#Ben Manderley

[inevitablemoment]

Chapter Eleven: If Only I Could Have Two Voices, I'd Harmonize

Anthea had some nerve. Running off into what was might as well had been a battle zone for the both of them, no matter how powerful Anthea was.

How did she even think Molly would react to that? Did she expect that she would be okay with her girlfriend just driving off with a half-baked plan?

(OR: Molly's lament)

[scorchedthesnake]

May 15, 2012

It’s hard to describe the frenzy we experienced from April to June of 2012. It seemed like shortly after Remixed there was an unceasing parade of events at the McKittrick and it was truly the center of the universe. The show was the talk of the town, and at the time, regulars and fans enjoyed a level of access and proximity to the show that simply doesn’t exist anymore. We were very much a part of the family and no one in that family really knew how to process being at the center of a cultural phenomenon, so we were all along for the ride and there were astonishingly few boundaries. 

Mayfair was coming and the promise of a heathen bacchanal (“Come Let Me Clutch Thee”) had everyone in a tizzy. In the lead up, there was also a steady trickle of promotional events and brand partnerships. Bowmore Spirits was hosting a whisky party at the Hotel, and was offering a chance at free tickets in exchange for retweets. Team Hard RT aggressively participated, and when the drawing came, the tickets went to a dummy account the brand clearly owned. We called them out on it. Then came the DMs saying if any of us could make it to the Hotel in time, the tickets were ours. Alas, they went unclaimed.

In the meantime, I was suddenly under an NDA.

The reason for this was that I had been invited to test the MIT Media Lab extension to the show, and while I was told I would be allowed to write about it on Scorched, they had offered the story as an exclusive to the New York Times, so I had to wait for that to go out before I could say anything (the post eventually went up here, and was sparse on specifics because for all we knew, this was going to end up live in the show someday soon).

I arrived as normal at the Hotel - and proceeded to Manderley, where this little bit that I wrote in a teaser actually happened:  

Amidst the tables and chairs, Calloway stands alone, basked in a spotlight. He appears to be singing to himself softly, slowly turning his hands around, as though weaving his quiet song (in that is-he-touched-in-the-head way that Calloway has). He looks at me and beckons me toward him. I approach, and he bends down to kiss me on the cheek. When he rises, I look up at him, as he towers over me, and I can see that he’s been crying. My face turns sad. I reach up my hand and cradle his face, wiping away a tear with a sweep of my thumb. He exhales, deliberately, and stares back at me with a look of grief and loss. I know that somewhere, something dreadful has happened.

Then I was taken in to meet Felix Barrett and Peter Higgin, who fitted me with the enhanced mask. It had antennae sticking out of it and was extremely heavy and uncomfortable – a discomfort that only grew as the night went on. But they didn’t tell me much else and I was brought up to the fifth floor, where the autopsy room had been closed off from the regular show. Inside, I found Alba Albanese, who introduced me to the story of Grace Naismith’s disappearance - and to a ouija board. The board started to move: “G…. E…. T…. O…. U….T…,” and I heard a scraping at the door. I fled out into the corridor.

Regular attendees had noticed strange things were happening. There were signs posted around the show with Grace’s photo, and there were markers to show points of interest (like signs for quest interaction in an MMO). But the very first thing I noticed was that the padded cell was closed off - and occupied. This has long been my favorite unused room in the hotel so I was thrilled. Inside was Ben Thys. The stewards sighted my tech mask and admitted me to the room.

From the 2nd teaser:

We are standing together in the center of the room. He looks deep into my eyes, smiles, and then… he smells me. He draws his face close to mine and moves, slowly and cautiously, in a circle around my face, sniffing at it, clearly seeking some trademark scent. Then he stops sniffing. He smiles, and pulls me close again. This time he drops his head back and opens his mouth wide, as though to allow me a chance to inspect his teeth. I look and find nothing out of the ordinary. When he finally raises his head again and closes his mouth, his grin has changed into a look of grief. “You.” There is a long, painful silence. “You never came."  It is as though the very life drains out of his face. And with that, he drifts back to where I found him when I entered, slumped in the corner, and buries his face in his hands.

Bewildered, I set out to figure out what was going on. The 4th Floor had various clues - Grace had loved a man named George. I found another previously inaccessible space at the end of the hall to the Rep Bar - the Law Office. Inside was a typewriter (another portal device) that wrote out a message: “SUITCASE” - and there was indeed a suitcase in the room. I took the suitcase and went exploring – I think I may have been under the impression the Porter would help me. I recall making it as far as the lobby when a Steward approached and reclaimed the suitcase, noting to me that I wasn’t supposed to be carrying the props. Oops. Somewhere - and honestly 12 years later I don’t recall where - I found a note detailing Grace’s contract with Hecate, and how she was supposed to make George fall in love with Grace.

