In the SiFi Indie film Upstream Color, there are strong themes of slavery. The film starts with main character Kris being kidnapped and drugged with a strange capsule. The kidnapper then plays with her altered mind by making her do tedious things such as make a paper chain and drink glasses of water. She becomes a literal slave to this man, but also a slave to what this pill has done to her mentally. Fast forward to when the effects of the capsule wearing off, we find Kris waking up with everything taken from her. She also has a type of parasite growing inside of her. Although she is no longer enslaved, she is left alone and completely unsure of where to go from here. Its at this point in the film we see that there are permanent effects from her drugging.
She hears sounds and begins to follow them. They lead her to another ambiguous man, there to continue experimenting on her. He removes the worm from her body and inserts it in that of a pig. She is now connected with this pig in a non-physical way. This specifically reminded me of Sethes situation. Sethe was taken away from everything she had and put into slavery, starting a black slate kind of life Kris. Sethe is also mentally enslaved to her past, with a baby that died representing that. Kris and Sethe have both been treated cruelly in their past, and now cannot escape the ‘haunting’ that follows.
Through her struggles of starting over, Kris meets a man named Jeff. Shane Carruth, the Directer of the film was interviewed for a more in depth view of the film here http://io9.com/how-shane-carruths-upstream-color-explains-your-dysfun-465799671 described their relationship as:
"Okay, look, I’ve got these two characters, they are being attracted and repulsed, based on things that are happening with the creatures that they're connected to, out there in the pig trough."
They share a fascinating love and friendship, but it becomes difficult when the strange pain and events happen due to the connection. It is interesting how in both stories, these women have a man who somehow can relate to their situation but still face confusion and frustration over it. The Director of the film described him:
“Jeff, I always thought, is actually a lot more screwed up than Kris — because Kris, at least, seems to be aware that something’s off, and seems to be curious about investigating it. Whereas Jeff is … he’s found to have stolen money, and decides to adopt that personality.”
Jeff is in a way a slave to his past mistakes that won’t seem to go away. Sethes lover Paul D also experienced a troubled past which has left him constantly unsettled and damaged. The theme of ghosts is prevalent in these men as a source of discomfort. Paul D cannot help but feel a sexual attraction to ghostly figure Beloved, and is disloyal because of it. While trying to grow closer to Kris, Jeff is frustrated by her lack of memory and irrational behavior that appears when the pig she is connected to starts to act up.
Kris and Jeff end up sensing where their source of pain is coming from. They actually go to where the man behind all of this lives and shoots him. They will continue to live connected to the animals, but no longer tortured. This conclusion once again tied back to the theme of slavery. They now must live knowing they were a test some insane science experiment, and it shaped their current lives. I feel this is what happened in 124 to Sethe, Denver and Paul D. Beloved came into their homes and change how they all felt about each other. They cannot continue living the same way, and are once again psychologically enslaved by these strange occurrences.
Sethe was taken as a worker and escaped her dark future. Kris was taken and became a target of hypnotics and mental cruelty. Although superficially their situations are very different, Beloved and Upstream Color both are both stories of people who have lost control of their mental state because of slavery.
