Musings on the film

Looks like principal photography on the Dorian Gray film is finished, and it's in post-production now, so news will probably be scarce. No word on a release date besides 2009.

I've been pondering the implications, if any, of shortening the title to just "Dorian Gray". Of course this reduces emphasis on the picture that is at the centre of the novel, but it's possibly not a bad thing. The portrait is, after the transformation, basically Dorian's soul. From the moment he utters his wish his body and soul (or mind or conscience or whatever you want to call what comes to be displayed on the portrait) are separated, and Dorian Gray does not exist independently of his portrait, nor does his portrait exist without him. So, naming the film simply Dorian Gray demonstrates that the story revolves around him, and all parts of him. He's still the hero. I think I'd probably prefer the full title of the novel, but the shortened version is better than something completely made up, like, I don't know, Dorian and Henry, or The Mystery of Dorian Gray (say, that's catchy!) or Big Gay Love Triangle That's a Little Bit Hetero, Too, And There's a Painting Involved.

On another note, the more I think about this new Emily Wotton character, the more I worry about how the addition will affect the plot, and especially how it will affect the character of Sybil Vane. I'm guessing her role or screentime will be reduced, and Emily Wotton will be Dorian's next or later love interest. Which... argh. I appreciate that there are few women in the novel and those that are there get a pretty raw deal. Oscar Wilde is a bitchy misogynist like that. But poor Sybil never gets her due, and there are many ways that her story could be changed or given short shrift without much thought. She's really important in the novel for a lot of reasons that I probably don't have to explain if you've read it, but here goes anyway: Dorian's involvement with her marks the first time he understands, uses and abuses his power, as well as the first time he notices a change in his portrait; her situation mirrors Dorian's in that she has to play the part that is set for her and cannot break free or find her own words; their affair is Dorian's first understanding of the beauty of art and the tragedy of thwarted expectations, etc. Her suicide is also mirrored in his "suicide" at the end of the novel, for they both find themselves in a situation that they want to escape from, but do not know how. And, on a purely personal, sympathetic note, I really feel for Sybil and her desire to break free of shadows and the words of Shakespeare so that she can live in the light with Dorian and speak her own words. I worry that all of Sybil will be lost if they keep adding extra female characters in order to reduce the homoerotic undertones of the story or to lessen the impact of Wilde's stunning sexism. Either motive is not going to serve the original story well.