The other night I had the urge to watch Tommy Wiseau's The Room again. It's a great movie and I strongly recommend it. This post is for people who have already seen the film. It's my analysis of Lisa's relationship with Johnny. The Room almost depicts Lisa as this evil selfish manipulative bitch, but are we to judge her this way? Is Johnny really this angel that the film so badly makes him out to be?
It seems that Johnny loves Lisa for no apparent reason presented in the film, other than her being beautiful. And she seems to have loved him just because she was supposed to - all her friends and relatives constantly assure her how nice Johnny is and how she should love him -- just because he's financially stable, charitable, and he gives her presents all the time. We see that Lisa did not love Johnny for his charms, and it was neither for his looks; she loved him because she felt she owed him that, in return for his unconditional love and endless gifts. She would have felt guilty if she didn't.
Lisa's love was fake, and she finds that out right before it's too late. But what does she do about it? Instead of ending her relationship with Johnny, she finds an outlet, where she can get rid of her guilt; the guilt of not being able to give back what she's given. The outlet that she finds is Mark. To get rid of the guilt, she passes it on to him, by loving him unconditionally, and forcing favors on him, mostly in the form of sex.
Are we to blame Lisa for not being honest with Johnny? I don't think so. In the scene where he confronts her for being deceiving, we see that he is actually capable of hitting her. He pushes her down at least twice. He looks scary. Is this really the way you encourage someone you love to be honest with you, by yelling at them and physically threatening them? This only shows that Johnny doesn't really care about Lisa's emotions. He shows no curiosity, so Lisa naturally doesn't feel like sharing her feelings with him. Yelling out "Why Lisa, why?" isn't really being curious, it's more like an agonizing self-pitying scream in the form of a rhetoric question.
Lisa is in a very "awkward situation" and it's completely understandable why she fears ending her relationship with Johnny. First of all, her friends and family will ostracize her. Secondly, Johnny might hurt her. And lastly, he might hurt himself. In the film, it becomes apparent that Johnny is psychologically dependent on Lisa. He needs someone who he can take care of, because otherwise he feels worthless. His happiness depends on babysitting Lisa. She is tired of being that baby, and she's tired of being responsible for his emotions. It's only natural that she resents him so much, and it's also natural that she becomes manipulative, because the honest way of dealing with the issue has been made a taboo for her.
Why is Mark Johnny's best friend? Because he is also susceptible to being a baby that needs taking care of, which becomes apparent when Lisa becomes her husband and Mark becomes her. Mark allows Lisa to force favors on him and become his caregiver. What about the situation with Denny? It's just another example of Johnny's narcissism - by helping Denny, Johnny feels good about himself.
In conclusion, Johnny was a bad narcissistic husband. Lisa was in a codependent relationship with him for a couple of years, but then she got smarter and wiser. Unfortunately, her friends and family weren't as smart, so she was forced to become the nasty manipulative "bitch" in order to get what she wants. In the end of the movie, it seems like everyone morally condemns her, and she "gets what she deserves". As if she has made a grave mistake not to obey her husband and relatives, and now she has to suffer for it. To me, she made a great choice, and I believe she is "in a better place" now, unlike dead Johnny, with real friends and a husband that she loves for what he is.
P.S. If you're a fan of The Room and you like adventure videogames, you are totally going to love this flash game dedicated to the movie: Click Here to Play. The game features beautiful 8bit graphics and chiptunes, cutscenes taken from the film, great sound effects, and what I enjoyed the most, secret places and alternative endings.
