So well written Lydia! You put so many of my thoughts down in such a clear way.
I still haven’t read the book, but I am so looking forward to it, after I read your notes about it.
I agree with you on the portrait of sexless older women. I mean, I was hoping the older woman in the brothel would have sex with Bella and just for once have an older woman on screen who has sex.
I am delighted to read I am not the only one who loved to see a disgusting man ripped apart by the relationship with a woman, and not viceversa.
Thanks for writing this, I don’t think I enjoyed the film as much as some people because of some of the weird feelings I felt about the male and abled gaze in the film. And this has helped me process some of that. I so wanted to love it as it’d entirely my vibe of weird film. I’m currently reading Frankenstein and Charlotte Gordon’s biography about Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft, and loving exploring these ideas around womanhood and feminism and parenting and monstrosity. William Godwin in Mary Shelley’s life was a strange man who created her as something hideous for society, an independent woman who did not respect god or marriage or norms in the way society wanted. Thanks for writing your thoughts down!
Honestly glad you wrote this because this film has also been taking up so much space in my brain since I watched it!! I don’t think I can organize my thoughts as much you have and I haven’t read the book either - but I wanted to say I was so surprised by Godwin and how I thought he was kind of a stereotypical ugly-monster character (he started out that way) and by the end of the movie I was finding him much more interesting than that and somewhat sympathetic? I haven’t explored that much but I was surprised by it. Also can someone PLEASE talk more about the aesthetics of the movie; I think about the upholstered floor in that one room at least three times a day!!
I love reading your thoughts about this!! As someone who saw the film recently and *loved* it (and read the book a while back but don't fully remember it all) your analysis of it being a critique of specifically of the male gaze makes so much sense. The only thing I'd add is that Gray is drawing inspiration, in structuring the book as he does, from James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner - a fascinating and truly weird book about religious fanaticism set in Edinburgh, which is also presented as a "found" journal. While it's different in subject matter, if you enjoy the tone of Poor Things I'd strongly recommend Confessions.
So well written Lydia! You put so many of my thoughts down in such a clear way.
I still haven’t read the book, but I am so looking forward to it, after I read your notes about it.
I agree with you on the portrait of sexless older women. I mean, I was hoping the older woman in the brothel would have sex with Bella and just for once have an older woman on screen who has sex.
I am delighted to read I am not the only one who loved to see a disgusting man ripped apart by the relationship with a woman, and not viceversa.
Ah! you have put into words my feeling about the film's portrayal of older women. Thank you <3
Thanks for writing this, I don’t think I enjoyed the film as much as some people because of some of the weird feelings I felt about the male and abled gaze in the film. And this has helped me process some of that. I so wanted to love it as it’d entirely my vibe of weird film. I’m currently reading Frankenstein and Charlotte Gordon’s biography about Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft, and loving exploring these ideas around womanhood and feminism and parenting and monstrosity. William Godwin in Mary Shelley’s life was a strange man who created her as something hideous for society, an independent woman who did not respect god or marriage or norms in the way society wanted. Thanks for writing your thoughts down!
Ooh will be back to read + comment once I've finished the book!
Honestly glad you wrote this because this film has also been taking up so much space in my brain since I watched it!! I don’t think I can organize my thoughts as much you have and I haven’t read the book either - but I wanted to say I was so surprised by Godwin and how I thought he was kind of a stereotypical ugly-monster character (he started out that way) and by the end of the movie I was finding him much more interesting than that and somewhat sympathetic? I haven’t explored that much but I was surprised by it. Also can someone PLEASE talk more about the aesthetics of the movie; I think about the upholstered floor in that one room at least three times a day!!
I love reading your thoughts about this!! As someone who saw the film recently and *loved* it (and read the book a while back but don't fully remember it all) your analysis of it being a critique of specifically of the male gaze makes so much sense. The only thing I'd add is that Gray is drawing inspiration, in structuring the book as he does, from James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner - a fascinating and truly weird book about religious fanaticism set in Edinburgh, which is also presented as a "found" journal. While it's different in subject matter, if you enjoy the tone of Poor Things I'd strongly recommend Confessions.