Innocence*Spoilery*I’m imagining the author of
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro, pondering on the film
Innocence, knowing the director purposefully left it without answers and said to himself, I know an insidious outcome to such a situation. I think I’ll write a novel about it. I know this isn’t the case, but it helps me not be as frustrated with the ambiguity. Vague and open-ended stories (and lyrics) let us insert our own ideas and emotions into the empty spots and create our own narrations and outcomes. It’s a gift, even if it’s hard to take sometimes.
There is much building material to work with. The focus on nature, order and hierarchy, scaffolds the story enough to where I’m satisfied with it, if not very hopeful. I wish to be hopeful, for the ending scene brings it splashing about, but the rest of the film belies that moment, so I sigh and worry for the girls. There’s too much emphasis on obedience and beauty, for me to believe their lives will be anything more than what they’ve been groomed for.
Something that’s been niggling at me, but I can’t quite get resolution for. If men were clamoring to see these innocent girls doing rather innocent dances, how is the movie itself much different? Wouldn’t there be concern of showing these girls in their natural and innocent state to be an unintentional “price of admission” for similar men?