From the 3rd teaser: 

When I finally return to him I am sweating and shaking.  I have been running and searching for nearly an hour, with hardly anything to show for it. But I know that he must have the answer, if only somehow I can get it out of him. By now it’s become a ritual, how he greets me. He holds my shoulders and pushes me against each of the walls, laughing, smiling like a young child. Then he smells me and his proximity makes me anxious. He can be gentle one moment and ferocious the next. I hope that maybe this is how he shows me his trust. And then we sit down and I show him what I’ve brought. He looks at the paper then up at me. I point at him intently. “Yes,” he says, “that’s me. I’m George.” My heart skips a beat. Now I feel like I’m getting somewhere. “…I do not know why I’m in here.”

Poor Ben. He told me later he was ad libbing all of it, they hadn’t really anticipated that I’d keep going back to him with pretty much any prop I found trying to get him to explain any of it. I obviously went to Hecate (Careena), who presented me with a vial of salt, but I wasn’t getting it yet. I wandered the 5th floor, hearing voices through my mask in the bathroom hall. I found the closet in the forest maze, and groped for a light switch - in the process, pulling the microphone off the wall. Oops again.

I was feeling fairly exasperated as I’d figured out who was who, but it wasn’t clear if I was supposed to try to find Grace or what. Also, the mask was absolute murder so I went back to Manderley to see Pete and see if he could adjust it. I told him what I’d seen, showed him the vial of salt, and he said, “I don’t know what that’s about, that’s Careena doing her own thing I guess.” It was chaos and I kind of loved every second of it. Matt Downs, my dear friend who I had only really met shortly before all of this, watched all of the mask drama unfolding with keen interest, knowing full well something insane was happening.

I had sort of run out of ideas and the third loop was well underway, so Pete said they’d try to get me up to 4 to see the big showpiece that had been set up to conclude the experience. To do this, it needed to be made plain to Careena to depart from her regular Hecate track. So Calloway was asked to escort me from Manderley up to the Rep Bar. It was a crowded night at the show, and William patiently but urgently pushed me through the crowd, taking me to the front so Careena would see me and understand. Then he took me to Agnes’ apartment and I waited.

Eventually - the show was very near its end at this point - Hecate emerged from the bedroom. I don’t remember any of the text, but this led to the reveal of the salt hands, the evidence of Grace’s fate. This 1:1 is depicted in the photo the New York Times ran with their coverage.

After all of this, we all gathered in the ballroom for a debrief. Only one other test participant had remained. They had brought me, a frequent visitor; this other fellow, who had been once before; and a walk-in who had no idea what the show even was - and that person had bolted almost immediately. Over beers, we had a great conversation for the next hour or so with the graduate students who had been working on the project. I told them how envious I was – they were doing more interesting work with narrative than I ever had in my own literature Ph.D. program. I got to see the ballroom with all the lights up - gross, honestly, and far more colorful a space than I had ever realized. Afterwards, as we walked back up to a nearly empty Manderley, Felix Barrett asked if I could answer something for him. Sure, I said. “Why is your Tumblr avatar a picture of Gabe Forestieri?” Definitely not what I thought he might ask. “Well, have you seen him? He’s gorgeous.”

The teaser posts were the best I could do in the run-up to Mayfair. Questions poured in and utter silence would have added fuel to the fire. The trolls came out and attacked me for teasing a recap (which, truthfully, was a ridiculous thing to do). So it led to the creation of what I think is one of the most absurd examples of fan art in the long run of the show, the Recap Teaser Trailer:

For some backstory on this: we did it in just about 3 hours of effort. I wrote some of the gags at my office on 7th Ave before heading to my apartment to do the video editing. Kevin Cafferty asked his friend Liam to film his daughter eager for a recap. My sister in law sent a clip, Frances Koncan sent her clip. Jordan Morley asked to help and offered the clip in the original goat mask. Matt went to the McKittrick and asked random audience in line to play along. The result is... a real time capsule from a very different era of the fandom.

[cto10121]

Finished re-reading Rebecca and I have Observations(tm)

It’s so obvious upon rereading that Beatrice doesn’t like Rebecca, lol. She never says anything positive about her other than objective facts, forgets that Gran liked Rebecca, and has uncharacteristic patience with the narrator.

Maxim keeping cool while Favell brags about being Rebecca’s lover but losing it when Favell merely insinuates the narrator finding a sympathetic “arm” with Frank is so revealing.

Also, the fact that it took Maxim so long (literally years) to confront Rebecca about her infidelities—practically only doing it when she took lovers at the boathouse in Manderley—says a lot. Maxim really did not give two shits about her.

Mrs. Danvers practically raising Rebecca (per Favell) and being with her from when Rebecca was at least 12-years-old really changed my perspective on their relationship. Less of a flying monkey to a narcissist and more of a mother/companion figure. The way she worried about Rebecca not returning home and staying up was especially mother-like. On the other hand, we don’t quite know how old Danvers is compared to Rebecca. It could be a case of younger servant / older madam, but Danvers does read as older by a lot.

Otoh, you could make a case that Danvers/Rebecca is a parallel to The Narrator/Maxim, both with servant/master overtones. The narrator does liken her love for Maxim as that of a schoolboy over an upper form and that Maxim is “father and brother and everything” to her. Du Maurier may be depicting (eroticized?) class dynamics.

