- A misunderstood film. That punches you in the face and takes you out of your reality.
- One of my favorite films of all time.
- And one of the most underrated works in the history of cinema.
Escapism (in psychology and sociology) is the mental distraction from unpleasant or boring aspects of daily life, usually through activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism is also often used to distract from persistent feelings of depression, sadness or stress.
According to the RAE, escapism is defined as "Attitude of one who mentally evades or flees from reality".
There is a whole industry dedicated to the tendency of people to get away from the routines of everyday life, through television, Internet, social networks, video games or even alcohol, drugs and pornography.
Sometimes also art in general; poetry, music and of course cinema has been a traditional means to escape from reality.
Activities that are assumed to be a normal part of a healthy existence (e.g. eating, sleeping, exercising or having sex) can also become avenues of escape when taken to the extreme or out of the proper context. Special mention of work and religion (the opium of the people).
My escapism
I was well settled, in my red armchair in the last row, as I usually prefer, with my ration of crispetas and soda, on time, so as not to miss the previews of the upcoming releases, I am maniacal, so for me; even the commercials are part of the experience of going to a movie theater to see a movie, curiously I do not remember what movie I was going to see, but what I do remember very well is the preview of Sucker Punch (2011) or Surreal World. I immediately thought; this movie is another one of those movies that are a waste of time, a nonsense full of special effects, no depth, no plot.
I decided to give it a chance because one of the leads were pretty (one I liked), they were dressed as schoolgirls and looked like sexy video game characters. Oh, and from what little I knew; a Bjork song was part of the soundtrack. I was pleasantly surprised, my prejudices put me to shame and my low expectations were pleasantly, more than exceeded.
I was just starting to hear about the director Zack Snyder, he had already made himself known with other works that gave him some prestige; 'Dawn of the Dead' (2004), Watchmen (2009) and 300 (2006) being this last one (300) the one that was giving him more fame. I had despised that movie, as it didn't catch my attention, seeing a group of muscular and sweaty ‘manes’ (guys) killing each other.. -yes, I know the prejudice!
Sucker Punch is the first film of an original idea by Zack Snyder, not an adaptation or remake. When the movie came out it got too many negative reviews from both the general public and the specialized critics. Some said it was too confusing and difficult to understand. It sexualized or infantilized women, a pretentious and confusing film and not suitable for everyone. Actually the critics were divided, part of the critics loved it and others condemned it, but as always the negative reviews are heard more or resonate more. The Hollywood Reporter said; it was meant to be inspirational without achieving it, what I can say about this statement is that it seems that they did not see the same movie because it is quite the opposite, if anything it seems to want to achieve is to depress showing an unpleasant reality as it is, evoking the grunge spirit.
Punch (👊🏻)
Another reason for its poor commercial reception was because the hero was not Clint Eastwood with a cigarette between his lips or Arnold Schwarzenegger with dark glasses saving the day. People want to see sexy girls being saved, not empowered! (-i.e.; sexy girls in miniskirts, fighting in slow motion..) the so-called "male gaze" term coined by feminist intellectual Laura Molvey
The lobotomy would be not only stabbing the eye of the character, but also stabbing the eye of the viewer by denying this male gaze and at the same time denying the viewer a happy ending (a punch). According to this interpretation, the film is a statement against female exploitation.
The filmmaker has acknowledged that he is saddened by how much of the public perceived 'Sucker Punch' as an exploitation of the sexuality of its protagonists, leaving aside the rest of the plot.
Snyder states: "People saw the movie as if the girls' fights and all that stuff were the movie. I found that a little disheartening. It speaks directly to what they want to see. They want to see the girls, they don't want to see the girls empowered(...) It's like an anti-war movie that shows the war too well."
Synopsis:
Set in the 1950's. A teenage girl named Babydoll (Emily Browning ) is committed by her stepfather to a psychiatric institution for a lobotomy. While she waits, her imagination creates an alternate reality that could save her from her dramatic situation. From there, the young woman begins to prepare her escape, the success of which depends on the theft of five objects.
On the one hand it is a mixture of thriller, adventure and action, and on the other hand the director combines surrealistic elements, a dark fantasy with a rather dramatic and dense story, touching on such difficult themes as prostitution, madness, death and trauma. To achieve this he divides the story into three levels that we can analyze from the point of view of Baby doll:
- In the real world: She is a traumatized teenager in a mental institution about to receive a lobotomy.
- In the surreal world: She is a dancer who arrives at a brothel and is about to be sold to a nasty gangster like the Penguin.
- And in the fantasy world: She's a warrior with an important mission who faces powerful giant monsters in Steampunk settings.
I want to dwell on this point because it is very interesting to review how a person's dreams are a reflection of their personality. In other words, they talk about us, about our tastes, in this case baby doll is a fan of modern geek culture. Perhaps someone ahead of her time. In the world of dreams nothing is impossible.
Each world has its own color palette thus differentiating and generating a contrast between them. At the end there is a final additional level that is represented by the 'plot twist' that could not be missed.
On the aesthetic and the birth of the story, Snyder shared at the time (via ComingSoon.net):
Some time ago I had written a script for myself and there was a scene that made me think, 'how can I make a movie that can have action scenes that are not limited by the physical reality that limits normal people, but at the same time the story makes sense so that it's not, and I don't want to be cruel, stupid like 'Ultraviolet' or something like that?' It's the craziest thing I've ever done. It's a movie that nobody can get made with an ending like this and about this subject.
