As another thing! Dorian gray’s immortality is also him being literally incapable of change! He’s not pressured to go into a different life stage because the sands of time doth run in a loop, and like also his position doesn’t require change or self reflection for him to exist. Ok. Done. Maybe Edit: ALSO I briefly reference the queer subtext but didn’t dive deep because I lumped that element together with Dorian’s general “sins.” Basil’s crush and Henry’s comp-het are also playing into that self denial and guilt element. Anyway. Blah. No more
@devkergirl2025
2 күн бұрын
Siblings? I mean the man died in exile after being convicted of sodomy. Its a slap in the face.
@foxesofautumn
15 сағат бұрын
This is giving Patroclus and Achilles are cousins.
@devkergirl2025
8 сағат бұрын
@@foxesofautumn LITERALLY
@helgisaldo
4 сағат бұрын
Gay incest could be the driving force.
@julius-ceasar
59 минут бұрын
@@foxesofautumnnot like that would bother the greeks lmao
@therealGibralter
6 күн бұрын
I have a dreadful feeling that they will make the portrait her social media profile. Then something something mean tweets and internet stalkers.
@FashionableCrow
6 күн бұрын
@@therealGibralter i feel of two minds on that. Because I can feel the opportunity for creativity. I remember seeing the movie Cam where it’s an only fans worker basically and her coveted image got stolen and it was a really interesting take on that angle. Like the MC’s image wasn’t destroyed in front of the public, but it was no longer hers. It feels like there’d be interesting room for exploration if it didn’t just go the route of “something something mean tweats and internet stalkers.” Like…something a bit more engaging. Maybe? I feel like if the social media profile was preserved not destroyed, I’d feel it more?
@EALoArt
2 күн бұрын
I hear what you're saying and it also annoys me bc I think you're right. But also, and I'm crediting you here, there's such opportunity for making the opposite - there's so many famous people on KZitem and otherwise that are massively popular and when you look them up all you see is all the charity and good publicity on them... Until. I think I basically said what FashoonableCrow said but less elegantly, on reflection. My b.
@TheJeannag
2 күн бұрын
@@FashionableCrow "I feel like if the social media profile was preserved not destroyed, I’d feel it more?" This immediately got me thinking about how FaceBook would turn the profiles of people who died into online "memorials" and as someone who has lost people and watched their profiles freeze in time that way, it's certainly unsettling and could genuinely work well in a story lie this, if used right.
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
@@TheJeannagoh that feels a bit ghoulish by default. Kind of like it
@damdamfino
Күн бұрын
But imagine if the portrait in the attic was actually an old abandoned MySpace page 💀
@eastlynburkholder3559
2 күн бұрын
A smaller theme in this book is that there is a big difference and space between remorse and repentance. Dorian cares enough to be temporarily discomforted by his choices and their effects (cause and effect is real) and he momentarily and perhaps quite sincerely wants to change, but he never gets to repentance.
@gashinadiamond3146
3 күн бұрын
i feel like what they want to make has already been made. helter skelter (2012). a woman in the beauty industry with idealized beauty who does whatever she wants and she can get away with it simply because of her beauty and popularity. it's not exactly dorian gray but (without any other information, to be fair) it seems like what they're going for is this. which... like you said, a lot of the reason for dorian not facing consequences is not just youth and beauty but also lack of expectations and his class and gender. which to me feels harder to rationalize for a woman in the public eye since we know they're treated much more harshly than men. and making them siblings and erasing that portion of the queer aspect of the story isn't just questionable but kind of just feels disrespectful idk. like this is a seminal work of queer fiction.
@FashionableCrow
3 күн бұрын
@@gashinadiamond3146 It’s especially odd when Oscar Wilde commented a lot on his own persona and how people saw him and a lot of Dorian’s “sins” have to do with gathering knowledge and being introspective, and other fairly mundane acts that don’t hurt anyone else but would speak more to a queer experience when ruining reputation can come from simply not living a default life vs an extraordinary one like celebrity offers
@FashionableCrow
3 күн бұрын
Also the bit you said on women is so on point. 👏
@ivanav.3136
2 күн бұрын
ah! ik that helter skelter from the manga. if you like that you should check out okazaki kyoko's other manga
@ourladyofperpetualskepticism
Күн бұрын
As a gay, I'm pissed that they're making them siblings. The Picture of Dorian Gray was literally used as evidence to convict Wilde. It would be one thing if they were just taking the premise, but by naming the characters the same names as in the book it feels like erasure. If you want to change a crucial relationship dynamic that badly, just make them new characters. We have so few characters and stories already, can they not? Also, extremely agree with everything you said here. That said, have you heard that Sarah Snook's Olivier winning, one-woman, performance of The Picture of Dorian Gray got picked up for a run on Broadway? I desperately want to see it.
