The 1905 version of Bluebeard made by Georges Melies is both entertaining and funny, but it lacks a certain something that makes it a real representation of Bluebeard. Bluebeard is a fairytale that one would not necessarily identify as such if it were not in a Grimms collection. This is because Bluebeard is grimly (excuse the play on words) realistic and has many thoroughly frightening dark characteristics that are rarely elements of fairytales. Outside of Bluebeard's ugly blue beard, there is really very little that is meant to make this fairytale magical. This is why it is odd that Melies's film has many magical qualities in the religious and individual realms. For example, Bluebeard gives his bride a key that enlarges and shrinks for some magic purpose. In contrast, though, there is no indication in this black and white film that Blue Beard's beard is actually blue! This is a sad shortcoming in my opinion. In Melies, certain dark creatures force the bride to take certain actions rather than her doing them on her own, representing a tempting force that does not exist in the short story.
Oddly, because of elements like that, where substitutes are put in the place of the maiden genuinely acting on her own, the Grimm version of Bluebeard can almost be interpreted more favorably by modern feminists than the more recent film. This is true in other senses as well. For instance, outside of not being able to save herself, the Grimms Bluebeard is a strong, independent woman. Her curiosity, and not so much one of weakness, shows independence and gets her into trouble. Outside of her mistakes though, she does certain things to save herself, such as warning her brothers that she may cry out, praying when the tides were against her, and fending off the monster and calling her brothers to help before its too late.
These features are gone from Melies. All of the maidens help comes from a sort of Deus Ex Machina, as outside forces come to her aid without her doing much to call for them. Her brother's come with out her asking, for example, and God helps revive the dead maidens without a scene of the maiden taking her own initiative in prayer. A petty Bourgeois ending is presented too, where many women are married off to men in a conformist fashion, as little reason for these bonds are explained unlike in Grimms fairytales. This replaces the more satisfying Grimm ending where true family bonds are emphasized as the brothers and sister come together after her rescue.
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Trevor,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Bluebeard doesn't work on film...or at least the way Melies tried to show it. Melies' work seems to be characteristically surreal and magical, and he tries to make Bluebeard have both of these qualities when they are not present in the story. The room with the hanging women though, seemed to be a reality check, and perhaps the one time in the film that was not quite so lighthearted...and I believe that it suited the type of horror genre Bluebeard falls into. Then of course, he has to include the magically size changing key which makes no sense, and the focus is not on the eeriness of the scene, but on the magic of the film, and Bluebeard's scariness seems to go away. Even when he is stabbed in the chest, he flails around comically and it takes him forever to die.
Anyways, good post.
I disagree with your point about the movie giving the story magical qualities that it doesn't possess. In the story, the key becomes bloodstained and the girl cannot get the blood off no matter how hard she tries. The key is a magical key that shows Bluebeard that the door to the forbidden chamber has been opened in his absence. In the short movie we watched in class, there was no way for the filming technology of the time to do a close up of the key and show a blood stain on it or convey that there was a stain on it that wouldn't go away. Instead, Melies used the changing size of the key to show that it is magical, which fits with the story for the most part. He made do with what he had to convey the fairy tale aspects of the story and I think he pulled it off well. The dream sequence with the dancing keys also emphasized the guilt that the key represents in the story. I do agree, however, that the movie could not convey Bluebeard's "otherness" that his blue beard gives him in the story. It would have been much more effective in color.
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