frances McDormand character in Nomadland had run into the Howards later in life—but, of course, that wouldn't have happened because the Howards barely made it a week in a Winnebago and went back to their past lives because they wanted the romanticism of Easy Rider without the austerity of it—good God, they're in a new Winnebago, for god's sake, not even motorcycles).
It just shows what can happen if you believe movies too much—so much of it is myth-making (and manipulative myth-making at that) that (if you WANT to believe it) you can actually believe it might be true. And that goes for television and even so-called "reality" shows (Johnny Carson used to joke that he couldn't get into the "Survivor" series because he knew that just off-camera there was an assistant director with a half-eaten cruller in his hand—so much for privation...and it's why so many people see Donald Trump as competent after watching "The Apprentice"*—and, by the way, "release the out-takes, Burnett").
Some might see this scene as male toxicity. I don't. David is so pathetic, one can only see him as funny—he is, after all, the one who got them into this stupid mess, and probably inspired Nancy to "take chances." It IS his fault. And now he's having a tantrum because he is, after all, a child. And so's she. Responsibility makes them both nauseous. It is only when they see that their original life could have been much worse, do they see how good it was and they then go back to it after the biggest detour they've ever taken.
The one to reality.
The Set-Up: Spurred by the purchase of a new home, upwardly-mobile couple David and Nancy Howard (Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty) have, instead, "pulled a lateral" and "dropped out" "like in Easy Rider" in order to "touch Indians, see the mountains and the plains and all the things in the song." They get as far as Las Vegas where their liquidated assets are vaporized by Nancy's nighttime binge at a roulette table. Now, at Hoover Dam, after an extended period of passive aggressive silent treatment from David, the two "have it out."
Action!
34 EXT. SIDE OF ROAD - HOOVER DAM VISITOR AREA
DAVID What is it?
NANCY Just sit down. Now, listen...
NANCY Just sit down. Now, listen...
NANCY I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I'll make it up to you.
DAVID
No, stay away from the food—you'll lose it.
NANCY I don't know;
NANCY Everything.
DAVID
Oh, great, okay. Well...
DAVID
Please do me a favor. Don't use the word. You may not use that word! It's off-limits to you.
[She leaves the Winnebago.]
NANCY Alright! Alright! Well, the movie you're basing
your whole life on, "Easy Rider,"
they had nothing.
They had no...
DAVID Bullshit. They had a giant nest
egg. They had all this cocaine.
DAVID
It is true!
[They both stop.]
Words by Albert Brooks and Monica Mcgowan Johnson
Lost in America is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Warner Home Video.
Here is the scripted version of this scene:
NANCY
I don't want to have an argument
in front of those people.
DAVID
Why not? I think those people
are entitled to know how stupid
you are.
NANCY
This is going to turn into a
personal attack, isn't it?
DAVID
What else? A general attack? Who
am I going to attack? Nevada? I
can't attack the state. It wasn't
their fault. I can't attack the
motor home. It stayed in the
parking lot. I can't attack me.
I was fast asleep. By process
of elimination, who's left?
NANCY
I am. I'm left, okay? And I'll
say it one more time - I'm sorry.
They are off by themselves now. They have reasonable
privacy. They are both very upset.
DAVID
I don't want your apologies. I
want to know why? I want to try
to understand how it happened. Tell
me. How did it happen?
NANCY
I couldn't sleep.
DAVID
You couldn't sleep. I see. Now,
I remember nights where I couldn't
sleep. I'm just trying to think
what I did. Let's see. I tried
warm milk or I took a long walk or
I took Nytol and then, if all that
didn't work, I gave away all the
money I ever earned. But you
didn't try any of those things
first. You just gave away the
money first, right? What did you
intend to do? Have warm milk
afterwards? Tell me. I'm mixed
up.
NANCY
You're not even listening.
DAVID
I'm sorry. You're right. Go
ahead. You couldn't sleep. Then
what happened?
NANCY
I don't remember. I just went
downstairs.
DAVID
Why didn't you wake me up?
NANCY
What would you have done?
DAVID
What would I have done? I would
have followed you.
I would've seen you. I would have
watched you take your money and
begin to lose it and I would have
stopped you at thirty dollars,
maybe thirty-two dollars, at the
most. I would have said,
"Sweetheart, come back to bed.
We don't want to fool with our
nest egg." You know, Nancy, I
think you just considered nest
egg to be a term but to me, it
was a key to this whole experiment.
Why, I considered it like a third
person. It was our best friend,
our guardian angel. It was going
to allow us to do everything we
wanted to do. It was going to
watch over us during bad times
and laugh with us during good times.
It was going to help us roam and
purchase and eat and explore. It
was going to help us make love
and laugh and cry and now, it's
gone and who's got it? The Desert
Inn! They've got our nest egg.
They can sure use it, can't they?
They don't have their own. They're
a poor little organization. They
need our nest egg. Gee, I hope
they use it wisely. I know someday
those mirrors are going to have
to be reflocked and the red velvet
was looking kind of worn. And
those little heart beds are going
to need new sheets. I'm glad we
could help them pay for that. I'm
glad our life savings will go
towards making that room look a
little prettier. I'm glad we
gave it all to them, Nancy. I'm
just going to miss the little nest
egg, that's all. Won't you,
sweetheart? Won't you miss the
nest egg? In the middle of the
night, won't you feel kind of
lonely because little nest egg
is paying for the gas in Frank
Sinatra's limo?
NANCY
Shut up, David!
(begins to cry; she's
getting hysterical)
Shut up! I don't want to hear nest
egg anymore! I don't want to hear
that word. Let me tell you something.
That's not the way you drop out
anyway. If you're really going to
drop out, you drop out with nothing!
DAVID
You drop out with nothing? Oh
where did you read that? In the
Las Vegas Guide?
NANCY
I didn't read that. I know that.
DAVID
Oh, I see. Who told you?
NANCY
Friends, people who know. I don't
have to answer you.
DAVID
No. You don't have to answer me.
You can't answer me because no one
ever told you that. You never
had friends who dropped out. You
don't know anybody who dropped
out except for us. So how the
hell did you know that? Come on,
tell me?
NANCY
Alright. The movie you're basing
your whole life on, "Easy Rider,"
they dropped out with nothing.
They had no nest egg.
DAVID
Bullshit. They had a huge nest
egg. They sold cocaine. They
didn't get on their motorcycles
till their nest egg was giant,
fifty times the size of ours.
NANCY
That's not true.
DAVID
Oh, look. I'm not going to stand
here, in front of one of the seven
wonders of the world and argue about
an old movie. I'm going to go now
and get back in the motor home and
maybe you can wander around out here
and figure out something to do. We
have eight hundred dollars left and
an entire lifetime. See what you
can come up with.
David starts to walk away.
NANCY
We could sell cocaine.
DAVID
(stops and turns
around)
Well, my God. Why didn't I think
of that? Great idea. As a matter-
of-fact, I remember after seeing
"Midnight Express" I went out of
the theater saying to myself, "That's
for me. Sex with hundreds of
Turkish men."
David turns around and walks towards the motor home.
* Trump initially didn't want to do "The Apprentice" as he thought reality television was "for the bottom-feeders of society." I can see chests swelling with pride over THAT statement. To me, it sounds like a mission statement.
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