| Errors | Missing | Unverified | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
In Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2022), audience rooting interests are deeply tied to the characters' purity of intent versus their corruption by the Hollywood "machine." Because the film is a sprawling epic about the "vampiric" nature of the industry, characters often transition from being sympathetic to being complicit, making the audience's perception shift over the three-hour runtime.
Sidney is widely considered the moral center of the film. Audiences root for him because he is a dedicated artist who remains professional and dignified despite the era's rampant racism.
As the audience surrogate, Manny starts as a "dreamer" with an infectious love for cinema. Viewers root for his upward mobility as he works his way from a "gopher" to a powerful studio executive.
While initially a hard-partying, womanizing star, Jack becomes a tragic figure the audience roots for as his relevancy fades.
McKay is the film’s literal and figurative monster, representing the "death" and "depravity" of Hollywood’s underbelly.
While not a single person, the "polite society" and studio heads who turn on the stars as soon as sound is introduced are the collective antagonists.
Nellie is the most divisive character in the film.
Elinor is the cynical "cockroach" who observes everything but builds nothing.
The summary mentions Jack's 'tragic dignity' but omits the crucial fact that he commits suicide in his hotel room, which is the definitive end of his arc.
The summary mentions Nellie's self-destruction but omits her ultimate fate: she is found dead of an overdose at age 34, as revealed in a newspaper clipping.
The summary omits the film's epilogue where Manny returns to Los Angeles in 1952 and cries while watching *Singin' in the Rain*, realizing his place in film history.
The summary mentions the Hearst party and hypocrisy but misses the specific, visceral action of Nellie vomiting on William Randolph Hearst, which is the scene's climax.
The audience generally roots for Sidney Palmer, who is seen as the moral center and a victim of racism (e.g., the 'Burnt Cork' scene). Manny Torres is initially a sympathetic dreamer (e.g., the camera retrieval sprint), but his rooting interest fades as he becomes complicit in the system's cruelty. Jack Conrad is a tragic figure; the audience roots for him as he faces obsolescence, culminating in his suicide. James McKay is the clear antagonist (the dungeon/rat scene). Nellie LaRoy is divisive: her tragic background (asylum visit) elicits sympathy, but her self-destructive actions (gambling debts, vomiting on Hearst) and dragging Manny into danger alienate viewers. The 'System' itself is the ultimate villain.