'POOR THINGS' MADE ME SICK: I'M REDESIGNING IT

I have never been a hater like this ever in my whole life
Please let me know what you think of this format! I wanted to try out something new in the new year so this is a bit more of a video essay/movie critique with art supporting it rather than a straight art video. Any comments or opinions would be SO appreciated!!

CONTENT WARNING!!! This movie is very R rated, I try to talk around things in the least upsetting way possible BUT there is still mention of SH, SA, real and fictional instances of pregnancy loss and morally dubious relationships.

It's also the most aggressive critique I think I've ever posted so if you love this movie please feel free to skip this video! I'm pretty harsh so if that would make you sad then its totally okay to skip.

0:00 - Intro
1:13 - Frankenstein Context
2:13 - Synopsis
7:42 - Problems with the Movie
12:33 - Bella Redesign
14:35 - Script Doctoring the Ending
15:59 - Different Take on 'Feminist Frankenstein'
20:00 - Wrap up

∆ My book Unfamiliar is available here! -
∆ Thank you to Amarante for providing a good portion of the music! Listen to them below:
∆ Other Music I Use:
Change - B-Side
DatSwing - TESK
Hammock-Days - Bonus-Points
Menti - Moose-Dawa
Sleepy - cocabona-Monma

[amandar]

I haven’t seen anyone talk about the novel “poor things.” The movie leaves out the ending. In the book you find out the whole narrative was a fake story written by her husband to infantilize her. In the book you find out Bella was actually a feminist doctor who who advocated for women, but her husband was jealous and wrote a story about her being a “child monster.” When she found the story she asked to have it burned.

[littleblueclovers]

Honestly 14:46 was the biggest wasted potential.

The movie really ALMOST had a moment where a victim of the “born sexy yesterday” trope is now older and is able to see another “infant” unknowingly experiencing the same thing.

The main character can then notice all the things she never noticed before. As a “child” she saw all the men as friends or parental figures, but she sees now, when they are interacting with the new “child”, that they are just manipulating her and are only being predatory over her body.

I feel that it would’ve been a wonderful, heart-breaking movie about pedophilia, mental/physical disability, grooming, and manipulation.

[albaladuc]

Removing the ending from the original novel, and pretending as if this entire situation had been real? That made zero sense from a storytelling perspective. The best line of the book comes from Bella: "It's a work that positively stinks of all that was morbid in that most morbid of centuries." That got a laugh out of me.

[armyforlife]

I’m still confused as to why they thought to get rid of the bodily scars and “imperfections” that were on the original “Frankenstein” like that’s one of the KEY points in the story???

Edit: I understand that the movie was based on the novel “Poor Things”, but I have one question to all the people telling me that…

Do you believe that the director did a good job to show the “greatness”of the novel? (I haven’t read the novel so I don’t have an opinion on it)

[EasyCheesy]

"These film makers aren't afraid to break boundaries when it comes to putting in morally dispicable sex scenes in their movies, but they wouldn't dream of having a quote on quote ugly woman on screen for more than a minute of two." PREACH

[BookLikingRat]

The original Frankenstein was a feminist book when you consider the backstory. It was written by Mary Shelley in 1816 and published 2 years later. Not only was Mary 18 when she wrote it, but it was also her first book, and now it's considered the first science fiction novel.

[PapaPalina]

When my dad and I watched the film, we thought it was a parody of the "born sexy yesterday" trope, and making fun of men who sexualise child like innocence wrapped in sexy clothing, but now I'm not so sure?? The whole child in an adult body having sex was WEIRD and disturbing though...

[psychofangirl_]

From the trailers, I was expecting it to be about a robot girl learning about the world with her creator, but this is so much WORSE 😭
That said, I would pay actual money to see Lav’s ALTERNATIVE idea put on the big screen. That sounds so good!

[veronica_sawyer_]

this is the angriest I’ve ever seen Lavendertowne be, and I love it

[Zosalot]

"Let's yassify Igor."

As a spooky creep that loves Renfield, Golem and other side villain characters, I have waited my whole life to hear these words and have never loved you more.

[FruityHachi]

the point of Bella being shaved and the question about who does it for her and that it doesn't reflect living without shame is a good point that many people may miss to question

[we_see_you_opal]

Thank you for not forgetting the second Experiment..the whole movie is icky but her keeping someone with the same fate basically as a pet in her "happy ending" was the final nail in the coffin for me

[CrystalPearl]

It’s insane someone managed to turn Frankenstein into: “ What if we had a bunch of men take advantage of a woman, but she’s actually an underage girl/baby on the inside! “

[ajthewildwolf]

Ah, we love it when men repackage things that are a net negative for women as being "feminist."

[Silly_Billy]

Little warning here my tangent does have a few spoilers but I couldn't help myself I just finished reading this in AP Lit.

