Discuss Radio Flyer
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I didn't understand the ending
posted by HikariWSSTAFFMOD on April 10, 2023 at 9:16 PM
I see the director aimed the story telling to kids to imagine and to adults to cope up with it. And being it fictional Bobby could pretty much fly away and live on his own. But in reality of course it'd not fly and he'd eventually be found and brought back home. It's also... troubling... that Bobby isn't ever shown on present day scenes.
What I could interpret from it is that either Bobby and Shane were killed at home and the whole flyer story was imagined by Mike to tell his kids, or that Bobby died from the fall and the guy was blamed due to Bobby doing that to try to flee from him.
The way Shane stands up leads to believe on the former. He was laid there with blood and then we was standing with no blood or bruised at all. I'd guess that at first Shane saved Bobby's life and the guy was arrested, but then he was released and allowed back. He got mad seeing they were using his tools and dismantled his bike, so he killed Shane to avenge from before and killed Bobby too.
Reply by HikariWS
on April 10, 2023 at 10:42 PM
Ok I had read some comments about the ending and now I understand it better. I won't delete previous post, instead I'll add my thoughts on it.
I see some ppl understanding that Bobby didn't even exist and he was made up by Mike, as a 2nd personality, and that he flies away when the stepfather is arrested. One point for this interpretation is the early scene with the buffalo, saying he was sad because he was alone. It'd imply that Mike was indeed a single son and even before meeting the stepfather he alrdy used to play with a imaginary younger brother, which then he used to project the abuse.
But I don't believe so, because hardly Mike would tell about his imaginary friend to his kids saying they had a uncle.
I think it's indeed more plausible that Bobby was killed, and Mike was just telling his kids that their uncle flew away and became a pilot, who's traveling around the world happy and therefore they don't meet him. As I said, Shane was also probably killed, and he replaced it with him heroically protecting the plane from the stepfather.
The story telling made it subtle - and not ambiguous - to make the audience feel what kids would by having the story told to them. The signs are provided for us to understand what happened, but it's told in a way that we don't easily figure it. Then ppl who "live as a kid" would accept that Bobby became a pilot in a fictional story, while most don't accept it.
Reply by HikariWS
on April 11, 2023 at 7:40 AM
hmm I didn't understand the reference
Reply by bratface
on April 11, 2023 at 4:49 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigsby_Bear