Rebecca’s infidelity is made into such a big deal (‘30s after all) but Du Maurier definitely wrote abusive signs: Rebecca flogging a dead horse with a whip, her threatening to send Ben to an asylum, her mocking the servants behind their back chief among them. She reads as a female Iago—an excellent liar and manipulator expert at masking and mirroring people. It makes all the Rebecca defenders look really obstuse

The narrator believes that Colonel Julyan knows the truth, but I don’t see how he would. Rebecca committing suicide after a cancer diagnosis would be in character—Mrs. Danvers said that Rebecca had a horror of sickness and would have wanted to be quick about it. He may have had his suspicions aroused when Maxim punched Favell, but honestly, who wouldn’t? Either way, Julyan opted to protect Maxim. It also makes that awful Beauman sequel about his knowing and liking Rebecca all the more stupid.

Surprise, surprise, but I felt for Mrs. Danvers and even Favell at parts, particularly Mrs. Danvers crying and Favell shaken after learning about Rebecca’s diagnosis. But it’s clear they are awful people and so of course they’d like her, lol. It’s telegraphed that Mrs. Danvers would have been 100% okay with the narrator if the narrator had been another Rebecca clone and/or wasn’t such a pushover. Curiously enough Favell was still hopeful to get Maxim even after the cancer revelation…but we never learn how.

On Maxim’s love for/not love for the narrator: The narrator really is unreliable in the sense that everything is colored by her insecurity and her crippling shyness. She takes everything personally—every slight lands like a blow to a youth and all that. How much is Maxim truly being coldly callous—and how much is he genuinely panicked and triggered by the memories of Rebecca’s abuse?

I think a good example of the above is the narrator feeling slighted that Maxim set her up in the renovated east wing suite with the rose garden (usually for bachelor guests) when the original marital suite (the “best” and most beautiful rooms per Danvers) were in the west wing with the sea…only for Maxim to come in and cheerfully say he always loved the east wing suite with the rose garden and it was a shame that it was wasted as a guest room. Homeboy wanted his new bride to be in the rooms he loved and not the ones he was forced to share with Rebecca…aw

And then there is Maxim easily confessing the truth to the narrator and admitting he almost confessed earlier. Weirdly enough, I do believe him—but what a horrible risk! What if she turned against him, feared him, ceased to love him? Denounce him? Maxim knew her so little before they married, and yet he didn’t seem to fear any of these things. Curiously enough, he doesn’t even ask the narrator to help him, either directly or indirectly, and even seemed resigned to his fate. Was he that entitled, to take it all for granted, that stupid…that in love?

Usually I dislike typically the (typically) Christian theme of innocence/naïveté>>>>wordliness/just not being a clueless idiot. I think it works better here though as a basic but non-abusive>>>>beautiful but abusive type type of thematic messaging. Both the narrator and Maxim struggle to move on past their trauma, for want of a better word (the narrator as an orphan under that awful degrading Mrs. Van Hopper and Maxim with all the shit Rebecca put him through). To a certain extent they’ve internalized these survival instincts as mere habit. The narrator’s crippling insecurities follow her as a wife and Maxim doesn’t even think to change Manderley from Rebecca’s influence, renovating only the east wing suite. It took Rebecca returning, so to speak, for them to face their hang-ups squarely. The narrator realized just how much her insecurities have blinded her to the truth and made her unhappy and Maxim gained a true ally.

[don-lichterman]

Rebecca | Official Trailer | Netflix

Rebecca | Official Trailer | Netflix

A young newlywed arrives at her husband’s imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death. A modern adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s gothic novel comes to Netflix: starring Armie Hammer, Lily James, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Rebecca:…

[weremarkable]

The gothic locations in Rebecca!

Cranborne Manor is used for Maxim de Winter's estate, Manderley

Hartland Quay is featured heavily in Rebecca

[mgedmd]

Rebecca (2020)

(Scroll down for the english version)

Informations : Netflix, 2h03, 2020, regardé en VO anglaise

Acteurs principaux / Main actors : Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas

Réalisateur / Realisator : Ben Wheatley

Genre : Thriller

Résumé : “Une jeune femme plutôt naïve épouse un riche veuf et part s'installer avec lui dans son manoir gigantesque. Mais elle constate que le souvenir de la première épouse maintient une emprise sur son mari et les domestiques.”

Mood du visionnage : J’étais ravie à l’idée d’une nouvelle adaptation et j’en ai profité pour lire le livre, que je n’avais jusqu’à lors jamais lu, avant de regarder le film. De plus, c’était le combo parfait pour me mettre dans l’ambiance d’Halloween.

Avis : J’aime l’histoire de Manderley depuis longtemps, je l’ai découverte avec le film d’Alfred Hitchcock puis avec le livre La Malédiction de Manderley de Susan Hill et enfin (je fais tout à l’envers sur le coup) avec le livre Rebecca de Daphné du Maurier. J’avais beaucoup d’attentes pour ce film et j’ai été déçue.. je l’ai même regardé en 2 fois, histoire de le finir. Les décors sont magnifiques mais ne reflètent pas assez l’ambiance de Manderley, la présence de Rebecca est quasi inexistante et Lily James, que j’aime pourtant beaucoup, propose un jeu d’actrice qui dénote.. elle ne se fond pas dans son personnage, a des réactions étranges et en décalé de l’action ce qui me sortait sans cesse de l’intrigue. J’avais lu avant de voir le film (seule info que j’ai malencontreusement laissé fuiter) que l’alchimie des personnages principaux, Mr et Mme de Winter, n’était pas au rendez-vous.. et je ne peux qu’être d’accord. Il aura fallu attendre deux heures de film pour qu’un soupçon d’amour et de désir soit palpable pendant deux minutes, ce qui est bien dommage.

