Themes


 * Back to Heavenly Creatures: __ HEAVENLY CREATURES - YEAR 13 VISUAL TEXT __  **

// What issues are explored by this film? What does the film say about them? // Themes in this film are more "ideas explored" than explicit moral standpoints.

What drove two bright girls to commit a brutal and horrifying murder? A complex and in the end unaswerable question, but suggestions are made by the movie: a) The damage that can be done by home and the wider environment. b) The nature of class distinction c) The superficiality of snap judgements. Dr Hulme's assumptions, Dr Bennet's diagnosis contrasting with Hilda's laisse faire attitude.

Good, evil, blame, conscience **Good and evil are mentioned only peripherally, in the context of the girls' fantasies. The most explicit example of black/white moralising is provided by Rev Norris, and we know what happens to him... The filmmakers construct a new world with its own set of morals and sensibilities without indulging in explicit comparisons or editorialising. It is quite remarkable how easily the viewer is carried into this new morality; the extreme sympathy we end up feeling for both girls is prof that we have been relocated into their world by the film's end.
 * __The following are ideas of Themes //according Artemas notes//:__

The film opens and closes with religious songs, ironically juxtaposed with the horror of the murder. Neither Pauline nor Juliet is seen finding any comfort in organised religion: Pauline refuses to join in the hymn at assembly; the Reipers do not seem to go to church, though Pauline reacts to Juliet's rejection of religion initially in quite a conventional way. They do have their own substitute - the "shrine" with distinct religious overtones - and their Fourth World, which is a kind of heaven, in which entertainers are saints.
 * Religion **

PAULINE: (Enraptured) I wish James would do a religious picture ... he'd be perfect as Jesus! JULIET: Daddy says the Bible's a load of bunkum! Pauline reacts with a degree of shock. PAULINE: But, we're all going to Heaven! JULIET: I'm not! I'm going to the Fourth World! It's like Heaven, only better because there aren't any Christians. Pauline giggles. JULIET: It's an absolute Paradise of musi c, art and enjoyment.

It this an oblique comment on Dr Hulme who takes away the comfort religion offers but gives no warmth and security back to Juliet in return?

Rev Norris visits Juliet in the sanatorium and attempts to 'comfort' Juliet with standard fire-and-brimstone rhetoric; taken literally, his words conjure up violent and disturbing images - hardly comforting for sick and lonely adolescents. His pamphlet shows a picture of a bloody Jesus suffering under torture on the cross. Juliet imagines her own salvation from this annoying man and it is comparably violent - Diello drags him to Borovnia and publicly beheads him. This emphasises Juliet's contempt for organised religion. At her trial, Juliet said there was no hell:"The idea is so primitive".

**Growing up and rites of passage** Both girls find themselves ad odds with their parents though for different reasons. What is unusual is how they responded to it. How much blame can be laid at their parents' doors, and how much is their own? **Lack of respect for authority** The film appears to condone the girls' lack of respect for authority - teachers, the doctor, police, parents... List examples of this lack of respect. Is this just the girls POV? or does the film agree with them?

