Wallpapers and Windows

I've loved Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper” ever since I read it in middle school and reading it for COM 3 made me pretty happy. Strangely, though, it was so hard for me to come up with another work I can relate it to. Pop culture seemed to be the easiest way to go, but the light bulb above my head just wouldn't turn on. The next morning, I woke up remembering a movie I watched two years ago, Secret Window, the movie adaptation to Stephen King's novel of the same name. It was perfect. And it stars Jack Sparrow Johnny Depp. 

Besides, who isn't crazy for doesn't like or know Mr. Depp? 

Not only did I discover how wonderfully the movie relates to "The Yellow Wallpaper," I've also discovered that this

<-- motivational picture is for real. All of the ideas came pouring out... Unfortunately, I have a word limit.

Joking aside now. (Sort of...)

I'm just going to go with what I remember about the movie, so I apologize for some inaccuracy. I have a fine memory (with the help of limited videos online and wiki). Although, I would like to see the movie again to get a feel of my post, but Netflix has all of Depp's movies except this one and, as a college student, watching a movie = 2 hours of lost, precious time = body becomes lazy/tired = realizing that there's more work to do = freaking out over lost time and the work not started. Well... for me, at least. 

So, here it goes. 

Secret Window is about an author, Mort Rainey, who becomes traumatized after he discovers his wife, who is insane for cheating on Johnny, has been having an affair with another man. To avoid facing the reality that she wants to divorce him, he isolates himself in his cabin far away from the city.

John Shooter intrudes in Mort's only refuge and accuses him of plagiarism. In denial, Mort tells Shooter that he has a few screws loose and shoves him away. However, Mort lets curiosity get the best of him. After reading Shooter's work, Mort realizes how impossibly similar it is to his own writing. The next day, Shooter approaches Mort and offers him a deal. If Mort can prove, within three days, that his work existed before Shooter's, then they will move on with their lives. 

This deal should have been easy and Mort would've returned to living forever alone in his cabin. But, it wasn't and that's okay because we get to have more fun and adventure when our hero's life becomes downward spiral into despair, right? 

So, Mort gets a call from his estranged wife telling him that their house burned to the ground destroying the copy of his book, his proof. (Let's skip some murder scenes). Time is running out. The following day, Mort's agent mails a copy of a magazine with his story. Mort realizes the pages of his story have been torn off the magazine. He first assumes Shooter did it. But, wait... Shooter doesn't have access to this magazine. The package was sealed until Mort opened it. There's no way Shooter could be the culprit. Unless... 

GASP! 

Mort is Shooter. 

 

This is what Mort's "inner voices" were trying to tell him. 

There are now two Johnny Depps Morts!

Mort accepts that Shooter was just a figment of his own imagination. He then beats his wife to death, decapitates her lover, and buries them underneath his corn field.

 Exactly... 

In the end, Mort gets away with it. For now... 

Anyways, this suspenseful movie relates to Gilman's work through the contrasting themes of isolation and freedom. 

Isolation: In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator and her husband, John, retreat to their summer vacation home. John believes that isolation will cure her depression, but it doesn't. Actually, it makes things crappier than they already are. Similarly, in Secret Window, Mort attempts to heal his broken heart, but, eventually, it turns into a vengeful one. The isolation gave the narrator and Mort more time to realize all that is wrong in their lives.

Freedom: The narrator treats her isolation as a prison. The yellow wallpaper becomes her only friend. Eventually, she begins to see patterns on the wallpaper that take a shape of a woman, who the narrator identifies with. Therefore, in the end, the wallpaper woman is the freed version of the narrator like how Shooter is a freed version of Mort. 

The narrator and Mort had to lose themselves, to free themselves. Freaky, right?

The similarities are crazy. I can only say that John was lucky to have only passed out unlike what Mort did to his wife's lover.