I was just thinking about Under The Skin, which is one of the most memorable films I’ve ever seen and certainly deserves to have a following, after watching Poor Things. Struck me that the protagonists are similarly ‘alien’, but the power dynamics are reversed. Bella gains agency as the film goes on; The mystery woman in Under The Skin loses hers.
That's such an interesting comparison (I haven't written up my Poor Things thoughts but I ought to for a future newsletter) - yes, they're both artificial women of different kinds, designed to attract and please men (for different reasons) who break from their intended function (in different ways). And I suppose the other big difference is that humanity is accessible to Bella because she literally is human, whereas the protagonist of Under the Skin... isn't, so her attempt to become so is doomed.
One of the differences between the film and the book I think about a lot is that in the film, the alien is the objectively perfect Scarlett Johannson, whereas in the book she's described as being a distorted simulacra of a woman -- actually grotesque, but pushing just enough of the right buttons to deceive horny men in the dark. I think that's a really good e.g. of where film has to deviate from literary source -- if the alien looked as she does in Faber's version, not only would the audience be baffled by the men's susceptibility to her, they'd also struggle to feel any sympathy for her because she'd be obviously "other" from the off (whereas in the novel, her otherness is initially overcome by the fact that she's the central consciousness).
Under the Skin has stuck with me too even though I saw it shortly after it was released. There are some scenes that I simply cannot forget (that ending...). And I remember feeling confused after watching it. Confusion at my mixed levels of sympathy for the men in the film and what happened to them, and then rage at how the alien was treated.
Contrast that with the trailer for JLo’s film, where I’m definitely feeling confused. Although I also cannot seem to stop thinking about it!
It is REALLY confusing - because you do feel for her, while also feeling for her victims, while also not being sure you should feel for her because she's not human. Your sense of her "humanity" (as in, capability of fellow feeling) increases through the film as your understanding that she's not human solidifies. It's a very uncanny experience. I'm still so haunted by the baby 😭 but, yes, more by JLo.
I was just thinking about Under The Skin, which is one of the most memorable films I’ve ever seen and certainly deserves to have a following, after watching Poor Things. Struck me that the protagonists are similarly ‘alien’, but the power dynamics are reversed. Bella gains agency as the film goes on; The mystery woman in Under The Skin loses hers.
That's such an interesting comparison (I haven't written up my Poor Things thoughts but I ought to for a future newsletter) - yes, they're both artificial women of different kinds, designed to attract and please men (for different reasons) who break from their intended function (in different ways). And I suppose the other big difference is that humanity is accessible to Bella because she literally is human, whereas the protagonist of Under the Skin... isn't, so her attempt to become so is doomed.
One of the differences between the film and the book I think about a lot is that in the film, the alien is the objectively perfect Scarlett Johannson, whereas in the book she's described as being a distorted simulacra of a woman -- actually grotesque, but pushing just enough of the right buttons to deceive horny men in the dark. I think that's a really good e.g. of where film has to deviate from literary source -- if the alien looked as she does in Faber's version, not only would the audience be baffled by the men's susceptibility to her, they'd also struggle to feel any sympathy for her because she'd be obviously "other" from the off (whereas in the novel, her otherness is initially overcome by the fact that she's the central consciousness).
Interesting! I haven’t read either book, but now think I will!
Under the Skin has stuck with me too even though I saw it shortly after it was released. There are some scenes that I simply cannot forget (that ending...). And I remember feeling confused after watching it. Confusion at my mixed levels of sympathy for the men in the film and what happened to them, and then rage at how the alien was treated.
Contrast that with the trailer for JLo’s film, where I’m definitely feeling confused. Although I also cannot seem to stop thinking about it!
It is REALLY confusing - because you do feel for her, while also feeling for her victims, while also not being sure you should feel for her because she's not human. Your sense of her "humanity" (as in, capability of fellow feeling) increases through the film as your understanding that she's not human solidifies. It's a very uncanny experience. I'm still so haunted by the baby 😭 but, yes, more by JLo.