The Consumption and Exploitation of Female Beauty: An Evaluation of the Movie "Under the Skin"

“Under the Skin” (2013) starring Scarlett Johansson is a thought provoking movie that is a bit challenging to watch but none the less worth it in the end. It discusses themes of power and control and the general exploitation and consumption of superficial human beauty.

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The movie opens with space like imagery. A spherical object hovers in the abyss and we can hear Scarlett Johansson’s voice learning to speak English. We see an eyeball being created and realize that Scarlett is an alien that has taken on a human form and has been sent to earth for some unknown mission.

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A motorcycle man is introduced. He delivers the body of a comatose woman to Scarlett. The woman was Scarlett’s predecessor and the man appears to be another alien that oversees his female counterpart. The comatose woman is not dead but appears to be paralyzed. A tear escapes the woman’s eye which at first seems insignificant but later takes on great meaning as we witness Scarlett’s character develop from an emotionless hunter to a creature that has feelings for the human race.

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Scarlett takes the woman’s clothes and basically takes over her life and her mission.
After briefly observing human females engaging in superficial beauty routines such as putting on makeup, Scarlett hits the streets to hunt for human men. She lures them to her with her beauty. The men objectify her, focussing only on her sexuality. She takes them back to her place (or her ship?) and immerses them in a black murky liquid. She consumes them.

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She is callousness. Unemotional. Remorseless. She is a hunter.

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Later she receives a rose from a man who is cut by its thorns and when she stumbles on the street she is helped up by others. She experiences human kindness and slowly we notice that she begins to change. She begins to have feelings.

She sits in her Van and is almost attacked by a gang of men. Humans are kind but they are also violent. Her feelings are confused and she continues on with her mission. She begins to hunt again.

She picks up a man with a disfigured face. She engages with him to lure him back to her ship but she slowly begins to see his inner beauty. They touch each other. The man does not objectify her. He does not see her as merely a sexual object. Inside the ship the man senses her intentions. “It’s cold” he states looking around at the emptiness. “Come to me” she beckons. She wants him to focus only on her beauty just as all of the other men had before him.

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She eventually consumes him but later has a change of heart after witnessing a trapped fly. She realizes that the man is trapped. She looks in the mirror and realizes that she is also trapped. The motorcycle man from the beginning of the movie, who has a sort of power over her, keeps her in this cycle of consuming others. The motorcycle man stares into her eyes trying to see if she has changed.

Is she still the same callous being who can perform her duties?

Scarlett has a change of heart and lets the disfigured man go but the motorcycle man tracks him down and disposes of him.

Scarlett slowly begins to experience emotions and she tries to become human. She runs away from the motorcycle man and witnesses several acts of human kindness. She wants to understand humanity. She attempts to eat cake but is unsuccessful. She watches television and taps her fingers to music. She tries to make love, but again is unsuccessful. She longs to be human but she is still an alien.

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This is likely what the original female alien experienced before she was taken over by Scarlett. She was beginning to experience human emotions.

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The motorcycle man along with others, hunts for Scarlett but is unable to track her whereabouts.

Scarlett runs away to the woods to be alone and she falls asleep in a cabin. She wakes up to a man trying to rape her. She escapes but the man pursues and catches her in the forest. He objectifies her. Seeing only her outward beauty and her sexuality, the man rips at her clothes and is violent with her.

Suddenly, he stops.

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He notices that her skin is peeling away. Scarlett’s true form emerges from “Under her Skin.” Appalled by what lies below her outward beauty and appalled by her true nature, the man dowses her with gasoline and lights her on fire.

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Scarlett dies and the motorcycle man is left wondering where she had gone.

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My Interpretation

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The movie reminds me of the film and entertainment industry or perhaps the porn industry.

In the movie, the motorcycle guy represents the alien species but in the real world he represents the influential men in the industry who find and hold power over young attractive stars and who maintains a system of control.

Scarlett represents a sexual object and a tool used by the industry. Her purpose is to entice human men who are taken by her superficial beauty and who in turn objectify her as a sexual object. Women in the entertainment industry are objectified.

Human men are consumed by Scarlett who, again is a tool of the industry. They are consumed in that they are reduced down to their basic desires and manipulated into giving up their power to the entertainment industry. The motorcycle man maintains power and oversees the whole situation.

When a female within the industry has a change of heart, or is consumed or destroyed by the public, she is replaced by another beautiful alien who immediately takes her place.

Superficial female beauty is exploited and consumed by the film industry and constantly being replaced by a newer younger model.

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My analysis is a bit choppy but hopefully it makes sense to some people. What are your thoughts and/or interpretations? Have you seen the movie? What did you think?