#discopigs

When I was scrolling through Tubi TV last night, I came upon the movie titled "Disco Pigs". The title image looked tempting and I recognized one of the leads so decided to watch the first ten minutes. This turned into me finishing the whole movie and feeling angry, incomplete, and annoyed.

I went to the internet to try to find other people's perspectives on the film and found rehash after rehash of the same opinion. Spoiler Alert: Everything beyond this point is spoilers of the film. Go watch it and come back if you don't want to know how it progresses/ends.

Every review I read said that Pig wanted to die basically because he realized that Runt was developing a crush on Mackey and for him to die was the only way he could achieve his dream of him and Runt as King and Queen since Runt wanted to move on without him. I truly believe this is a false perspective. Here is why:

Pig's dream was Runt's dream - this is proven in dialogue they say to each other, in their career responses (they both respectively say they want to be a King and a Queen), and this is repeated at "The Palace" during their birthday.

Runt was interested in Mackey - but didn't like him romantically. She continues to brush him off throughout the movie. He repeatedly tries to get her attention and she always focuses back on Pig. It is only at the very end of the film that she gives in and decides to dance with him. But I don't believe this indicates she liked him in that way. She even said "Just to try, you know?" when he asked her to dance.

Both Pig and Runt felt the same intensity of feelings for each other up until the violence gets out of control. During Runt's very few monologues, she expresses the same disdain for humanity as Pig, she behaves similarly to Pig without the violence, and she doesn't care about anyone else except Pig.

Pig behaved romantically towards Runt before he fantasizes about her. He calls her pet names, they hold hands, they are close beyond a level of friends, and she blushes/feels sheepish when he compliments her clothing.

While she is holding Pig's hand, she asks him "What is the color of love?" and later when she is on top of him at the end of the movie, she says "The color of love is blue" referencing his eyes and the ocean he gave her as a present. She never uses the word except around Pig which I feel she is implying she loves him without saying it as they neither say it to each other, despite the audience knowing at least how Pig felt about Runt. Not to mention she has sex with him/makes out with him at the end of the film...

There are many other examples but I think that should be enough. Using all this, referencing back to the movie, what was the point? When I finished the film, I could not find the answer. There was no redemption arc, no true ending, no lessons learned. What was the problem of the story? The plot points out that the issue at the beginning is that Pig and Runt have been awful at school so Runt is going to be sent away to another school. However the only example we hear about concerning this is that they pasted pictures of themselves on some old photos in the principals office.

Wow, so extreme.

We learn that Runt's dad was abusive and Pig's dad was absent. Due to the level of violence that Pig reaches, it can be inferred that his dad was also violent given that the mother is very basic and not quick to anger. This is something that bonds them in addition to being born on the same day.

The final plot point that the film description and Wiki both say is the peak reason of the film is Pig's feelings for Runt change and the film is them navigating that change. "The film revolves around the intense relationship of the two teenage protagonists, Darren (Cillian Murphy) and Sinéad (Elaine Cassidy), who call each other "Pig" and "Runt," respectively. Pig and Runt were born at the same hospital at nearly the same time and grow up next door to each other. This brings about an extremely close relationship between the two. They live in their own world and rarely interact with other people; when they do, it's mostly to express their hostility toward them. Their relationship, while very intense and unhealthy, remains platonic until just before their 17th birthday."

Again here, I don't agree that their relationship was "unhealthy". The behavior that is shown in the film, before the violence intensifies, is childish, antisocial, average behavior of angsty teens. I didn't see anything unhealthy about the fact that they were close friends here. However, if the description is referencing what happens later in regards to Pig getting in more fights, I guess that is something.

There were several issues I had with this film outside of how others seemed to interpret it. The first being the few lines that Runt has does not reveal her true motives and feelings. We get loads of monologues from Pig and his feelings and how he thinks about his life and Runt - but Runt's lines are minimal and meaningless throughout the film. We have no way to know even how she feels about the fights Pig gets into until they reach the point of causing death. In the beginning of the film, when Pig breaks the nose of the liquor store worker, Runt laughs and plays along with the ordeal - seemingly unaffected by the action and this tells the audience this is normal behavior.

My second issue was Pig became the monster at the end of the film because no one was checking him. The mother didn't care about his actions, Runt didn't try to stop him until the very end, and she wasn't communicating to him how the behavior made her feel. Due to this, he continued to feel like his behavior was acceptable in the world just for them. I feel if she had communicated with him more (which you think she would after 17 years being friends) he would have calmed down and pulled back from the violence for her.

Third issue, and last I'll mention, is the ending. I do not see a reason that Pig needed to die despite what other reviewers have said. Okay, he killed Mackey in front of a crowd of about 50 people and ran off. He was still a minor, so he wouldn't have gotten off nearly as bad as life in prison. Additionally, if he was reviewed for mental illness - it would be clear something was wrong with him in that respect. He talks to himself, has violent outbursts, and his perspective is unstable. But to die to avoid jail basically is just dumb. And for Runt to go along with it is just as dumb.

The worst part of Pig's death is that Runt doesn't really seem effected and starts talking about the sun - then the film ends. No closure for what happens to Runt, no court trial for Mackey, no funeral for Pig - just "The sun is bright today" -roll credits-. Thinking back on it, I would have been more okay with the end of the film if something happened like it cuts forward a year or so and Runt is pregnant or has the child of Pig due to the beach sex and her loving him is carried on through the child or something. Something redeeming. But no - the sun.