What was happening to Ruby?
In the movie, The Neon Demon (2016), Ruby and her two other friends, Gigi and Sarah
kill Jesse and eat her.
Ruby is in a bath tub full of blood, covered till her neck, after that there's a scene where Ruby lies on the floor naked perpendicular to a big glass window, moonlight slid through the window on her, that's when large amounts of thick blood starts to spread on the floor, necessarily coming out of her genitals, the scene ends with Ruby gently smiling.
What is the meaning of this scene? Is it a reference to any cult classic?
Best Answer
I was at a Q+A with Nicholas Winding Refn last year, where he answered a question about 'the male gaze' which should go some way to answering this, or at least highlighting the directors intentions...
I have no direct transcript, but his words were to the effect of presenting the three girls as a witches coven, with Ruby as their high priestess. The girls initially try to indoctrinate Jesse into their mindset to bring her into the Coven, but realize she is incompatible with their mindset, and are filled with jealousy.
It is purposely ambiguous, but as Ruby is the propagator/leader she could also be the broodmare. The sequence is evocative of a number of horror tropes, but I don't believe it to be referencing a film in particular.
Winding Refn often creates evocative imagery (particularly around genre), but does not necessarily homage individual films.
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Who was the first black girl to go to an all-white school?
On November 14, 1960, at the age of six, Ruby Bridges changed history and became the first African American child to integrate an all-white elementary school in the South. Ruby Nell Bridges was born in Tylertown, Mississippi, on September 8, 1954, the daughter of sharecroppers.What happened Ruby Bridges?
Bridges, now Ruby Bridges Hall, still lives in New Orleans with her husband, Malcolm Hall, and their four sons. After graduating from a desegregated high school, she worked as a travel agent for 15 years and later became a full-time parent.What problems did Ruby Bridges face?
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Answer 2
As Winding Refn explains in many interviews, he threw in the element of horror because he wanted it to be entertaining. Hence the cultish vibes that the film gives outk it is part of an evil fairy tale.
That said, putting literal elements aside, the film also paints the horror of the fashion industry metaphorically. And the real demon is the narcissism.
Eating of Jessie is metaphorical to the industry consuming a naive newcomer who lets success get to her head too quick. And that moonlight scene with Ruby is a depiction of the start of a new cycle where there now will be another newcomer and that person may grow or be evicted like Jesse was. The full moon cycle is periodic, and so is menstruation. Menstruation is also the eviction of the old eggs to make way for new.
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Images: Christina Morillo, Christina Morillo, Erik Karits, Erik Karits