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Study Guide
Requiem for a Dream Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
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Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
HARRY: We can get off hard knocks and be on easy street.
MARION: What's the catch?
Do you think if someone told Marion that the "catch" is that she will have to humiliate herself in a public sex act in front of dozens of men, she would change her mind?
HARRY: You know, somebody like you could really make things all right for me.
Harry's dream is Marion. He wants her to be successful, and he wants to make money so that she can open her own fashion boutique. Unfortunately, Marion is taking heroin chic a little too literally.
TY: Look, I don't wanna be running the streets my whole life with my sneakers all ripped up and my nose running down to my chin.
Ty has a simple dream: he just wants to be grown up. Unfortunately, he lacks impulse control and still acts like a child. Maybe Darren Aronfsky should direct an R-rated live-action Peter Pan?
SARA: I don't need a present. Just have a baby.
Sara's dream is to have her family back. With her husband dead and her son out of the picture, the only way she thinks she can have a family is with a grandchild. Did she think this through? Harry and Marion would probably be awful parents, and raising her grandchild would cut into Sara's TV time.
HARRY: What is the big deal about being on television? Those pills you're taking will kill you before you ever get on, for Chrissake.
Sara also has a dream to be liked and be on TV. As the caretaker in her family, she was used to being the center of attention. But with her husband and son gone, she's lonely. Someone get this woman on Instagram, the app of choice for those desperate for attention.
MARION: I love you, Harry. You make me feel like a person. Like I'm me. And I'm beautiful.
HARRY: You are beautiful. You're the most beautiful girl in the world. You're my dream.
Notice the disconnect here? Harry reiterates that his dream is Marion. Marion's dream, on the other hand, appears to be herself. She wants to feel beautiful. She should join Sara on Instagram.
SARA: Oh, Tappy, if you don't mind, I would just like to say hello to my husband, Seymour, and my beautiful, successful son, Harry. I hope you're in love. Please come and see me. And bring Marion, won't you?
Sara desperately wants a happy family, but that's something no game show will ever give her. Harry's happiness does not lie behind curtain number three.
SARA: I'm walking across the stage! And you should see my Harry on television. We're giving the prizes away. I just wanted to be on the show. […] Call Seymour, and tell him to meet me at the beauty parlor. I got the red dress that I wore to Harry's graduation, and the gold shoes.
Sara starts to regress as she loses her mind. Before being taken to the hospital, she talks as if her husband is still alive. In her dreams, she has brought him back to life. Not even Alex Trebek can bring people back to life. Moustaches, yes. People, no.