@FashionableCrow
Күн бұрын
@@ourladyofperpetualskepticism I agonized for a bit for how deep to go into the queer elements and decided to leave a more in-depth run through of that on the cutting room floor with Wolfe’s relationship to decadence, Dorian’s listed sins and Victorian society at large, but the admiration of another individual to the point of frightful embarrassment feels so odd if it’s a family member admitting their admiration. The siblings angle rings of “any they were such good friends” energy, yeah. And I have not heard of this one woman show, but you bet I’m gonna jump on that ASAP! TY
@lalas181
5 сағат бұрын
Same. It's really giving "They're both girls, and cousins too!" at the moment
@daninervo5717
2 күн бұрын
I think an interesting way to explore the sibling thing could be something like, they are twins and Basil wants to protect "Doran"'s innocence so badly that he becomes the "portrait". But idk, then there is the question of, how much can you "reimagine" a story before calling it that just becomes clickbait? lol
@Armazillo
Күн бұрын
I love that you connected this to American Psycho. That's the first thing I thought of when you started talking about his inability to be seen, and how allowing the world to dictate your identity to you fundamentally shows a lack of one at all. Frankly I think American Psycho is already a modern adaptation.
@FashionableCrow
Күн бұрын
@@Armazillo it makes me wonder what a 2020 lens would do vs a late 80s one
@goodmorrowllc
2 күн бұрын
The deevolution of Rickety Cricket in "Always Sunny" can easily be read as modern-day Portrait of Dorian Gray! The moral failings of the gang are reflected in this once- innocent character who becomes more and more hideous as the seasons progress.
@ThisLateHistoricalHour
8 күн бұрын
The set? Incredible. Your analysis? On point. Me? Yelling at the sun for rising right there with you.
@FashionableCrow
8 күн бұрын
Gotta put the cosmos in its place at times
@elenacamposmarin9312
2 күн бұрын
I've always felt that Lord Henry Wooton is the epythome of an envious narcissist who can only break everything he comes into contact with... zero empathy
@yensid4294
2 күн бұрын
I always thought Portrait of Dorian Gray was about stagnation? If you never have to suffer the consequences of life, you do not grow as a person. Edit: yes there is gay subtext because Oscar Wilde was gay, same for social critique of class & Victorian morals/social ettiquette. But that is all part of the theme of stagnation since the upper classes were too stuck in tradition & fought against modernization since it could upend social heirarchies that they were at the top of
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
@@yensid4294 very much this as well. Yes
@NelsonStJames
2 күн бұрын
We've already had an adaptation where Dorian Gray was gender-swapped. 'The Sins of Dorian Gray" 1983. Amazed Hammer didn't do it first, because they probably would have done it better, but of all the classics that this had been done with, Dorian Gray was a no-brainer from the get-go.
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
Oh that’s fascinating. I’d love to see how it changed. Is it worth a watch-through?
@rowanjoy419
Күн бұрын
Is not an obsession with being young and pretty is the privilege it comes with it, nobody would suspected Dorian kills someone because beside being rich, he has a nice face and you can see this even with serial killers today how people say "he is too handsome to be a murderer" 😅
@jasminv8653
Күн бұрын
Dorian Gray of the beauty industry already exists and it's James Charles.
@sawyerk641
3 күн бұрын
As you were building your case throughout, I started to think the "other institution" you were talking about was going to be the police. I'm glad that it wasn't (that would be far too political as a serious suggestion) but I can still imagine an odd cop version of Dorian Gray getting away with casual drug use, sexual misconduct, and at least one hate crime/murder😂
@FashionableCrow
3 күн бұрын
@@sawyerk641 tried not to jump that deep into the pool. My existential crisis can only take so many things at once.
@DeniseDutton
21 сағат бұрын
"If you've ever had an older aunt..." I feel seen, and attacked. 🤣 💗
@fiercearmadillo6850
Күн бұрын
Penny Dreadful's Dorian was the best!! He looks young, fresh, and trustworthy. His life is stagnant, repetitive, and unfulfilling.
@FashionableCrow
Күн бұрын
@@fiercearmadillo6850 one day I wanna do a thing on him but he was such a 10/10 adaptation in that series
@laliclaudesol2350
6 сағат бұрын
@@FashionableCrowomg omg OMG YES! I love Penny Dreadful and its take on classic horror characters. Dorian was immediately recognisable from the moment I saw a glimpse just of his ROOM.
@laotasurfs1110
2 күн бұрын
She keeps saying "heathenism." Does she mean, "hedonism"?
