Tw// mentions of grooming and abuse.
I saw Priscilla in January with a Twitter mutual that I had met for the first time. I had been very excited, as I had been waiting to watch it for months and I was frustrated that I had to wait a month longer than expected (but for real what’s with the increase of UK film releases, why must I suffer so?). Somewhere in between seeing The Beguiled (2017) last summer and the release of Priscilla, I had become really obsessed with Sofia Coppola and her work so I was really excited to see one of her films in cinemas.
I loved it, which is strange to say considering the topic. Being with a man like Elvis seems like a dream and it was presented to many, especially to Priscilla as such, but Priscilla’s pastel palette doesn’t distract you from the fact that it is a nightmare. I cannot remember when I learned when Elvis Presley had groomed and married a teenager but I do remember that the fact was treated like a casual, cute tidbit about him and not a disturbing revelation about the man who was. Even early on, there is that isolation of Priscilla. Sofia highlights the isolation that Priscilla feels within the relationship really well.
One thing that stuck out to me is Priscilla’s bedrooms: her room at home, her parents’ house and her room at Graceland. It got me thinking about how much my bedroom is a sanctuary and how many young women share the same opinion. It’s such a key part of girlhood, we see it in real life, it’s highlighted so much in film, it’s important. In Priscilla’s experience, her two bedrooms speak to her lack of security.
Priscilla’s bedroom in her home in Germany is the typical teen girl bedroom we see in films. Pink, delicate, floral yet it had me green with envy, as most girls’ bedrooms do in films. It displays all of teenage girls’ interests: fashion, music, celebrity culture… crushes. Without context, the increase of Elvis’ records in Priscilla’s room looks like the entrance of fandom for an artist. The joyful, engaging, harmless experience a teenager is expected to have with discovering and loving a new artist. But in this case, it’s an infiltration of Priscilla’s safe space as a teenage girl and therefore a threat to her youth. Her love for Elvis is fuelled by his charm pushes her out of her room and her sanctuary and into their room at Graceland.
Priscilla’s bedroom at Graceland is beautiful. It’s glamorous and dripping in luxury. It’s perfectly polished, regal perhaps. It looks like it’s on display. The silk sheets of the bed speak to a sensuality that Priscilla has no idea about. But it is devoid of her personality. It reflects the woman that Elvis wants her to be. And the woman he wants her to be is a reflection of him. The want for glamour, that’s not Priscilla. Despite sharing this bedroom with Elvis, he is rarely there. They are husband and wife in all but name and Elvis certainly expects her to conform to the expectations of a wife but Priscilla is still a girl.
Outside of the destruction of her sanctuaries of a room, Elvis also stunts key aspects of Priscilla’s teenage years. She doesn’t get to explore or develop her sense of style. When Priscilla excitedly tells Elvis about a job she could get at a salon, he tells her that it’s best for her to stay home so she can be near when he needs her. As I’m writing this, I’m reminded of how novel the concept of the teenager was. Post-war society brought more children into compulsory education and there was an economic boom, meaning there was a group of people for businesses to target. Teenagers enjoyed some of the freedom of their children but also some of the responsibilities and financial benefits of adulthood, especially through part-time jobs and being able to drive at such a young age. It was finally understood that the bridge between childhood and adulthood had to be nurtured. Priscilla was not allowed to enjoy being on that bridge. It just highlights how young she was when Elvis groomed her.
It’s not been that long since I left my teenage years behind but one thing I know I appreciated and something I will continue to appreciate as I am still a young woman, is having my space and the room to grow. A place to be comfortable on my own and appreciate independence. Priscilla was not on her own, she was lonely and isolated. Her room at home was infiltrated and her room at Graceland was more like a prison.
Priscilla losing her sanctuary due to Elvis led to a loss of the space and time to grow, develop and appreciate independence as well. She was independent in Graceland, she was lonely and isolated. She was made to be satisfied with being Elvis’ girl before she even knew who the girl she was on her own. Priscilla leaves Elvis at 28. So much of her life was for this man, her entire childhood gone but at last her womanhood is all on her own. She is free to make that space in whatever she wishes.
Image credits: A24 (via Fancaps.net and Culture Whisper)
THE MUSING NOTES 