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Poor Things
Movie

Poor Things

2023 • Comedy, Drama, Romance

Woke Score
8
out of 10

Plot

An account of the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.

Overall Series Review

The film presents a surreal, dark-comedy retelling of the Frankenstein story, centered on the accelerated evolution of Bella Baxter, a woman brought back to life with the mind of an infant. The narrative is a clear, pointed allegory for female liberation. Her journey involves breaking free from the controlling and paternalistic men who seek to own, guide, or possess her. Bella's path to self-actualization is defined by her ruthless pursuit of knowledge and pleasure, including an extensive exploration of sex unburdened by societal shame or guilt. The story’s primary target is the patriarchal structure and the stifling social conventions of traditional Western society, which are depicted as inherently restrictive forces. The male characters are consistently outwitted, exposed as fragile, or reduced to petulant, controlling figures by the sheer force of Bella's independent will. The movie operates entirely within a framework of subjective morality and secular self-discovery, with traditional institutions and belief systems being either satirized or altogether absent from the moral universe.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

The film's focus is on gender and class dynamics, with the main narrative being the liberation of a woman from a patriarchal power structure. Male characters representing different forms of control (creator, lover, student, former husband) are depicted as deeply flawed, possessive, or incompetent, functioning as symbolic villains against the female protagonist's personal merit and spirit. The narrative does not heavily rely on race or intersectional hierarchy of immutable characteristics beyond a brief, quickly dismissed encounter with class and labor exploitation.

Oikophobia9/10

The central dramatic engine is the protagonist's escape from the shame and restriction imposed by the 'polite society' of her fantastical Victorian European home culture. Institutions like marriage, social decorum, and family are presented as cages or mechanisms for male control over the female body and mind. The entire journey is framed as a necessary flight from a fundamentally corrupt and oppressive civilizational structure toward personal freedom and self-definition.

Feminism10/10

The core plot is a celebration of 'Girl Boss' self-actualization through the rejection of all constraints. The premise itself involves an extreme rejection of the maternal role by using the fetus's brain for the adult body, making motherhood a source of rebirth into radical independence rather than a celebrated life choice. The female protagonist's fulfillment is achieved through intellectual and sexual freedom, with all male characters serving as foils who become emasculated as she develops and surpasses them.

LGBTQ+7/10

Sexuality is a central, explicit theme, portrayed as an essential component of individual liberation and self-discovery, rejecting all traditional moral standards and shame. This focus on radical sexual autonomy and the casual deconstruction of the nuclear family structure and traditional marital bonds aligns with sexual ideology as a path to power. The content is explicit and transgressive of normative structures.

Anti-Theism9/10

The narrative replaces God with the mad scientist creator, Dr. Godwin Baxter, whom the protagonist calls 'God.' The film's philosophical exploration centers on secular concepts like hedonism, nihilism, and realism, all learned through experience rather than transcendent morality. Morality is entirely subjective and self-determined, achieved through rejecting external societal and religious codes. Faith is absent from the characters' lives, and a higher moral law is dismissed in favor of personal choice and material reality.