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
Sometimes. Like Basil and Basil, my brain likes one over the other 🫠
@CatHasOpinions734
7 сағат бұрын
Honestly, it would be a very loose adaptation, but I'd love to see a version that leans a little more psychological horror. Like, every now and then we and Dorian himself see him as he is in the portrait, but there's also the idealized version out in the world, being benign and beloved, and it starts out strange but convenient but after a while the performance becomes stifling and horrifying but he doesn't know how to stop it because he doesn't know how to stop himself. It's not a subtle metaphor, but for these themes and adapting them to a modern setting and a visual medium, I think it'd work.
@FashionableCrow
6 сағат бұрын
@@CatHasOpinions734 I think it’s still pretty good as a pitch. The idea of being unable to grow combined with that maintained public perception stays the focus. I think a bit about how Perfect Blue was about changing yourself to become that ideal. It’d be interesting to see the preservation of that ideal through being benign, selectively silent or just following a set image script with no room for an authentic self
@CatHasOpinions734
5 сағат бұрын
@@FashionableCrow Right? It could be kind of similar to the Goldbug episode from Flanagan's Fall of the House of Usher, but where the idealized version is less of a usurper and more of a mask you keep failing to take off, a lack of sincerity and authenticity that you're unwilling to deal with because seeing yourself as you are is too daunting.
@FashionableCrow
5 сағат бұрын
@@CatHasOpinions734 House of Usher itself was interesting for that because it was disloyal but kept to the themes of the works it was pulling from
@CatHasOpinions734
5 сағат бұрын
@@FashionableCrow yeah, it's definitely not a faithful adaptation (or series of adaptations, I guess?), but I loved it!
@aeonlicious
Күн бұрын
I stumbled in your video through the algorithm, and had to comment: Great Video! About the modern take of Dorian Gray, imo maybe it would work with a more adult approach but kind same vibe of Cruel Intentions if they're going to be brothers, but Reeve Carney's Dorian still hard to beat for me!
@annag8448
Күн бұрын
I need Netflix to fire their current writers and hire you to write the script- you get it! You completely understand the source material but also how to update it and make it 'relevant' to modern audiences (though I'd argue that the book is and will forever remain timelessly relevant) and oh my gosh now I'm mad that we're (probably) going to get a shoddy version instead of the masterpiece that you just described!
@bluebilbo3559
6 күн бұрын
11:40 saying this whilst having a copy of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo which were written originally in French.
@FashionableCrow
6 күн бұрын
👀 THEY KNOW TOO MUCH!!
@bluebilbo3559
5 күн бұрын
@@FashionableCrow Ok.
@NovelFindsByKassi
4 сағат бұрын
I think it's interesting that your "obvious" angle on it was also obvious to me as well. Love your commentary on a two line blurb!
@FashionableCrow
3 сағат бұрын
@@NovelFindsByKassi we’ll see what they do, but it’s nice to yell at the sun now and then 😅 I’m glad we were on the same page here and you went on this journey with me!
@nattmazzoni
Күн бұрын
I am dreading this adaptation. And also as for a contemporary adaptation of Dorian Gray in the beauty industry, we literally just got The Substance, netflix is just not gonna do better than that
@reallyeasy100
8 сағат бұрын
I like the book Dorian Gray, but tbh, I've never found the characters relatable. Funny, interesting and Highly Dramatic in the Best Ways... but relatable? Which is why I loved your analysis going into a dive into their personalities, and explaining them in strokes of modern psychology. Im going to re-read the book, and see what kind of delight I get from it from this new perspective now. Thank you.
@FashionableCrow
8 сағат бұрын
@@reallyeasy100 I’d be excited to know your takeaways. The moment that clicked for me was Henry being a wonderful mess and insisting on going out without Basil, bulldozing over Basil’s clear signals that he wanted to keep Dorian from hanging out with him. So toxic. I loved it
@eastlynburkholder3559
2 күн бұрын
In times 20 and 40 years ago and even now but less so, persons were too rich it was thought to be too rich to be a swindler, no financial incentive. That should be part of an updated movie based upon the book.
@vainpiers
9 сағат бұрын
Tbh it seems like a trend at the moment to genderbend dorian. I feel like we're more comfortable with women protecting their youth, beauty and innocence.
@FashionableCrow
8 сағат бұрын
@@vainpiers which is kind of a shame since it’s not like the idea doesn’t apply to everyone, but, like you said…
@patriciagoncalves165
2 күн бұрын
Loved the video, one of my favorite book. I'm kinda afraid about how the will make the series work....
@travisstoll3582
3 күн бұрын
Great analysis. Edit: subscribed
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
Oh yay! Pull up a chair and all that 🎉❤
@foxesofautumn
15 сағат бұрын
I feel like if they make Dorian a woman, and centre it on the beauty industry, they're really going to lean into the more shallow aspects of vanity and less into the moral destruction that comes from arrested development. (Anne Rice has already done this well. I'm sceptical this setting can lead to a more profound story, or even an equally profound story. Also it SOUNDS like the queer themes are being scrubbed? I need more info but... nothing so far suggests they'll be in there.
