Monstrosity by Degrees, or When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Who Then Become Bad People Who Hurt Good People
By June Pulliam
05/03/2004
Monster. Patty Jenkins, Dir. 2003.
Monster is writer and director Patty Jenkins third film, but the first of her works to receive such critical acclaim. Loosely based on the biography of female serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who murdered seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990 before she was caught in 1991, the film tells the story of the 10th woman executed in the modern era of the death penalty. Wuornos was put to death by the state of Florida in 2002.
Like many other works of serial killer fiction, Monsters representation of Aileen Wuornos isnt completely unsympathetic. The film opens with Wuornos on the verge of suicide on a rainy night, with a voice over about her childhood hopes and dreams to be beautiful and loved, now all obviously dashed, as the doughy faced, homely woman before us sitting under an overpass to get out of the rain is difficult to imagine as ever having been attractive, as ever anything less than human effluvia. It is on this rainy night that Wuornos stumbles into a lesbian bar and meets Selby (Jenkins fictional rendition of Wuornos real life lover Tyria Moore), a lonely woman herself looking for love and acceptance. Selby buys Wuornos a pitcher of beer and convinces her to spend the night with her, in spite of Wuornos insistence that shes not a lesbian. Selby is currently living with her aunt and uncle, having been exiled to their wholesome Christian influence after her parents caught her with another girl and wished to have their daughter cured of her homosexuality. It soon becomes clear that if the two are to spend time together as a couple, then it is up to Wuornos to get them a home, as Selby is unemployable at the moment (and her arm is in a cast). Thus Wuornos resumes her career as the lowest sort of prostitute, flagging down cars along the interstate to entice sleazy men who enjoy the paid companionship of the sort of unglamorous women who get the job done.
Jenkins version of Wuornos life represents her as becoming a killer out of necessity to defend herself against sexual assault. It is while Wuornos is servicing one of these men that she kills her first victim in self-defense--after he beats her unconscious and ties her up, intending to use her in a way she didnt consent to. Luckily for Wuornos, her first victim has a wad of cash on him, which she is able to take home to Selby in order to demonstrate what a good provider she is. While the films first half represents Wuornos as needy and more sinned against than sinning, she becomes more of a monster as the story progresses. Her victims go from being wholly unsympathetic sexual predators to men who just picked the wrong prostitute. Her final victim isnt even a john, but instead, a nice older man who routinely picks up hitchhikers out of an altruistic desire to help people. Wuornos kills this final victim in cold blood before she is eventually caught, tried and convicted.
While Monster isnt a strict biopic, Jenkins nevertheless does an excellent job of representing the internally tormented Wuornos with the ambiguity necessary to her subject matter. The state of Florida declared that Wuornos was sane, which permitted it to proceed with her execution. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of difference between the legal and medical definition of sanity, and most people would agree that someone who kills seven people is not sane. Thus, we will never absolutely know what caused Wuornos, or anyone else like her, to embark on her killing spree. Wuornos herself is certainly not an unimpeachable source of truth.
Monster, however, differs from the typical serial killer narrative in that the film is told through the murderers eyes rather than unfolding before the audience as a crime scene in need of solving by a clever law enforcement agency. It also differs from these narratives in its very gritty representation of reality. Charleze Theron in the role of Aileen Wuornos was completely unrecognizable, having gained 30 lbs for the role and wearing absolutely no make up, her wardrobe furnished by a thrift store rather than a designer. The other actors are similarly unglamorous and realistic. And the film itself is shot on site rather than on a Hollywood soundstage. During one of the hitchhiking scenes, actual drivers attempted to pick up Theron, unaware of her true identity or that she was making a film at the time. Also closer to reality than not is the way in which Wuornos is caught. There is no devilishly clever police officer tracking her through the film. Instead, after she has committed enough crimes, someone gets a good look at her and law enforcement is able to put a sketch of her on television, leading someone to give law enforcement a tip about her whereabouts.
It is this reality and ambiguity finally that makes Monster far more frightening than other more stylized serial killer narratives. Other serial killer films such as Silence of the Lambs or Se7en end too neatly, with the killer captured, his crimes too contrived in the first place for the likes of him to exist outside of the realm of fiction. Monster evokes the more frightening reality: that there are more serial killers among us than we would like to believe, and that indeed, bad things happen to good people for no reason at all.
More on Aileen Wuornos:
The Crime Library: Aileen Wuornos: The Killer Who Preyed on Truck Drivers
Kennedy, Doloros. On a Killing Day: The Bizarre Story of Convicted Murderer Aileen Wuornos. SPI Books, 1994.
Russell, Sue. Lethal Intent. New York: Pinnacle, 2002. 512 p.
Shipley, Stacey L. and Bruce A. Arrigo. The Female Homicide Offender: Serial Murder and the Case of Aileen Wuornos. New York: Prentice Hall, 2003. 200 p.