Weekly Wail: The Invisible Man and the Horrible Ambiguity
Be aware that this edition of the “Weekly Wail” is a discussion of a very big spoiler regarding the recently released film The Invisible Man (2020). If you’ve not seen the film do so before diving any further. If you are unsure if you’ll like the movie, well, I expect you will. Why not read my review to learn why?
Okay, so if you are reading this, still, it means that you have seen the film or have no issue being spoiled.
Good.
I’ve been wracking my brain since I saw the film to place the time of something specific and the horrific implications of that specific something.
Based on the nature of what I am going to bring up, I am going to add a trigger warning here for a discussion on rape.
When did Cecilia become pregnant?
The big twist in the movie is that Adrian, despite Cecilia’s precautions, managed to rape and impregnate her. It is incredibly disturbing but also raises a question of the timing of the assault. I am relieved to know that I am not the only one who had the question of exactly when Cecilia was impregnated. Adrian wishes to control Cecila and believes that her being pregnant and having a child with him will keep her trapped. That much is clear. But when he commits the result, and how, also carries a lot of horrific implications.
This is, of course, horrific. It is the work of a sociopathic manipulator. It gets even worse when the film reveals that drugs have been included in the mix. Adrian not only raped Cecilia but used drugs to do it. The timeline the film gives for the time period of the pregnancy is about a month. Therein lies the problem, that whole month can accommodate a lot of time, particularly the two to three weeks Cecilia was living with James and his daughter. Cecilia could have been raped at any point during that month, and Adrian clearly had any number of ways and moments to commit the assault.
Adrian Griffin is a bastard and his desire to control Cecila leads up to forcibly create life as a tool to achieve his own wants. This is terrifying on its own and is enough to chill the blood of most women. But let’s talk about the invisible elephant in the room, here.
Did Adrian sexually assault Cecilia using the invisibility suit?
The doctor on the phone establishes the time frame of a month. Half of Cecilia’s time spent during that month was in hiding from Adrian, before his apparent suicide. However, Cecilia was not hard to track down, either. So, as we can see, Adrian had the drugs, he had the suit, and he had the news of his suicide floating out there.
So the question is this: was Cecilia sexually assaulted by an invisible man while in hiding or did the assault occur before the events of the film? The movie is ambiguous on this to a degree. The most obvious interpretation presented by what we hear directly from Tom, Adrian’s brother. Tom indicates that Adrian was aware of Cecilia’s use of birth control and replaced them with placebos. Chances are, in this scenario, there would be no need for the suit to be used in the assault. Though it is not inconceivable that Adrian would still wear it as a form of power-play. This manipulation through removing Cecilia’s birth control is still rape and is still anxiety-inducing but there are other potential scenarios that are potentially even more horrifying.
The second scenario is this: Adrian used the suit to assault Cecilia while she was in hiding in James’s home. Much of the first scenario can still work here. For example, the drugging could have been done in the house. Furthermore, under the guise of trauma, Cecilia’s exhaustion and long periods of potential dormancy from the drug would not be seen as entirely unusual. That would give Adrian plenty of opportunities, wearing in his invisibility suit, to assault Cecilia.
What do you think?
The fact that Adrian is potentially lurking around every corner of James’ house is disturbing and elevates what is already an incredibly horrible situation to something beyond the pale. I am still not sure if I buy Tom’s explanation of events. Then again, why should we? He is just as much of a monster as Adrian. Given how absolutely awful a human being Adrian appeared to be, however, I feel like the assault occurred during Cecilia’s period of hiding within the relative safety of James’ home.
Assault is assault and I am not going to say that one scenario is worse than the other. Both are absolutely terrible, nightmarish scenarios. However, something about the latter scenario is incredibly upsetting to me.
But, for those of you who have seen the movie, what are your thoughts? Do you buy the explanation Tom Griffin provides? Let us know in the comments.
If you live in the United States, it’s time to rock the vote for real. I shared this video before in conjunction with my identity-based costume work, and I feel it’s important to revisit now, with the election coming up in just a few days. Besides which, Jack Black and Tenacious D are brilliant and given the current political climate, who doesn’t want to do the time warp? But seriously, get out and rock the vote, your life kinda does depend on it (at least insomuch as being able to make for yourself the life that you want, without the government telling you how to do so – especially if you live on the fringes of socially acceptable awkwardness like me and so many of my friends).
Besides which, this video is so good, it’s worth sharing again anyway. And again, if for some reason the video doesn’t load, you can find it here.
Art Attack
And here are some artworks I made awhile back as political commentary. The photograph was shot of the scene exactly as found, of a sign above a parking lot in a quickly gentrifying neighborhood making sure all knew that any unauthorized vehicles were unwelcome, and hung right in front of a flag that was tattered and torn from being caught on the chain link fence driving the point home. The flags were meant to be interactive, with gallerygoers waving them while singing The Star Spangled Banner in its elitist entirety. The whole really spoke to me regarding some of the political climate at the time (this was right before Trump was elected President the first time). How much has changed since then? In some ways, a lot. In other ways, I guess we shall see.
