This paper examines how the 1999 film Being John Malkovich investigates sexuality, gender identity, and desire through the lens of Foucauldian theory and Judith Butler's work on gender. Analyzing the three central characters — Craig, Lotte, and Maxine — the paper argues that the supernatural portal into John Malkovich's consciousness functions as a catalyst for profound transformations in sexual identity and gender roles. Drawing on Foucault's historical account of sexuality, Butler's critique of gender diagnosis, and psychoanalytic film criticism, the paper traces how each character's encounter with the portal exposes underlying dissatisfaction, manipulates power relations, and ultimately allows the characters to reveal their true selves — though often at significant social cost.
"Sexuality must not be thought of as a kind of natural given power which tries to hold in check, or as an obscure domain which knowledge tries gradually to uncover. It is the name that can be given to a historical construct." (Foucault 1979:105, in Weeks: 16). Foucault's historical approach to sexuality gave rise to a series of questions regarding this notion, such as the connection between sexuality and power, its role in Western society, and how it is socially constructed (Ibid). These are precisely the questions that lie at the core of the 1999 film Being John Malkovich, which tries to investigate how sexuality and gender roles determine identity, as well as how the former are shaped in modern society.
Foucault explores the social role of sexuality in one of his famous books, The History of Sexuality. In this book he argues against the point of view that had been largely embraced in society — namely, that sex was a freely expressed part of life which raised no questions and posed no problems. Instead, he traces the history of discourses about sex and argues that sex "was brought into the spotlight by Christianity in the seventeenth century" (Gauntlett: 124), when Christian dogma decreed that all desires had to be expressed solely in the form of Christian confession. This moment in history had strong consequences, as the idea of desire became much stronger and gained cultural importance. It is worth noting here the link between Foucault's theory regarding desire and its connection to religion, and the way in which desire is incorporated in Being John Malkovich.
Desire is central to understanding both the plot and its symbolism. The film tackles the issue of displaced desire. Craig Schwartz and his wife Lotte are both smitten with Maxine, a beautiful and mysterious woman. Maxine is in fact the one who comes up with the idea of using the portal into the mind of John Malkovich for financial gain. For Lotte and her husband, the portal is the realm where their attraction to Maxine can be concretized. By inhabiting Malkovich, each of them can be with Maxine while she is engaged in amorous activity with Malkovich himself. Craig is the only one who openly questions the implications of the portal:
"It raises all sorts of philosophical questions about the nature of self, about the existence of the soul. Am I me? Is Malkovich, Malkovich? Was the Buddha right — is duality an illusion? Do you see what a can of worms this portal is? I don't think I can go on living my life as I have lived it. There's only one thing to do. Let's get married right away."
Craig sees the emergence of the portal as an opportunity to marry Maxine and thereby escape marital monotony. However, he refuses to examine the causes of his misery and instead looks for a quick fix.
The central theme of Being John Malkovich is personal dissatisfaction. Much like the central theme of a novel, personal dissatisfaction becomes the motivation for all the actions of the characters. The lack of fulfillment — professional in the case of Craig, emotional in the case of his wife — as well as low self-esteem, are what drive these characters toward extreme situations. Most people find themselves dissatisfied with their lives at some point. Although their reasons and degree of discontent may vary tremendously, it is fair to say that many people who are unhappy with their lives and selves would trade places with those they consider better off. In fact, some would trade places with anyone, hoping that by being someone else for a period of time they could discover their real self and even embrace it.
This is precisely what Being John Malkovich is about: changing identities means not only changing jobs, spouses, or physical appearance — it can mean changing one's inner self, gender, and sexual orientation. All of these changes are directed toward finding an inner balance that the characters severely lack.
Thesis: This paper explores the ways in which the portal inside John Malkovich changes the three main characters and the consequences of those changes. It argues that these changes ultimately allow the characters to reveal their true selves.
The roles that the characters assume are very flexible in the sense that the subject can be either subject or object, and can even place him- or herself outside the scene — enabling the point of view of a mere spectator. In many ways, Being John Malkovich functions as a modern version of Alice in Wonderland, offering the same rabbit holes that characters can crawl down and enter a world of interchangeable and extremely flexible gender roles and sexual identities. The portal through which the characters experience the life of John Malkovich has a dual role: on one hand, it bends traditional notions of gender and sexual identity; on the other, it allows the characters not only to escape their own condition, but to embrace another that is, in the end, their only real attempt at happiness and personal fulfillment. The experience of being John Malkovich is profound, and thus does more than offer a mere escape — it changes the characters' sexual identities and gender roles, and ultimately alters their lives outside the portal.
In order to understand the implications that the portal has on the three main characters — Craig, Lotte, and Maxine — it is important to examine how the power relations between them evolve throughout the film as a result of having discovered the portal into Malkovich. The issue of cross-gendered identity is also explored here. At the beginning of the film, Lotte appears to be a rather traditional wife. The fact that she cares for a traumatized chimpanzee is symbolic of her maternal instincts, which are present even though the couple has no children. In this sense, Lotte does not exhibit the criteria traditionally associated with cross-gendered people. However, upon discovering the inner world of Malkovich, she finds herself identifying with a man. As Judith Butler argues, "a rigid interpretation of the norms on which a cross-gendered person would be diagnosed" (Butler: 95) simply leads to an incapacity to grasp what is actually happening.
One explanation for Lotte's sexual attraction to Maxine is the denial of her own femininity, which she seeks to find in someone else. When she first learns about the secret portal into Malkovich, she says: "I think it's kinda sexy that John Malkovich has a portal, y'know, sort of like... he has a vagina. It's sort of vaginal, y'know, like he has a penis and a vagina. I mean, it's sort of like Malkovich's... feminine side. I like that." Her dysfunctional marriage is what prompts her to wish for a reversal of gender roles. While inside Malkovich, she becomes the male element in the actor, whereas the latter becomes the female part. Rejected as a woman in real life, Lotte finds consolation as a man while being with Maxine inside Malkovich.
Lotte is perhaps the most radically changed of the three main characters as a result of traveling through the portal. She becomes convinced that she is transsexual and feels the only way she can be true to herself is to assume the identity of a man. However, Lotte abandons her desire for sexual reassignment when she realizes that by starting a relationship with Maxine she can assume a different gender role simply by falling in love. Maxine, in turn, embarks on a sexual relationship with Malkovich so she can be with Lotte. Through Malkovich's masculine body, Lotte experiences a kind of reverse sexuality in which Malkovich becomes the female part and Lotte functions as the male part. Rejected as a woman, Lotte experiences intimacy with Maxine through Malkovich's body; yet while Maxine professes love for Lotte, she rejects her in person, accepting her only when she inhabits Malkovich's body.
The fact that Maxine only accepts Lotte as a lover when the latter inhabits Malkovich suggests that Maxine needs masculine validation of the affair — she is unable to fully accept a lesbian relationship and so turns to a male figure, Malkovich, who can legitimize the affair to some extent. Lotte becomes gradually addicted to being someone else. She provides an extremely dramatic response to the experience of switching sex and gender roles, which prompts her husband to remind her that she is only experiencing the "thrill of seeing through the eyes of someone else" — a thrill he believes will pass. The addiction caused by seeing through Malkovich's eyes is suggested to resemble that experienced by film audiences, who are likewise allowed to inhabit someone else's perspective during a film.
"Craig's self-victimization and thwarted artistic ambition"
"Maxine controls others while concealing her own desires"
"Camera work and symbols reinforce sexual identity themes"
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