33 The Painted Skin: Pu Songling vs. 2008 Film Adaptation

Pu Songling’s “The Painted Skin,” found in his larger work, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, recounts the story of a cunning demon who has disguised itself as a human in order to trick and ultimately murder men. This story is one of the most well-known from his collection and has seen many film adaptations, with some versions following the original story more than others. The 2008 adaptation in particular sees a major departure from what Pu Songling may have intended, especially in regard to how the monster was depicted. In his own version, she was a quite grotesque, vile and frightening figure who was undeniably evil. Comparatively, the film adaptation went more for a romantic route, humanizing the monster and using love/romance as a way to excuse her moral wrongdoings.

This difference between versions is most clearly displayed through the use of figurative language and imagery in the original story. Upon first coming across the monster, she is represented as young, “about sixteen, and very beautiful,” and is said to be having “considerable difficulty” carrying a bundle of sticks.^[1] In this introduction, the woman is made out to be rather innocent and helpless, which allows her to trick the man into helping her. However, this image becomes inverted a bit further in the story when the man finds the woman actually in a disguise and is really a demon. Peeking in the window of his own home, he describes her as “the most hideous sight, a green-faced monster, a ghoul with great jagged teeth like a saw,” who is “leaning over a human pelt, the skin of an entire human body, spread on the bed.”^[2] Here, the monster is depicted as incredibly grotesque, with the teeth simile emphasizing its inhuman features in order to invoke the same sense of horror and fear in the audience that the man feels upon his discovery. This is continued as the man watches the monster’s actions of “touching up the skin in lifelike color” with a paintbrush, and when done, “shakes it out like a cloak and wraps itself in it—whereupon it was instantly transformed into his pretty young ‘fugitive’ friend.”^[3] The same kind of language is continued in this line, furthering the monster’s depiction as disgusting and scary, especially as the visceral act of putting the skin on is illustrated. There is also a pronoun shift, as the demon is now called “it” rather than “she,” thereby cementing its depiction as a monster and not a girl. Overall, this image contrasts pretty heavily with our first introduction to her, invoking more shock in the audience and elements of horror. Finally, this is only further corroborated by the stamp showing this scene, where the audience gets a visual representation of how horrific the monster is.

In addition to being painted as terrifying and ugly, the monster is clearly evil in the original story. This is seen best in its action of killing the man, where, “climbing straight up onto the bed, she tore open Wang’s chest, plucked out his heart, and made off with it into the night,” leaving the man “lying dead on the bed, his chest a blood pulp.”^[4] Visual imagery is employed here yet again, as descriptive language such as “bloody pulp” and “tore open” work to display exactly how violent and brutal the monster is. Additionally, the fact that it is said to go immediately onto the bed and kill the man shows absolutely no sign of hesitation or remorse for its actions, therefore adding to its depiction as evil. Pu Songling also extends this language when recounting how the wife found the husband, stating that she “began screaming” and was “sobbing in silent horror beside him, incapable of uttering a word.”^[5] Later that night, she was also said to be “filled with grief at her husband’s appalling death,” such that she “wailed pathetically and for a time contemplated taking her own life.”^[6] The language used here, such as “pathetically” and “in silent horror” really display how impacted the wife was by the actions of the monster, drawing out sympathy in the audience. In not ending the story following the death of the monster, and allowing the audience to see both the immediate and lasting reaction to the murder brought on by the monster, we get a sense of how tragic the event really was, and consequently, how evil the monster is, as we see the repercussions of its pointless killing. Furthermore, she is also literally called the “evil one” by the priest, leaving no room for the audience to doubt the portrayal of the monster as sinister and disgusting.^[7]

Comparatively, this intense horror aspect is missing from the 2008 film adaption of this story and instead is replaced with an emphasis on humanizing the monster. First and foremost, unlike in the original story, the character is given in name in the film (Zhao Wei), which is a form of humanizing in itself, regardless of her being a monster. She also is given a quite powerful backstory, as the opening scene of the movie is her being saved from a group of brutal bandits who appear to be trying to assault her. In fact, some of the first dialogue from our main characters in the film revolves around Zhao Wei being “saved,” such as the men chanting “kill the bandits of the desert to save the beauty.”^[8] While this is similar to what occurs in the story, her backstory is continuously referenced throughout the film, whereas it is only used once in the story, mostly for exposition. It is generally also much more developed, painting her as just a poor helpless girl with nowhere to go, who is reliant on the men of the town and their hospitality and “would have died if it weren’t for them.”^[9] Moreover, when she is caught by the people of the town to have lied about her origins, she claims to have done so because she cared about their opinions and didn’t want them to look down upon her. And, most importantly, she states “I don’t want to be alone.”^[10] This is one of the most central parts of her characterization in the film, as she uses a desire for love and acceptance as an excuse for pretty much any immoral action she carries out. This just continues her humanization, as she is given actual emotions and motives behind her actions. Not only does this make her more relatable and palatable to the audience, but it is another divergence from the story, as the only emotion she can be argued to feel is anger. It also lets off some of the moral responsibility assigned to her, making her seem less evil. On that note, there is also the introduction of a second demon in the film, who does most of the killing for her. She even sends him away at some point, suggesting a chance of redemption for her character. All of these factors, which are pretty much absent in Pu Songling’s original story, all work to paint her in a more human light and make her seem less evil or morally responsible.

The other main difference that occurs in the story is the trade of horror for romance. As suggested, she uses love as a driving force for all of her actions, as she genuinely falls in love with Brother Wang (the man who houses her). As opposed to lying about the backstory and some of her other actions done out of manipulation, she does actually seem to feel intense love for him and asks to be his concubine not once, but two separate times throughout the film, both of which she is rejected. In the first of these two scenes, she ends up crying, saying that she “really loves” him.^[11] It is overall an emotional scene for everyone involved and produces much sympathy for the viewer. And, when the demon mentioned before suggests (and then later actually tries) to kill Wang, she protects him, hinting she does have some good in her. Additionally, she essentially pursues him the whole film, producing quotes like “I only want you to love me”^[12] and “I want to be his wife.”^[13] Upon being rejected, she also questions “I am really that useless,” suggesting that she doesn’t have a purpose outside of her love interest.^[14] This is the biggest difference between the film and the original story, as she has no care for the man in the story and murders him in cold blood, whereas here she protects and deeply cares about him. This is especially apparent at the end of the film, where she ends up bringing Wang and his wife (who she mistreated out of jealousy for not being able to marry him) back to life using a sacred eternal spirit. This action results in her death, as she essentially sacrifices herself for Wang, and she is reverted into a fox spirit. Her last moments of the film are spent looking into Wang’s eyes, who admits to loving her, creating a sort of tragic ending for the play where evil is overcome by love. Overall, while she is technically a killer and demon, there is a sense of redemption in the end for her character, making her seem flawed, and more importantly, human. This is completely not present in the story, where she is solely portrayed as evil and is missing all of this deeper character development and guiding motivations that could excuse her inherent demonic nature.

Bibliography

Pu, Songling 蒲松齡, “The Painted Skin,” Huapi 畫皮 in Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異 (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio). Translated by John Minford. Penguin Classics, 2006. 126-132.

Chan, Gordon, director. Painted Skin. Intercontinental Film Distributors, 2008. 1 hr., 55 min.