I suppose it's because the truth is such a subversion of the assumption that he loved his brother deeply and is distraught at his loss. He does show hatred and disgust for his brother, in a childish sort of way, but neither of those is incompatible with feeling familial love and responsibility for someone who depends on and looks up to you. What term would you use? It's certainly more than "embarrassment".
Sibling relationships do tend to amplify emotions so that embarrassment and annoyance can at least temporarily feel like (or look like to outsiders) disgust and hatred.
There is truth in that, but I still feel that the article as it stands makes it seem like the subversion of Dead Little Sister is more acute than it actually is in the film. I don't think anyone was supposed to walk out of the film thinking that Richard hated Anthony.
There is truth in that, but I still feel that the article as it stands makes it seem like the subversion of Dead Little Sister is more acute than it actually is in the film. I don't think anyone was supposed to walk out of the film thinking that Richard hated Anthony.
Richards attitude towards Anthony. There seem to be a number of claims on this article that Richard "hated" his brother, or was "disgusted" by him. This is at best YMMV, but isn't really even that. At his most self-loathing, he claims that his brother's mental condition was a "fucking embarrassment", but in the same scene he claims to have loved Anthony, and states to Mark that he just wants to lie down with his brother (when he asks Mark to kill him).
A confident, athletic youth being embarrassed to have a brother with a mild mental disability is a far cry from someone being disgusted by their hated brother's condition. Clearly the residual guilt from his mixed feelings towards Anthony play a part towards his subsequent acts of revenge, but this article currently makes it sound like it was a major twist at the end that Richard actually hated Anthony.
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