What's your review of the movie Poor Things?
07.06.2025 05:54
I disagree. Bella is the ultimate Born Sexy Yesterday girl because instead of serving a male protagonist on screen, she serves the male gaze of the movie creators and male audiences. The movie removed the on-screen stand-in of a loser male protagonist but instead wrote a fantasy woman who is the perfect sex object for men.
There’s no subtlety in Emma’s acting. The role does not require it either. Because at the end of the day, Bella is empty inside. She has no personality. She has no internal struggle. Whatever she feels at the moment, she puts it on her face.
I’m a theater major, not acting, but I know enough about acting to say this: Bella is an easy role to play. Big emotions and exaggerated actions are easy. Subtlety is hard. And Bella is all big emotions and exaggerated actions.
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Is that what men think feminism is?
First of all, porn isn’t real.
Milla Jovovich did a pretty good job in The Fifth Element playing a very similar type of character. Jennifer Garner played a 13-year-old stuck in the body of a grown woman. Was Emma’s acting better than Milla or Jennifer? I don’t think so. Would Milla or Jennifer do an equally good job had they been cast for Bella? Probably. Any actress with decent acting skills and who doesn’t mind stripping naked in front of the camera would probably be able to do this role just as well as Emma.
Jonathan McIntosh at Pop Culture Detective coined the term in the above video. Born sexy yesterday (BSY) is the common sexual fantasy depicted in films and television shows (created by men and for men) around female characters that exude sex appeal, but other than their physical aesthetic, they have the mental capacity, intelligence, and attitudes of a young child.
That’s not to say Emma isn’t a good actress—I think she is. But compared to actresses like Amy Adams, Emma Thompson, and Charlize Theron, she still has a lot of work to do. It is surprising to me that she got two Oscars while Amy Adams has none. She was very good at picking the type of movies the Oscar likes. (No, I don’t think La La Land deserves an Oscar, let alone 6.)
Poor Things had indeed given us a pretty straightforward by-the-book “born sexy yesterday” protagonist in Bella. She was an infant in the body of a grown woman. And there have been plenty of reviews claiming Poor Things is a subversion of the trope.
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Poor Things is a story about a fantasy woman exploring the world through sex—an imaginary woman born and grew up without the restraints of social convention and morality. Naturally, the only thing this woman would be interested in is sex. Sure, through her sexual exploration, she learned about social injustice and philosophy. But it was more of an afterthought than the theme of the movie or the goal of Bella. Her freedom and agency were entirely expressed through her freedom to have sex whenever, however, she wanted, and her agency to seek out sexual partners.
Poor Things didn’t subvert the Born Sexy Yesterday trope. Bella is, by all intents and purposes, born sexy yesterday. The movie just removed the male protagonist, who usually comes as a stand-in for male audiences. It removed the stand-in and let Bella open her body directly to the male gaze. She’s a woman who willingly objectifies her own body for the pleasure of others.
Poor Things is “feminism” interpreted by men.
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And somehow, you all think Bella is a feminist icon?
HOW?! Does getting fucked at a brothel also magically give you advanced medical knowledge that allowed her to sit in at some college courses?!
Did Frankenstain’s monster go on a sex escapade after he escaped Victor’s lab? No. He went to learn about the world like a fucking normal person. Why did Bella go out to see the world, and all we (as audiences) saw were the various men she had sex with in bed? Bella’s world seems to be interesting and whimsical, and yet all we get to see are various bedrooms.
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Secondly, why sex? Could Bella experience and explore the world some other way?
So, Bella lives in a world where regular women are oppressed. But when she went out exploring the world, she had never experienced any real oppression or sexual violence. When she did eventually face domestic violence, she easily resolved it without much struggle. She had sex with many different men and 1) did not menstruate or get pregnant, 2) did not have an STI, not even a UTI, and 3) had an orgasm or at least a pleasant experience every single time. (the movie did show her complaint about picking men instead of letting men pick her, but that didn’t go anywhere.) And while she was having sex with various men left and right, somehow, she learned to read and write at an advanced level in a few short months.
In every BSY movie, there is an unassuming male protagonist. They often run into the “newly born sexy woman” by accident and decide to help her not only achieve her goal (if she has any) but also “educate” her about the world. Because BSY women do not understand social conventions, they would walk around naked (or in skimpy clothing, depending on the rating), allowing the male protagonist and the audience to gawk at her sexy figure. Because BSY didn’t know anything about the world, random everyday tasks, such as making a sandwich, would amaze her. On top of that, because BSY doesn’t understand social status, she would appreciate the male protagonist’s bare minimum of compassion and kindness despite the other glaring problems that would otherwise be a turn-off for most women.
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I want to talk about Emma Stone’s acting separate from the movie itself.
Bella is the ultimate male fantasy of a woman. She is beautiful and sexy. She fits the conventional beauty standard down to her hairless armpits. She has the body of a grown woman but the brain of a child. She has an insatiable appetite for sex. She never menstruates and will never get pregnant. Her body is always pristine, even if she hasn’t showered for days. She is willing to have sex with any man regardless of appearance, age, personal hygiene, or social status. She’s willing to entertain every possible sexual fetish without a safe word. She doesn’t have any of the problems realistic women have, such as the desire to have an emotional connection or interests outside sex. She demands nothing from men other than their willingness to have sex with her.
I’m not against having sexual content in a movie. But it has to serve a narrative purpose. What is the narrative purpose of endless sex scenes in Poor Things? That women without conventional morality would want nothing but sex and the freedom to have sex?
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Before I get into the movie, I want to talk about a trope called “Born Sexy Yesterday.”
The only reason Emma got an Oscar for her acting is because Oscar loves this type of whimsical, artsy, empty movie with a sprinkle—in this case, a fistful—of sex on top.
Do you know only about 50% of women experience orgasm during intercourse? That’s assist intercourse with clitoral stimulation. Without clitoral stimulation, that number drops down to about 20–30%. So what kind of magical body does our girl Bella have that allowed her to have amazing, life-altering sex every single fucking time?
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Poor Things is a man’s concept of female liberation, and it serves the male gaze. Like all “Born Sexy Yesterday” movies, Poor Things is a movie made by men, for men.
Now, now, I know what some of you are thinking. OMG, shut the fuck up, you old hag. Just because you can’t have that kind of sex doesn’t mean other women can’t.
Bella is supposed to be a woman who doesn’t follow social conventions, and yet, other than her hair and pubic area, Bella’s body is smooth and hairless. God forbid her hairy legs and underarms would scare the fragile male audiences and take away their viewing pleasure.
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Acting like a baby or child isn’t hard. SNL comedians can do that. None of us had seen an infant stuck in the body of a grown person. As a result, we are more likely to accept the actor’s interpretation without much real-life reference to compare with.
Oh, and you don’t need to come to my comments and tell me how I was wrong about the whole thing or how I just don’t get the movie. If the movie works for you, good for you. I don’t need to know about it, and I have no interest in having a conversation about it where you mansplaining to me how feminism works.