Analysis

“Don Jon”

“Don Jon” is a movie about a man who has a pornography addiction. There are several interesting aspects of this movie. The main character is a man, Jon, who is in his late twenties, early thirties. Jon is obsessed with women. He receives the nickname, “Don Jon” due to his skill at getting women in bed. His pornography addiction blocks him from having serious lasting relationships. Jon is a Jersey Boy and portrays the typical image of a Jersey Boy. He has a serious commitment to his time at the gym and has a lean, buff body. Every Sunday after church he eats Sunday dinner with his mom, pop, and sister. The two men casually lounge around the table in their wife beaters as they eat and drink beer. They are a loud family, with the Jersey accent of course. Jon comes off as the type of man who doesn’t want to be in a committed relationship, yet believes there is that special person out there. He has a deeper love for the whole concept of porn because he doesn’t have to cuddle or do anything when all over. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ideas of Jon trying to figure out who he is by overcoming his addiction, and the importance that two particular women, Barbara and Esther, play in his life.

            Jon knows what is important in his life, “my body, my pad, my ride, family, church, my boys, my girls, and my porn.” Jon works as a bartender and believes he has everything in life figured out when really the entire movie is about him trying to figure out who he is. Jon is a typical “meat head” Jersey boy who frequented clubs and women. However, on the flip side, he attends a Catholic church weekly. The film accents the reputation of the Catholic Church by confession. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you go to church, repent and give your tithes. Saturday night rolls around and Jon is out with his friends at a bar hooking up with “randoms.” A random is a girl that would rank highly on a 1 to 10 scale. Jon would seduce her and take her home. The following morning he would go to church, every week right as the church bells were chiming, but never late, sit through church, and attend confessional. Every week the priest would tell him ten Hail Mary’s. On occasion, it would be upped to twenty Hail Mary’s if he had sinned more.

            Everything about Jon’s life in this movie was routine; his orderly apartment, his nights out at the club, the way he did his hair, going to church, watching porn. Throughout the movie, I seen the repetitive pattern that Gordon-Levitt left for his audience. While Jon thought he had it together, he really lived what is similar to a typical college life with the girls, the job, and the clubs. He feels satisfied with life, yet, reveals through actions that something is missing. Jon doesn’t really do anything to try and change this, until Barbara comes into his life, he settles.

            When Barbara is introduced, she comes off as the most important influence in Jon’s life. Later, we will find that to be Esther. Barbara is a jersey Barbie girl. She is a “10.” She’s skinny, long blond hair, perfect body, pretty face, tight clothes, and knows how to play the seduction game. Jon instantly falls in love. His buddies are in shock. Barbara plays a tough game of hard to get. Barbara coerces Jon into exceeding his comfort zone, which he is willing to do, because of his attraction for her.

            Barbara gets Jon to do all kinds of couple’s things like going to the movies. She withholds sex from him for the first month and demands to meet his family. She also won’t allow him to settle and be a bartender when he could advance to a higher position if he went back to school. In turn she convinces him to go back to school. Barbara brings out a lot of good qualities in Jon including bringing his family closer to one another. She still wasn’t enough to keep him from porn. Early in the relationship she finds him looking at porn. Barbara overlooks this at first, but later pulls up his internet history only to find how bad his problem actually was. This ends the relationship.

            Ironically, Jon’s best friend convinces him to still attend his weekly class, which is where he met Esther. Esther is a middle aged woman with brown hair, attractive, but with a very frumpy style. Esther plays the most important role in Jon’s life. Although, he wouldn’t even speak to her at first. Frankly, she annoyed him by being nosey and always trying to talk to him. She catches him watching porn on his phone and decides to bring him a DVD of a porn she enjoys to the next class. Eventually, they find themselves hooking up in the back of her SUV. Her personality really causes Jon to think and see things in a different way. They form a connection and confide in each other.

            Jon enjoys porn mainly because he feels all of his problems just drift away and he loses himself while he is watching it. Up to this point, he doesn’t find this connection in another person, not even Barbara. Esther tells him, “If you want to lose yourself in another person it’s a two way thing, both people have to lose themselves into each other.” She teaches him this. The connection they have and the in depth conversations, really teach him to have a different outlook on sex and relationships. Even though they are casually having sex and its nothing more they are really close and have love for one another, but respect the fact that neither wants anything serious. In the end what causes her to have the greatest impact is he finally finds that fulfillment of the void he has been seeking to fill, and quits watching porn.

            Interestingly, he goes into confessional and finally is able to say I made it an entire week without watching porn. Don Jon’s reaction seemed to be stunned and disappointed, after the priest tells him 10 Hail Mary’s. After all of the effort put in he still seemed as if his efforts were at a loss. “Don Jon” purely advertises the typical process to overcoming an addiction, and the feelings that lie under the surface to create the problem in the first place. Gordon-Levitt did a great job at showing the main characters struggles, overcoming them, and the people required to help him get there.

 

“Don Jon.” Dir. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Perf. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julianne Moore, and Scarlett Johansson. Voltage Pictures. 2013. Film.