Posted by Howard Beale at comm700-a0901-dhcp033.bu.edu on September 27, 2001 at 00:55:08:
In Reply to: Kevin, please read this. posted by Jeff18 on September 26, 2001 at 02:31:41:
: Hi Kevin,
:
: Until now I was never really interested in seeing 'Chasing Amy' and then the other day I found out it was one of your movies so I decided to rent it tonight. Towards the end of the movie it made me think about a bunch of shit. I've been dating this girl for a year now and a week after we had started dating she told me everything she's been through. She had been raped several times by one guy and sometimes he would tie her up and let his friends fuck her. Then she told me that for a whole year she was doing cocaine. I've been happy with her because I love her more than anything. But then I'm not happy sometimes because I really don't know if I can trust her since her past was so fucked up. After watching the movie I really thought about all that but I'm scared to make a decision. It's kind of like how the movie ended, you don't know whether Alyssa and Holden were going to get back together. That's the same situation I'm in but I can't decide what to do. I wanna go on acting like everything is ok and just try being happy with her and I can't anymore. I'm hoping since you wrote the movie that you could give me the best advice I can get. This is one thing I really need to resolve right now in my life, I really hope you can help me.
...I really don't think it makes you 'immature' or 'insecure like Holden' if you can't come to terms with her past. It sounds pretty rough, I feel bad for both of you. If a girl told me all that shit after a week, I'd be pretty weirded out. The stories are pretty disturbing, and I'd also be surprised by the rapid stab at closeness. People can be drawn to other people because they're fucked up. If that's it, or if you're just lonely and feel like there's nobody else who'd go for you...I don't know, man, stop and think. Bad shit that happened in the past doesn't usually just go away on its own, and a lot of times it points to problems that are going to keep coming up whether you want them to or not. If it's the first girl you've been in love with, maybe that confuses things for you. The past can be important as hell, sorry. Listen to LOVELINE or something. They're wise. Good luck, dude.