En bref : cette adaptation m’a déçue, mais elle peut rester un bon moyen de découvrir une magnifique histoire et de très beaux décors. Mon avis n’est que le mien et chaque film a son public, je vous invite donc à vous faire votre propre avis.

                                             ----------------------------

Synopsis : “A shy lady's companion, staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter. She and Max fall in love, marry, and return to Manderley, his large country estate in Cornwall. Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Manderley.”

Watching mood : I was thrilled to learn that there was a new version of Rebecca and I decided to read the book, that I had never read until then, just before watching the movie. It was the perfect fit to set the Halloween atmosphere.

Review : I’ve loved the story of Manderley for a long time, first with the Hitchcock movie, then with the unofficial book sequel The malediction of Manderley by Susan Hill and finally with Rebecca by Daphné du Maurier. I had a lot of expectations and I was disappointed... I had to watch it in 2 part to be able to finish it. The scenery is gorgeous but do not do justice to the atmosphere of Manderley, Rebecca’s presence is almost not there and Lily James, that I love, is acting in an odd way.. she does not match the book’s character and her reactions are not in synced with the action which made me switch off the movie. I had read before watching it (only spoiler that reached me) that the main couple, Mr and Mrs de Winter did not seem in love and had no alchemy.. and I can only agree. You will have to wait two hours for them to look in love, and that for just two minutes.

In short : I was disappointed by this adaptation, but it can still be a good way to discover this great story and some beautiful scenes. My opinion is just that and every movie has its audience, I can only advise you to make your own opinion.

[chris-evans]

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again

REBECCA (2020) dir. Ben Wheatley

[draconisxmalfoy]

REBECCA(2020) dir. Ben Wheatly

Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again. I dreamt that where our drive once lay, a dark and tortured jungle grew. Nature had come into her own, and yet the house still stood. Manderley. Secretive and silent as it had always been. Risen from the dead.

[sunsetscurving]

— last night i dreamt i went to manderley again.

rebecca (2020) - directed by ben wheatley

[inevitablemoment]

This is what Ben Manderley, Molly's ex-boyfriend and Carrie's father, looks like.

[scorchedthesnake]

December 7, 2011

This is when Chapter 2 begins. Gossip Girl had aired; the Halloween parties and the Vanity Fair shoot had let the world know this was a scene. Neil Patrick Harris had raved on Regis and Kelly. The run was no longer extending in short fits and spurts. And original cast began to move on and new residents arrived. Some had trickled in: William Popp and Tony Bordonaro had come in in the late summer and fall. But tonight, I would learn, was the debut of many, many new faces.

As it happened, I was celebrating my 32nd birthday (my original blog said 31st, but come on, do the math). Friends gathered at Manderley with elaborate and themed gifts; a bottle of absinthe I wouldn’t finish until 2022; a journal crafted from my show notes. Banquo had been my first infatuation in the show, but I had pretty quickly moved on the Malcolm, and the journal told the tale of that new fascination.

But the new cast that night included a triumvirate of extraordinary women: Lily Ockwell (Sexy Witch), Haylee Nichele (Lady Macduff), and Chelsea Bonosky (Agnes). 

As I wrote at the time… Chelsea immediately took my breath away. And somehow I didn’t put together that when she picked me for the 1:1, it was her first one ever. We would revisit this moment numerous times over the years. Once, she pulled me in and said: people are being awful tonight, can we just sit for a minute? And most poignantly on her final night as a regular resident, when she would insist on an elliptical structure for our journey together in the building. 

Other highlights of the night: Haylee’s Lady Macduff, whose 1:1 I saw on her final pick. I had been with her at the start of the show and watched as her very first pick *declined her hand,* and she later told me the audience member she picked after that had to be ejected. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to learn these scenes, harbor the confidence to pick someone, and have two mishaps like that one after the other. 

Ben Thys as Malcolm. It was a golden age of handsome Malcolms with Ben and Will sharing the role. Many years later I’d have the good fortune to see Ben’s final Malcolm loop and be part of an audience that all choked up when he chose Will for his last 1:1. 

Tony Bordonaro as Banquo! It was not his premiere night, but it was my first time seeing him. In the very small universe we inhabit, I’d been told to look forward to this performance. Matt, in his final acting gig ever, had managed to land a small role on One Life to Live as a high schooler going to the prom (he was 30 already I think?) - and the other two boys in the posse were So You Think You Can Dance’s Neil Haskell (a fellow Western New Yorker)… and Tony.

