Tag Archives: Poor Things

Midterm Discovery Assignment

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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. 

Week 4: Oannes, Yorgos Lathimos’s “Poor Things,” and My Need for More Not-Mermaid Mermaid Movies

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Last Friday, I decided to head over to the Fashion Valley Mall right after class to catch a movie as a sort of treat to myself. The movie I ended up watching was Yorgos Lathimos’s “Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Marc Ruffalo, and Ramy Youssef. The movie was based on a book by the same name, written by Alasdair Gray, which depicts the adventures of a woman named Bella Baxter, who has the brain of an infant but the body of a woman in her 20s-30s, and her coming-of-age journey of self-discovery.

Initially, I was drawn to the Frankenstein-like premise of the movie because, besides all things mermaid, I also love all things Frankenstein. Of course, the movie delivered on that end–Willem Dafoe playing a doctor named Godwin Baxter, altering and reviving the corpse that would become Bella Baxter and the inevitable parental issues that immediately followed.

What I did not expect was how mermaid-y the movie was, despite not being explicitly about mermaids. Bella, played by the brilliant Emma Stone, is your quintessential mermaid-turned-human–a fish out of water, with long hair and a thirst for knowledge, curiosity in spades, and possessing no desire and making no attempt to blend in with polite society and its arbitrary rules and regulations. Marc Ruffalo’s character, Duncan Wedderburn, is your typical human man in a mermaid story. His presence in the movie irked me to no end because of how presumptuous he was to think that he could handle Bella’s quirks and curiosity, but gladdened me to see his attempts to control Bella and quash her thirst for knowledge did not come to no fruition but instead frustrated him to the hilarious level of absolute loser.

It was Bella’s desire to seek more knowledge and her ability to retain that knowledge that clued me in on the mermaid-y qualities of the movie, as it reminded me of the Babylonian water spirit Oannes. According to The Penguin Book of Mermaids, in Babylonian mythology, “hybrid creatures are associated with the sea are holders of knowledge,” especially in the case of Oannes. (Bacchilega, et. al., 3) Oannes gifted humans “insight into letters, and sciences, and every other art” essentially teaching humans “everything which could tend to soften manners and humanize mankind.” (Bacchilega, et. al., 3) Throughout the movie, Bella’s curiosity is seen as a boon to both the viewers and the characters around her, questioning societal norms and actively seeking ways to improve herself through the acquisition of more knowledge and improving others by sharing said knowledge. The best part is that the movie rewards Bella’s curiosity by allowing characters to exist that accept and encourage her desire for more knowledge and even open themselves up to acquiring more knowledge for themselves.

All in all, it was an incredible movie and I hope it comes out on-demand or on streaming platforms soon so I can watch it over and over again and relish in my newfound love and desire for more not-mermaid mermaid movies.