In the article, a key point that the author made which sent of bells and whistles in my mind was that while Moonee is aware of the poverty she is living in and maneuvers around it, she has no awareness towards the lack of care she is receiving from her mother. Something I very much disagree with is the article’s interpretation of how motel society is portrayed in the film. In the article, it is argued that the director seems to have a disconnect to the harsh realities of the dangers a child could face, unsupervised in a poverty-ridden area. Since the entire movie is based on the youthful innocence that Moonee has, I believe that the director shows that every situation Moonee faces is morphed into a fantasy version necessary for Moonee to hold the youthfulness within her and not grow up too fast. An observation the author of this article and I both have made is nonetheless Moonee is seen to be beyond her years in the understandings of what goes on around her, attributed by her unfiltered exposure to the vices of the world.
This movie is very real, and I feel that in order for one to be able to make an analysis on it, certain parts have to hit close to home. It is really easy to nitpick in a review what aspects of poverty aren’t shown, or that certain characters should’ve been shows facing deeper struggles. The whole point is that we are seeing this commentary on child neglect, poverty, and sex work through the lens of a child, which will obviously produce diluted imagery of the harsh reality.