The true meaning of Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita'

An analysis of Stanley Kubrick's film 'Lolita'

Stanley Kubrick's film 'Lolita' is about what all of us face as humans. We are all born as animals inclined to follow our desires and emotions. We are taught to suppress our desires and emotions with intelligence, morality, and restraint In short, we are taught to be civilized; however, civilized behavior is not natural or easy for us because it is in conflict with what we really are. This is why no matter how civilized we become we sometimes find ourselves in situations where our emotions or biological urges such as our desire to be loved or accepted, our lusts, anger, fear, depression, jealousies, etc., control us and make us do things that we, in our “right minds,” know are counterproductive to our health, happiness, and the happiness of others. For example:

• You speak your mind even at the expense and hurt of others
• You girlfriend or boyfriend dumps you and you stop eating or you eat too much or contemplate hurting yourself
• Someone cuts in front of you in traffic and you get mad and flip the middle finger
• You are afraid of leaving a job you hate or getting out of a bad relationship
• You have an affair
• You are expecting and you choose to smoke anyway
• You “roll with your emotions”
• You fall in love too fast
• You are overweight, the doctor tells you you’re diabetic, and yet you overeat, especially on Thanksgiving
• You know that he is cheating, yet you can't leave him because you love him

From the day we are born to the day that we die, we are in a constant war with ourselves, with what we would like to be and what we are born to be. Even the life of Jesus Christ exemplified this struggle of principle against the temptations of the flesh.

Humbert is the stereotypical idea of a civilized man: he's disciplined and well-educated; he's British and well-read; he has an English accent. His expertise in translating French poetry reflects his transformation from civilized man to a creature driven by its urges. The French language, which is his specialty, is associated with an emotion that has nothing to do with thinking. 

Lolita is the opposite of Humbert. She’s lives by her appetites, is undisciplined, and primitive relative to Humbert in intelligence. But from the start of the film, she is aware of her power over him and his superior intellect. To symbolize the subordination of intellect to nature, Humbert gives up his teaching position at Beardsley college to pursue his relationship with Lolita.

What’s in a name?

Throughout the film, the names of characters and places play a part in the overall function of the plot: 

• Ms. Haze is immature and confused about her role as a mother to a daughter she views as a rival, starting with Clare Quilty whom she had an affair with and whom Lolita has a crush on, then with Humbert who is infatuated with Lolita herself

• Lolita whose name is French which happens to be type of poetry Humbert likes to read

• Mr. Swine, the manager of the 1st hotel where Humbert and Lolita share the same room

• Clare Quilty whose last name hints at the many identities he assumes throughout the film

• Lolita’s friend Mona whose name is a sexual connotation just by the sound of it

• Ms. Le Bone

• Dick, Lolita’s husband

• Camp Climax

• etc.

Also, Lolita’s nickname in the film is Lo. Considering the fact that all names in this film calls attention to something in each character, the significance of the nickname isn’t random. Lo suggests Lolita’s intellectual development in relation to her potential. All of her decisions come from the way that she feels, her lack of a mature role-model, and a lack of education. In other words, Lo is low because she is deprived of what she needs to develop emotionally, socially, and intellectually. Her mother sees her as a woman and a rival and Humbert takes her out of school to keep her from seeing other boys her age. Lo, in an evolutionary sense, fits the character or any person deprived of the structure, experiences, and knowledge that separates man from animal. Throughout the film, Lolita is taken backwards in development. First, she is deprived of a mature mother to guide her to womanhood; she is treated as an object of desire by Humbert; he, then, deprives her of developing socially by keeping her away from other kids her age; finally, he takes her out of school completely. By the end of the film, both Quilty and Humbert have disappointed her to where she settles for Dick, her husband who also represents his own namesake.

“French Translator”

Humbert’s specialty in translating French poetry to English refers to how he sees Lolita and also to Lolita’s own confusion about what she is. To translate something is to convert or change from one thing to another. This is what Humbert attempts throughout the film with Lolita. Even though he is attracted to her for being the child she is, he also strives throughout the film to make her behave like a woman. Then, he tries reading poetry to her which she thinks is corny. Then, he tries to get her interested in the literature he reads. Then, tries to get her to stay in with him all day instead of participating in activities common with girls her age. Most importantly, he tries to suppress her natural attraction for other men. Lolita’s confusion starts with her own identity in relation to her mother who is just as immature as she is; this confusion then overlaps into her relationship with Humbert and meeting his expectations to act like a grown woman even though she still has the normal needs of girls her age such as being with her peers and having fun.