While our readers are already discussing director Zack Snyder’s fantasy-action story of self-empowerment in the comments section of the Sucker Punch review, this is the place where you can discuss spoilers about the movie without worrying about ruining it for people who haven’t seen it yet.
To help steer discussion we’ve added an analysis of Sucker Punch to help clarify some of the details that left some moviegoers scratching their heads.
That said, Snyder does leave some elements of the film up for interpretation – making it impossible to answer everything with absolute certainty.
It goes without saying, this article is full of spoilers. So, if you still plan to see the film, and don’t want anything spoiled for you – look elsewhere.
Does our Sucker Punch explanation match your theory? Find out!
The Dream within a Dream
Following Babydoll’s arrival at the asylum, the film presents viewers with three realities:
- The Asylum
- The Burlesque Illusion
- The Fantasy Realms
Despite the fact the majority of the movie is spent within the context of the burlesque reality, we know from the early images at the beginning, as well as the closing scene with the orderlies, that the dance setting was an illusion Babydoll (more on her later) developed to deal with the horrors of her actual environment.
It’s strongly hinted that the girls are being sexually abused by the orderlies and other employees at the asylum (most notably when the orderlies show reservations about allowing Blue to be alone with Babydoll after her lobotomy). The dark, and most logical, interpretation of the film suggests that Babydoll imagines herself “dancing” (and subsequently dispatching her oppressors in fantasy settings) whenever abuse is taking place, retreating into a world where she has increasing control over her oppressors – hypnotizing them with her dances (in the dancer illusion) and outright killing them (in the fantasy worlds).
After the first few “dances,” Babydoll begins to use this time with the abusers as a distraction, so that the other girls can go around and collect the necessary tools for the escape – essentially sacrificing her body for the sake of the mission – a theme which is revisited in the closing act of the film.
Are the other girls merely representations of different aspects of Babydoll’s psyche?
While it’s possible that, at one point, Snyder intended for Rocket (the little sister), Amber (the shy one), Blondie (the naive one), as well as Sweet Pea (the big sister), and even Babydoll herself (the fighter), to be avatar-like representations of various aspects of Babydoll’s personality – given what we see in the final film, there are a few problems with this theory.
First and foremost, Babydoll sees the girls in the real asylum world. It’s plausible that, as she began to fantasize, she merely superimposed the four girls’ visages onto the non-physical aspects of her own personality – i.e. visible avatar-like manifestations of abstract impulses. However, given the seriousness with which Snyder presents the real world in the closing moments of the film, it’s implied that the people in the fantasy world have a direct connection to people in the real world. Despite minor flourishes, Babydoll is directly interacting with the same people in the burlesque reality and the actual asylum: the burlesque cook is still the cook in the asylum, the burlesque Mayor is the custodian, the burlesque High Roller is the doctor – these people are not avatar-like representations of something abstract – they are rose-tinted filters placed on-top-of real people (who exist in a harsher reality). As a result, it stands to reason that the core girls are real people – real people that Babydoll is interacting with, not just in the fantasy world, but in reality as well.
Furthermore, it’s Sweet Pea who escapes the asylum in the real world, which would be an extremely unsatisfying ending, if there were no genuine connection between her character and Babydoll (who sacrifices her own freedom to make it happen). If the one psyche theory were correct, in a movie about guilt, oppression, and empowerment, it would have made much more sense for almost any of the other girls/personalties to have escaped, especially Rocket – the little sister that Babydoll was unable to save in real-life. Instead, it’s Sweet Pea who escapes – the same big sister who wasn’t able to protect her little sister.
It’s an interesting idea, with cool thematic implications but, given what we see in the final film, tangible evidence of the one psyche theory is either undermined by Sucker Punch‘s convoluted story-telling or other conflicting details.
What is the connection between the fantasy worlds and the reality of the asylum?
By the end of the film, Snyder makes it obvious that many of the events taking place in the dancer reality do have implications in the actual reality of the asylum. Dr. Vera Gorski mentions to the surgeon that prior to her lobotomy, Babydoll started a fire, stabbed an orderly, and successfully ensured Sweet Pea’s escape.
