I see George's psychological journey: he's successful but arrogant and narcissistic. He therefore has nobody around him when his life crumbles, and doesn't ask for help. He is at the point of suicide before he accepts support, and the happy ending is based on his success being reinstated, rather than any learning on his part. This is all contrasted with Peppy - an example/mentor showing you can be successful and still be sweet, thoughtful, kind... human. I've had a go at the Disunity -> Unity idea. DISUNITY: FAMOUS FILM STAR HAS IT ALL BUT IS ARROGANT AND DISMISSIVE OF OTHERS (AND THEREFORE LONELY, THOUGH HE DOESN’T KNOW IT) George is the golden boy of silent movies, but he’s arrogant and dismissive of those around him who contribute to his success. He is also vain, waving at his own portrait. But these behaviours are not doing him any apparent harm, he’s still a superstar. It doesn’t bother him that the everyday people (who know him from around the studio) do not universally love him, because the public (who don’t know him at all) do. He is photographed in a kiss with another woman – Peppy – and then dismissive of his wife’s feelings about it. He dismisses her again by sending his chauffeur to get an apology gift rather than getting it himself. He dismisses producer Zimmer’s concerns about the photo in the paper and then he overrules Zimmer when he fires Peppy. George falls for Peppy but is not attentive to her either, as he gets caught up in the gift that the chauffeur has bought for him to give his wife. Seeing this as a sign he is happy with his wife, Peppy leaves. If there’s one thing George isn’t happy about it’s his marriage. He fantasises about Peppy whilst with his wife, who defaces pictures of him. DECONSTRUCTION: EXISTING COPING STRATEGY OF DENIAL/JOKING DOESN’T WORK WELL AS HIS CAREER & MARRIAGE CRUMBLE. George finds out about talkies. He is rude about the star - Zimmer’s girlfriend – alienating him further. He has a nightmare about being a silent man in a world of sound – worrying about it subconsciously. The people around him no longer see him as a big star but George doesn’t acknowledge it, he tries to save face. George won’t listen to his wife, leading her to be very upset and tell him how unhappy she is, hurting his dog in the process. George goes all out with his old strategy (vanity, arrogance and lack of respect for others) by making a silent movie with himself in all the major roles and choosing a poster that is all about him. He is in his element. However, Peppy’s new talkie is coming out soon and he hears her say silent movies and their stars need to move over now. This bursts his bubble and he leaves, hurt. When he learns he is ruined, George still uses his coping strategy of joking about it. He almost calls Peppy (almost asks for help?) but doesn’t. Through a series of knockbacks relating to his movie, fame, Peppy’s success and his marriage ending, George carries on with his standard coping strategy, joking and taking it on the chin. RECONSTRUCTION: GIVING UP JOKING/DENIAL COPING STRATEGY TO FACE REALITY BUT THEN RETREATING INTO ALCOHOL. A change in George: Another setback as Peppy’s boyfriend accidentally twists the knife and this time, although he does what he always does (“maybe it’s just not my day”), this time, visual symbols suggest he’s very sad. In contrast to vain and self-obsessed ‘famous George’, ‘famous Peppy’ is grounded and sweet as ever. Meanwhile, George has really come down in the world, living in a small house with a fold-up bed, drinking and pawning his tuxedo. Finally the reality of what he’s done gets through to him as he realises he hasn’t paid his chauffeur for a year and has to actually send him away to get him to leave. Once it’s done, George finally seems sad and can’t bear to look at himself. He hides from his reflection by blocking it with a drink, a symbol of blocking his feelings by getting drunk. George uses drinking as a coping strategy again as he auctions his things. He gets so drunk that he has a vision in which characters from his movie attack him. Now fully relegated to movie-goer rather than movie-star, George sees Peppy in a movie with Bogart. He thinks he’s been recognised outside but it turns out he hasn’t. A woman’s comment about his dog: ‘if only he could talk’ verbalises George’s pain about himself and he goes home and berates himself for being nasty, stupid and arrogant (still distanced though, as he’s talking to a vision of his own silhouette rather than himself in a mirror, say). He is absolutely smashed and ends up setting his films on fire, an escalation of self-destruction by alcohol. Even in this state, he wants something, one particular reel of film - him and Peppy dancing. He risks his life to get it. Once rescued, George is finally recognised in the street, but now people are just feeling sorry for him. When Peppy hears what has happened and sees it was the film of them both he was clutching, she is moved and takes him home with her. Peppy and George reconnect and love each other’s company. But when Peppy goes to work it reminds George he is not working. George learns Peppy’s got him a job but it’s tainted by the realisation that his old chauffeur now works for Peppy. He finds his auctioned belongings in the house and realises Peppy’s staff were the ones bidding against one another. He has been helped without even knowing it! Feeling humiliated and angry he heads home in his burned clothing, getting mistaken for a crazy bum on the way. George has really had enough. He plans to shoot himself and puts the gun in his mouth. UNITY (or return to DISUNITY?) In a reversal of the silent movie at the beginning, the beautiful woman (Peppy) now turns up to rescue the supposed hero. She prevents him shooting himself, makes him laugh in his darkest moments and then reminds him that he has something nobody else has (what he originally told her she would need to succeed) - it’s his dancing. He has hope again! Zimmer makes a musical with them, and it’s a massive success. We have to hope that George has learned his lesson and will learn further from Peppy. But has he learned? Or is he just back where he began, successful and narcissistic? Did he only accept help in the end because he was able to convince himself it was his own brilliance that would save him? I suspect the latter.

One of the things I find so interesting about this movie is that the protagonist mostly gets pushed along in his journey, which is generally said to lead to a weak story. And yet this film works so well. I suppose it's because George and Peppy (and the dog) are just so darn charming; George is a good guy inside and you want him to find love and find his way. But for so much of the film, George is really passive and/or refuses to change -- he rides on his fame, refuses to reconsider when it comes to silent/talkies, stays miserable with his wife until she leaves him, never contacts Peppy... Later, he gives up, and she has to rescue him, at multiple times and in multiple ways. When I left the theater after seeing the movie, I questioned whether or not George had "deserved" his happy ending, especially thinking about how A Star is Born ends. George hits the bottom, but he never really works for redemption -- Peppy basically hands it to him. Like MrsJingles, I questioned whether he really learned anything. But at the same time, I did think he found his groove as a true artist, that thing that makes him special, as he had counseled Peppy, and that brought us full circle.