Arcadia Scotland

If you enjoyed the movie Poor Things, read the novel!  Perhaps surprising is so many reviews of this brilliant film ignore the underlying political subtext. Alasdair Gray, the author of the book the film was adapted from was not uninterested in the politics of Scottish independence and the early Scottish socialist movement which advocated home rule for Scotland in the early 20th century. 

To put bluntly, Bella, the heroine of the film, in addition to being a fascinating character is also an allegorical personification of a historic, current and potential future Scottish nation. The novel explores all sorts of levels and types of domination, control and personal transactions as her character develops. While most of the reviews of the current film focus on gender, almost universally, they miss the broader allegorical subtext of Bella’s transformation to self-determination as the humanized form of a nation querying its own identity in its quest for independence. 

From Bella’s sky blue dress to her developing autonomy as a new brain in an old body to the imperial tyranny of her first husband, The General, crushing her liberty, this is all developed clearly in the novel and hinted at in the film. There can be only one path for Bella at the end - emancipation. 

The novel ends with her perspective in the form of a letter for posterity to her potential grandchildren attempting to correct the record on the prior text written by her second husband and a set of intriguing fictional/historical footnotes to the chapters where only science will determine the truth of Bella’s identity. In the novel’s final notes, there is presented a record of a eulogy to the real historical Scottish socialist and campaigner for Scottish home rule - John Maclean. These notes also contain a fictionalized letter to the real author Hugh MacDiarmid with Bella abandoning Scottish home rule expressed through the new hope of a progressive British union, the end of British empire, repeal of anti-trade union laws with a new national health care system and nationalized industries given the success of the real Labour Party's political win and achievements immediately post World War II. 

But if you doubt this allegorical interpretation of the novel, you don’t need to take my word for it, read Bella Caledonia: Women, Nation and Text by Kirsten Stirling which takes a careful look at these themes within the novel. This not so hidden meaning is stunningly represented in the film with Victoria/Bella’s leap from the bridge wearing the brilliant saltire blue dress that gives a nod to her rebirth as Bella Caledonia despite the movie perhaps sadly extracting the novel from its deep roots in Alasdair Gray’s beloved home city of Glasgow and relocating the heart of the drama to London. 

It is unsurprising though that this film would take hold in the states, as Bella could be emblematic of any new nation starting out against a broader colonial tyranny. Bella could just as much be an independent Ireland, or America or any of the 65 countries that have gained independence from the old British empire. Anyway, read the book and next time you watch the film, reflect on the broader questions of political, social and cultural identity and don’t be put off by Willem Dafoe's rather uneven Scottish accent. Remember when you visit the city of Glasgow, this becomes the home of Bella Baxter and her future as a doctor as one of the first female medical graduates of the University of Glasgow striving to progress society through her skills. 

To learn more about Scottish politics you could study with Arcadia in Scotland in any of our cities or in Edinburgh the home of the devolved Scottish Parliament. To learn more about the city of Glasgow you could study at the University of Glasgow (the Hillhead underground station has a mural by Alasdair Gray) or the University of Strathclyde or the Glasgow School of Art or Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. To learn more about Alasdair Gray, the Scottish Universities International Summer School has a focus on literature and a course on Scottish literature where Alasdair Gray is one of the authors studied with a field trip to Glasgow this summer to take a look at his archives and learn more about this fascinating author and his other writing and art.