The Power of The Power of the Dog

One of the reasons I am indefatigable in defense of Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog is that most who pan the film simply show no sign that they understand the story. This is a faithful and brilliant adaptation of Thomas Savage's 1967 novel.

And as a gay man, I see a common "straight" bias in dismissing or marginalizing or failing to recognize the story's core message and meaning. Gender stereotypes cause far more harm to gay men and women, and we want to be seen and heard about that.

The pivotal character is NOT Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose surrender to those norms has made him a bitter bully. It is the young man Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who audaciously tackles those prejudices. To me, that is the heart and soul of the modern gay rights movement. That this author and filmmaker chose to have that battle waged by an effeminate boy in 1920's rural Montana is original and powerful. When I hear people call this film "boring," I see closed minds, hearts, and souls. Art should challenge us to think more deeply and creatively about ourselves and the world.

Film professor and critic Tim Jackson gets it. The remainder of this post is from his review:

Peter, on the other hand, remains his awkward self, unapologetically effeminate. The character exudes an eerie calm, conveyed through his direct stare as well as his penchant for well-pressed clothes, for reading, drawing, and maintaining a journal, and for poring over books in his late father’s library.

Unlike those around him, Peter appears to be the most comfortable in his own skin. In another scene found in the novel, Phil, setting up a sly test of Peter’s intelligence and imagination, challenges the boy to describe what he sees when he looks at the mountain range.

“A dog,” Peter said. ‘A running dog”

Phil stared and ran his tongue over his lips. “The hell,” he said. “You see it just now?”

“I saw it when I first came here,” Peter said.

This is indicative of the quiet wisdom of a boy who, acutely aware of the gender games being played around him, has steeled his resolve to accept his nature.

The film’s title refers to lines in Psalm 22:20. Here they are from the American Standard Version of the Bible:

Deliver my soul from the sword

My darling from the power of the dog.

In the context of the novel and the film, “the sword” refers to forces that would destroy a person’s best, true, or holiest self. “My darling” alludes to the essential nature of a person. “The power of the dog” alludes to the powerful, to those who draw sustenance from destroying a person’s best self. (Dogs were once regarded as scavengers who attacked the vulnerable.) Campion’s sharp adaptation of Savage’s novel focuses on the damage done to those who surrender to the alluring but pernicious “sword” of social conformity.

Governor Brown Offers $10,000 Bonus!

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has issued an executive order offering a $10,000 cash bonus to any resident who identifies any Proud Boy who properly uses the subjunctive.

Less than 30 minutes after Brown’s announcement, Lillian Pelouze, a retired English teacher in Troutdale, alerted media that her neighbor, known as “Proud Boy Pete,” seemed to “speak clearly and grammatically.”

Local media quickly identified the man as Pete Turner, who was arrested at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, and charged with one count of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, a felony.  Turner was released on bail pending trial, which is scheduled to begin on October 15.

This afternoon, some 40 reporters and onlookers gathered outside Pelouze’s home, where she chattered amiably.

“He lives there,” she said, pointing to a paint-chipped bungalow next door ringed by “Stop the Steal” and “Mike Lindell Is My President” yard signs.

“His old horse is tied up out back,” Pelouze continued.  “It’s down with worms because, well, you didn’t hear it from me, but people say he took the medicine himself.”

“Are you in trouble for causing an uproar?” a reporter asked.

Pelouze shook her head. “Who cares?  The point is, I’ve never heard him violate the subjunctive, and I can sure use the $10,000!”

Turner, 35, heavyset, with a long beard and “Q” necklace, walked out of his house toward the gaggle of correspondents.

“You are fake news!” he shouted.

Pelouze did a jig.  “Subject, verb, object!”

“Q is real,” Turner insisted.  “Liberals have kidnapped children since the 1950s.  There were patriots on TV then trying to warn us, but the deep state had them silenced.”

“No one on TV was talking about QAnon in the 1950s,” a reporter said.

Turner exploded.  “If that was true –

The crowd erupted.  Pelouze buried her head.

“ – how do you explain Robert Q. Lewis?”

Turner’s lawyer arrived and hustled his client into the bungalow as the news crews packed up. 

This evening, Fox’s Tucker Carlson defended Turner, claiming the subjunctive was a “worthless construct that had infiltrated English by Indo-European elements.”

And told of the Proud Boy’s humiliation, former president Donald Trump threw Turner under the bus.

“I like insurrectionists who weren’t captured,” Trump said.

As of this moment, Governor Brown’s $10,000 bonus remains unclaimed.