Beholding Bluebeard

Image Source: Kickstarter (Bluebeard's Bride by Marissa Kelly, 2017)

For as long as I have been a sentient being capable of advanced thought, the 'woman in peril' sub genre has always maintained a more than substantial sway over me.

A woman, usually young and at a turning point in her life, finds herself swept up into a dizzying, intoxicating maelstrom of a courtship consisting of overpowering seduction and mystery by an older, sexually imposing man of enigmatic descent in a terrifying yet delectable affair. They elope (against the wishes of the woman's peers) and he spirits her away to his manse in a province far from the woman's home where he gives her everything her heart desires, every luxury, every fancy her tender mind can conjure, he delivers. One day, he tells her he must leave her for a journey abroad, much to her confusion. He places a collection of keys in her young hand and he informs her the mansion is hers and she may do as she likes and go anywhere she pleases except one particular room he is extremely protective of. He departs and the woman is left to her own devices. She wiles away the time, enjoying every privilege afforded to her, but in the back of her mind, the nagging question tugs away at her curiosity; "What is behind that door?" Finally, her willpower can hold no longer and with those holy keys, she unlocks her husband's forbidden lair and beholds a horrifying secret she never would have imagined. Her spouse eventually discovers her act of defiance and flies into a bloody rage, vowing to kill her. At the last moment, she is saved by a younger prospective suitor who manages to slay the man turned maniac and both live Happily Ever After (TM).

Image Source: Geek and Sundry, 2016

The tale of Bluebeard is hardly the first of its type, but it is one of the most infamous and influential. Strains of it can be found everywhere and while they may either be amplified or diluted to suit the narrative of which they appear, the source remains at the core. Want a notably innocent example? Disney's beloved animated sensation, Beauty and the Beast contains a direct reference to Bluebeard in the Beast's warning to Belle to stay away from the West Wing. Just like the woman in the tale, she defies the caution and infiltrates his lair to investigate, only to draw her captor's frightening ire. While the result is VERY different from the original prose, the execution and motivation remains the same.

Another less direct but thematically relevant example from another mode of media is Rammstein's sexually-charged, Gothic and disturbing yet undeniably compelling music video for their song Du Riechst So Gut (You Smell So Good) in which a literal wolf (or specifically wolves) in man's clothing aggressively pursues a beautiful, nameless woman wearing red during a masquerade ball being held at a palatial estate. Upon imposing her out in the labyrinthine gardens of the property, he lures her, swooning into bed by pledging his adoration of her before transforming into the monster which lurks within, all the while ecstatically crooning about how wonderful she smells. 

Want another example? In Season Three of Hannibal, the character of Doctor Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) finds her mind and soul at the mercy of one Doctor Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) who keeps her imprisoned through circumstance and coercion, though this time the secluded mansion is the exotic location of Italy and the attraction between the two is primarily mental (though both of their beauty is not lost on each other). Bedelia is completely aware of the danger of which he presents to her and those he preys upon, but she cannot help but get sucked further into his realm of horrific wonders. There is no asylum for her in this vipers' pit formulated by her captor and there is no other way to go but down, down into the abyss.

Complicity or desperation? The lines are blurred.

So why is this appealing to me? I have several reasons, and while not all would be considered, at least in the narrowest sense of the word, mentally healthy, I feel many individuals can relate, particularly women. So, if it pleases you, permit me to offer up an alternative perspective on this sordid tale.

At some point or another, all of us become attracted to somebody we know, deep down, in our heart of hearts, we should not be with. A dangerous, toxic, frightening figure who you know will ultimately cause you nothing but pain, but your immediate impulses speak far louder than the Voice of Morality screaming in your synapses ever could due to the shallow answers to your desires they provide, be it money, sex, attention, security, anything you want, but not what you necessarily need. 

While this notion can clearly be applied to both sexes given it's unfortunate factor in our lives, it can especially be felt by women because, let's face it, it is so easy to make women the victims in such situations because they are so delectable to be seen in distress. 

A bitter, warped version of the truth held by bitter, warped people. Image source: Rachael Turns Pages

Folklore portraying stories of fancy and horrors were designed to be cautionary; if you don't obey your parents, the bogeyman will get you; if you do not maintain your chastity you will be defiled by some horrible demon; if you are a disobedient and inconsistent wife, you deserve to be punished. Make no mistake, these yarns were not merely told in the name of entertainment, but to be accepted and practiced as sociological doctrine bestowed by the powerful onto the weak to maintain a seriously unbalanced status quo. Human beings are curious, troubled and hypocritical creatures. We make, maintain and enforce staunch rules because a certain level of behaviour is accepted as being correct. Anything which does not fit these conditions is deemed abnormal and looked upon with disdain, yet we can find ourselves indulging in the very same attitudes we say we abhor and nowhere is an example of this aspect of human nature which is more prevalent than sex and sexual desire.

