Nathalie Marquez Prompt #4

We are living in the media age of the remake. One glance at the assembly line of Disney live actions and TV reboots is sufficient enough to recognize this fact. Therefore, it was no surprise when Luca Guadagnino, the Italian director of Call Me by Your Name, directed a 2018 reimagining of the 1977 horror cult class, Suspiria, starring Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson. Both films center around a oung, white woman attending a prestigious dance academy in Germany that is secretly run by witches, but that’s about where the similarities end. Despite lacking Suspiria’s (2018) intense dance sequences and extra hour of footage, Suspiria (1977) proves that often times, less is more by successfully telling the story it set out to at the beginning.

A Tale of Two Artists

The most notable difference between Guadagnino’s and Argento’s version of Suspiria is the color palettes chosen for each film. The 1977 version featured a bold palette with a heavy emphasis on bright red as a representation of the malignant coven of witches while the 2018 version was almost completely devoid of color, instead opting for a palette of beige and grey. Perhaps Guadagnino made this choice believing the dull lighting and clothing would allow the select usages of red, such as Dakota Johnson’s hair and the dancers’ outfits, to stand out, but if so, he severely underestimated just how draining his chosen palette would be on these details. In contrast, Suspiria (1977) succeeded in creating a tense, realistic atmosphere of fear through its emphasis on color, albeit using the color red to represent evil and the color white to represent our heroine weren’t exactly revolutionary. 

However, Guadagnino did beautifully utilize the dance school setting of the movie to transform the human body dancing into a thing of contortion and horror, in a way the 1977 version did not attempt. Guadagnino’s usage of dance as a violent and raw demonstration of power transforms the human body from a thing of universal familiarity into a strange instrument of witchcraft, successfully demonstrating the concept of ambitious art (Lethem, 2012). This aura of horror is partly credited to the thinness of the dancers’ bodies as their movements starkly reveal the impressions of their entire ribcages against their skin as well as their flexibility, contorting in ways most people would find ainful. In comparison, Argento’s version features little more than a saute, instead creating its horror through the usage of traditional horror props such as maggots and barbed wire. This method is equally as effective in replicating an atmosphere of fear but is arguably less innovative and awe-inspiring to watch.

Feminist Façade 

Furthermore, while both versions of this cult classic feature a largely female cast and a female protagonist, neither successfully manage to entirely evade misogyny in their portrayals of women. In the 1977 version, the male gaze is more easily identifiable through the heavy usage of dramatic makeup at all times, even in a scene where the actresses are swimming, as well as the portrayal of the coven being composed of “ugly”, older women (Zeisler, 2008). The implication that powerful women are malignant, and grotesque is apparent from the get-go, while Guadagnino’s coven features a more varied assortment of women. However, Guadagnino doesn’t get a pass, as in his film, the young and “beautiful” protagonist, ends up being the most powerful out of all the witches. The two films contained inverse extremes, with neither managing to strike a balance that successfully undermines the association of feminine power with youth and beauty, but instead reflected different waves of feminism. Suspiria (1977) was released in the era of second-wave feminism, where issues of inequality and discrimination were still center stage, and thus the film chose to empower its heroine through the traditional triumph of good vs. evil. In contrast, Suspiria (2018) was released deep into the age of third-wave feminism where the issue of intersectionality reigns supreme, and therefore, its portrayal of a violent, all-powerful white woman falls flat of feeling feminist. Therefore, both of these films are also examples of Zeisler’s argument that representation in the media doesn’t always advocate or advance feminist viewpoints, despite the quantity of women portrayed (2008). 

Convoluted History

All in all, both Suspiria(1977) and Suspiria (2018) have their fair share of failings, but it’s my belief that what truly elevates Suspiria (1977) above Suspiria (2018) is that the former does not attempt to add an extra layer of history to its tale. Guadagnino’s version makes an ambitious attempt to intertwine the ramifications of post-Nazi Germany to the occult on-goings at the dance academy in a messy and weak parallel. On the other hand, Argento, an Italian director born during the World War II, could have felt that including the post-Nazi atmosphere occurring in Germany at the time was too risky a move, while Guadagnino benefitted from the buffer of time. Be that as it may, Guadagnino also incorporated a Mennonite background for his protagonist while Argento chose to give his female protagonist no background beside her nationality as an American. While I could conjure a dozen of different reasons for this action, the truth remains that Argento’s version is made cleaner by his decision to focus entirely on a linear, singular plot while Guadagnino’s muddy attempts at historical context add nothing to the story but detract from its overall quality instead.

Denouement

From ambitious art to historical context, both movies have a variety of failings and successes, each one derived from the artistic vision of their respective directors as well as the eras they originated from. Did Suspiria (2018) have truly mesmerizing scenes of bodily contortion? Was the acting in Suspiria (1977) painful to watch at moments? Yes, but the ultimately, it’s the quality of the story that decides its worth and Suspiria (1977) never once questions itself the way Suspiria (2018) does continuously throughout its tale.

References
Argento, C. & Argento, D. (1977). Suspiria [Motion Picture]. Italy: Seda Spettacolli

Lethem, J. (2012, December 2). The ecstasy of influence: Harper's Magazine - Part 3. https://harpers.org/archive/2007/02/the-ecstasy-of-influence/3/.

Morabito, M. & Guadagnino, L. (2018) [Motion Picture]. United States: Amazon Studios

Zeisler, A. (2008) Feminism and pop culture. Seattle, WA: Seal Press