Problems Picking at Pamela…Give me Baywatch
I will almost let my seminar contribution speak for itself, but I cannot shut up completely. I just do not have it in me. Quickly, there are just a few things that I want to know: why did Fielding deliberately delete the idea of Lady Davers? Did it make things too long and less focused, or was that attempt by Richardson to give a nod to the threatening implications of Pam to class structure not quite the same fodder for satire?
Oh, and I mentioned the misunderstanding between the sexes in my Pam blog and, of course that happens in these satires, because the women are deliberately deceitful. However, when I pictured those poor intended victims reading their letters I couldn’t help but think of the beginning of Moll Flanders, when she muses on the difference between her first seducer’s expectations of her versus her own sexual inhibitions – if only he had known! It was nice for these men to know…
Anyway, here is my contribution to the legacy of Pamela responses…
Pamela (played by none other than Pamela Anderson) is a struggling, buxom tattoo-artist looking to make her way in the world and most of all to begin her own wildly successful tattoo parlour. She is hired by rich, effeminate ‘playboy,’ Orlando Bloom (a perfect Mr. B. on all counts), to be a housekeeper. However, in reality, he is only trying to mollify his domineering, homophobic sister (Angelica Heuston) who has perceptively begun to understand the depth of his connection to the dashing ‘spiritual counsellor,’ Mr. Williams (Stephen Fry) and plans to use the top-heavy tramp as a cover for his sexual orientation.
Pamela, however, both acutely aware of her good looks and firmly set on independence, is not in on the plan, and looks to thwart the ‘ineveitable,’ unwanted advances of Mr. Bloom at every step.
As practice for her desired trade, Pam is constantly depicting all of her thoughts and moments of inner turmoil on her person as elaborate body art. In some sort of insipid ‘comedic’ scene, he stumbles upon her semi-clad being and so gains understanding of her fears and suspisions. He spends much of the rest of the film trying in vain, with much ridiculous innuendo and exploitation of Pam’s body that only Hollywood could justify, attempting to explain her real purpose there.
Pamela flatters herself the whole way through and so fails to understand the truth of her situation until the final moments when Mr. B and Williams come out of the closet (in fine brocade, no less…) and Pam, having earned a substantial sum, is able to open her own tattoo parlour.
Pamela
Okay, first of all, I believe it is inevitable that anyone reading this book will come away with a list of pet peeves, and although my fascination with this book outweighs all negatives, I will now air the irksome bits and get them off my chest. Aside from the fact that the same plot points (like, say, escaping the arms of Mr. B…) happen innumerable times (a tendency to which Moll Flanders has already jaded me), the constant use of the italicized word virtue drove me round the bend!!! I understand that, from what I’ve seen, italics were in vogue at this time anyway, and it is definitely something to be emphasiszed in this work, but every time I saw it I could hear it in my head with the same intonation as Jerry Lewis’ “La-dy” and it got very old, very quickly.
However, I really did like this. I am a huge fan of the epistolary novel now and I prefer it to a more consistent narrative. For one, it breaks things up nicely, (although perhaps not into chunks of consistent length) and avoids the sometimes awkward transitions of Moll’s story; Pamela can change locations and move ahead in time smooth and swiftly (okay, relatively speaking) from one letter to the next like nothing.
When it comes to this novel (beast, monster)’s relationship to amatory fiction, it is shockingly clear. I really wouldn’t have expected as much, but Richardson’s scenes with near rape – heaving bosoms, swoonings scarcely soon enough (there’s a mouthful), and constant disguises were far more tantalizing – at least in theory – than the blunt approach of Behn’s Gracelove. This was also far darker; it was impossible to tell when, and with whom, Pamela was really safe; escape was beyond her reach, and even those she most trusted were firmly in Mr. B’s power – It’s one thing to make the critique that she never left for all that she kept saying that she wanted to, but I don’t think that she ever really could have. Mr. B owned everything and everyone with whom Pam had contact (not that she didn’t have the hots for him, I wouldn’t put it past her…).
The only escape, like the only possession, of Pamela is her body, and accompanying femininity. What can save here when her master is aroused, in bed, and fondling her barely-clad body? Why, a fainting spell, of course! Pam is able to reatreat into and rely upon herself and her feminine identity for escape; her highly stereotypical femininity is both the source and solution of her struggles.
Of course, the real, long-term saving grace for Pam is her writing, and their thorough and earnest nature. However, this element cannot be separated from her body and these thoughts, which she even sews into her undergarments, are as intimate a part of her as the rest of what these garments conceal, so that his invasion of her privacy and person marks for me the real molestation of Pam and the moment of her compliance with his will to see them signifies her acquiescence to his advances. It also seems telling on this note, that this is an activity that also characterizes their married life. Hmmmm, and as it is these letters and entries which so profoundly move Mr. B, both to remorse and heavenly feelings and, ultimately, to turn him on, it is no surprise that this novel falls under scrutiny for being erotic literature with the same effect on its audience. Also, it seems to me to resemble amatory fiction with the whole notion of a misunderstanding between men and women. B has to steal her thoughts and peruse them first hand, all spelled out before he can see what she’s all about.
I like writing in this book…I get the message that once things are written down they become real, actualized; it turns mere thought into action, authentically and literally blending word and deed…too bad this holds true for Shamela and Syrena too…
