woolf’s mrs dalloway - a review: retrogression within progression

re-reviewing woolf’s mrs dalloway.

initial thoughts vs now

the first time i read mrs dalloway (which was around three months ago), i found the writing very difficult to follow, with the constant switches in narrative and also the interruptions of thoughts within one narrative; but at the same time, i felt oddly intrigued and perhaps, even attracted by the way it was written. later, i found out that, not only is it written in the style of "stream of consciousness", it is also complicated by the perspective of "free indirect discourse", thus why i often felt confused and lost in the text during the first reading. in light of my discovery, i was able to pinpoint, understand more and enjoy the interweaving narratives and style of writing upon my second reading. interestingly, i felt a connection between woolf’s words and my thoughts; in the way, they're both ephemeral, intruding, unconscious and fragmented. 

most unique aspect of this novel

what i thought was most unique about this novel is the connection between the psychological flow of thoughts through the style of stream of consciousness, in conjunction with the physical flow of the natural imagery. the physical flow of this natural and water imagery exists within her psychological flowing thoughts, as if there’s a literal, external, physical force propelling her thoughts forward; something that is out of her control. on the one hand, it mirrors how women lack control of their own lives, their thoughts and their actions during the time woolf was writing this novel; how they are instead controlled and restricted by men from the external public space. however, it is important to note that this physical force is not a violent or dominating one; instead, it is a gentle and fluid one, one that flows like the stream of consciousness. therefore, on the other hand, i would argue that it is a metaphor of other women writers, during woolf's time, influencing, inspiring, empowering and guiding woolf forward with her own writing. 

progression and modernisation in the 20th century london

speaking of moving forward, the theme of progression is especially prominent in this novel. firstly, there is the progression through time, as the whole novel is set within the span of one day and focuses on the idea of aging, especially in women. secondly, the progression with the modernisation of the 20th century london city (eg. invention of cars). last but not least, the progression with women’s rights and their place in society, however, on the other hand, there is also an underlying sense of retrogression. 

this tension between progression and retrogression is most evidently seen through lady bruton's opportunity to raise her female voice in the public sphere but the need to rely on male figures to modify her work in order for her writing to be acceptable in society. this sense of tension goes against the flow of the natural imagery and stream of consciousness as explored above, highlighting that despite the attempted progression with the increasing female voice in the public sphere, there’s always something holding them back: the traditions of a patriarchal society. 

similarly, schöder (a critic) also alluded to this sense of tension between progression and retrogression through combining both ideas of the modernised city and the female role in the public sphere. she argues that whilst modernisation bred the new invention of cars, a physical symbol of progression through the aspect of invention and also its physical movement, women often remain passive in their seats while men typically take the driver seat. here, the stark contrast between the 'pure mobility' of the car versus the female passive body emphasises how both elements of progression and retrogression could exist at the same time in this supposed 'modern' city. thus, reinforcing that due to society's reluctance to 'accommodate the new and disturbing' (zwerdling, another critic), the attempt in striving for female progression, as other aspects of society develop rapidly, is hugely limited and restricted by traditional constructs in the public sphere.

final thoughts

overall, i'd have to give this novel a 10/10. very impressed by woolf's writing skills and the complex issues she has explored throughout this novel. obviously there is so much more i want to talk about, such as her (most) exquisite moments and the dismissal of mental health (even today); but then this review would be never-ending!! so... to wrap up, i am glad i ultimately learnt to love this novel despite the challenges during the first (and even second) read. this novel is definitely something that has created a lasting impression on me and will subconsciously remain at the back of my head. 

thx 4 reading <3 go give it a read now ;)))))

birds of paradise thoughts

i watched this film on sunday and i can't stop thinking about it. i really enjoyed and loved all aspects of it. everything was just so pure and symbolic about this film. 

birds of paradise is a newly released film about ballet, friendship, love, betrayal, misunderstanding and development. of two ballet dancers competing to win the prize in the lovely city of Paris. it features two of my favourite actors: kristine froseth (from the society) and diana silvers (from booksmart). 

i was especially excited to start watching this film because of my connection to ballet. when i was younger, i did a couple years of ballet but quickly dropped it afterwards. recently, i have taken it up again and i have never felt so at peace and calm in my life before. needless to say, this was definitely not the feeling which the characters would have felt in the film. the reality of ballet is brutal, competitive, toxic and the film does a good job in portraying the competitive aspect through the two protagonists: kate and marine. 

what i thought was the most interesting but also disturbing about this film was the blurring of the lines between incest and romance and how that, in my opinion, effectively subverts and challenge heteronormative stereotypes. both relationships, marine and her brother ollie AND marine and kate, hint towards the idea of incest. on the one hand, marine's mother and the public believe that marine and ollie had sex, even though marine denies it and states that her mother was mistaken. on the other hand, after ollie's death, marine and kate develop a sisterly bond. in a way, replacing marine and ollie's previous tight sibling bond, as marine's mother has pointed out. but yes, marine and kate ended up having a threesome with felipe, so i guess you could say that incestuous. even though they're not blood-related, marine did call kate her sister. if we choose to believe marine that the sex never actually happened with her brother and that marine and kate's relationship is more than just a sisterly bond, then we could argue that the writers wanted to go against heterosexual norms and also to challenge the typical portrayal of hetero relationships in ballet performance. afterall, marine and kate made a pact to be joint female winners of the prize despite the tradition of the one male+one female winner.

