The Flick: Summary and Analysis of Annie Baker's Play
One aspect of the play that I noticed was that each of the three characters has traits that are stereotyped based on class, race, and gender. At first, Avery seems quite uncomfortable and very introverted, while the viewers can tell Sam is happy to have a new co-worker to talk with at work. Sam feels betrayed that the owner of the theater showed Rose how to use the projector before him even though he has been working their four months longer. Over time, Avery gets more comfortable with his co-workers and he reveals his issues within himself. Avery admits that he comes from a broken home and that his relying on his wealthy father lead him to a failed suicide attempt, Sam is conflicted by the deep love that he has for Rose who is oblivious to pretty much anything that does not have to do with her own life. One part that is important to one of the main themes in the pay is what the co-workers called dinner money. Rose and Sam basically stole money from the theater and referred to it as dinner money. They were betraying their boss by going behind his back and taking some of the profit to use for their own. This is not a huge betrayal; however, it is one of the many small ones that are present in the play.
If we move on in The Flick, a weekend is coming up where Sam is to travel away from the theater for his older brothers’ wedding. A lot of little things that tie into the themes happen over this weekend in a couple of scenes. Before Sam leaves, he tells Avery that his brother is mentally challenged along with the girl that he is marrying thinking that he could trust him with this type of information. While Sam is gone Avery and Rose plan to have a dance party and watch a movie, however Rose seems to be the only one to do any type of dancing and then feels very humiliated as Avery just continued to sweep through the upbeat music. After, the two sit next to each other to watch a movie that Avery has picked out. Avery is really enjoying the movie but, the viewers can soon find out that Rose has a very different idea. Rose begins to act sexually on Avery and its not to hard to tell that Avery is not enjoying this at all. This is followed by Rose walking out the theater and Avery sitting, looking very traumatized, then he reveals a hint to Rose that he has been sexually abused in his past. They discuss some of their inner problems and Rose then shows Avery how to work the projector just in case she is sick and can’t come in to work. Once Sam returns, he then realizes that Avery mentioned to Rose that his brother was mentally challenged. Sam feels betrayed by Avery and shuns the two even more after he finds out that Rose had shown Avery how to use the projector. After a few scenes of silence Avery and Sam finally begin to talk again, and Sam reveals to the crowd that he resents his brother’s happiness only because he can’t seem to find his own.
The last important thing to happen in the play is when The Flick is sold to a new owner who plans on getting rid of the projector-system and move into a more modern system. The new owner finds out about the dinner money that the employees have been stealing from the theater and since Avery was the one to send the letter on reversing the jump into a modern style theater, blames it on him. Avery then goes to Rose and Sam to share the guilt with him, but they ultimately refuse. Rose states that since Avery has another way of income, in his dad that he should take all the blame because her and Sam have no other means of income other than the theater. Rose and Sam end up keeping their jobs but Avery is removed from the team.
