The Substance - a horrific way to remind you of self-love
As a kid, I used to believe that the horror genre is specifically reserved for ghosts and entities. However, from the past few days I've been indulging myself to hours of contents from Creepcast, Wendigoon, and MeatCanyon, I've come to realise that the genre is actually reserved for fear - What makes you scream? What makes you wary?
In my younger years, I would have easily said "aswang" is what makes me scream, knowing one may be living among us makes me wary of talking to strangers. As an adult, I would now put aswang to the bottom of the list and put uncertainty, untimely death, and financial insecurity to things that make me shiver.
The Substance showed me another fear that I never knew could exist in such intensity. The fear of hating myself.
Summary
Elizabeth Sparkle lived her whole life being a bombshell, being that girl. When biology ran its course and did what it does, she loathed it. She was now seen by people as too old to be dancing on TV, and everyone is looking for someone fresh and young, like the girl she once were.
She bought the Substance to show everyone she is still that girl, and that's something you can never take away from her.
Sue emerged from Liz, a young beautiful brunette who found it easy to conquer the world Liz had earlier. That is not surprising, they are one after all.
One week for another, is what the instruction said. Sue can live for one week, and then Liz comes back. This is a vital process. The source, Liz, needs to replenish herself. To do that, she needs to live, to eat what she needs, to move, to take care of her own body. After a week, she can give Sue her life back for another 7 days.
Sue is living the life Liz once had, the life she adored. Being Sue took her away from the fact that the lines on her face exists. Sue knows it by heart. Everyone loves her, everyone is obsessed with her. Her face and body are is on the billboards and posters for everyone to see. She is now that girl.
But just for every seven days? That couldn't be enough, right? Sue thought so, too. For a woman with her beauty and energy, seven days is not enough. She needs more. So she took more.
Giving more to Sue means taking more from Liz. Once Sue realised how much she loves life, she started killing Liz. It started with just a day. That day cost Liz her finger. Then it became months, and Sue was convinced to take all that's left of Liz.
In those months, everything was looking great for Sue. She had a budding career, she got invited to host the New Year's Eve show. Just when the show was about to start, Sue was starting to fall apart. There was nothing left of Liz, she emptied her out. The only antidote was for Liz to replenish.
Seeing how much Sue took from her evidently made her furious, and that's when she decided to terminate the use of the Substance. However, Liz insecurity took over. Seeing how much was in store for Sue, she couldn't possibly get rid of the reason she was in this mess, especially knowing how far she has come.
Liz revived Sue. When the latter saw the "Terminating" substance, she got violent towards Liz. She left a bloody Liz in the bathroom to die.
The New Year's Eve show was supposed to be spectacular. The whole nation is expected to tune in before the calendars change. Sue was in her best self, until she wasn't. Her reason for being, Liz, is dead, and that means, it won't be long for her to banish as well.
She went back to her apartment and took the Substance to get the better version of herself. What happens when you induce a medicine that's supposed to be single-use? Let's put it simply as complications.
What came out of Sue's desperate attempt was the monster Elisasue (or better yet, Elisue, I won't be convinced otherwise). It's this horrific figure with all the body parts in the wrong places. Liz's face was there with her mouth opened trying to get out.
Elisue still put on the dress and the shoes. She took the Liz's face off the huge portrait hanging in the centre of her living room, pasted on her face and put on red lipstick on it.
She was heaving, groaning, as she entered the stage. Everyone was confused. Where was the beautiful Sue?
As she starts her speech, the mask flew off, and her appearance was shown. The audience was screaming and running, Elisue was pleading "Don't be scared. It's still me." It didn't convince anyone, and they did their best to either run away or kill the monster.
After a horrifying bloodbath following their attempts, Elisue managed to scape, but was eventually shot. Her body exploded on the pavement. But Liz's face was able to crawl on her walk of fame, smiling as she looks up at the stars, until she fades on top of her star. Her blood will be wiped out for people to see her name clearly, "Elizabeth Sparkle."
Thoughts
I see the film as a metaphor for how insecurity eats you alive. Especially in Liz's field of work, I can imagine how difficult it must be to make sure you're pretty all the time that you resort to several procedures to look and feel young.
Sue was the embodiment of Liz's self-hatred. She doesn't care about anyone else but her. She's young, sexy, attractive, she can have everything she wants, but knowing the truth about herself, her source, made her hate Liz even more. Why does she need to live still? Why can't I just be on my own? Why can't I live longer than 7 days?
She is everything Liz wants to be again. It was not like she never got to be a Sue, but she was a Sue, she wants to stay a Sue, and life doesn't go that way.
When Liz died, Sue believed she would finally be free, but again, they are one. Self-hatred cannot live on its own, it has to have a host. It's like a parasite that lives off of a living being's health, without it, it will decease.
Elisue was created in hopes that Sue, the better version, will have its own improved version. What is the better version? According to the Substance, the upgrade is a creature that has everything Liz and Sue has combined. Which Elisue technically has, just in the wrong places.
If I can get anything out of this film, it's that self-hatred makes a monster. Letting self-hatred win means losing yourself, and everything that you and people around you loved about you.
A lot can be said about showbiz and how abusive it can get, especially, towards women, but its foundation has been set for decades, maybe even centuries, and at this point, it's simply hard to cut down.
What we can start to change, especially as content consumers, is to stop negatively commenting on people's appearance. People get old, people get dark, people get fat, people get thin, people get acne, people get scars - everything I said are normal and highly noticeable, but that doesn't mean we need to reiterate it to someone like they hadn't seen the mirror that morning.
It's only a small thing if you think about it, however, as cliché as it is, I will not stop repeating it when necessary, despite being intangible, words do weigh heavily on people.
Overall
This film reminded me of MeatCanyon's video. Especially the short film he made recently.
This is one of the most enjoyable films I've watched this year, and I have watched a lot. I highly recommend watching it, and taking sometime to be grateful to yourself, to your body, and to everyone for loving you as you are.
I got the photos from Film Grab!