speaking of the joint female prize, there's also this idea of merging. transitioning. metamorphoses. from 2 to 1. imageries of fusing could be seen in marine+ollie's relationship and also in marine+kate's relationship. on the one hand, marine and ollie are tied together in a biological, physical aspect and also through a soul connection, as marine exclaims that when ollie died, a part of her died too as they were connected as one. on the other hand, despite marine and kate's attempt (mainly marine) to recreate marine and ollie's bond (as marine desperately tries to deal with her grief by finding someone to replace her brother after his death), their bond is more psychological, more romantic and unrealistic in regards to defying the ballet traditions with joint female winners. thus, the unrealistic aspect of this joint winner pact exposes society's reluctance to move away from traditions and more importantly, highlighting underlying fears and anxieties of the increasing visibility of a queer public space.

interestingly, this idea of fusing also cropped up in atwood's the robber bride, a book i was reading during the time when i watched this film. whilst, (in atwood's novel) charis desperately attempts to be rid of her psychological fusion with karen, zenia, and perhaps her baby (physically); marine and kate both desire to fuse: to be joint winners at the prize on a physical level, but also as a tight bond on a spiritual level. 

spoiler alert (ish)?? so... about the ending, i thought it was quite a smart one. remember how i talked about the impossibility of a joint female prize? well, in the end, they both win in their own ways. ultimately, kate wins the prize and becomes a star in the Paris opera ballet. whereas, marine wins psychologically by healing from her trauma and starting her own dance choreo, leaving the toxicity of ballet world behind. notably, the audience can visibly see that despite kate's success, she doesn't seem to be content. there is still a lot of pent up anger and frustration, even confusion within her character. thus, i would argue that marine is the true winner here. despite the sense of ambiguity and surrealness portrayed in the ending scene, of hopefulness but also doom, the film provides a glimmer of hope for the audience that one day kate, like marine, will be set free too. 

so yeah... to conclude, i really enjoyed this film and would recommend everyone to go watch it regardless of whether they do ballet or not. feel free to share your thoughts on it, especially on the theme of metamorphoses and who you think the true winner was;)

thx 4 reading <3

Young Royals Review

Wow... I just finished watching Young Royals on Netflix and it's probably the best show I've ever seen in my life so I feel compelled to write about it.

If you haven't watched the show yet, you might wanna go watch it first before reading this because there will be spoilers.

Long story short, Young Royals is a Swedish TV show portraying a young Prince, Wilhelm, navigating his way at a boarding school he was forced to go to after his fighting incident. At this elite boarding school, he meets and befriends Simon, someone from a lower socio-economical background. Needless to say, THEY FELL IN LOVE #aw #welovethis!!! However, it's not that simple. Due to Prince Wilhelm's royal status and Erik, his elder brother's death, he bears enormous pressure in living up to the royal reputation and 'continuing' the family line. Thus, both Wilhelm and Simon are keeping their relationship on the down low. Until... a video of them having sex gets leaked and Wilhelm faces the dilemma of whether he should tell the truth to the public or deny all the rumours but ultimately lose Simon. 

Okay... I promise it's not as boring as I made it sound and here's why:

Wilhelm and Simon's relationship: Their dialogue is so beautiful. There was this one very memorable scene where drunk Wilhelm confesses his true feelings for Simon after he broke things off because he feels pressured to live up to his elder brother's reputation as Crown Prince. He says something along the lines of "I realised that everything is fake. The grass is fake. People are fake. But I like you and that's not fake". That confession he made was so poetic and real; it made me feel something. After hearing this over the phone, Simon rushes to school and takes care of Wilhelm till the next morning, which brings me to my next point: their interaction is so raw and pure. Despite the disparity between their social status, we get these two characters who genuinely care so much about each other and are almost willing to do anything for each other. I don't think I've ever seen two characters with such a deep, intense and emotional connection. 

August being the antagonist: August, who already studies at the Hillerska boarding school is Prince Wilhelm's second cousin. I think it's very easy to label August as the villain of this series but I feel like his character is more nuanced than that. I'd say he's the antagonist of this show. The reason why I say this is due to the fact that there are several reasons behind his seemingly hateful behaviour, however, they're not excuses. Firstly, it is revealed that his father committed suicide before he was sent to the boarding school and also that his family is struggling financially. Therefore, when Wilhelm exposes his financially issues to the rest of a private club, his bitter reaction was to release the video of Wilhelm and Simon having sex. Throughout the show, he also does things which are problematic and although they could be explained for, once again, I don't think they can be excuses. 

Felice's character development: Initially I wasn’t a fan of Felice’s character because she was quite conceited and wanted to be with Wilhelm just because of his royal status. However, after her frantic and successful search for who outed Wilhelm and Simon, she can officially claim the award of “The character who developed the most”. Due to her elite family background, I think she almost feels pressured live up to her parents’ standards and be “perfect”. However, as the audience observes, this facade quickly crumbles when she is exposed by Sara during a parent’s lunch and she’s not as perfect as she seems. Furthermore, there’s a clever use of dramatic irony in this scene when Felice kisses Wilhelm because although the audience feels frustrated as they know Wilhelm is with Simon, they also forget that Felice doesn’t know that. What I admired the most about Felice is her courage to stand her ground and to speak up. After Wilhelm and Simon got outed, while everyone was gossiping or being homophobic, Felice was genuinely concerned about them and was the only one determined to find out who released the video. 

Also, can someone explain to me why Wilhelm broke the fourth wall at the beginning and the end of the series? My far-fetched interpretation is that he hopes to find a way to physically and metaphorically escape his royal life, to be free from all the responsibilities and burdens that comes with being royalty and just be a 'normal' human being. To communicate to the audience that even though he's royalty, he's not that different from everyone else - he also has his own struggles and his life isn't perfect as the media portrays. 

Anyway, I've said enough. I'd 100% recommend everyone to watch this show. I've never seen anything like this before, it's really special ;)