Tangerine Themes

Tangerine Themes

Family

It may not be the Addams Family, but it's close. Most of Tangerine focuses on the dysfunctional family dynamics between Paul, Erik, and his parents. Family has made both Paul and Erik who they are....

Lies and Deceit

Paul's entire childhood is based around a lie, and it's not about Santa Claus. It's about his eyes. Paul knows that someone is lying to him, but he doesn't remember the truth. This lie is a like, w...

Fear

Fear dominates Paul's life. If Fear told him to do something, and he said "No, Fear, you're not the boss of me," Fear would say, "Oh, yes I am!" Ever since kindergarten, Paul has been afraid of his...

Identity

Tangerine is about Paul's search for his identity. (No, not his ID, his identity. Way more serious, although involving fewer lines at the DMV.) Sure, he wants to remember what happened to him in hi...

Prejudice

Not liking people because they're immigrants? That's prejudice. Not liking Erik because he's a psycho? That's just good sense. Unfortunately, we see a lot more prejudice than good sense in Tangerin...

Man and the Natural World

Mother Nature is going nuts in Tangerine—but only in Lake Windsor Downs, where developers have destroyed everything natural in order to put their neighborhood full of identical houses with matchi...

Memory and the Past

Paul's memory, or lack of one, drives most of Tangerine's suspense and action. Our past is so important to our identity that missing any part of it creates a terrible void. And no one likes having...

Society and Class

Surprise: the situation Tangerine is really a commentary on modern American society. All over America, more and more people choose to live in hastily constructed but expensive and fancy suburbs or...