2024-04-15 22:02:05
“Bella has a lot of questions. “I’m a flawed and adventurous person and I want to explore the world.”
Bella (Emma Stone) says this to the people around her in the movie ‘Poor Things’, which was released on the 6th of last month. He cited his personality as the reason for those who told him not to go outside because it was dangerous. She said that Bella was born with a love for moving around and was curious, so she was raised by a genius scientist named Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who she followed like her father.
In fact, people look at Bella like a ‘slutty girl’. When Bella’s food tastes bad and she spits it out, she gets scolded for being “discourteous.” When Bella tries to scold a child who cries loudly, she looks at her like a violent woman. She travels the world with her playboy lawyer, Duncan Wetherburn. Bella seems like a woman who lives only as she wants.
But is Bella really a natural naivete? Could it be because of the oppression created by the era that bound Bella?
![“The most obedient wife in the world”… How has ‘Poor Things’, which won 4 Academy Awards, changed? [선넘는 콘텐츠]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/04/15/124486722.1.jpg "“The most obedient wife in the world”… How has ‘Poor Things’, which won 4 Academy Awards, changed? [선넘는 콘텐츠]")
● Original work that gazes at the ‘Victorian Era’
“Every year, hundreds of young women throw themselves into the water because of poverty and the prejudices of our terribly unjust society.”
In the original novel ‘Poor Things’ (Golden Bough), written in 1992, Godwin Baxter explains the reason for saving a woman as follows. It is said that there are more than one woman throwing herself into the River Clyde, which passes through Glasgow, a city in Scotland, England.
The woman was pregnant at the time. She jumped from the suspension bridge railing. Her female brain had shut down, but a weak electric current was flowing through her body. Godwin took out her baby and transplanted her baby’s brain into the woman. She then saved the woman’s life by applying high-voltage current to her body. The creature created in this way has the body of an adult woman, but has the intelligence of a newborn. This is how the strange creature ‘Bella’ was born.
To find out why Bella committed suicide, go to the background of the work. You need to know about the Victorian era (1837-1901). At that time, British women did not have the right to vote. In Britain, women were granted equal suffrage as men in 1928. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) is famous for expressing her disgust at the advancement of women’s rights even though she herself was a woman. Although the economy grew rapidly and the country expanded, it was called the Golden Age of the British Empire, but moral views on women were rigid.
In particular, Bella’s former husband, General Blessington, is a monstrous figure who symbolizes ‘imperialism’. General Blessington, who led the British Empire, frequently points a gun at his servants. He metaphorically shows the way Britain rules its colonies. General Blessington also sends this gaze to the woman, Bella. She’s about to have surgery on Bella that will limit her libido. “Muslims make their women do it after birth. That makes them the most docile wives in the world.”So much so that it can be declared.
The reason Bella had an arranged marriage with her husband was because of her father’s selfishness. Bella’s father tells her Bella “Of course you were supposed to love your husband! “Your husband was the only man other than me you were allowed to see.”And force love. Commitment was the only way for Bella to escape these men who ignored her right to self-determination.
In this way, the original work and the movie share the unconventional subject matter of a creature created by combining the brain of a fetus with the body of a deceased adult woman, but their approaches are different. Translator Lee Woon-kyung, who translated the original work, “The film shows how pure human thought can be liberated. On the other hand, the original work takes a deep look at the times in England when women were oppressed and imperialism was expanding.”He said.
In particular, the movie features more sex scenes with Bella than the novel. There are several scenes of Bella masturbating for the first time, indulging in sex with Duncan Wetherburn, and working independently in her brothel. In the novel, there are very few scenes where such scenes appear directly.
Some people criticize scenes like this. However, the reason director Yorgos Lanthimos included this scene was to embody Bella’s appearance in which she does not even feel ‘shame’. I wanted to show Bella who is consistently curious about sex without any prejudice. Director Lanthimos said in an interview with ‘A.frame’, the Academy’s digital magazine, in December last year, “Bella is not judged for her nudity or sex. “She approaches everything with the same attitude of curiosity.”
● Dr. Baxter resembles ‘Frankenstein’
Another feature is that concerns about social issues are dramatized. Scottish writer Alasdair Gray (1934-2019), who wrote the original work, is famous for actively voicing social issues. In his original novels, elaborate and harsh satires on colonialism and imperialism often appear. It also shows in depth the process by which Bella develops a critical perspective on society. For example, Harry, a ‘skeptic’ whom Bella met during her travels, emphasizes social inequality in his original work:
“Very poor children learn to beg, lie and steal from their parents. Otherwise, it will be difficult to survive.”
