Philosophical implications of “Being John Malkovich”

I wrote this essay five years ago for an intercession film class. It’s not perfect (not even great by my standards today) but I think it’s an important artifact to include for this website. This is an insight into Popgun Chaos before the website and a humble reminder that everyone starts somewhere and even English teachers were college freshmen at some point.

Some films are weird for the sake of being weird. Other films are a phony kind of weird to mimic the truly strange films that came before them. Still other films are weird to prove a point and raise questions. This is one of those films. Being John Malkovich is a strange and wild ride with a plot that will leave you scratching your head, but it is still coherent and truly explores the human psyche. All of the elements are here for a great film: a bizarre story by the unparalleled Charlie Kaufman, a dead on performance by John Cusack, fantastic direction by Spike Jonze, characters that reflect some of the darkest portions of humanity, and a portrait of what it means to be human.

John Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, a struggling puppeteer who is misunderstood and genuinely thought to be a loser by anyone who encounters him. Cameron Diaz plays his animal-obsessive wife, Lotte, who is the only one by his side. When financial struggles begin to find their way into their lives, Craig has to get a job. He lands a job on the 7 ½ floor of a large office building as a file clerk. In this office, he falls for the sexy, but malicious Maxine (played by Catherine Keener.) Any attempts to try and even talk to her are shut down and Craig looks like even more of a loser. One day, while looking for a file behind a filing cabinet, Craig finds a small door that leads to the brain of actor John Malkovich. At first, Craig is puzzled by what it means to have a soul, and then he decides to use this portal to impress Maxine. What follows is a story of lust, love, immortality and the human condition.

Here, Cusack creates the performance of his career. This film was a nice change of pace from his normal character (the unconventional hero that everyone loves.) His character, Craig, refuses to grow up. He is married and in his 30’s, but he still wants to play with puppets and avoid getting a real job. Craig is pathetic and a sad individual, but the audience still wants the best for him. It is the traditional Cusack flare of still being likable even though he is a loser. The character of Craig Schwartz can be scary in an odd sort of way. He is scary because he is something that none of us want to become . . . a pathetic loser with no respect. The only respect he can get is when he is in Malkovich. In this sense, Craig Schwartz can only be someone when he is someone else. When he falls in love with Maxine (despite the fact she rejects him constantly and he is married), no matter what he does or says, Maxine still puts him down and refuses to have anything to do with him. It isn’t until he begins to control Malkovich that Maxine will have anything to do with him. This adds another layer of pathetic onto Craig’s character. He has a loving wife at home, but he would rather throw it all away for a woman who constantly puts him down and makes him feel pathetic. Craig is a puppeteer but he is being manipulated by Maxine. This is another example of how human Cusack’s character is and how scary it is to think that we all can be like that.

Cameron Diaz changes her whole image, acting style, and everything else that has made her a star today in exchange for being a real actress. In this film, her hair has been teased and dyed brown, she avoids being cute, and she actually has emotion in her lines. Lotte Schwartz is a loving wife who stands by her husband and his dream of being a puppeteer. She is a gentle soul that wants to raise a family, but Craig thinks it isn’t wise to have children when their financial situation is so poor. So, she takes care of dozens of animals in their small apartment. She has to be nurturing somewhere, so she adopts all kinds of animals. At first, Lotte seems pretty much like the perfect wife who just wants a child, but she changes drastically when she enters Malkovich. Once she has experienced what it is like being a man, she obsesses over it. While being John Malkovich for Craig is a power trip, being John Malkovich for Lotte is a more sexual experience. Now she wants it all, but mostly, she just wants to find the love that she and Craig don’t have. Diaz’s character is the perfect example of someone who starts out wanting nothing, to wanting everything, to just wanting love.

