Catcher In The Rye Film Analysis

In contrast to Holden’s younger brother, Holden’s older brother D.B does not provide Holden with a sense of security. “If there’s one thing [Holden] hates, it’s the movies” (Salinger 2), and coincidentally D.B just happens to work in the movie industry. Holden mentions multiple times how D.B has sold himself to Hollywood and “prostituted “ (Salinger 80) himself to become a screenwriter despite being a fantastic novelist, in Holden’s eyes. In the beginning, when Holden introduces his family, he implies that his relationship with D.B is not the closest; he says that he only told D.B some of the story of his three day journey, despite D.B being his “brother and all” (Salinger 1). During his three day journey, after arriving in New York, Holden considers calling up D.B, however decides against it since “D.B was in Hollywood” (Salinger 59).
Afterwards, when Holden goes to Ernie’s -a nightclub D.B went to frequently “before he went out to Hollywood” (Salinger 80) - he reveals how annoyed he feels when people think “it was a big deal, [D.B’s] being in Hollywood” (Salinger 86), since the real talent is in D.B’s stories, according to Holden. “It drives [Holden] crazy” (Salinger 86) that D.B is wasting his talent for writing by following the “phony” lifestyle. Hence, Holden feels disconnected from D.B because he left him for Hollywood; the phoniest place one could be, in Holden’s mind. Holden frequently reveals his distaste for “[t]hat goddamn crazy Hollywood” and how “that stuff drives [him] crazy” (Salinger