“You’ll never meet someone like me again”: Patty Jenkins’s Monster as Rogue Cinema
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-2931.09.04Keywords:
lesbian, homosexuality, gender, violence, HollywoodAbstract
Film is a powerful medium that can influence audience’s perceptions, values and ideals. As filmmaking evolved into a serious art form, it became a powerful tool for telling stories that require us to re-examine our ideology. While it remains popular to adapt a literary novel or text for the screen, filmmakers have more freedom to pick and choose the stories they want to tell. This freedom allows filmmakers to explore narratives that might otherwise go unheard, which include stories that feature marginal figures, such as serial killers, as sympathetic protagonists, which is what director Patty Jenkins achieves in her 2003 film Monster. Charlize Theron’s transformation into and performance as Aileen Wuornos, and Jenkins’s presentation of the subject matter, make this film an example of rogue cinema. In addition, Aileen Wuornos is portrayed as a clear example of the rogue character. This character trope frequently defies social standards, suffers from past trauma, is psychologically complex, and is often exiled. As a prostitute and social outcast, Aileen Wuornos exists on the fringes of society and rejects the hegemonic power structure and later heteronormativity of society, which makes her a rogue figure. While there are several aspects to consider when analyzing Jenkins’s film, my intention is to argue that this film is an example of rogue cinema because of its content. In order to accomplish this task, I examine Theron’s bodily transformation and her performance as Wuornos. Furthermore, I look at how Jenkins handles the depiction of romantic love and gendered violence and argue that her treatment of this content renders this film rogue.
Downloads
References
“‘America’s First Female Serial Killer’ Strikes.” History.com. A&E Television Networks 13 Nov. 2009. Film.
Google Scholar
Barlow, Helen. “Finding the Love in a Murderer.” Age 19 Mar. 2004: 23. Web. 17 Jan. 2018.
Google Scholar
Chmielewski, Jennifer F., and Megan R. Yost. “Psychosocial Influences on Bisexual Women’s Body Image: Negotiating Gender and Sexuality.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 37. 2 (2013): 224–41. Print.
Google Scholar
Conboy, Katie, Nadia Medina, and Sarah Stanbury. Introduction. Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory. Ed. Katie Conboy, Nadia Medina and Sarah Stanbury. New York: Columbia UP, 1997. 1–12. Print.
Google Scholar
Doherty, Thomas. “Aileen Wuornos Superstar.” Cineaste 29.3 (2004): 3–5. Web. 7 Oct. 2017.
Google Scholar
Ebert, Roger. “Monster.” Rogerebert.com. RogerEbert.com 1 Jan. 2004. Web. 7 Oct. 2017.
Google Scholar
Gonsoulin, Margaret E. “Liberated and Inclusive? An Analysis of Self-Representation in Popular Lesbian Magazine.” Journal of Homosexuality 57.9 (Oct. 2010): 1158–73. Print.
Google Scholar
Heathcote, Owen. “Reinventing Gendered Violence? The Autobiographical Writings of Jeanne Hyvrard, Helene Cixous and Marguerite Duras.” Modern & Contemporary France 8.2 (May 2000): 203–14. Print.
Google Scholar
Holm, Kristen. “The Making of a Monster.” Journal of Feminist Family Therapy 16.1 (2004): 83–85. Web. 3 Mar. 2018
Google Scholar
Horeck, Tanya. “From Documentary to Drama: Capturing Aileen Wuornos.” Screen 48.2 (2007): 141–59. Web. 21 Jan. 2018.
Google Scholar
McCann, Bryan J. “Entering the Darkness: Rhetorics of Transformation and Gendered Violence in Patty Jenkins’s Monster.” Women’s Studies in Communication 37.1 (2014): 1–21. Print.
Google Scholar
Monster. Dir. Patty Jenkins. Perf. Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci. Media 8 Entertainment, 2003. Film.
Google Scholar
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833–44. Print.
Google Scholar
Pearson, Kyra. “The Trouble with Aileen Wuornos, Feminism’s ‘First Serial Killer.’” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 4.3 (2007): 256–75. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
Google Scholar
Picart, Caroline Joan (Kay) S. “Crime and the Gothic: Sexualizing Serial Killers.” Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 13.1 (2006): 1–18. Web.12 Jan. 2018.
Google Scholar
“Rogue.” Oed.com. Oxford English Dictionary. Web. 23 Jul. 2019.
Google Scholar
Rooney, David. “Monster.” Variety.com. Variety 17 Nov. 2003. Web. 23 Oct. 2018.
Google Scholar
Seal, Lizzie. “Review of Monster and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer.” Contemporary Justice Review 11.3 (2008): 291–92. Web. 31 Oct. 2018.
Google Scholar
Smith, Victoria L. “Highways of Desolation: The Road and Trash in Boys Don’t Cry and Monster.” South Central Review 32.2 (2015): 131–50. Web. 17 Oct. 2018.
Google Scholar
Thomson, Patricia. “Effecting a Startling Transformation in Monster.” American Cinematographer 85.2 (2004): 101–02. Web. 12 Dec. 2018.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.