'Poor Things': Disney's feminist Frankenstein movie says 'whoring' is liberating and brave

The latest film from Disney studio Searchlight Pictures depicts a feminist's literary dream, where a female lead is lauded for promiscuity and her defiance of societal norms in a time when both are most unbecoming.

"Poor Things," starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and outspoken progressive Mark Ruffalo, has received a litany of reviews praising its celebration of feminist doctrine. Stone stars as Bella Baxter, a reanimated corpse with the brain of an unborn child.

The plot very obviously pulls from the original "Frankenstein" book, which is made even more apparent by the depiction of the mad scientist character, played by Dafoe.

The film focuses on the male characters' inability to control their female creation as intended. Instead, what was supposed to be an easily manipulated woman develops into what the Hollywood Reporter described as "a fiercely spirited, independent woman."

The outlet further noted that the character simply throws off the constraints of polite society and takes control of her body and identity while refusing to be controlled by men.

Rolling Stone praised the movie for the character spreading her wings on her own "sexed-up, pro-science terms."

With multiple sex scenes, the character is meant to display female empowerment. In one scene, the she-Frankenstein describes how Wedderburn (Ruffalo) "became much weepy and sweary when he discovered my whoring."

In response, the character Max McCandles, who is hired to document the female experiment's progress, explains that it is not his place to judge such actions.

"I find myself merely jealous of the men's time with you, rather than any moral aspersion against you. It is your body, Bella Baxter, yours to give freely," he explained.

"I generally charge 30 francs," Stone's character replies.

While the entire plot drips with feminism, the attempted humor is quite certainly secondary to the core messaging.

Stone explained her thoughts on the character in a pre-release featurette for the movie, when she noted that "the more autonomous [the character] becomes, the more challenged these men seem to be by it."

"I wanted to play Bella because it felt like acceptance of what it is to be a woman: to be free, to be scared and brave," she added.

There is little room for misinterpretation. The film and the book it was based on are entirely a portrayal of a feminist who is supposed to be ahead of her time but is oppressed by the men around her.

The "Poor Things" book, published in 1992, is described as a woman pursuing her sexual appetite across the globe. A review from 1992 explained how the character became a "famous campaigner for health education and women’s rights" but is "defeated by public mockery and interference orchestrated by profiteering English newspapers."

Even in the early 1990s, this character was painted as a "feminist doctor with a burning commitment to social justice" who is unfairly silenced.

The author, Alasdair Gray, was very politically active. A Scottish nationalist and separatist, Gray interestingly called English immigrants to Scotland "settlers" and "colonists."

However, he felt settlers of any background were good, whereas he determined colonists to be any immigrant who exploits the arts or business sector of Scotland, only to return home for promotion or retirement.

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