Great analysis! I agree on most of this, except I think I liked it a bit more than you did, just on a personal taste level. I'm almost always intrigued with this sort of melding of pitch black humor, satire, camp, and out-and-out horror.
The gender subversion is really quite stunning. Found the rape scene difficult to sit through, but brilliantly directed and also crucial to the narrative, and again not in a driving-a-man's-story way. Found the way the lead girl finally offed the rapist equally disturbing, funny, and brilliant.
Also found it interesting to learn that both Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett's characters were historical figures. Bates' character, IRL, actually had a lynch mob after her when her serial murder and torture of her slaves was discovered, because it was violation of how people were supposed to treat their slaves (that torture attic was real, which makes it even more horrifying). And she did disappear, never to be found, though many believe she fled to France. Bassett's character was also a very famous voodoo priestess who did lose her first husband under mysterious circumstances. So Murphy conflated these two stories and added the magic angle to Bates' character.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 11:47 pm (UTC)The gender subversion is really quite stunning. Found the rape scene difficult to sit through, but brilliantly directed and also crucial to the narrative, and again not in a driving-a-man's-story way. Found the way the lead girl finally offed the rapist equally disturbing, funny, and brilliant.
Also found it interesting to learn that both Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett's characters were historical figures. Bates' character, IRL, actually had a lynch mob after her when her serial murder and torture of her slaves was discovered, because it was violation of how people were supposed to treat their slaves (that torture attic was real, which makes it even more horrifying). And she did disappear, never to be found, though many believe she fled to France. Bassett's character was also a very famous voodoo priestess who did lose her first husband under mysterious circumstances. So Murphy conflated these two stories and added the magic angle to Bates' character.