I think most people completely missed a key theme in Frankenstein. The danger of knowledge. Victor created life against warning. The creature learned of the unfair treatment ugly people like him receive. And Walton is warned by Victor against his ventures. The stories original title was "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" Victor is Prometheus. Warned by others (Zeus) not to pursue knowledge (giving fire to the humans). But he disregards this and puts other's lives in danger. He suffers because of this as well.

This movie could've have shown this so well. Almost in a Barbie movie way. Bella could've learned of the terrible treatment women receive and feel so distraught that she wishes not to live on (as Victor feels when the creature basically ruins his life). But instead, she could've overcome her circumstances and fought against the male gaze. And making her as grotesque as the creature in Frankenstein would've been a lot better. It would show that women aren't just their appearance. Mental capacity is more important.

That would've been feminist. The feminist aspect of this movie is completely lost. And as someone else in this comment section put it, the movie seems very Lolita esk.

[kazuu_]

I genuinely don’t know how this movie was so well received- everytime I see an ad for it I feel sick. my dad convinced me to watch it with him, being excited for it, and even hyping me up.
we got through maybe 20 mins bc he couldn’t find the remote.
hearing ab the rest of the plot is even worse.. I felt physically uncomfortable watching it, and was genuinely on the verge of tears.
she shoved a fucking apple up there. within the first 20 minutes or so. gross.
this is made even worse by the fact that is an INFANTS BRAIN.
it’s like the troupe where they design a small child looking character just to say “oh they’re actually 500+” as an excuse to sexualise or ship them.
except the other way around.. putting a child in an adults body and, by the sounds of it, having explicit sex scenes.
with a person with a small child’s conscious.
it’s disgusting. not to mention everything you mentioned, too

[mindyca]

The moment i heard a baby s brain in a women’s body i knew it wasn’t going to be about feminism….

[strawberycupcake]

from the description of it, it doesn’t sound like a “feminist movie”, it just sounds like the director put all his disgusting fantasies into it.

[MaxM]

This video has actually helped me solidify what it was that was bothering me about the movie. I thought it was fantastic from its visuals and overall filmmaking technique, but something was bugging me with each passing minute, and it only got worse and worse as the film went on. I kept trying to rationalize it in my head, assuming that as a man i was just missing the point, but I actually think I can pinpoint the exact thing that made me realize why the movie wasn't working on a narrative level. I'm not particular squeemish or prudeish or made uncomfortable by sex or sex scenes, but as a pansexual person, I noticed that there was a clear dissidence between the framing and the writing.

If the movie is supposed to be about liberating female sexuality, why is the female body the only one the camera and framing focus on during the sex scenes? As I said before, I'm pan and as I've gotten older I've really started to notice how male bodies are never quite sexualized the same way female bodies are. And in this case, it struck me as odd that the movie sets up Bella as desiring sexual relationships with men, but never presents men as sexual objects. It's always Bella herself who is the focus of the sexualization. It's always her body and reactions, her nudity that is focused on. The shots are drowning in male gaze which conflicts with the idea that the movie is about female gaze. The film never shoots men as sexually appealing or attractive, its sticks to making sure Bella's attractiveness is prioritized. The movie sets up Bella as viewing Mark Ruffallo's character Duncan as some sexy adventurous man, but he's never shot that way. His body is never highlighted, or shown in a sexual light. he's not given the over the top organismic reactions to sex, Because unlike Emma Stone or any of the other women shown nude on screen, Mark Ruffalo is not a sex symbol, none of the men in the movie are. If the character was played by Channing Tatum or Reyn Gosling and the shots took time to lear on their bodies and nudity during the sex scenes, It may have had a point to make. But it doesn't. The movie can say its all about a woman's story of sexual liberation, but it's still a movie that exists to show a fetishized conventionally attractive woman who has lots of sex and who likes having sex but only in so far as its appealing to a male fantasy. She even perfectly fills the occasionally bisexual quota so they can have a graphic lesbian sex scene thats shot like a p()rno so the idea of her being intimate with women can exist within the confines of male fantasy.

[bartndr_]

“She goes on a walk with this loser.” PREACH!!! I cracked up laughing 😂 I loved this video to pieces and absolutely adored how you articulated every critique I had about the movie in such a clear way ❤

*Just realized, the movie never actually verifies whether or not the money Bella gave away was even GOING to the poor people. I thought the movie was gonna talk more about class wherein Bella was gonna find out that the guards had pocketed the money instead of giving it away, inciting a discussion about corruption or smth. BUT THEY NEVER CIRCLED BACK TO THAT. I had to stifle my laughter cuz I kept thinking, "lol when she sees those guards with some fancy stuff to show off wealth, she's gonna make the surprised Pikachu face."