A Woman’s Influence

After watching the Coen Brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There, I can’t help but compare it to Albert Camus’ The Stranger (Obviously, since that is partly the reason Mr. Mitchell offered to play it. But, moving on...). One comparison that I have found especially interesting is Camus’ Marie and the Coen Brothers’ Doris and Birdy. In The Stranger, Marie represents one of the strongest relationships Meursault appears to have. He feels content when he’s with her and even agrees to marry her too. “She was wearing a pair of my pajamas with the sleeves rolled up. When she laughed I wanted her again” (35). Although Meursault expresses multiple times that he enjoys time with Marie and that he really wants her, he doesn’t actually love her. When he explains why he didn’t love her, he just says that “it didn’t mean anything” (35). Marie is the one suggesting that they get married and although Meursault agrees just for the heck of it, he doesn’t see the point of it. This goes along with Meursault’s philosophy that everything in life is meaningless, and according to Meursault, it’s pointless to do something that means nothing. Even though Marie represents one of the happier aspects of Meursault’s life, he only sees hanging out with her as satisfying his present state and doesn’t find it useful to think about a future with her because he too preoccupied with the present.

Now, in The Man Who Wasn’t There, I find that Marie has been depicted as a mix of Doris’ and Birdy’s personalities, but Doris is the one who more directly correlates with Marie. She is in a relationship with Ed Crane (the Meursault of the story) and seems to be the one that keeps Ed sane and level. When Doris is gone (and when she is fading from him too, ie. cheating), Ed falls for numerous scams, seemingly lost without Doris’ guidance. Towards the end of the movie, when Ed is having a flashback to a normal day in the life of him and Doris, we can see how when a salesman comes to trick Ed into purchasing his services, Doris comes home just in time to send him off before Ed wasted his money. But, when Doris is being unfaithful, and therefore drifting away from Ed, it seems convenient that Ed is tricked into giving over $10,000 to a con artist. Then, when Doris is deceased, Ed is tricked to trust a woman who claims she can speak to those in the afterlife. Ed is seemingly lost and gullible without the guidance of Doris in his life.

But Doris only makes up half the role of Marie. (Realistically, she probably makes up more than half, but this isn’t math class so I’m not going to be finicky with the numbers). The other half is made up by Birdy. Now, the only way Birdy relates to Marie’s character is the way she can change Ed. Normally, Ed is this emotionless, speechless man who moves throughout life seemingly lost and forgotten. But, when he’s with Birdy, he is transformed into this talkative, passionate man whose goal is to get Birdy to the best teachers he can to further her musical career. (Unfortunately for Ed, Birdy isn’t really into pursuing a musical career). It’s interesting how Birdy’s music is able to bring this totally different side of Ed out and that he feels comfortable to express this hidden aspect of his personality.

Even though together, Doris and Birdy bid a close resemblance to Marie’s character, they both have their own unique personalities and roles in the Coen Brothers’ plot. I suspect that, if it weren’t for the obvious age gap between Ed and Birdy, they would have spend more time together. But Ed seemed to enjoy Doris’ presence, ultimately admitting that they could get married if she wanted too. Although the movie’s and book’s narratives are different, they remain similar in the way they are able to shape an invisible man’s life through, among many other aspects, the women in his life.