Lady Chatterly, Revisited
Aug. 13th, 2004 07:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckWell, as promised in my (spoilery) Kill Bill Vol. 2 review, I am back to talking about Lady Chatterly.
I previously posted a lame first look drooly confused thing here.
But watching it again, I think this will be a really, really fun book to pick apart, and I'm going to the library this weekend to pick it up. (UPDATE: I found what appears to be the entire book online here.)
1. This time around, I have found it very, very interesting to note how many different characters are talking to Connie about sex and love and what it's supposed to be and mean. Connie is certainly trying to figure that out for herself. For her it's mixed up in loyalty and guilt and denial of intimacy. Her relationship with her husband has become a combination of caretaker and intellectual partner, and then even the caretaker portion has been taken over by someone else. Connie has no source of intimacy in her life. He father says she should like one man this year, another the next. Her sister says men and women are too different to be chained together and one shouldn't seek intimacy from a man at all. Her husband tells her he doesn't care if she seeks sex from another man, as long as Connie comes back to him for the more important things and brings any children she happens to conceive back with her. All of them seem to think that sex is just a bodily function, either useful, or to be enjoyed, but not very important. Only Chatterly is particularly concerned about Connie falling in love, and that to the extent that she might not come back to him. Mellors, on the other hand, is clearly disturbed that Connie doesn't even see "anything to laugh at" in his status as her "fucker." He's angry that she's using him, and as soon as they start having sex starts to behave in a possessive manner that he can't possibly believe he has any right to do. Mrs. Boulton seems to think that sex and love are the ultimate goal, and that the touch of a man can last forever. She clearly doesn't think that Connie should renounce love or sex at all.
2. All mixed up in this love talk are ideas about class and status. Connie, according to her sister, has fallen in love with the lowest of the low, a man who would even have to take orders from Mrs. Boulton. Connie can't possibly love a man so far beneath her. Connie is not so sure. Everyone else is sure, though. From her sister, to her husband, to Mellors himself, who says that if people found out about them "they would want to kill us." Only Mrs. Boulton seems to think that Lady Chatterly could find what she needs with any man, either poor or wealthy.
Outside of Connie's affair, there is the miners' strike going on behind the scenes. And the relationships between Chatterly and his household. Not to mention Connie's social circle when visiting her artist father.
3. A third, ever present thought for me, is Lawrence's attitude toward women. The story is told from Connie's perspective, at least in the film. I have yet to read the book, but the movie presents some disturbing sex scenes. In particular, Connie's first few encounters with Mellors are caught up in anger and guilt. The "up against the tree" scene that eventually leads to the infamous simultaneous climax starts out with her saying no and fighting and him most forcefully saying yes. In the film, it looks awfully like non-con/date-rape. And the next time they have sex, it looks like she does it mainly because she feels guilty that she "can't" love him, and she doesn't get much out of it and he "consoles" her that sometimes it's like that, she just wasn't into it. She cries and he sneers. Not a pretty scene. I want to read how Lawrence wrote it. Is he just getting at the complexity of Connie's feelings and reservations about sex outside her marriage. Or was this really a stupid man writing a couple of "no means yes" scenes?
So, I have my reading assignment. Off to the library! :)
I previously posted a lame first look drooly confused thing here.
But watching it again, I think this will be a really, really fun book to pick apart, and I'm going to the library this weekend to pick it up. (UPDATE: I found what appears to be the entire book online here.)
1. This time around, I have found it very, very interesting to note how many different characters are talking to Connie about sex and love and what it's supposed to be and mean. Connie is certainly trying to figure that out for herself. For her it's mixed up in loyalty and guilt and denial of intimacy. Her relationship with her husband has become a combination of caretaker and intellectual partner, and then even the caretaker portion has been taken over by someone else. Connie has no source of intimacy in her life. He father says she should like one man this year, another the next. Her sister says men and women are too different to be chained together and one shouldn't seek intimacy from a man at all. Her husband tells her he doesn't care if she seeks sex from another man, as long as Connie comes back to him for the more important things and brings any children she happens to conceive back with her. All of them seem to think that sex is just a bodily function, either useful, or to be enjoyed, but not very important. Only Chatterly is particularly concerned about Connie falling in love, and that to the extent that she might not come back to him. Mellors, on the other hand, is clearly disturbed that Connie doesn't even see "anything to laugh at" in his status as her "fucker." He's angry that she's using him, and as soon as they start having sex starts to behave in a possessive manner that he can't possibly believe he has any right to do. Mrs. Boulton seems to think that sex and love are the ultimate goal, and that the touch of a man can last forever. She clearly doesn't think that Connie should renounce love or sex at all.
2. All mixed up in this love talk are ideas about class and status. Connie, according to her sister, has fallen in love with the lowest of the low, a man who would even have to take orders from Mrs. Boulton. Connie can't possibly love a man so far beneath her. Connie is not so sure. Everyone else is sure, though. From her sister, to her husband, to Mellors himself, who says that if people found out about them "they would want to kill us." Only Mrs. Boulton seems to think that Lady Chatterly could find what she needs with any man, either poor or wealthy.
Outside of Connie's affair, there is the miners' strike going on behind the scenes. And the relationships between Chatterly and his household. Not to mention Connie's social circle when visiting her artist father.
3. A third, ever present thought for me, is Lawrence's attitude toward women. The story is told from Connie's perspective, at least in the film. I have yet to read the book, but the movie presents some disturbing sex scenes. In particular, Connie's first few encounters with Mellors are caught up in anger and guilt. The "up against the tree" scene that eventually leads to the infamous simultaneous climax starts out with her saying no and fighting and him most forcefully saying yes. In the film, it looks awfully like non-con/date-rape. And the next time they have sex, it looks like she does it mainly because she feels guilty that she "can't" love him, and she doesn't get much out of it and he "consoles" her that sometimes it's like that, she just wasn't into it. She cries and he sneers. Not a pretty scene. I want to read how Lawrence wrote it. Is he just getting at the complexity of Connie's feelings and reservations about sex outside her marriage. Or was this really a stupid man writing a couple of "no means yes" scenes?
So, I have my reading assignment. Off to the library! :)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-14 03:31 am (UTC)I know that the movie was based on both "Lady Chatterly's Lover" and "Lady Jane and John Thomas," but it seems that some explanation was due for her change of heart. I read "Lady Chatterly's Lover" which does tell us what Connie is feeling between the two scenes.
Enjoy your read!
no subject
Date: 2004-08-28 12:27 pm (UTC)