@EALoArt
2 күн бұрын
I'm loving the video but 16:42 "I put my hair up because it's getting too fluffy" Girl no. Don't do that. Your hair is so perfect. My hair strands are so thin and I stg every hair goes in a different direction. But also it does look beautiful up as well, queen.
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
Haha. Thanks 😅
@natik8342
5 күн бұрын
Such a great analysis!
@FashionableCrow
5 күн бұрын
Thanks 😊
@harrisejaz280
2 күн бұрын
great video! I gotta ask, how do you clean up your audio? its pretty good, can't believe you're just using that little mic
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
It’s the set build. Curtain right behind the camera and a wired mic in a tiny room. I should have held it lower to avoid as many pops as it had. Anytime I tried to cancel the noise with a program, it clipped my voice audio. Also the wireless ones are tinnier by default
@eastlynburkholder3559
2 күн бұрын
A man in his social class based upon his breeding had to have respectability to get cooperation and benefits of his breeding. His duty was to breed more nobility humans and be charitable part of the time as persons of his class were obligated to do.
@TheOniphoenix
5 күн бұрын
Great breakdown and video.
@FashionableCrow
5 күн бұрын
Thanks 😊 the mind goblins were shouting
@cpuuk
Күн бұрын
This will turn out to be another ego project, written by someone who is using another's IP to express their personal view on life.
@markthompson180
2 күн бұрын
This is such an Uber-American thing to do: to take an allegory, make it SUPER-LITERAL, and thus trip it of any meaning. Americans don't do nuance. And they don't do "meaning" either. (Yes, I can say this because I too am American :) )
@eastlynburkholder3559
2 күн бұрын
His moral degeneration does not show in his face and rest of his body. The main point is this. Since he does not have this speed bump on the highway of life, he can drink excessively and abuse drugs and burn the candle at both ends and look innocent and healthy forever. Our faces are like wax and they are marked by our characteristic and usual expressions. Ever see the upside down smile that is frown expressing displeasure and disappointment stuck on a person's face exactly how you mom said your face would get stuck that way. And so Dorian can not have pock marks from syphilis or excessive thinness and facial changes and the face showing his moral choices. In an age where having or faking Christian values is of great benefit and we may be leaving that reality maybe forever or maybe until the pendulum of society swings back, Dorian can have it both ways. And drugging gets boring without the sexual excesses after a bit, so yes he was probably eas engaging in fun one night hook ups with persons he just met at a minimum, at a minimum. Showing his true character the portrait is.
@eastlynburkholder3559
2 күн бұрын
A modern Durian Grey would have his or her online profiles showing homes and transportation he or she does not own and maybe has not even leased it rented for the weekend even maybe. Looking like a benefactor to poor persons or discriminated persons.
@AllisonMoon-SheWandersFeral
2 күн бұрын
I’m not cool with the draping behind you. babe: tighten that up, just a bit: it is just a distraction to see the sagging from an otherwise pristine setup
@FashionableCrow
2 күн бұрын
@@AllisonMoon-SheWandersFeral goals for next time 😂 She kept collapsing on me since I didn’t have more than duct tape to hold her up with at the time
@user-qh8rk7fb6v
2 күн бұрын
27:49 I think its interesting to make basil and dorian siblings, because then it feeds into the idolization Basil already has and how he forigves Dorian's obvious corruption, because family is also a hot bed for forgiving toxic behaviour and personality. Not to mention if Basil is a woman, it introduces how woman are made to live under the patriarchal standards laid before them and embodied in dorian, something Wilde never mentioned in his novel (Sybil doesn't count) and compromised in the family model; and the d3ath of Basil is the allusion to how women or anyone cannot ever truly reach the standards laid out for them, how literally fatal they are to our human experience. Of course, the change will be immediately condemned as a diversity choice, but it truly makes for a compelling introduction of a new dynamic, even if she dies.
@user-qh8rk7fb6v
2 күн бұрын
27:49 I think its interesting to make basil and dorian siblings, because then it feeds into the idolization Basil already has and how he forigves Dorian's obvious corruption, because family is also a hot bed for forgiving toxic behaviour and personality. Not to mention if Basil is a woman, it introduces how woman are made to live under the patriarchal standards laid before them and embodied in dorian, something Wilde never mentioned in his novel (Sybil doesn't count) and compromised in the family model; and the d3ath of Basil is the allusion to how women or anyone cannot ever truly reach the standards laid out for them, how literally fatal they are to our human experience. Of course, the change will be immediately condemned as a diversity choice, but it truly makes for a compelling introduction of a new dynamic, even if she dies.
Пікірлер: 82