Movies & Books: Dorian Gray

I've been wanting to read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde for several years now...I'm not sure what my excuse is! I'm an avid reader and also listen to a lot of audio books, but somehow this one has remained skipped over. My interest in the book was first piqued because one of my kitties, a gorgeous, long-haired gray tabby, was originally named Dorian Gray by his rescuers. (Though he is exceedingly handsome, he's much too laid-back and loving of a guy to have such a fancy name! :) So his name is Tommy, and it suits him to a T, har har.) 

MY Dorian Gray in the middle of a catnap. :)

When we started up the closet narcissist, I wanted to read it and blog about it because of the narcissism of the main character. When we signed up for Netflix a few months ago, I promptly put the old version of the movie and the new one in our queue, and because I wasn't paying attention, the new one arrived before I could read the book or see the old one, but I had to watch it anyway. I must say, I wasn't prepared for the darkness and eroticism in the movie. Not that I'm complainin'! But I thought it was just gonna be a story about a really narcissistic guy. haha And that he was, but his narcissism was more of the dark, dangerous kind because he wanted to stay young and beautiful simply so he could continue his life of indulgence. I'm still going to read the book and watch the original film eventually and see how they all stack up to each other. I've read that this new version is much darker than those. 


My husband fell asleep during the movie (he does this during almost every movie), and I had really wanted to have a deep conversation about whether men or women handle narcissism better. haha And no, I don't mean narcissism to the extent this movie takes it...more like "our brand" of narcissism (which you know is kinda tongue-in-cheek to begin with) or more so. Men and their stereotypical egos, on the surface, seem not to handle being extremely good looking (and knowing it) as well as women do. Makes me think of the scrumptious Christian in Nip/Tuck. Of course, there are some pretty bitchy, beautiful women too. Adding this in after the fact so as to give more detail behind what I mean... The whole time I was watching the movie, I kept thinking that a woman wouldn't sink to the same depths as he did for the sake of vanity, youth, and living it up without consequence...but I'm not sure what my basis is for thinking that, really, and it may be nothing more than a stereotype. It just seems like more women can be beautiful and still be sweet, whereas more men (but NOT all) who are hot are much too aware of it and are jerks you can't trust. Oh, wait, maybe this is just because I'm jaded! hahaha It seems like most women can always find SOME fault with themselves, though, which is enough to keep them more humble. Do you know what I mean?

hehe

So what do you all think?


Do men and women handle narcissism (or just simply knowing they're hot) differently, and if so, which gender handles it better? 


And if anyone's seen the movie/s or read the book, feel free to pipe in on those too!