Penny’s review published on Letterboxd:
“He built all of me. Except my core, that’s mine.”
“And did you tell her who you built that body for?”
“This body… it has the power I need. I feel a connection to it I can’t explain. This could be who I am.”
“Your core was designed to interface with this type of body.”
“And that’s why I will never unite you with this body”
“It’s the adaptive technology of the Berserker body. The shell is reconfiguring to her subconscious image of herself. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You were right. A warrior’s spirit needs a warrior’s body.”
“With the face of an angel and a body built for battle”
A Body Built For Battle
(Mild spoilers but none of you niggas care about this movie anyway)
Alita: Battle Angel is about bodies. When Alita first wakes up after being found in the dump, the first thing she is confronted with is her body. She doesn’t have any memories or even a name, yet she stands in the mirror, exploring her body. Wiggling her fingers, squishing her cheeks, and breathing breaths. Narratively, it’s a celebration of life where there was none before but as captured by the camera, it’s a celebration of the body.
The thing about it is, this body isn’t hers. It was given to her by her surrogate father, Dr. Ido, but it wasn’t designed with her in mind. He pulled it out of storage wrapped in an old, dusty blanket. As immaculately constructed as it is, it’s a spare part. And because of this, Alita struggles to reconcile it with who she actually is.
While I was trying to write this review, my friend Max Coombes said something that resonated with my relationship to the movie. It was an offhand remark about something completely unrelated. He said:
“be a character! none of us are real any way lol!”
We’re all constructed. The constructed nature of self is a theme that gets explored all the time in all different kinds of media, but I’ve never seen it tackled quite as directly as it is in Alita when it comes to the bodily aspect of self-construction. Alita eventually finds a body that was designed with her in mind, a body that is hers, but out of fear, Ido refuses to connect her with it. The first time Alita sheds pained tears is at the frustration of being denied access to her rightful body by an oppressive force. This frustration and these tears resonate all too well with people who know the anguish that can result from being denied your own self-construction.
“Who’s body is this? Who am I?”
This makes it euphoric when she finally is united with said body. A body that she matches. A body that we literally watch change and shift to match how she feels inside. Just like acquiring her first body, this too is a celebration. Except instead of Alita waking up to explore a body that is unfamiliar to her while barely knowing how to walk, this time Ido wakes up to find Alita standing in front of him transformed and fully realized and able to do a handstand with a single index finger. A far cry from the childlike joy of the unknown from before, this euphoria resulting from true self-construction and the resulting freedom is unmatched by anything that has happened in the movie previously.
“Now you know who you are.”
And from this point forward Alita struggles plenty and sheds plenty tears, but none of these tears or struggles are out of frustration with her identity. She knows exactly who she is.
“It feels… more me”
This film’s portrayal of bodily euphoria is only aided by the camera and its capture of Alita’s movements. Every motion she makes in the heat of battle is infused with her personality and serves as a visual manifestation of her determination. Her body allows her to do incredible things and pleasure arises from the camera framing them as incredible. It is only through this that Alita’s characterization is even possible. And this succeeds where even The Matrix fails in conveying this theme because Alita’s extraordinary power actually feels like it comes from her body. This is not Superman Neo or typical super-powered action where strength arises out of invisibility. Alita’s propulsion through space is strictly physical and extremely tactile which makes everything she does even more satisfying. We are more grounded in her translation from feeling to movement. She is felt.
“Doc’s gonna be pissed”
“Who’s rules do I live by?”
What gives this movie even more power is that Alita doesn’t tolerate despair at the hands of oppressive forces. She lives by her own rules. When Ido refuses to unite her with her rightful body, she rebels against him. When she is under threat by the capitalistic machine, we watch her tear it apart, putting sword through cyborg and human alike. Even when her first body is shredded into pieces and she’s at the mercy of the guy who is responsible, when she’s at her closest to death throughout the entire film, she uses her single remaining limb, the last bit of agency she has in her body, to strike back (resulting in the greatest PG-13 f-bomb ever). Alita isn’t just about the freedom arising from self-construction. It’s also about fighting tooth and nail against anyone who tries to deny you that freedom. This film’s unmatched catharsis comes from depicting Alita do everything that we wish for. I shed tears watching her refuse to bend as I feel wrapped around the world’s finger.
I previously called this movie “free therapy” and I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate, but it’s helped me more than any other movie has. I think of it when I’m too paralyzed to get out of bed or when I find myself crying for no reason or when I look in the mirror and feel disconnected from my reflection. I think of how Alita carved out a space for herself to exist where there wasn’t one before and how she points her blade to the sky, pledging to continue.
Reviews for this movie are mostly trash, so you guys should check out 2 of my favorite pieces of writing:
