Exploring The Character 'Betty In The Film The Girl'
she is. Betty is adamant about helping her new friend. All Rita remembers is the accident and the street named Mulholland Drive. I believe that the mystery is a MacGuffin for first time viewers. It is meant to push our view away from the truth, sort of like a magician. So, as I’ve said, the fugitive with no name pretends to be Rita Hayworth. Rita Hayworth was a Hispanic movie star of yesteryear who pretended to be a red head. She changed her natural hair color of black to red to fashion a more glamorous persona for herself. So the real life actress mentioned in the film also participated in the fake image-making Hollywood enterprise that deceives Diane and her innocent Betty persona. Eventually, Betty does find out that this Rita persona is
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not who she says she is. Betty further discovers Rita’s amnesia and she becomes worried that her new friend’s life is in danger. Also, Rita's purse contains a large heap of money and a blue key, which causes a fearful reaction in her.
Although Betty does not know what she is getting in to, she decides to help Rita. We begin to see the dynamic where Betty/Diane is drawn to Rita/Camilla almost like a moth to a flame, with no knowledge of the history involving the Rita persona that has made the other personas in Diane's mind so upset. This means that Betty tries to embrace a version of Rita that is just as innocent as Betty. Furthermore, Rita's mystery gives Betty a chance to connect with her dream of becoming a starlet in many different ways. She says to Rita, "It'll be just like in the movies. We'll pretend to be someone else." This quote is also one of Lynch's many clues about the events in this section of the film, because just about all of the personas are pretending (which is acting) to be someone else.
While Betty is protecting Rita, other characters are participating in rather strange things.
Diane's mind is filled with many other important personas, but she does not interact with most of them. She does with some not all. Most of the people or personas that she does meet like her a lot. In fact, Adam, the hotshot director who takes Camilla from Diane in reality, was rather captivated by her audition for his film. The audition was fixed by some shady producers that an actress named Camilla Rhodes has to get the part. The phrase “this is the girl” is muttered constantly. It is not the Camilla from reality, it is a completely different person. Despite liking Betty’s performance so much that it is clear that he wanted to make her the star of the film, he is forced to cast Camilla in his production. However, he could not do this because of the intimidation and coercion he was being subjected to by some of the unsavory men, as stated before, who had not met Betty. So Betty's goal of becoming the star persona in the world of Diane's mind gets sidetracked, and instead Betty focuses on trying to protect and redeem the Rita persona. As it turns out, this will not be easy, because she and the Rita persona discover another persona that is said to be the dead body of Diane Selwyn. Rita instinctively knows this is why so many other personas are conspiring against her, and she is terrified by the corpse, so much so that she falls to the ground crying. This scene is similar to the Winkie’s scene because the men and women both see the dark side of dream that leads to both the man and Diane’s death. After seeing the corpse Rita decides to change her image because she fears for her life. With the help of Betty, Rita puts on a blonde wig and looks identical to Betty. By merging with the innocence of Betty, the Rita persona hopes to escape the fate of being eliminated from Diane's
mind.
Betty has always had the desire to embrace the Rita (or Hollywood starlet) persona. She has always wanted to become one. So after Rita puts on a blonde wig to make herself look like Betty, Betty requests that Rita join her in bed. She wants to connect as deeply as possible to the glamorous Rita Hayworth persona by making love to it. As they both participate in the act of lovemaking, Betty proclaims to actually love Rita. Unfortunately, silence is Rita's only response. It is this silence that sets into motion a collection of realizations that begins to forewarn the end of both the Rita and the Betty personas in Diane Selwyn’s mind.
The Betty persona had been brought into the world of Diane's mind because she represented a certain time when Diane felt loved by her aunt, and was a fervent hope for a Hollywood career personified. She also personified a certain type of innocence. Now, all three of these justifications for Betty's existence are now collapsing. For starters, Diane's aunt was never around during the entire fantasy, and so Betty never was successful in reconnecting with her
not who she says she is. Betty further discovers Rita’s amnesia and she becomes worried that her new friend’s life is in danger. Also, Rita's purse contains a large heap of money and a blue key, which causes a fearful reaction in her.
Although Betty does not know what she is getting in to, she decides to help Rita. We begin to see the dynamic where Betty/Diane is drawn to Rita/Camilla almost like a moth to a flame, with no knowledge of the history involving the Rita persona that has made the other personas in Diane's mind so upset. This means that Betty tries to embrace a version of Rita that is just as innocent as Betty. Furthermore, Rita's mystery gives Betty a chance to connect with her dream of becoming a starlet in many different ways. She says to Rita, "It'll be just like in the movies. We'll pretend to be someone else." This quote is also one of Lynch's many clues about the events in this section of the film, because just about all of the personas are pretending (which is acting) to be someone else.
While Betty is protecting Rita, other characters are participating in rather strange things.
Diane's mind is filled with many other important personas, but she does not interact with most of them. She does with some not all. Most of the people or personas that she does meet like her a lot. In fact, Adam, the hotshot director who takes Camilla from Diane in reality, was rather captivated by her audition for his film. The audition was fixed by some shady producers that an actress named Camilla Rhodes has to get the part. The phrase “this is the girl” is muttered constantly. It is not the Camilla from reality, it is a completely different person. Despite liking Betty’s performance so much that it is clear that he wanted to make her the star of the film, he is forced to cast Camilla in his production. However, he could not do this because of the intimidation and coercion he was being subjected to by some of the unsavory men, as stated before, who had not met Betty. So Betty's goal of becoming the star persona in the world of Diane's mind gets sidetracked, and instead Betty focuses on trying to protect and redeem the Rita persona. As it turns out, this will not be easy, because she and the Rita persona discover another persona that is said to be the dead body of Diane Selwyn. Rita instinctively knows this is why so many other personas are conspiring against her, and she is terrified by the corpse, so much so that she falls to the ground crying. This scene is similar to the Winkie’s scene because the men and women both see the dark side of dream that leads to both the man and Diane’s death. After seeing the corpse Rita decides to change her image because she fears for her life. With the help of Betty, Rita puts on a blonde wig and looks identical to Betty. By merging with the innocence of Betty, the Rita persona hopes to escape the fate of being eliminated from Diane's
mind.
Betty has always had the desire to embrace the Rita (or Hollywood starlet) persona. She has always wanted to become one. So after Rita puts on a blonde wig to make herself look like Betty, Betty requests that Rita join her in bed. She wants to connect as deeply as possible to the glamorous Rita Hayworth persona by making love to it. As they both participate in the act of lovemaking, Betty proclaims to actually love Rita. Unfortunately, silence is Rita's only response. It is this silence that sets into motion a collection of realizations that begins to forewarn the end of both the Rita and the Betty personas in Diane Selwyn’s mind.
The Betty persona had been brought into the world of Diane's mind because she represented a certain time when Diane felt loved by her aunt, and was a fervent hope for a Hollywood career personified. She also personified a certain type of innocence. Now, all three of these justifications for Betty's existence are now collapsing. For starters, Diane's aunt was never around during the entire fantasy, and so Betty never was successful in reconnecting with her