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Across the Page: From Page to Screen

This month’s Across the Page includes three books that feature lesbian or bisexual characters and that have made it to the big screen: Sapphire’s Push, a harrowing coming-of-age story about a teenager who turns to words in an attempt to survive her abusive past; Dorothy Porter’s The Monkey’s Mask, an erotic murder mystery told in verse; and Ernest Hemingway’s controversial posthumous novel The Garden of Eden, about a young couple whose marriage is challenged when they invite another woman into their relationship.

Push by Sapphire (Vintage)

At sixteen-years old, Claireece Precious Jones (Precious), the narrator of Sapphire’s debut novel Push, is illiterate, obese and pregnant for the second time with her father’s child.

Her first child born of incest has Down syndrome (“Down Sinder. She’s retarded”) and was conceived when Precious was twelve. Precious’s own mother is not much better-physically, sexually and emotionally abusive, she often refers to her daughter as a “Slut! Nasty ass tramp!”

The treatment Precious suffers under both hands is graphic and brutal to read, particularly because it is written from her perspective and in her language-“How you gonna marry me and you is my daddy,” she thinks during one of the rape scenes. “I’m your daughter, f**king me illegal. But I keep my mouf shut so’s the f**king don’t turn into a beating.”

Life begins to slowly and unexpectedly change for Precious when she joins a pre-G.E.D program and comes under the influence of Blue Rain (“Miz Rain”), a dedicated and radical literacy teacher who also happens to be a lesbian.

One of the most important ways that Blue Rain helps Precious is by encouraging her to write her own story in a journal. The idea terrifies Precious: “I don’t remember never doing no writing before. My head spinning. I’m scared.”

But it is here that Precious, away from her abusive family and oppressive neighborhood, finally finds her voice. Push is the record of this journey, and the entries track both Precious’s emotional and intellectual growth as her writing and language develops.

Gabourey Sidibe as Precious in the film version of Push

Precious also finds a connection through various support groups, a place where she sees her pain reflected in other characters. Sapphire connects Precious’s ability to articulate herself to her capacity to understand her experiences. Her story is transformative, powerful, and in the end, more tragic than Precious, Blue Rain or even the reader expected.

Push is also about redemption and both the small and big steps a person has to take in order to survive an abusive past. Though it is Blue Rain who provides Precious a safe place for this growth, the novel shows that changing one’s life is often more about self-determination and enlightenment.

Sapphire is a poet, performance artist and teacher-all roles and experiences she uses to make the characters and world of Push excruciatingly authentic. The novel was published in 1996 and while the film version has yet to be released, it won several awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, including the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for director Lee Daniels. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe stars as Precious and Paula Patton plays Blue Rain.

The Monkey’s Mask by Dorothy Porter (Arcade)

It’s an old adage, but in this case entirely true: the book version of Dorothy Porter’s The Monkey’s Mask, an erotic murder mystery written in verse, is better than the movie.

Lesbian private investigator Jill Fitzpatrick is hired to find Mickey Norris, a young poet and college student who’s gone missing. Though Jill is tough (“I like my courage/ physical/ I like my courage/ with a dash of danger”), she is in for more than she initially imagined when she promises Mickey’s parents “‘I’ll bring her home.'”

The book takes places in Sydney, Australia, and explores the darker side (who knew?) of the city’s poetry scene. Jill stumbles across her fair share of corruption and sleaze and the case gets even more complicated when Mickey’s poetry teacher, Diana Maitland, enters the picture.

Jill is quickly taken Diana’s seduction. “She’s got eyes/ that flirt or fight/ she’s gritty/ she’s bright/ oh Christ help me/ she’s a bit of alright!” The two begin an affair despite Diana’s marriage to Nick, or “Mr. Diana,” and their relationship is intense and distracting from the start:

“Style”

In love I’ve got no style

my heart is decked out

in bright pink tracksuit pants

it weaves its huge bummed way

through the tables to Diana

she’s reading something

with very fine print

she doesn’t need her glasses

to see me.

As Jill moves closer to unraveling the mystery and receives disturbing news about Mickey, she has to question everyone around her, including Diana: “she taught me/ to drop my guard/ close my eyes / and fall over.” But even here, all is not what it seems.

The film version of The Monkey’s Mask was released in 2001. Directed by Samantha Lang, Kelly McGillis stared as Diana and Susie Porter as Jill. While the film does a good job of capturing the mystery and setting, much is unfortunately lost in this translation from page to screen. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that the book makes the reader feel like a participant in the sleuthing.

Kelly McGillis (left) and Susie Porter in

the film version of The Monkey’s Mask

Porter, who died last year from breast cancer, was known for her direct prose. The Monkey’s Mask is written in spare verse that moves the narrative forward with dramatic urgency. It is difficult to put the book down without wanting to read just one more poem to discover just one more clue.

The Monkey’s Mask is a smart, funny, dark and sexy book-an utterly unique reading experience.

The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner)

The Garden of Eden, one of Ernest Hemingway’s posthumously published novels, opens with newlyweds David and Catherine Bourne traveling through Europe on their honeymoon.

The young couple’s marriage is already showing signs of fissure. David is a writer whose recent success on his first novel is shaking Catherine’s already fragile sense of security and reality.

As they drink and eat their way through the Cote d’Azur, Catherine’s behavior becomes increasingly more erratic and perplexing for David. After getting her hair cut like a boy’s in Aigues-Mortes, she asks David to play around with different gender roles in bed-“Will you change and be my girl and let me take you?”

David is a passive character and agrees to nearly all of Catherine’s demands, including getting his hair cut in a similar style. And even though he is a bit weary, he follows along when Catherine decides to pick up another woman-the beautiful and mysterious Marita-at a local cafĂ© in La Napoule.

Marita ends up staying with Catherine and David and soon falls in love with both. The story is told through David’s point of view and certainly there are moments when the reader would prefer to see what was going on in the minds and hearts of the women characters.

This is particularly true for Catherine. When Catherine’s jealousy finally explodes over David’s literary success and the fact that she has to share Marita with him, she takes drastic and dramatic actions that affect each of the characters.

Mena Suvari and Caterina Murino

in the film version of The Garden of Eden

One of the reasons that The Garden of Eden is so controversial is because it was unfinished at the time of Hemingway’s death. The original manuscript was more than twice as long as the published novel and included different subplots.

In E.L. Doctorow’s New York Times review of the book, which was released in 1986, he writes that despite the questionable editorial changes and the ethical dilemma of publishing an unfinished manuscript, The Garden of Eden reveals a more complex and feminine side of Hemingway:

“But the truth about editing the work of a dead writer in such circumstances is that you can only cut to affirm his strengths, to reiterate the strategies of style for which he is know; whereas he himself may have been writing to transcend them.”

The film adaptation of The Garden of Eden was release in 2008 in the UK. John Irvin directed the picture, Jack Huston stars as David Bourne, Mena Suvari as Catherine, and Caterina Murino as Marita.

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