Can You Tell Me How To Get to Brentwood?

Maria Elwan

Eng 440
September 17, 2012
Journal and Field Log #4 – Film, “Ten Items or Less”

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Brentwood?

This film is the story of the other side of the American Dream. The gritty, real people living in sometimes ugly situations trying to make sense of their place in their world, and trying to find a little joy along the way.

The film’s two main characters Scarlet (Paz Vega) and Him (Morgan Freeman) begin a chance encounter that by the end of the film, helps them both make a decision they were unclear about. Him is a well-known actor who hasn’t done a film in four years and is considering whether to accept a new film project. Scarlett is a Hispanic little firecracker who works as a grocery clerk and  is less than pleased over her new gig, as the “10 Items or Less” checkout girl. Scarlett comments that this is the lane that checkers go to die. It seems Scarlett has been cast aside and relegated to this lowly lane by her ex-husband/boss over a new love interest (another check-out girl). So Scarlett is fuming as she fights with customers who are over their item limit, while the boss’s new squeeze paints her nails in the other check-out lane of this  Mexican/Hispanic supermarket in The Barrio of Los Angeles.

Him is dropped off at the supermarket to do research on the possible manager role he might accept. This is when Him encounters Scarlett and is quite taken back by her skills in glancing at people’s shopping basket and determining at a glance how many items they have. Him can tell at-a-glance that Scarlett is quick, intuitive and witty. He is drawn to her and her situation. 

The conflict in the story comes from Scarlett refusing to let her current life and occupation define her. She dreams of leaving the supermarket and getting a job as a secretary in an office. (She in fact has an interview this day). This attempt to break away is quickly squelched by her ex-husband/boss who tries to keep her in her place by saying that she’ll never leave the check-out booth. His language and demeanor see her as working class and his remarks indicate she’ll never leave the Barrio.

Ten Items or Less is a rhetorical study of the working-class poor of America. Scarlett seems trapped in her social status by her vocabulary and lack of skills.  This is a point that  David Fleming states in Subjects of the Inner City, “Basing social policy on class distinctions contributes to the increasing fragmentation of our society “(REL 215). The social policies in place in our society make it difficult for members to make the transition from one social class to the other.

No where is this more evident than when you see Scarlett driving Him home after he’s been left stranded at the market. She stops and asks the Asian convenience store worker – how to get to Brentwood.  This is a symbolic question. She might as well have been asking how to get to the moon. Both may be equally difficult destinations to arrive at.  Then you see Scarlett and Him get on the LA Freeway. The freeway is a metaphor for the concrete barrier between the two worlds of Brentwood (rich, exclusive enclave) and the Barrio (slums) of Los Angeles.

But Him is very astute, when he meets people he knows how to place them and what their role is, so he engages Scarlett to give her the courage to go after her dream. He gives her the motivation she needs to go through with the interview. In this complete fusion, Scarlett then helps Him arrive at the decision he’s been wavering over. Him decides if Scarlett will make a commitment to make a choice, then so will he. The audience learns he will take the film offer.

            The ending brings home the point of  how two strangers can come together and help each other after meaningful verbal exchanges. Their mutual dialogue helped convince the other on the course they should take.