WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Poor Things.
Poor Things, the latest film from acclaimed director Yorgos Linthantimos, is being celebrated as a modern feminist masterpiece. The wonderfully bizarre movie stars Emma Stone as a resurrected woman named Bella who is implanted with the developing brain of her unborn daughter by mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter. Poor Things, based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, follows Bella as she discovers the world’s various wonders and tragedies while fending off the seemingly endless expectations forced upon her by society, capitalism, and numerous strong-willed men.
In her book The Will to Change, bell hooks explores the topic of patriarchy at its most basic and accessible level as it relates to men. “Patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation. Men who have heard and know the word usually associate it with women’s liberation, with feminism, and therefore dismiss it as irrelevant to their own experiences.” While Poor Things is mostly centered on Bella’s experience, it also provides several archetypes of inevitably patriarchal men, from the thoughtful Max and the brilliant “God”, to the relentless Duncan and the terrifying Alfie.
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8 Bella Baxter’s Sexual Liberation Is A Staple Of Feminist Theory
One of the most apparent characteristics of feminist thought in Poor Things is the period of sexual liberation that Bella experiences throughout the film. Bella innocently experiments with her body and tries to express her sexual desires and needs without limitations or shame, which exists in direct contrast to the conduct of “polite society”. The extent and frequency of the sex scenes in Poor Things carry the feminist ideological spirit of women having full agency and choice of their sexual activities and partners without being guided by external ridicule or judgment.
7 Poor Things Reverts The “Male Gaze” With Graphic Male Nudity
While there is certainly a fair amount of female nudity in Poor Things, particularly on behalf of Emma Stone’s courageous efforts, the film levels the playing score with its depiction of full-frontal male nudity as well. This is still seen as a much less common characteristic of nude and sex scenes in modern films and can be viewed through the feminist lens as a direct response to the “male gaze” found throughout decades of cinematic history. The “male gaze” concept was coined by film theorist Laura Mulvey as a way to describe the objectification of women onscreen.
6 Every Male Character Desires To Use, Confine, Or Possess Bella
The four or five primary male characters in Poor Things are quite different from each other but all represent different styles of patriarchal men. Even the innocent Max with his thoughtful gestures and puppy-dog eyes fits in this category since he, like the other male characters, wishes to possess Bella according to the confined expectations of a patriarchal system. Max dutifully waits for Bella to return to him, switching a common gender norm in the male-female dynamic. Duncan tries to limit Bella’s access to the outside world and her education of it. Both Alfie and Dr. Godwin lock Bella inside their households to the same effect despite having different morals and motivations.
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5 Poor Things Identifies Several Patriarchal Systems Of Oppression
While Bella experiences different forms of personal and cultural feminism, Poor Things at large introduces several aspects of intersectional feminist theory. Intersectional feminism pertains to the multiple societal and economic conditions that thwart female empowerment and promote male dominance, which can be found throughout many systemic forms of oppression in regard to race, class, gender, and sexuality. Bella clearly represents one category of feminism as a white woman with resources, but Poor Things does allude to other forms of oppression that contribute to Bella’s more intersectional and socialist feminist thinking by the film’s end.
4 Bella Baxter Is Empowered By Having Agency In Her Choices
Female empowerment and agency are the driving forces behind feminist theory in general, which is put on full display through Bella’s unstoppable determination to do as she pleases. What’s most notable about her pursuit is how frequently, and rigorously, she is prevented from living her life the way she wants to. It’s as if Bella’s determination to conduct herself and her affairs is a constant and direct attack against the men who wish to use, confine, and possess her to fulfill their own desires and expectations. Bella is seen as an outlier of conformity as a bold and defiant woman in contrast to the multiple bold and controlling men surrounding her.
3 Poor Things Exposes Masculine Social Expectations & Insecurities
Poor Things does an excellent, and hilarious, job at driving straight into the heart of masculine insecurities underneath the protective expectations of the patriarchy. This is particularly true of Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), who is so challenged by Bella’s defiance of “polite society” that he is left hopelessly enamored by her. What’s worse, his inability to possess Bella drives him to personal ruin and destroys his rigid perception of how the world works. Duncan’s desperate and bitter attraction for Bella, in the end, is mostly caused by her persistent rejection and ultimate inaccessibility, leaving Duncan crying like a child who had his favorite toy taken away.
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2 Duncan Wedderburn Represents The Trappings Of “Polite Society”
Duncan surprisingly becomes a major part of Poor Things as a foil to the “rebellious” and “uncivilized” Bella through the eyes of conformity. Duncan is evidently a product and benefactor of the patriarchal society, playing within its sensibilities and luring women with his money and inflated sense of adventure like it were only a game he had mastered. As a representative of the apparent winning side in the capitalist hierarchy, he expects things in return, such as Bella’s cooperation and willingness to please him. Bella’s defiance of and disinterest in polite society refutes Duncan’s self-perception and expectations that he can pay his way to capture Bella’s heart.
1 Poor Things Calls For Socialist Feminism By Challenging Status Quo
Poor Things expands on its fundamental stance as a feminist masterpiece by including radical forms of feminist theory that pertain to broader areas of socialism and Marxism. Bella Baxter not only seeks empowerment and freedom within society and culture but also outside of those constructs as well, questioning why certain staples of life, economy, and socialization are the way they are and why they don’t support a wider range of people. Bella challenges the world from the ground up, which at first may appear to be a part of her naivete as a developing woman. Poor Things, however, hits the nail on the head by aligning Bella’s desire to change the world with the root of feminist thought that real change must come from underneath and outside of the patriarchal system rather than within its established parameters.
Poor Things
Poor Things is a sci-fi romance film from The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos. The story focuses on the bizarre and fantastical world of Bella Baxter after a scientist named Dr. Godwin Baxter brings her back to life. The film is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray.
- Release Date
- September 8, 2023
- Director
- Yorgos Lanthimos
- Cast
- Emma Stone , Willem Dafoe , Mark Ruffalo , Ramy Youssef , Jerrod Carmichael , Christopher Abbott
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 141 Minutes
- Genres
- Comedy , Romance , Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Tony McNamara
- Story By
- Alasdair Gray
- Studio(s)
- Film4 , TSG Entertainment , Element Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Searchlight Pictures