Ohhhh, we are a horny bunch, and you don't need me to academically confirm that for you because the evidence surpasses mere empirical study and into our very DNA. Pornography, erotic fiction and imagery, allusions to that act which is labelled as forbidden but utterly irresistible to all. There is something about the Bluebeard story which titillates us although we would never openly discuss it over supper, be it the fantasy of immediate temporary satisfaction and the idea of the mysterious, lethal lover who places you under their horrible spell. The attraction of domination and submission has played heavily in every provocative work, even in genres where we do not automatically associate these terms. In a way, Bluebeard presents the opportunity to the sane of mind reader to safely explore the darker corners of their psyche without fear of real life repercussions or threat to their personal safety. By my personal perspective, Bluebeard and his constituents are the female-based fantasy equivalent to the femme fatale archetype in the traditionally masculine-fantasy film noir as both are eerily very similar when one considers the factors;

- A forbidden lover who promises the protagonist every dark, carnal desire.
- Exotic and erotic escapades, with the knowledge of what is being done truly is not in lead characters' best interests but survival instinct be damned because this feels so damn good.
- Deadly webs being woven by the treacherous lover ripe for entanglement.
- The too little, too late realization made when far too deep waters have been entered.

Image source: giphy

 

However, there is something else which I find that speaks to me about this disturbing tome and that is the idea that it can be 'taken back' and re-examined by wiser, contemporary eyes.

In recent years, Bluebeard has become less of a story which focuses on enforcing the oppression of women and more about the opportunity for women to take stolen power and personal agency back by recognizing such behaviour as destructive and threatening while also encouraging the reader to contemplate what they would do in such a situation. Women today have been afforded far more opportunity to prove their strength, be it physical and/or emotional which reflects not only in the attitude we have toward the original text but also those who re-tell the story.

In Angela Carters' seminal and darkly erotic The Bloody Chamber (a title which is fraught with multiple meanings I'm sure you can appreciate), while remaining faithful to most of the established text, a major element which comes in to play is that the unnamed young heroine (who narrates the story first hand) is saved partly by her own ingenuity as well as her own mother as opposed to the convenient younger suitor who can only offer emotional comfort as opposed to potent promise of survival. While the protagonist still embarks on a journey of Happily Ever After with the character, the true hero of the story is another woman, another figure of affection, one of maternal, eternal love. The one who saves you does not always want to get into your pants.

Another fascinating retelling is Margaret Atwood's Bluebeard's Egg, an extremely diverse, frustrating, yet cerebral venture which revolves around the life of a married couple in which the wife comes to suspect there is something deeply off about her husband, but her suspicions about his nature present more questions than answers. Due to the focal concept of perspective, the reader's personal interpretation and opinion of Atwood’s story can change depending on how they choose to approach it as well as the characters. 

In final thoughts, Bluebeard remains a powerful and perennial cornerstone of literature. Thanks to an expansion of time, shifting viewpoints, wisdom and intellectual discussion, it has morphed into a variety of wild and wonderful incarnations; the dark fantasy, an opportunity for discourse about interpersonal relationships between women and men and an enduring case of maintaining self-awareness and resourcefulness in uncertain situations. While the original story was decidedly misogynistic with little consideration for progress, it has become far more than the sum of its parts, it has been dissected, deconstructed and re-purposed to fit a far more sophisticated agenda; one of wisdom and of transformation. 

Deadly Transformation: The Silence of the Lambs

Few films hold the established title of earning the Big Five Oscars; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay and when it comes to films which earn these accolades, they are very few and far in between. Jonathan Demme's skin-crawling depth charge of a film The Silence of the Lambs, based on the best-selling tome by the same name by Thomas Harris is one of those films which have not only earned those coveted golden statuettes but also to this day, 25 years on, upholds its reputation for its' seemingly elegant simplicity without sacrificing one shred of its compelling, insidious and intelligent narrative which bubbles underneath.

Jodie Foster plays gutsy FBI cadet Clarice Starling, who is approached by her superior Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) for an errand to interview the infamous serial killer Hannibal Lecter (a magisterial Anthony Hopkins) in order to capture a madman known as Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) who not only has a penchant for skinning his female victims but has far more insidious plans in his demented mind.