Later, in Manderley, came John’s component of my birthday gift: an introduction to Maxine Doyle. He indicated I’d seen the show a fair few times, and she said, so what do you think of the new cast? I replied they were all wonderful and brilliant! And then she said, don’t patronize me, tell me what you really thought. So I tried my best to give some even notes on things that had felt off (but truly, the people I had followed closely, were in fact wonderful and brilliant!). I was moderately terrified but also in awe of her seriousness.

This was the final normal show of 2011 for me. The New Year’s Eve that followed was a massive, massive party and full of dramatic hijinks to kick off 2012, the year we all lost our minds. (sorry, work blew up and I am behind, I had hoped to reach Remixed 1 by today in honor of Remixed 2 but it will not happen. Enjoy Remixed 2!)

[neednottoneed]

if it wouldnt take too long how would you personally rank the songs in rebecca? :)

OOH here we go!!!

Songs automatically at the bottom:

Frank's song (unnecessary)

All 3 of Ben's 'Sie's fort' (only one was necessary)

Eine Hand Wäscht die andere Hand (Favell's song)

Ensemble songs like Petit Dejeuner

Ranking (Last to first)

- Die stärke einer Frau (just,,, not my fave and feels weird in context)

- Sie War Gelohnt, Gelibt Zu Werden - Love Danny being gay in this song but Favell... meh

- Zauberhaft Natürlich - honestly I get bored during this song.

- Ich habe geträumt von Manderley - great beautiful opener but like, not as memorable as the rest.

- Du wirst niemals eine Lady - fun times, love van Hopper

- I'm an American Woman - likewise not super necessary but a fun time.

- Gott Warum - this song slaps but is not my fave of Maxim's

- Was ist nur los mit ihm - honestly this song bores me but Kerstin's voice is lovely

- Und das und das und das - I think this is a fun song for Ich and I love the implication of her confessing things only for Danny to be listening.

- Mrs de Winter bin ich! - gives me What is this Feeling vibes, a fun time if both Ich and Danny can belt and are almost trying to outsing each other.

- Zeit in einer Flasche - not a super super memorable song but it's beautiful for the Ichs (plus I love singing it)

- Rebecca (1) / Finale Erster Akt - ranking these together because I love them (so gay) and I love the key of the Act 1 finale with Danny triumphant on the stairs (in the Stuttgart version)

- Kein Lächeln War Nie so Kalt - look regardless of how I feel about Maxim as a character this song SLAPS.

- Sie ergibt sich nicht - it's beautiful it's melancholy the melody resonates throughout most of the show it's GAY we stan

- Rebecca (Reprise) - Stunning, gorgeous, showstopping, LOVE a belt on it, love the gay Korean versions and Pia's unhinged terror and belt in Stuttgart

- Ich hör dich singen - I mean COME ON "Ich liebte sie doch sie hat mich verratteeeeeeeeen" give Pia a Tony award for that alone.

[thegirlisuedtobe]

some fun stuff that happened during the 2019 rebecca run because I miss her (the 2019 cast of rebecca) so much 😭😭😭 in no particular order

ock joo hyun gifting all of the female cast members these warm fluffy coats, and a special addition for the other dannys and ichs with their nicknames hand embroidered by her

ock joo hyun gifting the entire rebecca cast with heat retention underwear DJGFLJDFLGJL and hand warmers

lee ji hye did a weird ass cartwheel whilst tripping over herself in youll never be a lady but doing it a way that it looked like she didnt hit the ground which confused both audiences and crew alike, starting a strange rumour about her being able to float

shin young sook getting dragged down to a karaoke room by choi min cheol whilst ock joo hyun films her asking where shes going during the tour performances

ock joo hyun starting an acapella group with the male ensemble members

during one of the tour performance shin sung rok during the scene before manderley on fire said “thats not manderley, thats manderley!” when he meant to say “thats not the sun! thats manderley”

ock joo hyun giving lee ji hye and min kyung ah singing lessons to sing dannys high note in rebecca long reprise, and also on a different occasion ock joo hyun giving the female ensemble members dressed in their maid outfits singing lessons on singing the same note

ock joo hyun, jang eun ah and lee ji hye surprising min kyung ah on her 5th anniversary musical debut and ock joo hyun editing the video so that it looked like she was flipping pancakes when she got scared

lee ji hye performing rebecca long reprise at a karaoke room

ock joo hyun, jang eun ah, park ji yeon, lee ji hye and min kyung ah backstage on tour where ock joo hyun is doing her skincare routine, jang eun ah is kicking her leg up in the air, park ji yeon keeps saying she wants to go home, lee ji hye telling joo hyun to please leave and kyung ah holding the camera, at the very end the three mrs de winters all say “ich!” together in unison

that one pic of shin young sook sitting with choi hyuk joo van hopper and ryu soo hwa beatrice in the most these are my bitches pose u have ever seen

lee ji hye hitting ock joo hyuns back to help her burp whilst repeating her lines before rebecca long reprise asking why mrs danvers gave her that dress^tm to wear

ock joo hyun and min kyung ah doing lee ji hyes makeup with joo hyuns one with a nice butterfly eyeshadow on one eye and then kyung ahs weird cat eye (like a literal badly drawn cats eye) on her other eye

that one pic of min kyung ah on the floor on her knees seemingly trying to be explaining something to a crew member with a very serious face but in the weirdest fucking body position to be doing that in ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

the rebecca ensemble members making fake magazine covers featuring the actor for clarice oh yoon seo and choi min cheols favell

ock joo hyun and lee ji hye getting ready for a tour performance where ock joo hyun is brushing her teeth and they both try to do maxims lines at the same time

shin young sook posting her rebecca skits parodying the 1940 rebecca movie by hitchcock where she plays the roles of ich, maxim and ben and then her full performance of im an american woman as mrs van hopper

that one pic of jang eun ah doing her miss-steal-ur-girl pose with park ji yeon

[diary-of-a-black-woman]

Rebecca, The End

This is my second part of my review of “Rebecca”, don’t forget to read the first part!

