( I can't stop thinking abut the film / book The power of the dog, so I'll post here the rambling impressions I jot down on a notebook everytime I watch / read it again. Since I've been drawing stuff here and there, you'll find some scribbles too (: This is more of an attempt to invite people to share what theyâve discovered in this story, thus please feel free to reply and question what Iâve posted. Iâm CRAVING other peopleâs views on TPOTD. Also, excuse my broken English lol)
(oh, and if you havenât read / watched this story please be aware that there might be some mild spoilers ahead)
One of the images that lingers in my mind after re-watching The Power of the Dog shows Peter carefully holding the three chickens Rose mentions when she enters his bedroom.
"I need three chickens. Can you do them?"
I like this image because, like many other scenes, it never appears in the film. No one ever sees it on screen, yet I'm sure we can all picture it to an almost sensorial extent. (Pete's delicate gestuality, the fluffiness of the birds, a tense silence, a sudden metallic smell).
It clearly is a foreshadowing device. But it also tells us that Pete's acquainted with both tenderness and violence; that he tries to be kind even when he has to inflict death on other beings. We infer that he dwells on the border between beauty and pain, and is equally curious of both of them.
Lately, I've been thinking that this image can also say a lot about Pete's relationship whith his mother, and with his conception of masculinity.
In being the one that slaughters the chickens, Pete takes up a responsibility that is visibly distressing to Rose.
âIt was Peter who (...) killed them, because Rose couldnât, couldnât even watch, wouldnât even watch. When killing time came she went inside and shut the doors and windows and sang and if necessary stopped her ears (...)â (p. 44)
It's one of the many behaviors by which he tries to release Rose from the things that burden her ever since his father passed. And regardless of how mundane they may be, all those behaviors stem from the definition of a good man being a kind human whoâs eager to endure pain on behalf of others.Â
Pete has inherited this conception of manliness from his dad.
âAnd Peter, please donât say it quite like that. Most who donât mind - most of them grow hard, get hard. You must be kind, you must be kind (...) Do you understand what kindness means, Peter? (...)To be kind is to try to remove obstacles in the way of those who love or need youâ (p. 41)
Thus we understand that his relationship to masculinity is conflictive (and painful) not only because it brings aggressiveness upon him, but also because itâs deeply tied to the loss of his father.Â
Masculinity (in the way his dad understood it) is a cherished thing that might fade if he doesnât do anything about it. To him, figuring out how to be a man sometimes feels like paying homage, but others like facing a ghost that haunts him. Because figuring out how to be a man is not an option: itâs an obligation. When his father died, Pete was expected to compensate that imbalance and âsnap out of it, get humanâ.Â
So, said shortly, the evocation of Pete with the chickens seems to me as yet another reflection of the line at the very beginning of the film.
"When my father passed, I wanted nothing more than my mother's happiness. For what kind of man would I be if I did not help my mother?"
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