Puppetry
Throughout the film we see Craig use puppets to express his feelings and desires. We also see how he masterfully takes over Malkovich’s body once inside. Using the puppets and Malkovich Craig is able to express his feelings and get what he wants, but it is never him that is actually getting the recognition when inside Malkovich. It’s important to take note of this, because one can only be fulfilled when they are orchestrating the strings to their own life. Fulfillment will not come by being someone else.
We also see quite clearly that Maxine is orchestrating a puppet show of her own, except it is with real people and she pulls upon their heartstrings. We see this when she hunts down John Malkovich when she knows Lottie is inside, and after a fruitful experience she wants more of Lottie, but only in Malkovich’s body. She rejects Craig, but when she finds out he is a great love in Malkovich’s body she dumps Lottie in favor of what’s good right now. In her grand manipulation she finds that what she felt for Lottie was real now that she is unfulfilled with Craig.
What we see from this is that when we manipulate the hearts of others who we know are vulnerable to us, we risk losing our guidance system and can go completely off course. The danger is that years later we wake up, finding ourselves unhappy and just as lost as the person whose strings we pulled in the first place.
Evolution
Evolution is a theme that is important to note in this film. We meet Elijah, an emotionally stunted monkey that lives with Lottie and Craig. Lottie is an animal lover and works at a pet shop. Craig really has nothing to do with the animals nor Elijah. Of course, apes connect us to the theme of evolution, and when we look closely at the dynamic within in Lottie and Craig’s relationship we see that she is the one working to evolve while he’s looking for a way out.
The evolution of each of the main characters revolves around their experience with John Malkovich. Each time they enter his body they have 15 minutes to experience what it’s like to be him, until they are spit out on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike, which can represent being reborn, as they come out covered in some sort of fluid. Lottie is awakened by her experience, Craig realizes his dream and unfortunately enhances his ego, Dr. Lester is able to live another lifetime and Maxine finds love in the form of Lottie inside of Malkovich.
For all of the characters' evolution, it is worth noting that they may actually have devolved. Does taking over someone else’s life, or throwing your marriage away, or gaining fame and fortune but to never really be seen seem like evolution to you? It’s a moral question to ask, and a quality one I believe Spike Jonze is presenting us here.
Lack of Fulfillment
Lack of fulfillment is a major theme in this film, as it’s a motivating factor for why our main characters continue to go back into John Malkovich. They want to experience the world with someone else’s eyes. And we get the shot of the endless line of people stacked on top of each other in order to experience being someone else.
In a world where we are easily beaten down by the circumstances of our lives, it continues to be natural to compare our lives with others, and to want to have what they have. Unfulfillment drives us to be isolated and disconnected from the world we live in, which is why getting dumped in a ditch outside of the city has such great meaning.
When we are unfulfilled we seek pleasures and allow our feelings to be our guide. And the sensation is magical, but it wears off and we need another fix. This is subtly placed in the film towards the end of the movie when two people fall out of Malkovich onto the ditch at the same time, and Craig asks, “How was it,” and the guy we only see in this scene says, “It was better this time.” We always need more to feel more alive, that is, when we are looking to be alive through the life of someone else.
