Bye Barbie Greta Gerwig openly parodied patriarchy, poor creatures, Yorgos Lanthimos, complicated the situation and the prospect. Especially by delving into how women have to deal with the limitations of institutionalized systems that try to define their behavior.
In 2023 The famous debate about women, femininity and feminism has returned to the big screen. Only this time, instead of delving into matters from the safe realm of drama, it was reached from the controversial genres.
From a satirical comedy to a tongue-in-cheek version of a coming-of-age story with a sci-fi twist. The image of women—and how they are perceived in culture—has become central to the best films of the year. Warning: The following analysis contains direct spoilers. If you have not seen the feature film, be careful when reading.
Controversy about life in Poor Creatures
This isn’t a new topic, but in both films the discussion goes beyond complaining. Both carefully explore stereotypes, clichés and the female figure. In particular, establishing that throughout most of history the theorem of femininity and taking a position of power or freedom has been unevenly debated. In other words, Barbie and history poor creaturesfocused on reflections on power and personal freedom.
In Lanthimos’s film, the message is clearer but less political, which distinguishes it from a simple analysis of the situation of women. Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) by her very existence demonstrates the idea of difference in a world that is destined—or created—to be homogeneous. Something that Tony McNamara’s script emphasizes is the birth of a young woman.
Become a scientist’s experiment in search of an answer to the question of life, Bella’s simple physical reality confronts speculation about the biological order. A woman resuscitated in the laboratory after a brain transplant for her unborn daughter who opens her eyes on the dissection table is an aberration. What snatches the monopoly of creation from nature, a mystical idea or a woman. Thus, from the very beginning, the premise borders on a difficult question: the fact that existence itself is an accident.
At least that’s how it is, considering how life is portrayed in the movies. A fact that is evident in the suicide of the woman who was Bella before falling into the hands of Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Random event after random event, the film advances its plot. The circumstance is presented as a tragedy that must be corrected, as something that provokes all other events. As such, the film chooses to abandon its simple theme of affirmation and question its more uncomfortable elements. Who should be given life and why should they give it? What is actually natural?
Hard points that open up multiple discussions at once
In the original collection, adapted into a film, the story is told simultaneously by multiple characters. For the writer Alasdair Gray, the interest was not power. Moreover, or how a woman can get it by refuting the system – the problem of feminism – if not the expression of existence itself. The idea trumps considerations based on tools of influence or the place a character occupies in the world of people. The true interest of the conflict is to remember that Bella has the same right to life as any other being, even if her creation is a dark element.
The film examines the topic and analyzes it through Bella and solely from her point of view. But the reflection is still there. Much more Lanthimos emphasized the similarities between Gray’s work and Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. This causes him to surpass the political and social place of women. The writer, daughter of proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, knew the hardships a woman could go through. His monster is in some ways a reflection of the life of his mother, who became an outcast and ultimately rejected by the time in which she lived.
In fact, the Greek director aims to make the film’s perception of women more nuanced in order to analyze the prejudices of origin. But he does this, like Shelley, by emphasizing the eccentricity and strangeness of his protagonist. However, while the British writer chose to embody the regret of rejection, Lanthimos shows a path of self-discovery. Not only intellectual – which it is – but at the same time spiritual, which extends to the way society observes, to those who violate its restrictions and impositions.
Feminism in Poor Creatures
Isn’t this about the central approach of feminism as a political proposal? This is true, but only partially. The idea of women’s power and equality explores all the systems that undermine their ability to be free. But in Poor Creatures the premise is broader, less specific and more general. Which makes her a protagonist who fully reveals herself; However, not for this reason, it is inherently feminist. Although director Yorgos Lanthimos explored, Influencing women and on women over the past few years, his new film goes even further.
Bella enjoys a sexual awakening that sets her on an inner and outer journey. An act of bravery and courage that even its creator cannot stop. Lanthimos accompanies this journey with a gothic aesthetic that leans towards steampunk, which also references science fiction. Which indicates a twist in the script. Bella is an element of chaos, a person who understands that her body is the territory of power and conquers it.
A debate that may embrace feminism – and it does – but at the same time it is a line that connects this argument to dozens of different issues. From analyzing gender identity to beliefs about values in a world imposed by others. poor creatures This is a brilliant work that intelligently handles its philosophical implications.
Source: Hiper Textual