“After the Napoleonic Wars, when so many people lost their jobs and went hungry, members of parliament met to discuss the issue. “Because the government was afraid of revolution.”
“Your only hope is among pacifists or non-violent anarchists. “They tell us that the only way we can improve the world is by improving ourselves and hoping that others will follow our example.”
On the other hand, in the movie, Bella’s visit to Alexandria during her travels was summarized as a way to face the contradictions of society. She is upper class, and while she was enjoying the scenery in a cool cafe, she witnessed the poor people dying from the hot weather outside and lack of food. She just conveys her feelings for Bella through her sympathy, but she doesn’t go deep. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos said in an interview with the British Guardian in December last year, “We decided to delete content about philosophy and politics from the original novel. “I thought that kind of story couldn’t be made into a movie,” he confessed.
Director Lanthimos instead focused on human ‘identity’. The hideous appearance of Godwin Baxter, the creator suffering after creating a monster through a scientific experiment, is reminiscent of the novel ‘Frankenstein’ (1818). The spelling of Godwin, ‘Godwin’, is the maiden name of Mary Shelley (1797-1851), the British writer who wrote Frankenstein, so the director is reflecting the original novelist’s intention.
● ‘Steampunk’ visual beauty stands out
What also stands out is the fact that the movie brings the characters’ appearances to life visually. Godwin Baxter’s appearance is described in the original novel as follows.
“His large face, thick body, and massive limbs gave him the impression of a dwarf. He had wide, hopeful eyes, a snub nose, and the plaintive mouth of a fretful child, even with a forehead ribbed with three deep, permanent wrinkles.”
On the other hand, Baxter’s face in the movie is full of large scars that look like they were cut and pasted together. One side of the chin that has grown abnormally is also noticeable. It seems like they are trying to show at a glance that he was subjected to several biological experiments by his father. Unlike the original, the shocking setting that it relies on an external device because it does not have the ability to produce gastric juice on its own was added. This is why the film was recognized for its mise-en-scène by winning four awards at the Academy Awards, including Best Art, Best Costume, and Best Makeup.
It is also noteworthy that the film adds fantastical imagery to the costumes and buildings of the Victorian era. It shows a video of a hot air balloon rising over the Mediterranean Sea and an aerial tram flying along a rope hanging above an alley, making people confused as to whether this is the past or the future. A subgenre of science fiction (SF) that introduced fantastical elements to Victorian-era science and technology. The visual beauty of ‘Steampunk’ stands out.
Unlike the movie, which mainly takes place from Bella’s perspective, the original novel has a complex structure. If the document written by Bella and her husband, McCandless, is the main ‘first story’, the ‘second story’, which is a letter from Bella refuting it, is on the other axis. It shows the difference in perspective by looking at an event from different perspectives.
In addition, the novel is organized into a ‘third story’ in which the author Elersdair Gray discovers and organizes McCandless’s documents and Bella’s letters respectively. The author slyly states that he published this novel after researching and discovering various documents.
For example, in a novel, the author says, “Readers may misunderstand this story as a bizarre fiction. “Anyone who has examined the evidence included at the end of this preface will have no doubt that a genius surgeon created a 25-year-old woman from human remains at 18 Park Circus, Glasgow,” he says, as if it were a historical fact.
this is Italian semiotician Umberto Eco’s novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ (1980)It is similar to the way he slyly claimed that he was only translating and publishing the ‘Notes of Adson from Melk Monastery, which was translated based on the edited version of Brother Paralympic’ published in 1968. This is the reason why this work is interpreted as a ‘postmodern’ work that destroys form and gives rise to various interpretations. Jang Eun-jin, editor of Golden Branch “While the movie tells the story linearly from Bella’s perspective, the original story has multiple layers. “The beauty of the form stands out, making it impossible for readers to distinguish between truth and lies.”He said.
| Have you ever watched the drama ‘Moving’ and then turned on your smartphone and binge-watched the original webtoon? Have you ever done ‘virtual casting’ after hearing that the web novel ‘Omniscient Reader’s Perspective’ was being made into a movie? ‘Content that crosses the line’ provides in-depth reviews of original works such as novels, web novels, comics, and webtoons, as well as works made into films. As the original text is transformed into an image, we analyze from various angles what has changed and what are the interesting points of appreciation. |
Reporter Hojae Lee [email protected]
2024-04-15 22:02:05