The one character who is hard to feel any emotion for is Maxine. Keener’s performance is very convincing as the woman hell-bent on power and control. She uses Craig and everyone else in the film to make herself happy and this is why she can be the most relatable character and the most hated. All Maxine wants is to be the most powerful and the one pulling all the strings. This is odd in a way since she never enters Malkovich’s body. Perhaps this is because her character isn’t someone who does the actual pulling of the strings but the boss of the puller of the strings. Maxine gets involved in taking power and money, but she doesn’t do the real dirty work. She is like a super villain or the Wizard of Oz. When she actually gets all the power she wants though, she realizes how happy she is and she only wants love afterward.

Dr. Lester (played by Orson Bean) is Craig’s boss. He is also a man who wants to control Malkovich. The difference between Dr. Lester and Craig is that Dr. Lester wants immortality. He does not want money or power or anything like that, he is just afraid of his own mortality. At first, Dr. Lester just seems like a crazy old man who runs an office. He says wild things and really just feels like a comic relief character at first, but when the clock starts ticking toward the final moments until Lester can enter Malkovich’s body, we see his true character. The audience learns that he is just an old, scared man who desperately wants to live forever. It is this characteristic that gives Dr. Lester his human side.

The final character to look at has to be John Malkovich himself. Malkovich does an amazing job of being himself and then Craig within him. He is a very natural actor and one that has a wide range from dark seriousness to a lighter comedic quality. Throughout the movie, we are given a man with a real personality and then his body is taken over. We are left wondering, what happened to the Malkovich personality? Where did it go exactly? At one point, Malkovich enters his own portal to find a world where everyone looks like him and the only word they can say is, “Malkovich.” Upon reentering the real world, Malkovich is horrified at what he saw.  So, why did Malkovich see what he did when he went into the portal and what happened to Malkovich’s personality when someone takes over? The truth is, we don’t know. The audience never learns what happens to Malkovich when someone takes over his body and maybe it is better that way. None of the characters know what happens and if they did find out, it would feel like just an excuse. The mystery behind what happens to Malkovich is another quirk that makes this movie unique.

Symbolically, there are many items up for debate. The floor where Craig works is the 7 ½ floor. On this floor, all the workers have to be bent down at all times just to walk. This represents that no matter how crappy of a job a person has, people must work to have money and to live. With this fact, people are willing to subject themselves to all kinds of bad work conditions just to make money. Another symbol is the wooden board that Craig takes inside of Malkovich on his first entry. When Craig returns to the real world, the board is gone until the very end of the film. This represents how Craig has finally lost all control of Malkovich. When he left the first time, he left some of himself in there, but now he is gone. Perhaps the board also represents the plank of wood that all the strings were attached to in the Malkovich puppet.

Going into this film, be sure you are familiar with Charlie Kaufman’s writing. He doesn’t write your typical Hollywood stories. He writes bizarre films with quirky characters because that is how Kaufman sees the world. Another example of Kaufman’s work is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This is another example of a strange film that explores what it means to be human using strange characters. The thing about both films as that they hint at certain genres (drama, romance, science fiction) but they can’t be pinned down or defined by just one genre. This is why some people hate Kaufman’s films. People feel that they are too complex and not worth the time and effort. For the more complex viewer though, both films are dark but with enough odd humor mixed in that it will at least entertain you and perhaps give you a new look on life.

Being John Malkovich is the first step into major motion pictures by director Spike Jonze. Before his step into movies, Jonze has made music videos for such bands as Weezer, Tenacious D, and the Beastie Boys. Don’t let this fact scare you though. While some might begin to compare him to McG (director of Charlie’s Angels), he most certainly is not. Jonze has an eye for well thought out camera angles and a heart for good cinematography. While McG will add pop tunes to “enhance” his movies, Jonze puts in beautifully composed music to truly get a feel for a scene. The best comparison is this: McG makes music videos into movies while Spike Jonze makes films.

Few films can truly transcend from a movie to art. Being John Malkovich is one of those films. With the tragic characters, the deeply involving story, the great cinematography, and an ending that will put your heart into a vice and not let go, Being John Malkovich is more than just another movie. It is art.