League of Extraordinary Gentleman— Gabriela Lipson

My classmate, K. Scott, wrote a really wonderful summary describing the origins of each of the characters that I would like to build upon. I would like to highlight something in particular that I discovered while watching the movie on Amazon’s video app.

While watching the film, I was wondering why the “invisible character” was named Skinner, not Griffin as in H.G. Wells’ story, and why his character was milder and kinder than the novel’s invisible man.

The X-ray feature on the Amazon video app provided me with some very interesting information regarding this, “20th century Fox was unable to get the rights for the literary characters of The Invisible Man, created by H.G. wells. Not only did this necessitate the character in the film have his name changed from the book’s ‘Griffin’, but that he could never be referred to as ‘the’ Invisible Man, only ‘an’ invisible man.” ( Amazon X-ray feature)

The X-Ray feature also described how Mina, in the original comic, is not a vampire. In the comic “the only reference to her past are large scars from bite marks on her neck which are hidden by a scarf. Additionally, she is the Leagues’ leader, the one responsible for recruiting the other members.” ( X-ray feature).

I find it very interesting that the director took the artistic license in making Mina a vampire by Dracula’s bite.

I wanted to briefly research the Victorian age’s fascination with vampires. I came upon this article, and this paragraph stood out to me: “Women were especially idealized during the Victorian era, the period which was just ending as Dracula was written. The Victorian woman was supposed to be selflessly devoted to the home and the family. It is the more independent of the two female characters who falls prey to Dracula. (Referring to the original Dracula novel). There is a sexual element to the way Dracula preys on women, and therefore also a moral warning against the more liberated woman who was emerging at the end of the Victorian era. The warning inherent in the sexual element of Dracula’s predation is less a direct accusation against immigrants than just a general call for things as they were.’” ( Julia Berick, http://tenement.org/blog/they-walk-among-us-vampire-and-immigration-in-victorian-london/).

Mina’s character in the film does seem to fit with this analysis. She seems to be “particularly liberated”, and Tom Sawyer, Dr. Jekyll, and Dorian all demonstrate a strong affinity for her while Mr. Quartermain was initially skeptical of her “utility’’ to the mission.

The characters in the film strongly embody prominent ideals from the Victorian age. For example, Captain Nemo and his crew’s diverse origins represent the far reach of England’s “international empire”.

I wouldn’t go so far to say that the film is a veiled commentary on the Victorian age. I think the director mostly focused on action and adventure and used the Victorian age as more of a backdrop rather than the focal point of the film.

When I watched the film, these thoughts came to mind…

Dorian Gray represents the excessive and lavish lifestyle that existed, far away from the derelict buildings and the poor laborers dying on the streets of Victorian London. His dress, mannerisms, and speech are very different in the movie than the other characters’.

While watching the movie, I wondered if the director took artistic liberties in giving Mina a role. Does she play a larger role in the comic? Is her role characteristic of Victorian society?

Victorian women could not vote or own property, although they did participate in the industrial workforce, which moved them one step closer to equality. This article highlights the director’s motivations and Moore’s comments on the film adaption. Moore, the original author of the comic “admits that coming up with a suitable woman to complete his line-up of Victorian-era superheroes was a challenge. ‘Strong female characters were not a priority in nineteenth-century adventure fiction,’ he said. ‘So I decided to rehabilitate Jonathan Harker’s wife from Dracula . However, I had to make her a little less soppy – thus she’s become a suffragette, divorced the incredibly wet Jonathan and gone back to using her maiden name.’”. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/12/filmnews.film)

Did any of you catch that Mina is a suffragette in the movie? I don’t think the film’s director makes that very clear.

What is Quartermain’s and Mina’s relationship like in the original comic? Quartermain’s initial misogyny towards Mina in the film seems characteristic of aspects of Victorian society.

Dr. Jekyll, Mina, and Skinner embody the Victorian Age’s fascination with chemistry and science. Watching the movie, I was thinking “were the character’s scientific findings fundamentally theirs in the first place?”
Morally, how wrong was it for M to try to steal their secrets?

If M didn’t try to harness their powers, who would be the next to try? Another empire? M tries to steal Skinner’s invisibility, Harker’s vampiric blood, Nemo’s technology, and Jekyll’s elixir.

During the Victorian age and post-Victorian era should Britain have been entitled to, expected to, or required to share its spoils and findings with the rest of the world?

M’s stealing reminds me of Britain’s exploitation of resources in every country that they colonized. There are many artifacts in the British museum that the countries of origin are demanding be returned.

Was Britain just as immoral as M in their pursuit of wealth and power?The empire justified their actions with an imperial doctrine similar to M’s and certainly stole knowledge and secrets from the countries they conquered for the pursuit of economic gain and creating “better” future. M, while he’s dying, even says, “You can’t stop the future”which sounds to me like a Victorian England rallying cry.

Were the movie characters selfish for not sharing their abilities and findings with the world? The movie didn’t stop to consider whether or not the invisibility, the elixir, the vampiric blood, or the submarine could have benefited society.

The issue of whether or not a certain technology or power is inherently evil was a question commonly posed during of the Victorian age. Some people moved to challenge technology, like the luddites, while other people venerated it.

The movie starts with a smoke-filled screen, grey and rusted pipes reaching up into the sky. The dark, wet streets look much like the city streets of the Victorian age. Scrolling words appear on the screen, “1899 the great nations of Europe share an uneasy peace. For hundreds of years wars have been fought with the same weapons…single shot rifles, cavalry horse-drawn carriages..but this old century is soon to end…a new age dawns”. ( The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Intro)

The feeling of angst present at beginning and throughout the film, achieved through eerie classical music and dark camera shots, is very characteristic of the Victorian age.

In the first 13 minutes of movie, the setting changes from London to Germany to Africa to back to London. Our characters then take a trip to Italy. It’s clearly a global adventure.

The movie resounds with themes of globalization and empire. The Kenyan natives’ worship of Quartermain even calls into question British racial, colonial stereotypes.

Technology is showcased right from the very beginning of the film with the presence of a tank and a steam train. The most advanced technology in the film, like K. Scott pointed out, is aboard Nemo’s submarine.

Also, what was with the car? That doesn’t seem characteristic of the Victorian age…

The technology in the film is given capabilities it wouldn’t have had during the Victorian age, as K Scott describes in her analysis. How could a submarine traverse Venice’s incredibly narrow canals? I’ve traveled to Venice, and at some points a small gondola boat barely can even fit in between buildings.

What really struck me were how the guns were so automatic in the film, in a way that seems entirely impossible for the Victorian age.

The movie does not just reflect or show Victorian technology, it embodies the way the Victorians believed their technology could help them reach new limits and frontiers. Shelley’s Frankenstein was inspired by electricity and galvanism, the idea that electricity could bring someone to life. The movie had a very similar fanciful view of technology.

Similarly, Nemo’s submarine brought the crew all the way to the arctic, much like how Shelley brought her characters to there—the Arctic being a romantic symbol of pushing human limits to the extreme.

In 2003, the United States and Britain invaded Iraq with advanced weaponry and biological warfare agents. The US and Britain were acting in a way characteristic of “imperial powers”. Was the US actually going to accomplish anything through the invasion of Iraq? Was it just an effort to make money off of arms, much like M’s efforts in the movie? Would we use all of the tools we had in our arsenal, no matter the ethics, like M wished to do? We unfortunately did, and millions upon millions lost their lives. In 2003, the threat of global warfare was on people’s minds. The movie might have capitalized on this.

Thank you for reading!
Gabriela