Tools of Characterization

Characterization in Requiem for a Dream

Actions

Anybody could be a drug addict, but some people are very good at hiding it. If you looked at the characters in Requiem for a Dream, you'd think they were nice normal people. Harry and his friends look like Hollywood movie stars. Sara Goldfarb is a nice old lady.

But when we see how they act, that's when we see them as troubled individuals. The thing is, they're all drug users and drug dealers with hearts of gold. That keeps us invested during the course of the movie. Harry and Ty never shoot anyone. Harry does the best he can—which admittedly isn't that great—to help his mother. They're all complicated characters who are controlled by addiction, but not defined by it.

Food

Sara Goldfarb's life is defined by food. She is what she eats. When she sits in front of the TV and eats chocolate, she becomes fat and sluggish. When she eats grapefruit and coffee—and only grapefruit and coffee—she becomes tart and bitter.

And when she stops eating altogether and starts munching diet pills like they're Flintstones vitamins, she becomes hyperactive, like speed itself. Finally, in the hospital, she eats mush, and she becomes bland and lifeless. Someone get this woman some kale.

Family Life

If all our main characters have one thing in common, it's a lack of willpower and a tendency toward addiction. Okay, that's two things.

If they all have three things in common, it's a less-than-perfect relationship with their families. Sara and Harry get the most focus. But Ty and Marion have issues too, even though their families remain mostly off-screen.

Marion wants to get away from her parents. She feels like they only care about money. It's a cold, loveless family, and because of this, Marion can come across as cold and loveless herself. She may be trying to distance herself from them, but she's more like them than she realizes.

On the other hand, Ty wants his mama to be proud of him. But since we only see her in flashbacks, perhaps she's dead. We wonder if he and Harry ever talk about their relationship with their mothers. Harry's mother is alive, yet Harry never sees her. Ty wishes he could see his own mom, but she's dead. Both characters have underlying sadness.

We're gonna go call our mom.