Ana Dilan
ECL 305
Professor Pressman
3 March 2024
“Poor Things”: Your New Favorite Mermaid Movie
Satirical black comedy, a Victorian Gothic fairy tale, or a loose and surrealist retelling of Frankenstein–Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Poor Things” (2023), a film adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name, is a multifaceted story with an equally multi-faceted protagonist. Played by Emma Stone, Bella Baxter, though blatantly marketed as a Frankenstein’s-monster type of creature, possesses the curiosity and wisdom akin to the mermaids of mermaid folklore. As such, the character herself and the projection of her arc adds the film to the expansive shelf of mermaid folklore and makes “Poor Things” a mermaid movie.
Like mermaids, Bella is a hybrid creature of sorts. She is a reanimated corpse composed of the body of an adult woman and the brain of an infant. The doctor who reassembles and reanimates her and acts as her father figure tells Bella that he pulled her body from the river, a body of water and what would be a mermaid’s dwelling place. This state of hybridity exposes not just Bella’s multifaceted nature but the nature of the men around her. Bella’s naivete is exploited by a corrupt attorney named Duncan Wedderburn, but this same character detests her curiosity and thirst for knowledge while appreciated by her father and the friends she makes.
Bella’s appearance has very mermaid-like characteristics. The most obvious characteristic is her long black hair, reminiscent of the portrayal of many mermaids before her. Her fashion and clothing choices also set her apart from the rigid Victorian-era fashions she is surrounded by. Holly Waddington, the film’s costume designer, chose to forego the use of the corset for Bella and instead decided to dress the character in “a constant state of deconstruction,” akin to “a child dressing from a parent’s wardrobe.” (Whistles, 2024) One of the costume pieces Bella wears earlier in the film is called a lobster bustle, a piece which she wears over her clothes instead of under. This undergarment was used to give the wearer the archetypal Victorian silhouette but in this case, makes Bella look off-putting because of the order in which she wears it and because it gives her bottom half the appearance of a sea creature rather than a human’s.
Bella takes on both a physical and symbolic journey towards self-discovery as she is taken on a cruise ship headed for Athens, a city known for its philosophers, and befriends two passengers who introduce her to philosophy. It is on the sea where she becomes more conscious of herself, the world, and its people around her. She questions societal norms and the roles of individuals in enforcing these norms, seeking to improve society by improving herself through knowledge and sharing said knowledge. Later on in the film, she also decides to follow in her father’s/creator’s footsteps to become a surgeon and even joins a socialist club. Through this, Bella invokes the traits of the Babylonian myth of Oannes and his ability to share his knowledge towards the ancient Babylonians. (Bacchilega, et. al., 3)
Works Cited
Bacchilega, Cristina. Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin Publishing Group, 2019.
“In Conversation with Holly Waddington: Costume Designer of the New Film ‘Poor Things,’ on Working with Yorgos Lanthimos and the Concept behind the Captivating Costumes: Inspiration: Whistles |.” Whistles, 26 Feb. 2024, www.whistles.com/inspiration/interviews/in-conversation-with-holly-waddington-costume-designer-of-the-new-film-poor-things-on-working-with-yorgos-lanthimos-and-exploring-the-concept-behind-the-captivating-costumes.html.