The most difficult thing about composing a review for this film is that practically anything one could say about this film from a critical and academic standpoint has already been stated time and again. This is a film which is studied in film school, analysed and deconstructed by the academic alumni for various studies and still remains a key artistic inspiration by writers of thrillers and horrors across the globe. A procedural crime drama, a tensile cat gut of a thriller and a satisfying blood chiller are but several adjectives which have been used by countless viewers when they discuss The Silence of the Lambs.

However, in the interest of having something of relevance to say, I would like to discuss a particular concept about this film which resonates most with me, and that being the combined elements of sex, identity and transformation.

First things' first, let’s have a butchers' at that poster all of us know so well;

Closer, please. 

Cloooooseeerrrr....

Bingo

Some of you may know where this image comes from, but for those of you who don't, it's actually a rendition of Salvador Dalis' famous piece known commonly as 'In Voluptas Mors', or 'Voluptuous Death' picturing six naked women forming the shape of a human skull, which in a sense, could be construed as a perversion of divine symbology or even, say, a representation of the suffering and transformation into and of womanhood.

You can probably figure out where I'm going with this. Given this design is artfully placed on the moth, its' fairly clear it is not only a metaphor for the transformative process, but also how it relates to the character of Clarice Starling, who is a woman, and Buffalo Bill, who aspires to be his interpretation of a woman.

Throughout the film, Clarice grows and learns how to be a competent field agent while trying to keep up with Bill, her successes and failures are ones of which we see through her eyes, her experiences are ours. She is not a flawless individual; she makes errors and flubs her investigation, but her persistence, intelligence and accountability are what makes her stronger, her nerves give way to a resolve to not only combat the dominating evil of Buffalo Bill, but also her own past traumas and her professional reputation in what the film clearly shows is a male-dominated environment. Whenever Clarice shares a scene with a male character, she feels the need to prove herself despite the fact she is clearly competent as what could be a prospective field agent. Given the various dire situations she finds herself plunged in, it's little wonder she ultimately transforms into a formidable FBI agent; the grounded caterpillar becomes a soaring butterfly (which is fascinating given her surname is that of a diminutive bird) through her concrete will and drive.

On the other side of the coin, Buffalo Bill is a dark reflection to Clarice, a creature who thinks himself above the gradual law of evolution and aims to reach the next level without putting in the true work it requires to be more than the sum of his parts. Given his clear background of abuse, displacement of identity and misinformation about humanity, he wants to become a woman without even so much considering what it truly takes to BE a woman. 

Gender and sex are facts of life; we can be born a male or a female, that is the biological lotto many of us are given (I didn't say all because there are a small percent of people who are born with male and female genitalia which is a completely different kettle of fish I'm not competent to dive into on a whim). However, gender is where things get notably more interesting. Many of you have most likely heard the concept of 'Nature vs. Nurture', a very popular discussion given that term by Francis Galton, about whether human behaviour is determined by the environment, either prenatal or during a person's life, or by a person's genes. Nature is what we think of as preordaining and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors. In simple terms, there is little doubt Clarice is indeed female through her appearance and how she is perceived by her peers. Bill, despite notable effeminate leanings and personal desires, is biologically built like and sounds like a male because he IS male. 

Both are what they are due to genetic design. 

I just added this still because this scene was scary AF.

Meanwhile, the idea of Nurture is generally taken as the influence of external factors after conception; this being the product of exposure, experience and learning on an individual. While Clarice effectively became an orphan from a young age and had that harrowing experience of witnessing the spring lambs being slaughtered one night and not even being able to save the one she impulsively fled with, she did not lose herself in her pain. Instead, she worked through it by following her departed father's example and became a hopeful upholder of the law her father valiantly fought for. Granted, the ordeal with Buffalo Bill did summon those long-suppressed pains of helplessness, but she continued to fight because of those values that had been long ingrained into her sense of morality and ethics. 

In Bill's case, given his tragic history, it’s clear that his relationship with women was mainly negative, and the reason why HE wants to adopt the physique of a woman is to not only escape his history, but also to mock those who tainted it. Bill is a confused, bitter and entitled misogynist through and though who doesn't so much want to become a woman as they are generally seen by those with a lick of sanity and social decency, but his toxic, warped perception of one; deadly, dangerous and devoid of the laws of God and man, hence his entire behavioural patterns and means of killing his victims.

Both Clarice and Bill undergo a startling transformation, but The Silence of the Lambs clearly and rightly favors the evolution of Clarice Starling given she is a whole and functional person who has been able to not only endure the traumas of her past, but has managed to overcome them using a healthy means of self-reflection and exorcising her demons. Bill meanwhile was unable to surpass his demons and thus become one instead.