However, it remains unclear how involved the other girls were in the actual events in the asylum. Sweet Pea does successfully escape – which could indicate that Babydoll and the other girls were working together much in the same way as she imagined them in the burlesque club reality. That said, it’s unclear how much contact Babydoll actually had with the other girls, or how lucid any of them would have actually been (they all appeared pretty drugged up in the first scene at the asylum).
Similarly, assuming the girls were working as team, it’s still unclear whether or not Rocket, Blondie, and Amber died (as they did the burlesque reality), were lobotomized (like Babydoll), or were simply caught. Whether or not Snyder intended to leave this fact up for interpretation is unclear. Though, given the positive changes that seem to be promised for the asylum (as a result of Gorski’s revelation about Blue), it would make sense that whatever happened to the other girls – their fate wouldn’t be something that could easily be undone.
Continue reading the Sucker Punch spoiler analysis for our take on the Guardian Angel and who is in charge of the fantasies…
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Jessd,
Couldn’t agree more. It’s amazing how brave and fake some people are when posting online.
Allen,
This is a discussion about what your take on the movie is. Of course some will have a completely different take then you and thank god! Who would want to read through 500+ comments of the same opinion over and over again? The beauty of this is finding ideas that differ from yours. I’ve read many of these posts. Some have a take similar to mine. Some are different and allowed me to view it from a perspective I otherwise wouldn’t of considered. Finally there were posts I didn’t agree with but, that doesn’t make any of them wrong. This movie is of fantasy and imagination there can’t possibly be a right or wrong answer only a matter of opinions. If trolling others over what they concluded from a movie brings you joy then you need a new hobby mate. From your posts your life must suck.
On a side note. You really don’t need to plug your move in every post you make.
When Blonde mentioned the death of three women that tried to escape it could mean that the it is Sweet Peas story more so because she maybe be remembering their attempts in escaping and paying a respect / acknowledgement to them and their previous yet unsuccessful efforts at escaping…
Like she is older looking back at everyone that tried to leave and how she was the only one that was successful…
When Blonde mentioned the death of three women that tried to escape it could mean that this is Sweet Peas story more so because she maybe be remembering their attempts in escaping and paying a respect / acknowledgement to them and their previous yet unsuccessful efforts at escaping…
Like she is older looking back at everyone that tried to leave and how she was the only one that was successful…
After Babydoll arrived at the Asylum, where she was introduced to the “theatrical” method of therapy and the fantasy realm begins, Sweet Pea is in Babydoll’s role. – Why?
This part just continues to confuse me, because why would Sweet Pea be in Babydoll’s place in the [now staged] lobotomy?
_
Personally, I would have liked it better had the alter-ego theory been carried out. Then the supporting characters would have added more to the poetic sense of the story the film tries to establish. I could see Sweet Pea as the big sister, as well as the “stronger” more up-front version of Babydoll. Rocket dies, just as Babydoll’s younger sister does; which is also why it would make sense that Rocket could never make it out, even if she were a part of Babydoll’s psyche. But the other two, Amber and Blondie, seem way too pointless, random and replaceable. There is no real connection between them and Babydoll (as parts of her psyche OR associative projections of Babydoll out of the real world).
_
So, regardless of whether the other characters are parts of Babydolls psyche or not, they are part of her fantasy. I get that. But the connection between her and especially Sweet Pea seems tied in too loosely.
For me, the key point that addresses your question is that Sweet Pea is narrating the story from beginning to end. Since there is evidence at the end that she really escaped, I assume that she is telling the story in the manner we see in the movie for a reason. Dr. Gorsky empowered her by making her realize that how she thinks about her situation is one thing she can control.
So when the story line shifts to the night club with Sweet Pea on stage, she is identifying with Baby Doll’s situation and this motivates her, ultimately, reluctantly, to take action. As she says, she’s the star of the show, so she is explaining how her salvation occurred.
So I don’t think the other characters are part of anyone’s psyche. They were real. We are left to wonder about the fate of Rocket, Blondie, and Amber. Dr. Gorsky did not mention any deaths associated with the lobotomized patient (Baby Doll in the alternate narrative) and I doubt that Blue could have managed killing patients left and right without attracting more attention. I assume the deaths in the nightclub narrative symbolize that they did not make it out, nothing more.