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.
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Lili Taylor as Valerie Solanas
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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.
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The real Valerie Solanas in 1967
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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.
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