Review of the movie Let the Right One In
As Metaphor
Several reviewers of this movie, who have observed it to present a metaphor of some kind, have interpreted it as a metaphor on transitioning puberty. And while I can't deny this interpretation, I believe there is a deeper observation that can be made.
But before revealing my take on the story — the book as well as the movie — I must confess that I do not agree that all, or nearly all writers set out to produce a tale with the ulterior motive of telling a superficial story while embedding some deeper meaning. It has been my experience that literary academics generally agree that a story can not be just a story. Some deeper influence must seep into a writer and diffuse out through his/her fingertips as two projects — the typed product and the one between the lines. Doubtless this occurs; e.g., Melville's Moby Dick for instance, but as a general label on novelists and their products, I believe the premise is plain rubbish. Metaphors in nearly all novels are created in the minds of the reader/viewer, not the creator.
Moving away from metaphor creation to what my mind has informed me as a metaphor in the subject story, I observe a story of options and choices. Options are are presented to each of us during our lives, and our lives play out according to how we go about selecting the Right One for us at the time. In the story, a choice is made by a young man, admittedly at a maturity level beyond his years and without any significant adult guidance. When asked by Eli, if Oskar would like to be as she/he is, Oskar reflects on the matter and responds "No." He states that he does not wish to be "like" Eli, but wants to be with her. In this decision, made with a maturity well beyond his twelve years, Oskar has made a choice. And following through with this choice, eventually he leaves home, with Eli in tow. End of story.
I have read that other reviewers speculate upon how Oskar is destined to become another Hakan, and other things being equal this would logically follow. However, following a story beyond its pages is another reader error. A story ends where its author stopped typing. If a reader wishes an extension, let him write his own story. For example, one could speculate that after a few years, and with an adult's maturity, Oskar might choose to allow Eli to infect him and live on frozen in his years as one of a pair of wealthy vampires. After all, this bares nicely upon Eli's historical background, as brought to the reader in three separate flashbacks, but is absent from the movie. This, however, is my story, not Lindqvist's.
So, what have I said between the lines? Avoid literary academics. They exist to make a living.