OUR CLASS NOTES How it is arrived at and how it manifests: causes and consequences: Juliet’s instability caused by abandonment and bomb-shock during the 2nd WW. This was fuelled by her over-active imagination. Her relationships were intense [best friends with Pauline]. Examples of it manifesting/ Juliet showing insanity or instability: ability to enter another world or dimension through her thoughts. Eg: when the priest was suggesting she take up God to help her healing. Eg. She became so over-wrought on the Port Hills scene after she had been told that her parents planned to leave her behind and visit London. She looked “spaced out” and suddenly fell into escapism as they both entered the Fourth World. Eg. Standing maniacally in front of English class retelling the story. Eg: in the bath “it’s everyone else that’s bonkers!” She was always a bit self-conscious and an “outsider” at Christchurch Girls High School. Honora was part Maori and in ChCh in the 1950’s this would have been seen as a disadvantage: racism and class consciousness was a huge part of ChCh society then. Pauline’s instability may have been fuelled by this lack of self-esteem caused by being an outsider in this mainly white anglo saxon girls’ school. ** How did her instability manifest? ** Juliet brought it out in her. Pauline was needy, so was Juliet, they found each other and supported each other’s separate “genius” and difference. ** Examples from the text of Pauline showing craziness/insanity or instability? ** When she plans to kill her mum in her diary. When she writes in her diary that no one understands them, When she is with the doctor and she can imagine Diallo coming in to spear him from behind and how she is comfortable with imagining her mum choking to death and dad stabbing himself accidentally. Pauline swings the brick first. Pauline can pretend to lose herself in the fourth world when Juliet slips into that mind-state. __** Addiction to another human being/ obsession  **__ ** Pauline: examples from the text: ** Follows and admires Juliet without question. We see it first in the art room” I think your painting is fantastic!” Juliet talks about Mario Lanza as the “world’s greatest tenor” in art class and straight away Pauline goes home to listen to his records and tells her parents the exactly the same thing: but she has a far-away look in her eyes as if she is thinking about Juliet. When Juliet went to hospital Pauline “pined” and had withdrawal symptoms. They wrote six page letters as Charles and Deborah [love letters] as well as their ordinary Pauline and Juliet letters. ** Juliet’s addiction to Pauline: ** Juliet gets jealous when Pauline tells her that John has “fallen in love with me”. Her body language and facial expressions look like she is “gutted” by abandonment. She crosses her arms across her chest/heart and stomach. When Pauline falls off her bike and pretends to be dead, Juliet gets very upset. Joint obsession is depicted when they are on the phone together, in hysterics as they can’t plan their lives to be together. ** The final expression of this obsession ** and neediness is seeing the murder of Honora as a solution to their separation. Pauline’s addiction to Juliet is more prominent than Juliet’s to Pauline. Juliet’s addiction is more neediness. __** Fantasy/imagination  **__ ** Examples from the text: ** The Fourth World, Borovnia, when Juliet dresses up as a princess. **Jackson** **use of film techniques to support this theme:** dream sequences, black and white, Borovnia was filmed as grey earthy colours of plasticine characters. These were latex suits. Borovnia is a place of violence, sex, fun, action and intrigue. The Fourth World had Unicorns [playful and innocent] peaceful, giant butterflies, bright colours, emerald green, bright yellows. Entry to the fourth world was a golden gap in the clouds. Polarised lenses. It is peaceful and pastoral. Borovnia becomes increasingly real to them, they frequently act out the characters they have invented.Juliet is Deborah and Pauline is Charles, Deborah's husband or lover, or Gina, voluptuous and sensual. Both of them use Borovnia as an esscape from unpleasant realities.eg Pauline having sex with John.
 * __Craziness/ insanity/instability__   **
 * Pauline: how did her instability come about? **

Charles - is the imaginary monarch (emperor) of Borovnia. Pauline occasionally adopts his identity, but only in the real world. As Charles, Pauline writes love letters to Deborah (Juliet) when the girls are separated by Juliet's confinement in the TB sanatorium. In Pauline's visions of Borovnia, Charles is a plasticine figure with the features of a youthful James Mason.

Deborah - The mistress or wife of Charles. Her identity is taken exclusively by Juliet in the real world. In Pauline's vision of Borovnia, Deborah starts off as a plasticine figure with Juliet's features, but she eventually becomes a real vision of Juliet, always dressed in flowing gowns.

Diello - The son of Charles and Deborah, described by Juliet as an "uncontrollable little blighter, who slaughters his nannies whenever the fancy takes him ..." We see Deborah (Juliet) give birth to Diello (a cushion), assisted by Charles (Pauline), who comments: "You're an incredible woman." "Diello was an imaginary character created by Parker and Hulme. He was a murderous teen-age prince who'd kill anyone who was a problem to him." [Fran Walsh]

In Pauline's visions of Borovnia, Diello has the features of a young Orson Welles, whom the girls had branded "the most hideous man alive." Both Pauline and Juliet conjure up visions of Diello in the real world too, where he dispatches adult authority figures who displease, chastise or frustrate tghe m.

Gina - an "incredibley beautiful gypsy girl" in Borovnia. She is Pauline's preferred incarnation in her visions of Borovnia. As Gina, Pauline wears long, red velvet gowns and is very popular and an excellent dance. Diello seems to be devoted to Gina, violently looking out for her interests in several scenes. By the end of the film, Pauline prefers being called Gina, though her mother won't use the name.

