Driving away from Graceland: Eyeliner as a Symbol
“The loss of her innocence is impossible to miss as her eye makeup gets darker and her beehive gets bigger. ”
- Indigo Carter
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla is slowly poetic and intentional as it aims to place Priscilla Presley’s sacrifices front and center. After the recent resurgence of Elvis obsession, it is refreshing to not discount Priscilla and the sacrifices she made for his career. Coppola creates an elegant and meaningful world to tell Priscilla’s story through. From the script, to the makeup and costumes, Priscilla comes to life. When I watched the film, I could not help but to focus on Priscilla’s evolution of makeup looks.
Before Coppola’s film was released, Austin Butler made a huge stride in his career by taking the lead in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. The movie focuses primarily on his fast-paced life and ambitious career, framing Priscilla as a secondary character. In contrast, Priscilla is slower paced, mostly taking place in Graceland, where Priscilla spends most of her time alone, waiting for Elvis to return.
In the film, Priscilla isn’t merely sitting at home and narrating to the audience her deepest thoughts and feelings. Her makeup does the talking. The iconic black winged eyeliner changes in boldness and shape throughout the film. These changes are completely intentional and vital to her character arc. Priscilla Beaulieu was fourteen years old when she met twenty-four-year-old Elvis Presley. The audience watches Priscilla transform from school-girl to a wife and mother. Though Priscilla does not talk much during the film, her transformation is beautifully captured and portrayed through her makeup and hair. The loss of her innocence is impossible to miss as her eye makeup gets darker and her beehive gets bigger.
Despite his influence, Priscilla worked within the limitations he placed on her to create her looks and become a part of 1960s rock ‘n roll royalty. The winged liner she helped popularize has been worn by some of the most iconic women– Audrey Hepburn, Amy Winehouse, and Brigette Bardot, for example. Priscilla learned to use her makeup as a weapon, wielding it to help her feel like she belonged next to Elvis, yearning to feel “grown up,” as she was a child compared to the celebrity women featured next to her husband in the tabloids.
There are moments when the emphasis placed on her makeup becomes worrisome and even saddening in the film. MacNeil says, “Even while giving birth to her and Elvis’s daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968, she insists on wearing lashes—rushing to the bathroom to apply them instead of rushing to the delivery room.” Without saying anything, Priscilla is showing the audience how her physical appearance directly relates to her self-worth. Even in situations where a makeup routine seems like it should be the last thing to think about, like while she is in labor, she still runs to apply it.
Her makeup serves as a symbol of submission to her relationship with Elvis. At the start of the film, Priscilla has light brown hair and bangs, while casually wearing light makeup. She is the picture of an innocent schoolgirl. As her relationship with Elvis continues, she begins to emulate Elvis’s look, with dark hair and black eye makeup. It is obvious that Elvis had a strong influence on his wife. “He thought she looked plain without makeup,” says Jo Ann MacNeil, who oversaw Priscilla’s makeup department. “She never presented herself to him without makeup on. If she was in a little bit of makeup when she came down and he saw her and thought it wasn’t enough, he would send her back upstairs to put more on.”
“He thought she looked plain without makeup. She never presented herself to him without makeup on. If she was in a little bit of makeup when she came down and he saw her and thought it wasn’t enough, he would send her back upstairs to put more on.”
-Jo Ann MacNeil, Priscilla's makeup director, in Time Magazine
The importance she places on makeup is not merely her own doing. For example, in the final scene, when Priscilla leaves Elvis and drives away from Graceland. Her hair is a lighter color, and her makeup is not as dark. It is a silent nod to the way Priscilla found her independence again–by going back to her natural look, Priscilla actively resists Elvis’ power and finds her own.
My favorite films are the ones that feel intentional. Every single choice made in the makeup and hair department of Priscilla communicates something unspoken to the audience– the pressure of looking good robbing a woman’s authenticity.
I think almost everyone can relate to the feeling of losing little bits of themselves and finding them again.
Strike Out,
Indigo Carter
Saint Augustine
Editors: Maya Kayyal, Jessica Giraldo, Emmy Brutnell
Indigo Carter is a writer for Strike Magazine. She is very gay and loves Hello Kitty, A24 Films, poetry, and makeup. You can reach her at indigocarterr@gmail.com or on Instagram @prettypretty.princesss
