The movie Being John Malkovich, revolves around the dysfunctional life of an unhappy married couple and the absurd changes that take place in their lives, upon the discovery of a portal leading into John Malkovich’s subconscious mind. It follows an unemployed puppeteer, Craig Schwartz, on his quest to gain the recognition he desires. Craig Schwartz acquires a job as a file clerk for Lester Corp, located on the 7-1/2th floor. It is there that he discovers a secret door with a portal behind a filing cabinet. This portal transports whoever enters it into John Malkovich's head, enabling one to experience Malkovich's life through his eyes, or as Schwartz likes to put it, “in his shoes”(literally). Schwartz and his co-worker, who he's very fond of, exploit this by selling passes to the portal. The individual experiences and feelings that the characters had in the portal, raise existential questions. We are left questioning the idea of our minds and bodies being separate entities. Could we somehow transcend from our physical state? Are our bodies merely vessels that can be disposed of? Are we truly happy in our own shoes? And what lengths are we prepared to go to in order to survive?

The movie begins with curtains opening, exemplifying a stage performance. And for a split second, between the opening of the curtains, and the puppet appearing for the first time; the viewer is tricked into thinking that they're watching a real performance. The puppet's exceptional portrayal of human characteristics and emotions makes it difficult for the viewer not to empathize with it. The powerful score emphasizes on the dramatic movements of the puppet, and essentially serves as its voice, expressing its anger and sadness. The show ends with the puppet lying on the floor with its head buried in its hands. There's a loud applause coming from what seems to be a large audience, but is actually revealed to be a recording, and that the show is actually set in the puppeteers workshop. The camera shifts its focus to a dissatisfied looking Craig Schwartz, drinking a beer to drown his sadness. The second scene of the movie is important as it gives the viewer an idea of Schwartz’s personal life and an explanation to how he became unemployed. Schwartz is woken up by his wife, who urges him to search for jobs “until this puppet thing works around”. To which he responds “Derek Mantini doesn’t need a day job”. Ironically, while watching the television with his pet chimpanzee Elijah, a news report covering Derek Mantini’s latest performance comes on. Schwartz shakes his head in disgust, and looks towards the chimpanzee, and says: “You don’t know how lucky you are being a monkey, because consciousness is a terrible curse. I think, I feel, I suffer, and all I ask in return is the opportunity to do my work, and they won’t allow it because I raise issues.” It appears that doing the right thing, or what he considered right, resulted in Craig being ostracized from his community; making him question his own humanity. All Craig wanted was for the world to understand him and appreciate his passion. He felt trapped in his own skin, as a result of not getting the recognition he believed he deserved. His feelings of inadequacy disappear as he used his puppets to emulate his thoughts and emotions. He described it as a way of being able to experience life in another's shoes.

How far are we willing to go to achieve happiness? The movie addresses this by challenging the fundamentals of being human, and the existence of ethics and morals. This is portrayed through the characters’ complete disregard for John Malkovich’s free will. This greed and infatuation with wanting more, contradicts the concept of empathy that we as humans share for one another. Schwartz who had once seemed envious of the chimpanzee’s lack of empathy, had become apathetic himself. A flashback showing the chimpanzee as a baby being taken away from its captured parents, explains why it had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress earlier. This is an underlying point in the movie, as it humanizes the primate and animalizes the humans. Craig was prepared to change his life and consequently change John Malkovich’s life, in order to secure Maxine’s affection. Even if that sacrifice meant that he not only had to leave his wife, but also his own physical body.

“Being inside did something to me, I knew who I was”.
Lotte Schwartz describes her vivid experience in Malkovich’s subconscious as “feeling right”, stating that she had never felt that way before. A woman feeling right as a man is taboo and an extremely controversial topic, especially when we consider the fact that she’s a married woman. Yet Lotte expresses this with full certainty when she comes to the conclusion that she’s a transsexual. We begin to see her in a different light, one opposite to how she was initially introduced. She becomes more assertive and confident, unlike the caring and timid wife she was. By screaming out in Malkovich’s sub conscious, she was able to convince him to meet with Maxine for the first time. It was during that encounter, that Lotte realized how deeply attracted Maxine she was. This was a turning point in the movie, because we saw a drastic change in Lotte’s personality.

Maxine, a dominant and outspoken woman, is a major factor in the development of the movie. Being both a mediator and a devil’s advocate, she sets the absurd love triangle in motion. Craig and Lotte Schwartz are desperately in love with her. They long for her affection, and will do anything to receive it. Instead of attempting to work things out between the dysfunctional couple, she actually exacerbates the problem and tears the couple further apart. She used her seductive skills to convince Craig to partner up with her in order to exploit the portal for money. Maxine was also able to convince Craig to let Lotte into the portal after he had refused to allow her, thus showing the power Maxine had over him. Although she had never gone through the portal herself, Maxine heavily influenced the rest of the characters’ decisions to enter it. Her fascination with having two people look at her “with total lust and devotion, through the same pair of eyes” was the driving force behind Craig and Lotte’s obsession with her. Craig who she didn’t find attractive, was now able to be with her by being John Malkovich.

The movie is centered around the idea of being someone else and seeing life through their eyes. It gives us a hypothetical glimpse of how this concept would work in reality. Craig was able to use John Malkovich’s body to rid himself of his insecurities and inadequacies. Can we really leave our bodies? Wouldn’t taking over someone else’s body, essentially eliminating their subconscious, be considered murder? By using John Malkovich’s body as a vessel and ridding it of his subconscious, were they not committing murder? The movie leaves us with unanswered questions that we are content not finding answers for.

http://www.jennifergong.com/portfolio/Gong_Expos2.html

http://filmblather.com/films/beingjohn/

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/dec1999/malk-d02.shtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/oct/03/charlie-kaufman-how-to-write

http://www.soundonsight.org/forgotten-classics-being-john-malkovich/