Nicholas - Gina's tennis instructor in Borovnia. At first, This is the Borovnian alter ego assigned by Pauline to John-the-lodger. At first, Gina is convinced that Nicholas is madly in love with her and she with him. However, John-the-lodger's inept, awkward, selfish and tramatising performance as Pauline's lover caused Nicholas to fall out of favour with Gina in the Borovnian universe. Nicholas is then dispatched violently by a lurking Diello in one of Pauline's Borovnina visions. Nicholas is lured to his death by a pink/purple gemstone from a ring. This image was used again in the murder of Pauline's mother. **The thoughts that we shared about being an outsider and social class divide would match a theme discussion about the lack of identity. Pauline didn't have a strong enough identity or sense of herself to hold out against the romance and persuation of Juliet's ideas and delivery.
 * __Lack of identity__

Juliet's lack of identity with the "real world" led to her ability to use escapism to extracate herself from the abandonment she felt in the real world. Juliet's frequent abandonments by her parents led her to trust and identify with the characters of Borovnia and the saints of the Fourth World - and eager believer, Pauline - much more than her own real world. __** Separation/abandonment  **__ Use the notes about how separation and abandonment causes insanity or instability in children. **Eg from the text:** Juliet's parents leaving her in hospital in the Bahamas for "the good of her health". The reaction that Juliet has to learning that her parents are leaving for London shows that she suffers hugely from separation anxiety. Pauline herself suffers withdrawal symptons and pines for Juliet when J. is in the hospital. The sense of loss and despare at that the impending separation of the girls led them to a murderous solution. It the anxiety and instability caused by the impending separation they saw that getting rid of Honora would allow Pauline to get a passport and so she could then travel with Juliet. I'm sure Pauline's dad wouldn't have let her get a passport at 16 either - and she wasn't going anywhere in prison! __** Prejudice and ignorance / class divide /  **__ **Examples from the text**:When the dad and mum automatically think that Pauline is having sex with John, when Mr Hulme thinks they are up to “hanky panky” in the bathroom. Prejudice against Homosexuality was depicted as being viewed as a mental disorder. Jackson used extreme close-up of the doctor’s mouth and teeth as he mouthed/framed the word “homosexuality”. Hilda looks Pauline up and down on first meeting her. Class divides. At school all the teachers are saying to Juliet “a girl like you should be setting an example” She is English and well travelled and educated. So very sophisticated and upper class. ** __The outsider - manifestation in the movie, causes and consequences__ ** __** Murder as a solution  ** __Diello is often murdering people as a means of getting rid of those who are annoying him or have transgressed against Pauline or Juliet. The girls were naive to think that they could get away with such a story "as mummy has tripped" when her head was smashed to a pulp. Pauline followed Juliet's fantasies and belief structure naively. Juliet was naive to follow Pauline's plan to murder Honora. Pauline was very naive to see what was happening with John the lodger. She wasn't even sure if she was still a virgin after the night John had first climbed into bed with "because his feet were cold".
 * __Naiveté and its consequences__ **

__** Loyalty and its consequences  ** __look at fantasy and imagination and murder as the solution for their impending separation. Parents leaving Juliet, Pauline disobeying parents and treating Honora very badly – apart from murdering her. **The Fourth world is first mentioned by Juliet, who imagines it to be a beautiful place, full of peace and bliss, and it was where she imagined she would go when she died. It is "better than Heaven bcause there are no Christians there."
 * Obsessive love and its consequences **
 * Obsession with ideas **
 * __Betrayal__ **
 * __Other worlds and the girls increasing reliance on it.__

As their real lives become ever more intolerable to them, they retreat more and more into this world. They share a vivid and sensual vision of "The Fourth World" on the hills behind Port Levy during the Easter holiday Pauline spends with the Hulmes. The vision occurs on Good Friday, 953, the day commemorating Christ's crucifixtion and death, and not on Easter Sunday, the day of his resurrection from the dead.

the vision is apparently triggered by Juliet's intense depression, brought about because her parents plan to leave her behind in NZ when they go on a trip to Britain. Pauline says "only about 10 people" have the ability to cross over physically into the Fourth World, and that this could only occur on well-defined occasions, about twice a year. Both Pauline and Juliet have this ability, and that makes them rare and special and brilliant, and it sets them apart from ordinary people [IN THEIR MINDS] __** The desire for rebirth into a world that suits you personally. **  __