by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

May is one of the more sympathetic women to be covered in this series thus far. Director and writer Lucky McGee crafted a fascinating portrayal of a lonely woman searching for a friend, but who is met with disappointment. It is also about how this character comes into her own and realizes who she has to become in order to survive the heartbreak the world has to offer her. The transformation that she takes on is an interesting one and unique for the monstrous feminie archetype we often see in films like this. May must embrace her darker side in order to solve the problems that plague her lonely existence.

The film May follows May Dove Canady, a lonely young woman with very few human attachments. At a young age her mother realized she had a lazy eye and made her cover it up in shame. She was immediately seen as different by the children at school and ignored by her classmates and has remained reclusive ever since. Besides going to her day job at the vet clinic she spends time sewing and making her own clothes. She mainly interacts with her work associate Polly and her best friend is a doll her mother gave her at a young age. But one day, she meets a boy with beautiful hands and becomes eager to get his attention. However as she opens herself up to him and the rest of the world she realizes she might not be as accepted as she wants to be. She begins to descend into madness until she finds a way to use her skills and make a friend that will truly see her.

First off, how is May perceived? Unfortunately, most people seem to either not notice her or find her weird. She develops a crush on Adam (Jeremy Sisto) who does seem to find her charming and cute even though she is so shy around him she is barely able to talk. It becomes obvious that Adam does not know how to be clear about what he is looking for. May passingly mentions she has never had a boyfriend before and he never says anything. On their first date together she is overly aggressive when they make out and instead of understanding her lack of experience he says “who taught you how to kiss” one of the worst things a girl could possibly hear from someone she likes. When Adam begrudgingly agrees to a second date he shows her a short film he made about cannibals that she loves. Later on when they are about to have sex she bites him and tries to lick the blood. He is immediately creeped out and leaves, leaving her confused, not understanding what she did wrong. Adam says he likes “weird” and creepy but as soon as May takes things to that level he freaks out. Clearly he is not the kinky kind of freak he portrays to the world. May sees his love of horror, blood, and giallo and assumes he will be into her darker appetites, but that turns out not to be the case.

Even with these violent behaviours, it is clear we are meant to sympathize with May and empathize with her struggle to make friends. While we may not have exhibited the types of behavior she does in the film plenty of us have felt like a freak or an outcast so even though her behavior is questionable it is hard not to feel that twinge of pain whenever someone treats her poorly. One of the reasons she is so sympathetic is because of her innocence and inexperience. Angela Bettis tows the line so perfectly in this character, May is able to get away with so much and the audience roots for her because she does come off as so sweet, she is a murderous babe in the woods. It is clear no one has taught her the ways of the world and she has not been able to explore her darker impulses enough to know that something is amiss. Then of course her treatment by those around her also make her actions feel all the more justified.

So why does May kill? All May seems to really want in life is to be seen by others. Early on it was obvious that she had few friends and a somewhat dysfunctional family. Her mother hoped she could be perfect and flawless like a doll she could covet, but unfortunately May has a lazy eye and so her mother made her feel her imperfection.. It was clear from these opening childhood scenes that she was a lonely child that grew up to be a lonely adult. Regardless, she tries to be nice, stay out of people's way, and remain hopeful that someone special will want to be her friend. Her optimism that she will find a friend is very charming. However when it is clear the ones in her life do not want to be her friend, she realizes the only way to be happy is to make a friend, with the body parts of those who have wronged her.

Unfortunately, Adam is not the only one who has spurned her. One of the few characters who seems to like May and potentially “see” her is Polly, played by Anna Farris. They work together and Polly frequently tries to get May’s attention and engage with her during their work day. May’s quiet and standoffish demeanor ultimately is a turn on for Polly and a challenge so she works that much harder to get her to notice her. However as she spends more time with Polly it is clear that she is also using her friendly and flirtatious demeanor to get May to do things for her. When she doesn’t want to talk to a customer she calls May to her aid, when she needs to get rid of her cat she begs May to adopt her, and eventually it is clear she is trying to use May for sex. The queer aspect of this relationship is particularly interesting because May only lets it happen when things do not work out with Adam. She does not necessarily think about if she is queer or not. She simply wants anyone to be there for her.

This relationship inevitably breaks down as it becomes obvious that Polly is not looking for anything particularly serious, May comes to her house and finds that she has picked up a “hot piece she needed to try”. While it is unclear if May truly wanted a relationship with Polly or simply her undivided attention, this is still taken as a betrayal. Polly offers a threesome and still wants to hook up but it is obviously not what May is looking for. The biggest issue all of these characters seem to have is a lack of communication when it comes to romantic relationships. No one is up front or clear. May has so little experience in this area it is no surprise that she doesn't know how or what to ask for. Adam is a very typical 20-something guy who does not seem to want anything serious but also does not know how to tell women that so he ends up stringing them along. Even though he is apparently creeped out by May and makes fun of her behind her back he still tries talking to her and continues to say that they should hang out or talk. Polly might indeed be polyamerious but does not know how to express this to those she is engaging with. This lack of communication ultimately leads these two characters to their demise.

In a desperate attempt for some human connection May tries to volunteer at a school for blind children in the hopes that she can break through to them and do some good. But things take a dark turn when she tries to introduce them to her doll whose case is smashed in the process. Even the children cannot connect with poor May. By the time we get to the climax of the film all of the mistreatment leads May to realize she needs to use her talents to make a true friend. She realizes all of these people in her life are made up of perfect parts but no one is truly perfect. So she takes the most perfect parts of all these undeserving people and embarks on a journey to making her own friend. Once she is resigned to this task her whole demeanor changes, she is more collected and confident. She no longer seems to care if these people do not accept her so she does not have to act meek or shy around them. Honestly, becoming a murderer is very good for her complexion.

She becomes a female Frankenstien, and she doesn't need to have any sort of science training in the background, she just has a talent for sewing. There are no levers, switches, or electrical storms, just her own determination and a sacrifice on her part, helps her create the friend she is actually looking for. Even the purity of her cause makes her sympathetic. While the male Frankenstein wants to know what it feels like to be god she just wants to know what human connection feels like. It ultimately makes her an interesting hybrid of the scientist and the monster.

This is an interesting film in that the woman who is the killer is humanized so much. So far in the serious we have seen the femme fatale archetype; the cold faced bitch who is devoid of much feminity. We have also discussed the “crazy, hysterical” archetype. As this series progresses I expect to find many characters similar to these two archetypes, but I foresee very few “Mays”. She does not seem crazy when she sets her mind to murder, she is calm and collected but not so much so that she seems devoid of humanity or a personality. I expect this is very much an outlier so I look forward to the challenge of finding more diversity in the female killer type.