Some more thoughts on Midge.
25 04 2007So I was thinking a bit more about doubling, Madeline/Judy, Midge, and Scottie. Dr. Campbell said in class something to the effect hat Midge is her own woman and doesn’t need anyone to tell her what do to or how to be, while Judy/Madeline seems to ask to be molded. I don’t buy it. Midge presents herself as willing to be molded through the portrait, making herself into a Carlotta of sorts (she still retains some characteristics of herself, but the point is not that part of her remains, but that she is willing to get rid of parts of herself, slowly, not unlike Judy). Maybe I’m reading the scene wrong, maybe there’s some deep sarcasm in Midge that Scottie knows and recognizes while I don’t, but I think the scene shows she’s willing to mold herself into the image Scottie wants, but he won’t accept it. Besides, as we discusses in class, Judy/Madeline both offer themselves up to be molded. Interestingly, they both also resist Scottie’s transforming influence. For Judy, it is the repeated protests and changing yet another part of her outward appearance to be more like Madeline, while Madeline rejects Scottie’s encouragements to free herself from Carlotta’s haunting influence.
Oh! The doubling/tripling thing! Carlotta is essientally three people (four if you count herself): Madeline, Judy, and Midge. Five if you count the way she haunts Scottie, but he never really becomes her, which is the biggest difference I see.
Hmm. I think the resistance in Judy is both real and another layer of disguise, an almost literal hard-to-get act. As for Midge, I think the portrait is a parody that demonstrates her own resistance to these obsessed parts of Scottie. The portrait to my eye is highly sarcastic, to the point of mocking him. I do think she mocks Scottie as a way of trying to gain his affection, strange as that may sound, but when it obviously doesn’t work, she rightly castigates herself.
Midge seems to needle Scottie, in this case severely, to try to get some sort of affection or misery out of him. Since they’re both profoundly unhappy people (at least they were) there’s some sense of (I think anyway) that misery loves company, so they both sort of guilt each other.
Also that sense that Dr. C mentioned above, where you annoy someone to get affection.
[...] First I’d like to comment on Mary-Carolyn’s posts Some More Thoughts on Midge and A Few Small Thoughts on Vertigo. I disagree with the statement that “Midge presents herself as willing to be molded through the portrait, making herself into a Carlotta of sorts (she still retains some characteristics of herself, but the point is not that part of her remains, but that she is willing to get rid of parts of herself, slowly, not unlike Judy).” It seemed to me that Midge’s portrait of herself as Carlotta was her attempt to get John to recognize what was right in front of him, so to speak. Midge was not willing to be molded; she was already a strong, assertive individual and quite comfortable with who she was. She was simply too strong for John, who wanted an ethereal, malleable beauty in the form of Madeline. Ironically, by all accounts, Midge should have been in control of her interactions with John, but he was the driving force. When he was weak, she helped him, and I believe in that respect, the opening scene is extremely important. John is severely hampered by his vertigo, and he needs Midge to support him like a little baby because he can’t even climb up a step ladder without breaking down! To any discerning observer, it is obvious that John is in a subordinate position to Midge’s almost motherly role. BUT, thanks to backwards gender roles in the 1950s, Midge remains subordinate to John for the remainder of the film, which is patently absurd when you objectively consider the life stations of both characters. Midge is clearly established in San Francisco and has a specific direction to her life; she is a distinct individual with interests, passions, and activities. John is a pathetic, essentially useless louse simply drifting through life. He is so weak and so desperate for something to give his empty life meaning that he becomes obsessed with a woman that doesn’t even exist! This is the ultimate male vanity, that he would turn down a woman like Midge for a silent beauty like Madeline. It is almost as though he rejects Midge because her masculine qualities are an affront to HIS masculinity, and I believe that that is the only respect in which Midge is willing to mold herself, simply because gender roles in the 1950s were so rigid; she does not stand up to John and say “you moron! Look at what is right in front of you!” which I was kind of hoping she would do. Instead she sits idly by while he goes on a wild goose chase for a mysterious beauty. Like I alluded to earlier, Midge is too good for John. [...]
[...] On the other hand, Mary-Carolyn’s blog post complicates this idea a great deal. If Midge really is the superwoman, then why does she attempt to mold herself, to construct herself in imitation of Madeleine, into the superfemale? Why isn’t Scotty as intrigued by the transformed, constructed Midge as he is by the transformed, constructed Judy/Madeleine? I think the answer to this question is that Midge has only ever been known to Scotty as the superwoman. She was never a superfemale to him; she cannot switch now, he would know that she was acting and the key to keeping Scotty happy with his superfemale is that he not know it is all an act. But I think it is also important to note that Midge does try, just like Judy, though unsuccessfully, to revert back to the superfemale. This supports my assertion even farther that this film is about the societal trend and serves as a warning to the disastrous effects that trend will have if change does not occur, if there is not a revolution of societal expectations for women. [...]
[...] Mary Carolyn’s blog brings up the point that Midge presents herself as willing to be molded by painting herself in the portrait of Carlotta. This is a very perceptive thought, but I feel there may be more to it than this. It is my feeling that Midge has a very dry sense of humor, one of those humors that only a few people get. I believe when Mary Carolyn said that perhaps there’s a deeper sarcasm to Midge that only Scottie understands that she was really onto something. These are two characters that have apparently been through a lot together. They were friends, then lovers, then back to friends. In order to stay together as friends after all of that says something about their personalities - they click. She gets him and he gets her. So, I feel that Scottie understands she may have been trying to be sarcastic, but perhaps she took it one step too far. Scottie even says something along the lines of, “Oh now Midge, you’ve just gone too far” with his facial expressions. « MacGuffin | [...]
[...] We move now to a very different location: Midge’s apartment. There has been quite a bit of discussion over the Midge/Madeleine question, especially in Ben’s blog. Despite the general consensus that Midge does not put herself on display the way Madeleine does, this is not entirely true. Midge does try to do this exactly the same way, though not consistently. So let’s look at what Midge chooses to surround herself with.Ah, orange again. Her walls, furniture, and even the glow of the light are all orange. We see later that her shirt is actually red, but in this shot it definitely looks orange. Intentional, of course. In this scene, Midge is displaying herself for Scottie, probably because she thinks that’s what he wants. She even wears red in the same way that Madeleine does, an attempt at lowering his guard. As Mary Carolyn points out, Midge is willing to make many sacrifices for Scottie, including molding herself into what she thinks he wants. But what’s missing here? The green, of course. Midge cannot be Madeleine because she doesn’t have the green to counteract red. She is wearing red, the color of bravery, but it doesn’t do her much good. Perhaps because to create love you need both red and green, and she’s missing the green—it’s whatever Madeleine/Judy has that makes the romance complete. Emerson says that “Midge is wearing bright red when she attempts to put a stop to Scottie’s romantic illusions about Madeleine.” Again, I disagree. Midge is not wearing red for Scottie. She’s wearing it for herself, because she’s the one who needs the added courage. But how can she possibly succeed without the other aspect of love as represented in this film? Midge is doomed from the start. [...]
[...] Like Robyn, I too agree with Mary Carolyn’s ideas about Midge being willing to mold herself into what Scotty wants. She seems to still be pining for Scottie. After all, she goes to great trouble to literally paint herself into Scottie’s world. The Midge/Carlotta picture is a sheer stroke of genius. She cannot help the fact that Scottie does not like it because he has been sucked into the dysfunctionality that is Madeline/Judy/Carlotta. Now throw Midge into the mix. Wow, you have a recipe for a huge catfight. I think Mary Carolyn’s observation is very astute. I had not seen it this way until I read her post. But she is right on. [...]
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