“Have you ever heard of body modification?”: Cutting Open Stereotypes with AMERICAN MARY

Rating: 💉💉💉

I want to start this off by saying I don’t think American Mary is a flawless movie because, well, it’s not. But that’s the point. Jen and Sylvia Soska (Dead Hooker in a Trunk, Rabid) wrote and directed this movie to make that exact statement. From sadistic surgeons to Katharine Isabelle’s title character Mary Mason, the ones who are imperfect are the ones with “conventional” appearances. The ones with the deepest cuts are those without surgery. The ones we label our antagonists are the ones who look impressive on paper (unless you’re Shania Twain, who was clearly on to something). The entire point of this imperfect movie is to revel in the imperfection. 

Mary Mason is your “typical” med student: pretty, in debt, and dedicated. In order to make ends meet (usually by suturing them together after practicing on a thawed turkey), Mary finds herself swept into the world of extreme plastic surgery and body modification. However, after being drugged and sexually assaulted by her mentor and professor, David Lovgren’s Dr. Grant, Mary quits school and dedicates herself to her newfound passion. With every stitch, Mary tries to sew up the wounds mercilessly inflicted upon her by someone she fully trusted and by someone who would be perceived as “perfect” by a large percentage of society, but Dr. Grant and his colleagues are the true “monsters.” After her assault, Mary uses Dr. Grant to practice a multitude of modifications, thus robbing him of his “ideal” image.

On the flip side, all of the members of the body modification community we meet help Mary and comprise our group of protagonists. Tristan Risk’s Beatress Johnson, our friendly, neighborhood, three-dimensional Betty Boop, gets Mary involved with the body modification community, helps Mary stay connected, and is eventually beaten to a bloody pulp trying to protect her. Paula Lindberg’s Ruby Realgirl, a literal living doll, designs a dress customized for Mary and sings her praises across social media platforms. All of the people who would normally be demonized or used as cheap plot points are the good guys, as they damn well should be. 

The Soska Sisters (who met Katharine Isabelle in Josie and the Pussycats where they were all extras, meaning all of my pieces are connected in some odd, MCU-esque way) are actively trying to make the world understand how ridiculous the taboo around the body modification community truly is. Appearances can absolutely be deceiving as all of our villains are the ones who are commercially successful and who are often praised for their contribution to society. Image and morality are, in no way, synonymous with one another, and Jen and Sylvia Soska want to make sure you know it. Again, is this movie perfect? No, but it’s still a good movie. Katharine Isabelle plays Mary by being simultaneously complex and vacant in a way I’m not sure anyone else could. All of our characters have a lot of personality and layers, and the gritty atmosphere surrounding them never becomes too much; it’s just seedy enough to be believable but not so seedy that it tries too hard. The subject matter does make it difficult to watch at times, but it’s still important nonetheless because Mary’s wounds were not self-inflicted; she was “modified” out of necessity and survival. 

We need to realize how important it is to not place such a heavy emphasis on appearances or make bold assumptions solely off of how a person looks. Clean cut doesn’t always equal safe, and body modification doesn’t always equal unsafe. Conventional doesn’t always equate to well, and unconventional doesn’t always equate to unwell. (As someone with 15 tattoos and multiple piercings, I promise you, I’ve been asked if I’m “okay,” and I can only make My Chemical Romance lyric-based jokes for so long). There are good and bad people in both camps, and the important part is acknowledging and standing up for that idea. This one was truly meant to leave a mark.