Now this young lady is CRAZY. She went from a shrivel, shy, can’t do anything by myself to oozing with confidence teetering on ignorant arrogance. First she couldn’t even look at Mrs. Danvers, now she’s telling the workers “I do want I want, I’m Mrs. De Winter” (353). And all she had to do to free herself was hear Max say he hated Rebecca. Not only hated her, but murdered her. Why is she not running? How has she found solace in hearing her husband killed his late wife? Does her hatred for Rebecca run so deep? Her obsession with Max that strong to look over such a criminal act?! I understand that Rebecca was not perfect or right, but murder is just as inexcusable as adultery and abuse. I was rooting for this young lady but she was crazy from the start! Now I’m rooting for the truth and justice. Too bad Favell doesn’t have a good case or witness because he’s absolutely right! Given the circumstances of the beginning of the novel, it sounds like everything works out or at the very least the de Winters are on the run. I just hope justice is rightly served.

The story is getting good!! Far from what I had expected the plot to go. I thought Rebecca was the main character who would be haunted and tormented by the ex-wife. I was thinking there would be a ghost flying around haunting her dreams, terrorizing her life, but Rebecca did haunt Mrs. Rebecca created a barrier for both Max and Mrs., preventing them from having an actual loving marriage. Mrs. was haunted by not being able to match up to Rebecca in everything she did (the ball, how she handled the house, the schedule, interactions with the servants). Mrs. Danvers was a physical representation of Rebecca’s haunting in her detestable treatment of Mrs.

It’s too bad Mrs. Danvers isn’t being too much of a help to Favell, I thought she would be on his side. Maybe Rebecca just didn’t let her know what was truly going on. Clearly, Danvers thinks she knows more than she does. And Ben was of no help, which I thought he would have been (353).

What does the doctor mean by “it doesn’t do the profession any good if people can treat us like that” (374). I understand people deserve respect but how is hiding your identity as a patient hurting the doctor? Shouldn’t the doctor be more concerned as to why their patient was hiding this information?

The difference in times is so evident. Imagine being told “please help yourself to cigarettes”.

WHAT DID SHE HAVE!! Omgsh why is the author playing with me, I’m literally at the edge of my seat! Originally I thought she was pregnant, now it sounds like cancer (373). If she was pregnant then you could definitely make a case of murder, but it would be harder with a sickness. Sickness would more help the suicide line. I’m so sad to see justice won’t happen.

I had no idea there was a Soho in London (379)! I’ll have to add it to my travel list. Along with the other places I’ve found in literary novels set in the United Kingdom. How funny would it be to recount “Rebecca” at Manderley.

Even after all is said and done, the guilt and Rebecca is still riding over Maxim. And Mrs. de Winter still cannot shake Rebecca out of the picture, Rebecca still has her frantic. Rebecca for the win!! Never thought I’d say it though. The tables have turned and now Mrs. is the one in charge and getting her way (382). However Maxim is getting very worried! (I like that! I need justice to be served!!).

How interesting is that the moment Mrs. hears Maxim killed Rebecca she begins to become bold and demanding. While you’d think she’d be afraid as her husband kilt his ex-wife! Who’s to say she isn’t next? This just shows how little she thinks of Rebecca even though she hasn’t met her. All she cares about is that Maxim hated her and “loves” her, which makes Mrs. better than Rebecca and pets her ego.

Ahhhh, I’m screaming! Imagine your spouse asking you to sleep in the back of the car when there is plenty of money for hotels?!! He asked if you don’t mind if you wrapped up in a rug and tuck in the back?! No sir!

Can you imagine randomly stopping at someone’s garage for some tea at half past 11??! It’s amazing to see the differences of that time versus ours. I doubt people even knock on their neighbor’s door for some flour or sugar, much less tea! And I wonder what the significance of the conversation with the garage man was, especially when he says “summer is over”, definitely got an eerie vibe from the conversation and that comment solidified my assumption along with the nightmares Mrs. was getting (384). I wonder if this is hinting to what will be a sour turning point in the plot, although Mrs. seems to feel this is a positive turning point. With her imagining how she’ll take supreme charge over the household and finally become the good ol’ housewife she’s wanted to be but felt like she wouldn’t live up to Rebecca. So funny to see how happy she is, but how distraught Mr. De Winter is. We’ll see where this goes!

“There is no Happy Valley” (385). If that’s not a foreshadow I don’t know what is! Oops and now she’s dreaming of Rebecca!

