By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo.
The film uses animation to delve deep into the complex tapestry of women’s roles in marriage and the harrowing loss of identity that often accompanies this timeless practice.”
I felt like an inflated balloon trying to fit into a shoe box that couldn’t accommodate its new size
—Zelma
My Love Affair with Marriage (2022) written and directed by the independent filmmaker, writer, artist and animator Signe Baume is a thought- provoking work of art where the medium of animation transcends the boundaries of mere entertainment. The film allows the story to delve deep into the complex tapestry of women’s roles in marriage and the harrowing loss of identity that often accompanies this timeless practice. It fearlessly exposes the intricate web of expectations and constraints that have entangled women throughout history through the enchanting story of Zelma from her childhood years to her adulthood in the middle of canonic and defining historic events in Eastern Europe in which “women were in total dependence of men and had almost no separate civil identity” (Garaeva 2019: 7).
We start to accompany Zelma’s tale when she’s only a seven-year-old living in the former Soviet Union; there, she navigates how being a girl is directly related to hiding her true identity. Zelma is authentic, open-minded, critical and clearly, not submissive to society’s rules; these traits are regarded as weird and unusual by her classmates who just then, introduce her to the concept of genre, evident in how it is appropriate for a girl or boy to behave, act, dress and look. These ideas are not communicated only on men’s voices but on women’s voices who perpetuated the idea of an acceptable version of a girl rooted in compliance and obedience to normative ways of living.[1]
While we watch the story unfold on the screen, there are different narrative layers nurtured by both musical arrangements and visual metaphors. Particularly, in the moments in which Zelma has to hide who she really is, we see an uncontrollable, obscure and chaotic cat-figure on the screen that becomes bigger and bigger as her rage rises; as she sacrifices herself and everything that she believes to be true and starts to comply with rules, the cat-figure slowly becomes smaller and eventually, fades. This is a vivid metaphor of how supposedly unacceptable attitudes turn ‘good girls’ into bad ones and how femininity is understood as compliance, silence, tolerance and an emotional approach to life against the more rational one that belonged particularly to men.
Throughout the film, we see key events of a woman’s life such as childhood, puberty, university years, marriage and even pregnancy and motherhood. As we witness her first romantic relationships, we understand how much pressure she endures in a world that doesn’t understand her and that she doesn’t necessarily understand completely. We hear her inner monologue constantly and her insecurities, derived from the pressure she feels to be perfect, are depicted by a trio of Mythology Sirens who sing about the predicaments she’s in. They inform societal expectations for her and what she is doing wrong at all times which coerces her to obey and follow rules against her instinct.
This is even more evident in the face of Sergei’s figure that depicts a misogynist ideal in society in which womanhood is only valuable as the emotional support of a man who, according to him, is the rational part of the relationship. We dive into what both submission and overprotection can generate for a woman who’s looking for constant approval and acceptance; a certain loss of identity and authenticity as adaptation turns out to be awfully mandatory. Even when faced with an economic crisis, Zelma wasn’t allowed to work as there was a widespread notion that dictated a woman’s place in society at home, raising children and taking care of their husband instead of working outside for a salary; in other words, condemned to the private sphere of household and family. That not only took away her identity outside being a caretaker but also robbed her of the possibility of being empowered and proud of her own work. Even when she leaves her relationship with Sergei, she realizes that Bo, her new love, is not much different, as both try to change the other constantly based on what a woman or a man are supposed to be, look and act like. Through this relationship though, there’s a clear message of appreciation to LGBTIQ+ community and everybody’s struggles for self-definition, identity and acceptance.
Art appears within the story as a beacon of hope as it possesses the remarkable ability to allow expression and exploration of oneself and our connection to humanity.”
The film also dives into how during the Soviet Union’s transition, characterized by a struggling economy and widespread uncertainty, many women found themselves facing dire financial circumstances. As a consequence of these challenging times, a significant number of women turned to prostitution as a desperate means of securing income for themselves and their families. This shift in economic stability not only exposed women’s vulnerabilities but also objectified them, reducing their worth to mere commodities. Women who resorted to this profession were often driven by circumstances beyond their control, highlighting the harsh reality of the era’s economic hardships and the social consequences that ensued. Therefore, women’s roles in the public sphere turned out to be submission to the male gaze: “The transformation of women’s bodies into “objects of consumption” extends to television and printed advertisements, where women appear in traditionally feminine poses and seem to exist in order to serve men and please the male eye” (Bonnell 1996: 60).
Alongside this story, we can see the intricate biological processes involved in Zelma’s thoughts and behavior. The fact that they are narrated throughout the events of the film allows us to step back from the preconception that female experience is based on and directed only by pure emotion. We can actually comprehend the way our brain functions and as we do, we can’t help but feel identified with her story, as it’s not just hers, it’s ours, it’s every woman’s experience that is perpetuated to this day on how we look, how we talk and how we conduct ourselves within relationships, marriage and motherhood.
Art appears within the story as a beacon of hope as it possesses the remarkable ability to allow expression and exploration of oneself and our connection to humanity. For Zelma, in times of adversity and darkness, it allowed her to find her true self and her worth outside romantic and non-romantic relationships. Through the simple symbolism of a signature in an illustration, she found the importance of her name and what it meant to abandon it for marriage. This is an allusion to what this animated work of art allows for us; an intricate, beautiful exploration of these difficult but necessary discussions and a way to feel identified and enlightened by the characters on the screen. It gives us hope to eventually, change the melodies of our own Mythology Sirens.
References
Garaeva, Alsu. The Role and Status of Women in the Soviet Union (1918 to 1953). 2019. University of Graz, Master Thesis.
Bonnell, Victoria (1996), Identities in transition: Eastern Europe and Russia after the collapse of communism, California: University of California.
Endnote
[1] In the context of socio political transition in the Soviet Union in 1994, a two-volume encyclopedia was published with two volumes, one called ‘Encyclopedia for Boys’, and the other, ‘Encyclopedia for Girls’. The girls’ volume was built on beauty, domestic labor based on knitting, sewing and cooking. The boy’s volume; on the other hand, had chapters on home repairs, combat skills and administrative knowledge.
Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo is an English philologist and has a master’s degree in cultural studies from the National University of Colombia. She is a literature, writing and reading teacher from Minuto de Dios University in Bogotá, Colombia. Her main research interests are in literature, visual research, television studies and cultural studies.