I do not think I am alone when I say that the film Orlando greatly confused me. I am no stranger to symbolism and symbolic representation, but for me the lack of explanation and narrative and understanding really left me wondering what the whole thing was about. As I understood it, Orlando was about the character’s promise to stay young for Queen Elizabeth, so he (being a male in that point of the movie) could keep the house and money for him and his heirs. So…somehow, in a three-four hundred year time span, that is achieved, but sometime around the 1750s, Orlando the male becomes Orlando the female, and then the issue of keeping the house comes into question because in that period women could not own property. Then Orlando the female’s issue becomes trying to have a male heir to keep the titles and properties. By the end of the movie, however, in the 1990s (it is assumed) Orlando the female does have a child (through who or how we don’t know) but it is a girl, and she seems perfectly content with that. On the issue of themes, I think this film was about the different social constructions of what males and females are, and how it changed.
For instance, in the beginning of the film, when Orlando fell in love with Sasha the Russian diplomat’s daughter, he claimed that she should stay with him because he adored her, and he wanted her. The scene was very “cold” among all the ice and very bleak with monochrome tones, as Sasha refused to submit to Orlando. This was representative of how it was Orlando’s world (or how he thought it was) and that it was natural for Sasha to come—there was no question. However, closer to the end of the movie, when the Archduke (Henry?) proposes to Orlando, it was a sunny summer day with vibrant greens and yellows and blues all around, as a smiling Orlando turned down the Archduke’s proposal instantaneously. Although in this period too, women did not have much choice in who they married, a woman in Orlando’s position could refuse a suitor, which she did, and there were no hard feelings this time. She knew she had to find a husband to produce a male heir, but she was content in taking her time to find the right man.
Finally, a symbolic SCENE OR THEME that stuck with me was that while Orlando was serving as ambassador to what I guessed was India (or some other Islam or Middle Eastern nation), he became very comfortable with dressing in the same manner as the natives right after he officially befriended the country’s leader in an embrace of “brotherly love.” He abandoned the cumbersome white wig that men of his rank usually wore on formal occasions, and got used to wearing the saris and headdresses of the very simplistic, body hugging, pure white cloths that the natives wore, until the Archduke and co. came to promote him. Then, Orlando returned to weary the heavy, ornate clothing and the ridiculous headpiece in order to reconnect to the English ways of life and the male-centered view. In short, whoever Orlando became in that segment of the movie, he was comfortable with it, comfortable with “being in his own skin,” because that’s almost what the Middle Eastern dress signified: simple robes, not to showcase the body, but to be able to move freely in it. But when England called again, Orlando was forced to return to the stiff and constrained clothing of his ancestry, and separate himself from his foreign “brothers”…then, after the battle occurred, Orlando separated himself again by becoming a woman, until she was comfortable with being that.
I definitely agree with you on the movie being confusing. I would be sitting there watching the scene and have no idea why things were unfolding as they were and how it was all related. Besides that, I also found the scene in the Middle Eastern area to be very interesting. I didn't see into it as much as you did, but, the difference in Orlando's level of comfort with himself did stick out to me. He seemed much happier to be with the Middle Eastern people than he was in England. Personally, I found it entertaining to see how out of place he seemed in his overdone clothing in such a simple setting.
ReplyDeleteJackie, I agree--Orlando seemed to be much more at ease while in the Middle East, and when he wore those ridiculous plumed hats, wig and clothing it was just too much! I kind of wonder now why he or the other Englishmen that came in later weren't shown sweating bullets in the dry heat!
ReplyDeleteAlso, one piece to emphasize both my point and yours (regarding Orlando's comfort, and how that tied into his clothing), is that when the Archduke burst in to Orlando's...bathroom?, all Orlando was wearing was a simple robe and turban-like headpiece, and he did not seem fazed at all. Had he been in England, or had it been any other English character from the film, they would have been extremely embarassed and tried to cover up all of the skin that had been showing. Yet Orlando calmly introduced himself to the Archduke as if nothing was out of place.
Interesting comments on the connection between costuming (and, more to the point, historic modes of dress) and gender. The fussiness and complexity of the clothing in Europe manages to be a commentary on the arbitrary nature of gender, the way that gender is just a costume. (Sandy Powell's amazing designs really make this commentary work).
ReplyDeleteThere was also obviously a parallel between gender and colonialism here, as well as the notion of the woman as "other" which parallels the East vs. West culture clash portrayed in this segment.