Is Manderley on fire (386)?! And what’s the significance on the sun setting on the west? WAIT THAT’S THE END???? THERE IS NO WAY! NO NO NO! I CANNOT ACCEPT THIS! This is not the ending I was hoping for! Why, I don’t even understand. It took me months to finish this book and that’s the conclusion. I know the first chapter basically started at the end, but I’m still shocked! I don’t know what to say, definitely not a traditional ending to a novel. I just don’t feel like it’s over. I’m going to read the beginning of the 1st chapter to see if that helps a little bit. I just had a different view of how the book would end, I guess that explains my shock.

No wonder the 1st chapter ends with “Manderley is no more”, it really is! I guess the house burning also burnt up their past in a sense that they can start a new life with each other. More importantly, Rebecca and her control is dead. But call me mean, I still think they should be locked up. I still have to read the SparkNotes because this just blew my mind.

                                  Concluding Thoughts

It seems as if I have forgotten the entire novel started with the ending. I’m not sure how that could have possibly slipped my mind, most likely due to how long I had put the book down. However, by reading the SparkNotes summary from the beginning, I’m starting to pick up connections from the end of the novel to the beginning. For example, “there is no Happy Valley”, it makes sense that in the dream she couldn’t see Happy Valley, it was pointing to the fact that “Manderley is no more” as it had caught on fire. Also Mrs. Van Hopper was right, Mrs. wasn’t fit to be mistress over Manderley, which is why it being burnt has turned her life around for the better. She couldn’t be the housewife at Manderley because Rebecca would always reign there, even if the entire place were to be redecorated, her presence and memory would not be shaken. All it would take is for one person to say “that’s not how Rebecca did it” for any of that progress to be reversed. Things start to make more sense when you reread with the knowledge you have. Maybe that’s why reading the textbook either before or after lecture is good reinforcement or a tool for better understanding.

So much connecting the dots being done here. When Crawley said Maxim is the last to want to return back to the pass, or how Maxim said the beach gives him bad memories, and that it was a mistake to return back to Manderley. All because he hated his late wife’s guts and then murdered her.

I wonder if I’m the only one who would have preferred to see Rebecca get justice in terms of Mr. de Winter getting caught.

Also what is the reasoning behind gothic novels, or novels written in the past, the first coming to mind “Jane Eyre” and “Persuasion” include a young women falling head over heels to an older man? Was this the norm of society? I feel like it wasn’t as other couples in the novel usually don’t have a big age difference as the main couple do. Now I know I have a personal aversion to age gaps in romantic relationships and back then woman usually got married much younger than what would be accepted in today’s society, but were they really getting married to such older men? And why is this such big trope in literature?

Overall I loved “Rebecca” and would definitely recommend anyone to read it. I can’t wait for my next gothic novel, I’m thinking “Wuthering Heights”? Also should I watch the move adaption of the novel?

[weremarkable]

A Major Twist? Now I'm stoked! What could it be?

"....As with many popular books, Rebecca has been adapted for the silver screen, for television, and for the stage numerous times, yet whether you're a newcomer to the story or whether you've seen them all, you've never seen Rebecca quite like this. As brought to life by director Ben Wheatley, the latest take on du Maurier's classic novel is a moody and stylish thriller that's full of color, top-tier actors, intrigue, and at least one major twist. It's a fresh take on a timeless tale, and may just be the best rendition of Rebecca yet

(the story behind the book ..

...

Still, Rebecca only works if Mr. de Winter is worth all of the trouble. That's what Armie Hammer is here for. Since his award-winning breakout performance as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, Hammer has become one of Hollywood's most eclectic leading men. He's had roles in big, lavish blockbusters like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Lone Ranger. His turn as a romantic lead in the indie drama Call Me By Your Name resulted in a whole slew of awards nominations. He's already played a charismatic, abusive villain in Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You, and he's even worked with Rebecca's director, Ben Wheatley, before. In 2016, they collaborated on the action-comedy Free Fire.

[faintingheroine]

A Lukewarm Defense of Rebecca de Winter

Look I am not going to argue that Rebecca was actually a good-hearted person. She was a bad person. She traumatized poor Ben and her treatment of Frank can be called workplace sexual harassment.

But I see people depicting Maxim as a poor man trapped in an abusive marriage and I just don’t agree. He had the instinct to kill her as early as her confessing her general sexual behavior to him in their honeymoon:

“She sat there, laughing, her black hair blowing in the wind; she told me about herself, told me things I shall never repeat to a living soul. I knew then what I had done, what I had married.” (...) “I nearly killed her then,’ he said. ‘It would have been so easy. One false step, one slip. You remember the precipice.” (Chapter 20)

Now, I think it is clear that Rebecca didn’t confess to being a serial killer or something. She confessed to being sexually active. Now, what that pertains to can be debated, did she have sex with multiple men, did she have affairs with women, or is it simply her not being a virgin? Either way, Maxim’s instinct to kill her there is horrifying. And it is also horrifyingly realistic, unfortunately.

