While seeking release through a session of auto-pilot, he fantasizes about a moment of passion on the shores that may or may not have actually happened. The Lighthouse, however, decides to offer a rather literal solution to this problem.įor Pattinson’s character, sexual release comes from a tiny carving of a mermaid he finds in his lodgings. It’s a fantasy-driven more by the human part and the implication of nudity that comes with it (or, at the very least, a fetching shell bra), so thinking about it too deeply is discouraged. In one novel I read many years ago, the mermaid was stabbed with a knife to create a necessary opening. A lot of mermaid erotica simply skates past this problem, with a handwave that explains mermaids just have human-style genitalia hidden under their scales. Sexualizing a mermaid for human (presumably male) consumption is, to put it mildly, a serious exercise in speculative gynecology. So, of course, there are people who want to tap that. Mermaids are not always characterized as beautiful women but that remains the prevailing image thanks to stories like The Little Mermaid. Barnum had his infamous "Fiji mermaid" he exhibited in his collection to curious visitors. Mermaid hoaxes are just as plentiful throughout history. Supposed sightings of mermaids have been plentiful over the centuries, reported by Christopher Columbus in the 1400s and even as recently as 2012, when workers in Zimbabwe claimed mermaids had hounded them away from the reservoir they were working on.
#IRISH MOVIE ABOUT LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER SKIN#
Through the selkies of Celtic folklore, we had the means to explore themes of sexual coercion through the metaphor of a woman stripped of her skin by a man who sought to own them.
The Sirens of Greek mythology were the ultimate temptresses who lured sailors to their death through their heavenly voices. The ancient Assyrian goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid after accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids, sirens, and other such sea creatures have been a prominent feature in myth and legend for centuries. On a purely aesthetic level, it’s an easy kink to sell: a literal half-and-half of beauty and monster that entices men through trickery and their mystical allure. The fetishistic fantasy of the mermaid and siren is a common one throughout mythology as well as pop culture. In The Lighthouse, it is the man whose mind succumbs to the monstrous fantasy, with the woman being the objectified monster. We at SYFY WIRE FANGRRLS have written a lot about the allure of the beastly romance and good old-fashioned monster f*cking, but typically we discuss it in terms of women’s desire, with the man as the sexualized creature. For Winslow, it’s just a job and its attached myths are something to instantly dismiss, right until he cannot anymore. Wake has seemingly spent much of his life devoted to the lighthouse business and is driven by old traditions, sea shanties, and a single-minded obsession with his occupation and the allure it invites. In this claustrophobic environment, set by the cruel sea and dominated by the menace of isolation, it is the pull between old sailor folklore and modern cynicism that provides much of the initial tension between the lead characters. All that and there are some top-notch fart jokes in there too. Pattinson has never been crazier and it is a delight to watch.
It’s a staggering achievement overall, a farcical thriller about fragile masculinity, gaslighting, the power of stories, and co-dependency, one that finds fascinating levels of psychedelia among its metaphorical and literal shades of gray (the movie is shot in black and white), all anchored by layered and prickly performances by the leads.
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