Now, darlings, I know, nothing beats Karen Black getting chased around her apartment by a Zuni fetish voodoo doll, with a large, sharp spear, but why is it I cannot tear myself from "Julie?" Is there something about myself that makes me relate to Julie? Maybe.
But, before going on, let me warn you about spoilers. There will be some, so, if you want narrative spontaneity, stop reading here.
"Julie" is based on a short story by Richard Matheson called "The Likeness Of Julie." Though I have never read it, I know there are key differences. In the story, both Julie and her "victim," here named Eddy Baker, are high school students. Julie sits in front of Eddy in one class, and he begins to fantasize about her. Now, I don't know how far the story goes in terms of victimization, or if the ending is exactly the same, but I intend to find out.
In this dramatization, re-titled simply "Julie," Karen Black plays a mid-30's spinsterish college English teacher. Always possessing an allure of sexuality, Black is amazingly brilliant at discarding that allure in favor of a stereotypical trope. What is so great about the story is how this trope is turned on its head.
Chad Rogers (Robert Burton, and onetime husband of Karen Black) is the student who focuses on Julie. He thinks he has the upper hand, but, to his horror, she proves him wrong by murdering him, adding his press coverage to a scrapbook of other students whom she has "met." At the very end, another awaits. A spinster is not at all what she seems............
But what exactly is she? A serial killer? A human vampire? Does she have supernatural powers, allowing her to get inside these guys' heads? And whatever Julie may be, who and how made her into whatever she is?
The most fascinating part of the story is its enigmaticisim. It also recalls my single days, when I felt I would never find anyone. I called myself a spinster, and I hid from the world in whatever way I could, finding solace in reading in public places, just to be around other people, rather than by myself in an apartment. I may have been wild when young, but nothing quite like Julie. At least, no one ever died.
In 2010, the cocoon burst, and in 2017, David and I were married. But I still feel a bit sad and sorry for Julie. She is brilliant in the classroom, but outside she is lonely and in pain. She unfortunately chooses to take out her pain on others.
Will Julie ever change? What if she were to get married? There have been many stories, true and not, about women who are so-called "black widows." Julie will become one of those, because stable happiness is not enough for her--she has to have more.
This story does not get the attention it deserves, though it is the one leaving the most food for thought. The look on Karen Black's face as she closes the door, saying "Very good friends........" is chilling because we know what her new student (a young Gregory Harrison) is in for.
So, next time, darlings, you see a spinster walking down the street, do not mock her.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Shirley Jackson would have loved this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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