Then they make a pact. Rebecca never cheats on Maxim, because she never lies to him. And we don’t actually know how much Rebecca was driven to marry with Maxim. She might have strived to marry him but this could also be an arranged marriage where both parties weren’t crazy about it. We don’t know. They make a pact. Rebecca will be able to carry on her affairs in exchange of managing Manderley excellently and putting a good face to the public and Maxim accepts. He isn’t a poor fifteen years old girl forced into an arranged marriage with an abusive man, he had a choice, he could easily divorce her, but he ultimately valued his reputation above his happiness. When Rebecca breaks this contract and brings her lovers to Manderley, he threatens to shoot Jack and ultimately shoots Rebecca.

Yes Rebecca does terrible things like her treatment of Frank, but Maxim doesn’t kill her because of these things. He kills her because she polluted the shades of Manderley by bringing Jack Favell into the grounds and then threatened him with someone who does not have his DNA owning Manderley. He does not shoot her because of jealousy or hurt, it’s an entirely pragmatic murder to prevent this latter possibility from happening. He does bring that gun to the cottage in preparation for an encounter with Favell, this is not a spontaneous crime of passion. And Rebecca manipulated him knowing that it will cause him to kill her, which does not say anything good about his character.

He does not feel one bit remorseful about the murder, he freely admits to that. Despite everything else that can happen afterwards, it was still worth it for preventing her son from owning Manderley. He is motivated enough to conceal the murder to the point of purposefully misidentifying a Jane Doe, which is horrible if you think about it a bit.

Some defenders of Maxim say that we would be ok with the murder if the genders were reversed. When some people defend women killing their abusive husbands those women are often battered wives who fear for the physical safety of themselves and frequently the safety of their children and who can’t walk away from the marriage without fearing for their lives. It is excused when it is regarded as self-defense. If a woman killed her husband for merely being a serial adulterer and having illegitimate children I would absolutely regard that woman as a horrible murderer. Also a simple gender reversal doesn’t work. Women and men are not equal in the society Rebecca and Maxim live in, and the attitudes towards the sexual promiscuity of men and women are absolutely different.

There are some other charges laid against Rebecca. Animal abuse is one of them, it comes from an episode related admiringly by Mrs Danvers of her whipping a horse bloody. This episode is certainly harrowing and is one of the most disturbing scenes in the book, but I think the disturbance is caused as much by Danvers’s admiration in relating it as much as the actual act itself. When put into context Rebecca is actually sixteen when this scene happens. It is also important to remember that hunting is the chief hobby of most of the characters in the book. They are not a class of people super sensitive about animal abuse. The same thing also can be said regarding the “incest” charges laid against Rebecca, these people are British gentry in the interwar period, while being with your cousin was getting less common, it was certainly not considered wildly abnormal, and no one in the book regards it as incest.

Regarding the trauma of poor Ben, this is certainly the worst thing Rebecca has done. And it is the first clue in the book to her true character. Rebecca threatens Ben with sending him to asylum so that he won’t talk about Jack and her being at the cottage. Remember that Maxim threatened shooting Jack if this happens. What Rebecca does is horrible but it is not motiveless cruelty, she does it for self-preservation. It is certainly not excusable and it does not make Ben’s trauma any less real, but it is not a sure sign of psychopathy.

I am not trying to paint Rebecca as a poor little victim, the whole point of the book is that she lived and died on her own terms. But I am very much disturbed by the real-life readers of the book excusing her murder by saying that she was emotionally abusive. My visceral reaction might have been caused by me coming from a culture where femicide and honor-killings are quite common. Many people in my country would still unequivocally regard an adulterous woman being murdered by her husband as entirely just. And there were multiple discussions surrounding femicide prevention about the time I started reading Rebecca, and I’ve seen in real time many men adopting the “emotional abuse by the wife” defense to explain away the prevalency of femicides. I am not joking. So I may be bringing my own cultural context into my reading of the novel. It might strike Western readers as merely a scandalous murder mystery, in my context there is nothing scandalous about Rebecca’s murder, it is a depressingly typical societal ill.

And Rebecca’s life wasn’t as glamourous as people seem to think it is. This is what Mrs Danvers says about her childhood:

“She was lovely then,’ she said. ‘Lovely as a picture; men turning to stare at her when she passed, and she not twelve years old” (Chapter 18)

And this is said by the woman who raised Rebecca. Her beloved cousin attempts to use her murder to get money, and his first response to learning about her having cancer is hoping that cancer is not contagious. Doctor Baker was clearly impressed by her stoic response to learning her illness and it was the most impactful part of the novel for me. She dies quite a bloody death. Rebecca’s life story gets very depressing when you stop to think about it.

I was put off by the possibility that the book might be trying to manipulate us into justifying femicide. But I think the last chapter proves that this was not really the intent. The last chapter was not the melodrama that I was expecting it to be. It was a farce laden with dramatic irony. And the last sentence of the book is “And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea”. The sea is Rebecca’s symbol in the book. They murdered her and concealed her murder and they don’t get to live in the house she created.

I am not saying you can’t love Maxim or you can’t ship him with the narrator. You absolutely can. And you can hate Rebecca the character. But I think excusing her murder on the basis of her being emotionally abusive is too much for me.