I found two youtube videos about The Sandman that I thought was very interesting to share. They are both based on Hoffman's The Sandman.
The first is about The Sandman. It's a clay animation that I thought was interesting.
The second is about The Sandman and Olympia. I thought it was interesting as well. Apparently it was done and made a few years back, but I haven't been able to find the finished version.
I also wanted to mention about The Stepford Wives and The Sandman. In both of these stories, it seems that the men only fall in love with or want women that do not challenge them intellectually. In the Stepford Wives, we see that the robot wives are only able to talk about their domestic chores and pleasing their husbands. It seems this is exactly what the men want. In The Sandman, we see that Nathanael also falls for a woman that doesn't challenge him like Klara does. When Nathanael writes to Lothar about Klara on page 103, he says "As a matter of fact, one would not think that Klara, with her bright-dreamy child-like eyes could analyze with such intelligence and pendantry. She refers to your views. No doubt you are giving her lessons in logic...Do stop that!" We also see that he gets annoyed with Klara in the story. And when he finally meets Olympia, all she does is say "Ahh! Ahh!". She doesn't say much, and only listens to Nathanael which is what he wants. Which I think was the reason why he was so eagerly to dismiss Klara so quickly because he found his true woman. HA! I thought it was interesting to think about.
Another thing, about the eyes. I believe there's a saying that the eyes are a pathway to the soul. I think when Nathanael saw Olympia without her eyes in the end, it could signify that he realized that Olympia has no soul and is empty inside. That he fell in love with a non-human being. He became horrified when he realized that the one woman he loved, the one who doesn't intellectually challenge him, doesn't exist at all.
Just a few things I thought about and to mention.
Olga Martinez
Your post was very interesting to read and I couldn't agree with you more on your analysis of what men desire in their women. I had the same thought when I was reading The Sandman and watching the film The Stepford Wives. In The Sandman we can see tension building between Nathanael and Klara as the story progresses. On the other hand, Nathanael's interactions or the lack of between him and Olympia seem to be exactly what he is looking for. That is a companion who is willing to give him their undivided attention at all times. We can see the same thing happening in the film as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the explanation of what men desire. I do think that these two stories are perfect examples of a desire to not be challenged mentally by women. Good analysis.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your take on the men and the movie, and it's precisely what I didn't like about the film. The men just simply weren't realistic. While it may be true that men want women who will simply agree with them or not challenge them, but the idea that a man would rather have a robot who agrees with them than a woman who challenges him is crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about the kids? Why not make robot kids if the men want perfect families. And how do the men feel about their daughters who are just going to grow up and get killed by a husband who would rather have a robot maid than a human wife.
A lot of the movie just didn't add up to me, I had a hard time accepting the men would really kill the women who they've had kids with. Perhaps what I needed was some account of the change that occurred in the men that made them do what they did. They did, after all, originally marry and have families with these women before they decided to kill them.
I thought about the same thing Gabriel. The most unsettling part of the movie for me was not the women robots, but the men themselves. The fact that they lacked the compassion for human life is what disturbs me. They married these women and were willing to go to the extremes and kill them to obtain the perfect wife. Simply put, these men belonged to a murderer's society club. The fact that these men knew, when taking Joanna's voice recordings and looking through her things in the room, etc. that she will eventually die is just wrong. They were going through the stages of destruction of real life Joanna and construction of her double.
ReplyDeleteBut their lack of love for the women was shown in the scene where all the women gathered together for the little talk session. I believe one wife said that her husband never loved her. And I think, if I can remember, the main character, Joanna, said that she believes her husband cared more about law than her. These men never loved their wives and never cared for them. The monster in the story wasn't the robots, but the husbands themselves.
Another thing that came across my mind was about the kids. I think throughout the whole movie, the kids were hardly seen except in a few scenes. Which I believe the makers of the film, and probably the book (I haven't read it), perhaps made it this way in order for the reader and viewer to be less heartbroken for the main character when she finally dies. It was to avoid the emotional reaction. In fact, that whole movie lacked emotions from the robots to the husbands. Imagine having many scenes of the children throughout the movie showing the relationship with their mother, and then having the mother die in the end. It would have made the movie more screwed up than what it already is. Which also begs the question; can a robot be a mother? The lack of scenes with the children doesn't allow the viewer to ask this question. We are more focused on Joanna and her solving the mystery and not on her relationship with her kids. Just something I thought about.