completely in love with despite having only met her in
passing. Honourable mention in this category also to the
film 27 Dresses in which James Marsden essentially hires
himself to investigate and stalk Katherine Heigl.
- SABOTAGING A
WOMAN’S EXISTING
RELATIONSHIP
This is often the second step of the journey of the “noble
stalker”. Films mentioned elsewhere – An American in
Paris, Can’t Buy Me Love, The Rachel Papers, There’s
Something About Mary, High Fidelity, The Notebook and 27
Dresses – all feature a second act devoted to breaking up an
existing relationship so our love sick obsessive can get the
girl. In reality, this is one of the most prevalent behaviours
of stalkers: believing that if they can only free up the object
of their affection they will fall straight into their arms. A film
that dances around this misguided belief is 2013’s What If.
Daniel Radcliffe plays a lovelorn fop obsessed with Zoe
Kazan’s character, with whom he repeatedly assures that he
is happy to be just friends. In a moment of self reflection the
film then has his best friend tell him how fruitless a pursuit
this is, as she has a long term boyfriend with whom she
is very happy. Unfortunately, the film then abandons the
idea of women being capable of making these decisions for
themselves and sends Radcliffe scurrying after her when
she visits her boyfriend in Dublin.
- HARASSING WOMEN IN
THEIR WORKPLACE
The sanctity of the workplace is often violated by stalkers
who bombard their targets with unwanted attention in a
place they have no choice but to be. This technique is used
with maniacal relish by Jason Schwartzman’s overzealous
schoolboy and Bill Murray’s lackadaisical industrialist in
Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. They both pursue vulnerable
widow Miss Cross (Olivia Williams) at the school where she
teaches with little concern for the potential professional
ramifications for her. Crazy, Stupid, Love takes a slightly
different approach by having a nanny stalked by the child
in her care. Despite her explaining how inappropriate this
behaviour is, he escalates his actions by publicly declaring
his love, forcing her to leave her job. The film softens this
blow by having her temporarily soften her resolve and,
horrifically, send nude photos to a child. In Scott Pilgrim
vs the World, merely having sexual harassment occur
between two adults is far less disturbing in comparison.
Edgar Wright’s 2010 film sees Michael Cera’s Scott fall
instantly in love with delivery girl Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
She repeatedly rejects him but rather than respecting her
wishes he orders packages to force her to his home where
she reluctantly agrees to see him voluntarily.- USING QUASI-
MAGICAL POWERS TO
MANIPULATE WOMEN
There is a sub-genre of films where supernatural
abilities are used to stalk and manipulate an intended
love match. Groundhog Day, The Time Travellers Wife,
Last Christmas and About Time all involve exploitative
behaviour that is tantamount to grooming. The
unfortunate objects of affection have no agency and can
not escape the relationships no matter how hard they try.
It is every stalker’s fantasy033