A clear difference between Manuel Puig’s novel Kiss of the Spider Woman and its film adaptation is the visual element of the film. This is obviously true with any movie, but it is especially striking when switching between the novel and the film. Puig chooses to only tell Molina and Valentin’s story through dialogue. We must visualize all of their external appearances and actions, as no such descriptions are provided for us. In contrast, film itself is a visual experience, where we have concrete depictions of the two protagonists.
One result of the pronounced appearances of the characters is the outward femininity of Molina. I agree with dannymackisback’s blog, in which he argues that the movie “hyper-feminizes” Molina. Indeed, we see Molina in makeup and feminine outfits. Even his movements and manner of speaking are typically associated with women. These visual elements are left out of Puig’s book, and they offer a different interpretation of the character. In the film, Molina is more easily characterized as “trans.” He comments on his desire to take the physical form of a woman, but you intuit this desire from his outward feminine dress and behavior long before he admits to feeling this way.
The book presents a more ambiguous Molina. As we are not given descriptions of his external presence, we do not immediately associate him with a trans identity. He does, however, refer to himself as a woman continuously. But the question in the book is not: Is Molina transgendered? It is: does Molina believe he is a woman, or does he simply identify with cultural stereotypes for women (such as the need for a “strong man”)? In other words, we grapple with the idea that Molina might be trapped in gender norms in which any “submissive” partner is feminine; he might not, in fact, really believe he is meant to be a woman.
Third World Literature 