The Vicious Kind

The Vicious Kind 

For homework, I watched The Vicious Kind. In short, the movie opens with two brothers, Caleb (older) and Peter (younger), eating in a diner after just picking Peter up for Thanksgiving break from college. Caleb drills Peter about his new girlfriend that he met at a frat house. Caleb, pessimistic from the start of the movie, accuses her of being a whore after Peter talks positively about her. The brothers then drive to Peter's girlfriend Emma's house to pick her up for Thanksgiving. Caleb pulls into the driveway of his father's house to drop the couple off, but explains that he will not be joining them for Thanksgiving, considering the ongoing tensions between him and his father. While in town, Emma repeatedly coincidentally bumps into Caleb in various places. Caleb warns Emma not to break his brother's heart, and almost hurts her while expressing this. Then when he runs into Emma again, he expresses how vibrant she makes him feel and how he likes her much. At first, Emma responds adversely to Caleb's persistent pressures, but finally she succumbs to his desire and becomes infatuated with him. After they sleep together, Caleb shows his disinterest in Emma and breaks her heart. Emma is left with Peter who is unaware of the situation. The movie ends with Peter telling Emma that he loves her and the relationship between Caleb and his father beginning to mend. 

The dramatic irony began with the constant nightly visits by Caleb to his father's house, where Emma and Peter were staying. Emma would sneak outside to smoke at night, because she had not told Peter, who does not like the smell or find attractiveness in it, her addiction. Caleb would be waiting for her, just to talk and be with her. After repeatedly telling him to leave and Caleb continuing to present himself, Emma gave into her desires and brought him to her bedroom. The situation remained morally wrong, but the two acted within the moment. Caleb left after having sex with Emma and told her it would not work out between them. Emma, heartbroken, retreated to Peter without giving him an inkling as to what happened between her and Caleb.