Dorian & Basil (+Henry) | Traitor

#fanvidfeed #doriangray

'Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry, what the world thinks me; Dorian is what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps.' - Oscar Wilde

I don't know if you noticed but I normally start my video description with a quote from the movie. This time however I chose this quote from Wilde about The Portrait of Dorian Gray (I found it in the preface of a version and it now lives in my head rent free). Honestly, this explains so much and it confirms that this is Basil's story as much as it is Dorian's. And that Harry not only managed to corrupt Dorian, but he had a big part in Basil's death. In a metaphorical sense I think that it is also meant the conflict between the artist (Basil) art itself (Dorian) and society (Henry). Ultimately art and society were a distructive combination, so the ending was inevitable.

Back to the movie. I know many people critique this adaptation cause it's not 100% accurate, and there are some things that really bug me as well, but I think it embodies the main ideas and atmosphere of the book so well that I don't know if it matters. Sure it's not good if you haven't read the book and think it would help you pass your English exam..(.not that I ever did that and failed... cries in former Letters student don't do that anyway, unless you don't have a choice) but it's a great adaptation nonetheless. While it takes some things out of context it also adds things that I think Wilde would approve (ex: the scene where Henry confronts Dorian never happened in the book, that I think adds a finality to Dorian and Henry's story, or the fact that Dorian/Basil are more than they were in the book, cause let's be honest, Wilde would have wrote that if this wasn't a Victorian novel... I mean the original story was censored for FAR less...; and there are some other examples). Also the cast is perfect. Ben Barnes IS Dorian Gray, Ben Chaplin really resembles Wilde and Colin Firth could convince me to do anything too lol. No, but joke aside-he is very convincing as Henry, I sometimes forget it's not actually him.

As for the video. I didn't plan this honestly. I actually meant to make one video for Dorian/Basil and one for Dorian/Henry (and I have a character study video for Dorian in the making), but I listened to this song and I kept thinking how much it suits the story, but from Basil's pov. So even the parts with Henry are from Basil' perspective. I read the book two times, watched the movie and edited 3 videos so far and I still wish that the scene in attic would end differently up until Dorian kills Basil. I know Basil had it bad but Dorian was actually the worst thing that could happen to him. Yet I get why he could never walk away properly.

Fandom: Dorian Gray
Coloring & editing: mine
Song: Traitor (cover by Josh Rabenold)

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I do not own any material used in this video. All copyrights go to respectful owners. (c) I don't own anything just the editing