The Soundtrack
This is another section that is fascinating, notes and sounds that combine perfectly with the fantastic scenes of the film. Some tracks are:
-White Rabbit - Sucker Punch: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Emilíana Torrini
- Army of Me (Sucker Punch Remix) [feat. Skunk Anansie] - Sucker Punch: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Björk
- I Want It All / We Will Rock You - Sucker Punch: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Queen
"A wild fantasy" and "a Freudian nightmare"
If you venture into the experience of watching this film, when you realize you will be trapped in a hallucinating and enigmatic story, realities within realities, «like Inception (2010) but better», with dreamlike and amazing imaginary worlds with touches of Noir and Japanese animation.
The film is one of those that you do not expect anything and ends up blowing your head off.
Nothing is what it seems to be, you discover details and make theories about who or what is real. Because we could be watching a female version of Tyler Durden (Fight Club 1999) or a psychotic fantasy like an Arthur Fleck (Joker 2019).
The metaphors presented; three perverted nurses turned into giant samurais or a mother dragon and her son that could represent the protagonist and her mother, are hidden messages that shed light, stimulating your imagination to create your own interpretation of the surreal world.
The archetype of the wise man
There is only one good male character, and it seems that he is only in the imagination of the protagonist. As if to tell us that despite his childhood trauma, he still holds out hope that not all men are wretched cretins.
The Theater
Also represents very adequately the idea of theatricality, the stage and acting as therapy, which more than an escape would be a strategy to face your reality and save you from your personal hell.
Themes as dense as assuming (brain) death as an escape from a traumatic and tormented life.
The Asylum
Other reviews say that the film would be the same if the second level did not exist, the brothel; but I can not disagree more with this: Wanting to escape from your own reality that tortures you, is to think of a psychiatric institution more like a brothel where the authorities of the place put a price on their services and patients. A horrendous situation that leads its protagonist to disconnect his anguished mind to somehow endure or overcome moments in which his dignity is violated.
The irony of a place that is made with the purpose of curing or treating diseases is turned by corruption and unscrupulous people into a prison where patients are abused slaves and the only way to escape is to alienate your mind, with your own imagination or with a lobotomy.
Philosophy of Escapism
According to philosopher Ernest Bloch, utopias, dreaming of a better world, could be an impetus for radical social change. Something that is mere "daydreaming" or "escapism" from the point of view of a rational society could be a seed for a new and more humane social order, although it can be seen as an "immature but honest substitute for revolution."
Sucker Punch is a difficult film to decipher, if you are curious and you like audiovisual language you may be forced to watch it several times to understand it or tempted to enjoy its images again and draw conclusions and interpret the open ending choosing the one you think is the best.
For marketing reasons the movie was cut to achieve the PG-13 rating, it is something that happens a lot in the industry, Zack Snyder is also well known for his extended versions of other movies, as a curious fact and just to give an example, something similar happened to David Lynch with his version of Dune (1984).
My recommendation is to watch the extended version, these deleted scenes allow to understand the story much better.
Last year the director commented to Empire magazine, that even though the film has an extended edition, he has enough material to create a new version. Something that feels closer to his original goal and that could not be achieved due to the studio's intervention.
Another curious fact is that almost all his stories contain exceptional heroes willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the liberation of others. Go through his entire filmography and you realize that this is the case.
The relationship that exists between the mind, the human brain and the universe
For me it is like an infinite circle. As of the literary eternity of which so much has been written. At the end it all starts again, it begins at the point where the story begins to be told by Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) writing as she travels on this bus to the afterlife, to eternal sleep.
Explaining one of the big changes the studio forced him to make to make his ending more digestible, the filmmaker said,
"I never decided to do the director's cut. I still have plans to do it at some point. But in the original ending, when Babydoll is in the chair in the basement with Blue, and she's already been lobotomized, when the cop shines the light on her, the stage breaks and she stands up and sings a song on stage.
She sings, 'Ooh, Child, things are gonna get easier'. Blondie and all the people who have been killed join in and it's the idea that, in some strange way, even though she's lobotomized, she's stuck in an infinite loop of euphoric victory. It's strangely pessimistic and optimistic at the same time. That was kind of the tone in the end. We tested it and the studio thought it was too weird, so we changed it."
In conclusion, I believe that the film should not be taken too seriously, as it is not a perfect work of art, but neither is it a pretentious story that remains in the device, without managing to sustain its feminist discourse.
It is a film with a great proposal for its originality, the risky of its construction, perhaps falling into fetishism and ojetivacion of women as a male fantasy but at the same time puts on the table the debate on the subject.
That's why I guess in general terms women like it much more than men. And devotees of Sack Snyder's early church always prefer his other works.
References:
- "Mad King Ludwig". Accessed September 26, 2021 https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/study-finds-king-ludwig-ii-may-not-have-been-crazy-a-946240.html
- The film "Ludwig", directed in 1973 by Luchino Visconti, is the biography of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, starring Helmut Berger, Trevor Howard as Richard Wagner, Romy Schneider as Sissi and Silvana Mangano as Cosima Wagner.
- "escapismo" Diccionario de la lengua española. Accessed February 28, 2021
https://dle.rae.es/escapismo - Gerlad A. Cohen "The Opium of the People. God in Hegel, Feuerbach and Marx," in If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich, Paidos, 2001, ISBN 84-493-1093-8, p. 109
https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_A._Cohen - Mulvey, Laura (Autumn 1975). "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16 (3): 6-18
https://archive.org/details/sim_screen_autumn-1975_16_3/page/6/mode/1up
Are you trying to escape from your reality? A punch may be a good option.
Written by Mario Morales
At 3:00 GMT-4 on 11 January 2025
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