So on my recent road trip to Miami AZ USA for my menstruation art installation, we decided to detour to Roswell NM en route home. To be honest, this was one of the best decisions of my life, up there with road trippin’ from Arizona to San Francisco along CA-Highway 1, and I will go into the details of why here soon.
Roswell NM USA has totally embraced its alien history of the UFO crash in the late 1940s and subsequent government cover up. The whole town is alien-happy with beautiful hand carved wood totems, murals and statues everywhere celebrating otherworldly denizens of all types, though predominantly the gray aliens of the crash (and their green counterparts). Even the city logo features a flying saucer as the center of the letter “R”. It really is kind of incredible.
One of the biggest draws is the International UFO Museum and Research Center, housed in the wonderful old theater building. This museum details the crash history as well as celebrating aliens in movies and media and examining newer alien sightings and abductions. It is very thorough and includes maquettes, statues, written accounts and an extensive research library, as well as an interesting art collection of various items.
And there are TONS of fun alien themed curiosity shops. I will give a shout out to the newer Invasion Station north on Main Street where there had once been an old car dealership. I love the quirky nature of this particular store as well as their strong desire to promote local artists. Most of their wares are hand-painted in NM and feature designs by prominent local artists including one of the lead muralists in town (I bought a magnet of his). They also feature really alternative kitsch like KISS and Ace Frehley alien bobbleheads, marijuana and anal references, and such. All in all, our own Haunted MTL’s kinda folks…
And the city is a huge tourist draw internationally, so you can meet some amazing and interesting folks from all walks of life who have caught the alien bug or at least want to check out all the hype. As a result of the tourism, the residents seem really laid back and accommodating (kind of like Hawaii but not quite as much) and there is a thriving art scene. And it’s totally my kind of art – weird and a little creepy. Anyway, I feel like I’ve finally found my peeps and am eager to return someday.
If you’re feeling a bit extraterrestrial, I invite you to also check out some of my alien-themed stories here on Haunted MTL: LTD UFOs among us; my Drive-By short story; and LTD Abducted.
Killer Queens, I wasn’t expecting to be back so soon with American Horror Story info. But yesterday we were blessed with a teaser for the intro of Season 12, which we believe will be titled Delicate.
We are looking at a Summer release for season twelve, but won’t know for sure until June, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Here’s what we know right now.
First, yes Kim Kardashian is starring alongside Emma Roberts in a role that was written specifically for her.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that AHS favorites will also be involved. According to IMBD, Charlie Carver, Rebecca Dayan, Cody Fern, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, and Denis O’Hare will be included this season.
AHS Delicate is different from other seasons in many other ways. It’s the first season to ever be written by just one writer, Halley Feiffer. This isn’t a writer most of us as horror fans will be familiar with. She’s written episodes of shows like Kidding, SMILF, and American Crime Story. The last one can at least be seen as a sister show to AHS.
As far as I have found, Feiffer has never written horror content. She is now the sole writer for an entire season of the most popular horror show in America. I’m not saying this is a bad thing. It’s just not what I would have expected. Most AHS writers are staff writers, actors from the show, or at least people I’ve heard of. So as we don’t have any former work to look at, we can only wait to see how she does.
We also know what the source material is for this season. It’s a book called Delicate Condition, by Danielle Valentine. This book will be released in August of this year. Which also seemed strange to me. Normally a book would be, you know, published before it inspires additional work.
Even so, Delicate Condition seems like a fascinating story. According to Goodreads, it’s the story of a woman named Anna. Anna is trying to get pregnant but starts to believe that something dark is working against her. Her doctors don’t believe her. Her husband doesn’t believe her. Is she losing her mind?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t deeply interested in this book. And I have to assume that Feiffer and Murphy already have hands on it, to jump to this sort of decision.
By the way, Valentine at least is not an untested writer. Her first novel, How To Survive Your Murder, also made it right on my TBR pile. With a rating of 3.7 out of 4 on Goodreads, I think we can assume Valentine knows what she’s doing with the written word.
This is all that we know about American Horror Story Delicate so far. What follows are my thoughts and opinions only.
My first thought is that this season is going to be dealing heavily with women’s reproductive rights. This is a topic a lot of us are concerned about right now, as it feels like every day women lose more and more rights to our bodies.
(By the way, if you want to help fight the good fight for body autonomy and get some spooky stories, we have an anthology for that. I have a story in it, as does the horrifyingly talented Jennifer Weigel. All proceeds go to support organizations that help women make their own health decisions.)
American Horror Story has handled important political issues before. Last season, AHS NYC discussed the AIDs epidemic that went largely ignored in the 80s and killed hundreds of young gay men. They did this in the best way possible, in what this critic believes to be the only way fiction should handle heavy topics. They rooted the issue in a good story. A story that was pure fiction, but also true.
However, this season has a lot of red flags. Never before have I seen the guest star be the main focus so early. Never have I seen any franchise bank so much faith in an all but untested writer, basing work on a book that isn’t even published. And frankly, I’ve never been much of a fan of Kim K, or anyone else who’s famous seemingly just for being famous.
I’m not rooting for this season to fail just because I don’t like the guest star. If Kardashian is good at this, I’ll be thrilled. I’ll be the first one singing her praises. But when everything we know so far is added up, I’m a lot more concerned about AHS Delicate than I am excited.
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