Welcome
...to my scrap. Like many of the scraps I've just viewed it will contain RL things and things I enjoy talking about.
As my first post, I thought about giving you all the skinny on me but posting a list of stats doesn't describe a person. What they talk about, what they're passionate about, and what they do is what shows them as they are. So, that being said, I decided to make my first post (aside from this intro) a chaotic (theres spoilers!) movie slash book review slash recommendation about: The Shape of Water
For those who don't know, the book and movie are written by two different people but using the exact same plot, and mostly writing them around the same time. The movie being done by Guillermo del Toro and the book being done by Daniel Kraus. Considering both spoke to each other on the plot the two pair wonderfully together, filling in blanks and new faucets that the other lacked. Each can be looked at in their own light though because they each stand along just fine.
The Movie: The major (and perhaps singular) complaint for the movie I found was people unhappy about the gratuitous sex scenes. I beg to differ, in the beginning we are shown a woman who love water, she mastrubates in it, which may seem pointless until the movie continues to show her routine and ties it in nicely to the water sex scene later. Then theres the sex scene with the villain and his wife which seems pointless but I think gives you insight to his character considering a scene ago he mentioned wanting to make a mute woman scream then having his wife be silent. Maybe I'm reaching but I thought it paired and made the point of how truly fucked this individual is in the head. For being a complaint from most viewers, those are really the only real sex scenes in the movie.
Moving on to the plot, there are some holes, as no movie is perfect (that is where I enjoy the book part). Such as not explaining exactly what the monster/creature is, never explaining why exactly why the heroine has scars exactly where gills should be, little things of the like. But I like to think this is all flushed away by both the exceptional setting and cinematic aspect of the movie, as well as the character development and romance.
Cinematically the movie is practically flawless in my eyes (but I am very biased with anything by Del Toro). The color overlay makes the whole movie seem dreamlike and underwater, the opening showing it very, very well with a narrator overly and a woman surrounded by water. Since the heroine and her love are mute they make great use of visual keys, every scene being body language as opposed to excessive declarations. Almost like a noir movie, scenes where things become dark get progressively dark color schemes, more chaotic costume wear, etc. It really is a movie that shows rather than tells. Two scenes that really stood out to me were that dance number, and the scene where she has to convince her neighbor to help.
The dance scene is towards the end of the movie, showing our heroine singing and being able to really tell her love that she loves him while pointing out how he is sick and she can't keep him. I though it was beautiful because of how beatific her dream is vs where they are actually having dinner, not to mention the fact that they can barely communicate because she can't speak and does not understand much sign language.
I am not deaf or mute but I know people who are and I've found that when captioning movies with deaf or mute people forget how much facial and body language play into expressing themselves when use sign language. So for me, watching her make someone speak what she is emoting and prove that they truly hear her and not just see her hands moving was gorgeous.
As I said, there are plot holes but I feel they're overshadowed by how much they focused on showing us who these people are and why we should care for them. For showing their motives and why they choose to be apart of something that could ruin them all. Another complaint here being that people don't "buy" the love between the leads but I agree to disagree, when you're lonely, when you empathize with someone to that degree, its very easy to fall in love. Its very easy to want the dream that you may not have and thats part of the beauty of it and part of the romance of why they draw together so quickly, with that Romeo and Juliet vibe (not that I care for Romeo and Juliet but thats a hash for another day).
As the heroine starts her day you see her routine, how small and systematic her everyday life is. How much she wants more (the little dance number, her dream-like scenes, the sass she has for those who look down on her being mute and equating it to stupidity).
Her neighbor is equally fleshed out and I found it refreshing that (from what I recall) they never once say he is gay but they show it. They didn't tell me the struggles, they showed me. It made it more empathetic/sympathetic. Not only that but you see his care for our heroine in the little things. Bringing her food, her bringing him food, checking up on her, watching tv together. All small seemingly pointless scenes that show us how they live together and care for each other.
Her friend at work is much the same, making sure she punches in and out and isn't late. Speaking up for her when she needs it but always asking first, never questioning her just taking the heroine in stride (even when they discuss monster sex lol) and having a great listening to her marital problems (which I love how at the end of the movie they really bring that full circle). At first it almost seems like she talks at the heroine but the longer it goes on the more you realize she really is talking to her, shown all the more evidently by everyone else who acts as though she is both deaf and mute (along with simple).
And each of these little character scenes adds up, each being tied up nicely at the end of the film. And if this doesn't make the plot holes smaller, you just have to remember that at the core of this movie, its a love story between many different people in m any different forms. All the rest is background when you watch them come together and fight for what they want continuously, especially the heroine who knows in the end she won't be able to have him (spoiler, she totally gets to have him or maybe in typical Del Toro style its all in someones head at the end, I choose to think they stayed together). Its all background the relationship that these characters have and the peek into their life that you're given.
The Book: The book is not perfect either, while it goes into the mythology of the monster it never fully explains it but truly it isn't necessary because his role in the story is "monster". To explain it all defeats the purpose and would defeat the narrative since one of the sole reasons he is captured is to discover what he is and the sole lose of the villains is that they never do.
But you're given more narrative, which in a book where two of the characters can't speak seems odd but it works in this case because you're given more of their mind. In a sense it closes the world around them, making it smaller and more self-absorbed but thats more real in the sense that that is how most of us are. It makes the things they do and small sacrifices they make have much more of an impact as well.
It also changes everyones role. There is no real villain in the book. Everyone here is fighting for their own end happiness at the expense of someone else, and in the end, you can't please everyone. Thats not to say actions of the more villainous characters aren't still disgusting but they put it in a better light than, he's a dick so he did this dickish thing.
There are parts that drag, particularly the beginning when you're in the Amazon, setting the scene here is a little forced since the voices are so introspective but the author also is trying to describe the outside. It can be a little conflicting to read and seems to shift at times between an omnipotent view and not but it grows much more stable as the books goes on.
The characters are much the same but you're given many more little scenes that show who they are and how they relate to one another. The altering perspectives don't halt the story thankfully, leaving little gaps of wondering exactly how the other person felt but not keeping the story repetitive. And just like the movie, it is a love story, though perhaps the book focuses more on the romance than the movie did.
In the end I can't recommend it enough because I adore them book and bought both book and movie the minute they were available to me. I've read the book several times and watched the movie equally as many times. So, if you haven't read or watched it, I recommend you give it a try!
