It’s only a paper moon

Firstly, Ella Fitzgerald is one of my favorite artists, so I thoroughly enjoyed the music behind this movie (I have had the song stuck in my head all week). I also thoroughly enjoyed the characters – I think both Mo and Addie were likable, despite their scheming and deceiving tendencies.

The alcohol prohibition is not a piece in time I think about often and I do not associate it with the Great Depression. At the end of the movie when Mo is accused of bootlegging, it put into context that the repeal of the prohibition had just occurred, and Kansas still did not allow for high percentages of alcohol to be within state lines.

I enjoyed how Addie at the end of the film prioritized being with Mo and the bond they had developed rather than living a lavish life. On a personal note, I would rather be struggling with those who I love than be living grandly without people I genuinely care about.

In modern times, we see deception frequently, but it is more often through the internet. I think fraud is more frequent due to the ease of access to communicate with others. In Paper Moon, Mo was using a newspaper to look up recently deceased individuals, while in modern times a simple google search would suffice. I thought the Bible selling scheme was rather clever, despite its cruelty.

From Paper Moon, the biggest thing I took away from the film is that sometimes morality is blurred. In Addie and Mo’s case, they took advantage of lots of people who were grieving, but Addie would also look around to see if the family was struggling and used context clues before acting out her deception. While what they did was wrong, they were trying their best to make ends meet, and acted out of survival rather than greed.


Comments

  1. williams.dan76September 30, 2025 at 11:26 AM

    Great comments on Paper Moon. It's an interesting film. I think it would have been better without the Trixie Delight interlude. I am also ambivalent about the ending. I like that Addie wanted to be with Moze (Moses), but she was also leaving her aunt who to grieve, someone who had already been frantic to find her.

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