I Shot Andy Warhol (4 Stars)

True Stories #6

Name: Valerie Solanas

Lived: 9 April 1936 – 25 April 1988

Film dates: 1957 to 1968, mainly 1966 to 1968

Film made in 1996

This is the first in a series of three biopics made by the Canadian director Mary Harron. All three films are about women who were controversial both during their life and after their death. I intend to watch these three films back to back as my next three true stories.

Mary Harron is sometimes called a feminist director. I don't understand this description. Maybe she's a feminist in her personal views, but I don't see a feminist message in her films. I don't even see a feminist message in "I shot Andy Warhol", even though it's about Valerie Solanas, the greatest feminist icon of the 20th Century.

I forget exactly when I first heard about Valerie Solanas. It was possibly when I was 21. At that time my thoughts were developing on the nature of man and woman. From the age of 20 I was convinced that women are inherently superior to men. I looked at the world around me and was convinced that all of the world's problems stemmed from male rule. I advocated a matriarchy, but I didn't have clear ideas about it. I didn't know whether it would be a global or an international matriarchy. How could it work in practice? Then I read the SCUM Manifesto, written in 1966, in which Valerie Solanas called on women to "overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex". The fourth of these goals fascinated me the most. Instead of a matriarchy, men should be totally eradicated.

Then I lost my copy of the SCUM Manifesto. It was probably lost in the confusion of moving to Germany in 1978. It wasn't until I got my first Internet account in 1995 that I rediscovered it. I printed it and read it repeatedly, analysing it carefully and making notes. Shortly after this I joined an IRC channel called #feminism. I was the only man in the group, which I openly admitted, and I was warned to behave myself. The main topic of conversation was the SCUM Manifesto. We discussed it for months on end. Some of the participants accepted it completely, while others wanted to adapt it for the 1990's. As the conversations continued, I was frequently accused of being a woman. The others in the group couldn't believe that a man could be as enlightened as me.

The general consensus in the group was that a new version of the SCUM Manifesto should be written. I volunteered to undertake this task, but I never attempted it. For reasons unknown to me, the #feminism room ceased to exist, and I had no more contact with the any of the women in the group. We should have exchanged email addresses instead of just relying on IRC to hold us together.

Lili Taylor as Valerie Solanas

Despite knowing the SCUM Manifesto, I knew almost nothing about Valerie Solanas. I knew that she'd shot Andy Warhol, but I didn't know why. Information was hard to come by in the early days of the Internet. Now anyone can sit down at his computer and become an expert on any subject within 15 minutes. (I admit that this statement contains sarcasm, but there's also an element of truth).

Then I bought this DVD, soon after its release. I was excited to see it, but my reaction after the first viewing was anger. Instead of being a eulogy to one of the most brilliant visionaries of the 20th Century, it portrayed her as nervous and neurotic. After calming down, I watched it again. More than once. Now I'm able to appreciate it. Mary Harron wants to be honest in her portrayal of Valerie Solanas. She doesn't want to make out that she was something that she wasn't.

Let me give a brief summary of Valerie's life, as portrayed in the film. She was an exceptionally intelligent child, but she suffered sexual abuse from her father and grandfather. She studied Psychology at the University of Maryland. She supported her studies by prostitution. This led her to be disgusted by men, and she declared herself a lesbian. After graduating she moved to New York, where she was homeless, sleeping on rooftops. She still worked as a prostitute, so she was sometimes able to afford a hotel room for a few days.

In 1966 she met Andy Warhol. She thought he could help her film her first play, "Up your ass". Warhol found the play so pornographic that he thought it was entrapment by a police officer. He never filmed it, but he didn't give it back to Valerie. He said he'd lost it.

Note: the manuscript remained lost until it was found in a trunk of lighting equipment in 1999, twelve years after Warhol's death. It wasn't published until 2014.

Later in 1966 Valerie Solanas completed her final version of the SCUM Manifesto. She tried to make money by selling it, but most of her copies were given away. It was eventually published in 1968 by Maurice Girodias, a French publisher of pornographic literature. After the bankruptcy of his company the copyright became clouded, a source of argument and money-making by lawyers, but the important fact is that today it's freely available online.

Why did Valerie Solanas shoot Andy Warhol? In interviews immediately after her arrest she claimed that it was connected with her Manifesto. She wanted to kill a well-known man in order to start the female revolution. Mary Harron's film suggests that it was actually revenge because he'd stolen her play, and she didn't have another copy. That's probably right. If it had really been intended to start a revolution, it was poorly planned.

The real Valerie Solanas in 1967

The film ends with Valerie's arrest and her treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Her later years are vague. She was arrested and hospitalised several times. She changed her name to avoid detection. She said she was writing an autobiography, but her mother burnt all of her typewritten manuscripts after her death. What an awful mother! She probably didn't like what Valerie had written about her.

The film is now out of print. I don't know whether or not I want it to be rereleased. It's essential viewing for anyone who knows and admires Valerie Solanas' writing, but it can give the wrong impression to those who don't know her.

Incidentally, a few years ago I met someone who was in the process of writing a new version of the SCUM Manifesto. I persuaded her to publish it anonymously, because details about her life might be used to argue against the message of her writing. I assisted her in her early version of her Manifesto as her only proof reader. When it was finished she asked me to send a copy to notable feminists. I did so, and the reception was mixed to negative. One of the more positive reviewers made suggestions for a few changes, but my friend was disappointed and hasn't updated her version of the Manifesto. That was six years ago. I still write to her occasionally, although the contact has diminished since I left England. I need to prod her and ask her to publish her Manifesto. At the very least, I want her permission to publish it on my blog.

Click here to read the original version of the SCUM Manifesto. Please leave comments.