Feminism

The Piano: Speaking Through

Rather than plainly assuming that The Piano is about female deprivation, because the protagonist is a mute and therefore does not have a voice, we ought to weigh the structure of the film as a whole. The piano acts as a tool of expression for Ada (the woman playing), whose main goal in the film seems to be retaining the instrument at any cost. This clearly raises questions such as: is Ada’s disadvantage because of her disability or does her disadvantage originate from her inequality with her so-called husband Stewart? Only because her contributions as a wife are not valued and she is sold to marriage by her father is enough for Ada to feel as if she lacks the necessities of life—the being-able-to-express essential.

Ada’s passion of playing the piano comes from her need to have a voice as a woman no matter the slurred layers of social repression. Despite Ada’s mute appeals, Stewart disregards the pleadings giving her the simple excuse of it being “too heavy” and “too few of [them] to carry it” (The Piano). The viewer immediately notices Stewart’s fake excuse as the New Zealand beach in this scene is full of people who get ready to depart. Stewart does not try to take a journey in her mind and find reasons as to why she insists on bringing the piano; rather, he takes the easy path—the rejection, which only emphasizes his narcissism. However, for Ada, the piano is not just another instrument that she naively tries to carry with her, but her repressed speech that is converted to musical notes. Simone De Beauvoir notes in The Second Sex that “ . . . [a woman’s] body does not seem to her to be a clear expression of herself; within it she feels herself a stranger” (1268). Ada feels like an outsider both in her role and in this particular society. Her expressions are limited, and her oppressions are unjustified.

Ada’s sad gaze on the piano once more from afar indicates the feeling of abandonment—as if she lets go of something significant. Nonetheless, she does not cancel her commitment of keeping what is hers, by recognizing what is problematic. Ada sees her way out of such oppression through playing the piano: “According to her moods [a woman] will view her own sentiments in different light” (Beauvoir 1269). It is in these very instances of playing when Ada feels “free” and creates a fantasy wondering the possibilities of her being and existence. These created fantasy-moments are what Judith Butler calls “performative” in her Gender Trouble. Ada does not want to vanish in the framework of Stewart’s degradations. The “performative” instances of the self are, in terms of Butler, “the essence or identity that is purported to express fabrications and sustained through corporeal signs and discursive means” (2548). For Ada, the “fabrication” is the piano, but later this object may be replaced by another object that will enable fake self-expression in a passive manner.

The Piano carries universal messages and layers of understanding the oppression of women. The theme of feminism is constantly present in this starkly real film by Jane Campion. The protagonist’s (Ada) muteness suggests woman’s role as just an object which is not granted the freedom of speech. Her husband, being the representative of narcissism, disregards her feelings and opinions, even rejecting her only tool for expression—the piano. However, despite her disability, Ada stands up for her essential and basic right by staying behind her wordless statements.

Works Cited

Butler, Judith. “From Gender Trouble.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.

Ed, Vincent B. Leitch. 2^nd ed. W.W. Norton & Company Inc.: New York, 2001.

2540-53. Print.

De Beauvoir, Simone. “From The Second Sex.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and

Criticism. Ed, Vincent B. Leitch. 2^nd ed. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New

York, 2001. 1265-73. Print.

The Piano. Dir. Jane Campion. Perf. Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna

Paquin. Ciby 2000, 1993. Film.