The development of Phryne Fisher

Bort ifrån en stad nå'nstans i Sverige flyr en kvinna.  

Hon har flytt så många gånger förr  

Varje gång är det svårt

Varje gång hon blir bortdriven,

Stänger hon en inre dörr. 

Och där bakom dörren skapar hon sin egen himmel

Svarta silhuetter emot skyn

De är där, hennes folk

Det är vännerna som träder fram 

För hennes inre syn

Svarta silhuetter

Tusen och en nätter

Allt går om och om igen

Skuggorna är långa

Drömmarna så många

Långt ifrån och länge sen

(Away from a town somewhere in Sweden a woman runs. She has fled so many times before. Every time it is hard. Every time she gets driven away, she closes an inner door. And there behind the door she creates her own heaven, black silhouettes against the sky. They are there, her people. It is the friends who appear before her inner sight. Black silhouettes. One thousands and one nights. The shadows are long. The dreams are many. Far away and long ago.)

 ~ Svarta silhuetter, Hjälp sökes; 

Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson

 

The lyrics above is an extract from the song Svarta silhuetter (Black Silhouettes - a link to Sofia Pekkari singing the song can be found here) from the musical Hjälp sökes (Help wanted) written by Swedish writer Kristina Lugn and with music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from ABBA. I had not heard about it until recently, but I will save that story for another entry. The second verse of Svarta silhuetter had me thinking about Phryne Fisher and I realised it is about time that I made an update of the entry I made about 14 months ago as sort of the start up to this blog. After that I have discussed her character a few times, not least in the entries about Blood and Circuses and now it is time to discuss her a little bit more. There are some differences between Phryne's book and television persona and this entry will focus entirely on the TV version. I have not finished all the books yet and TV-Phryne is therefore the one I know best.

A plotline created for the TV show is that Phryne has a little sister called Jane who got kidnapped and murdered by Murdoch Foyle when they were children. He has never confessed to the kidnapping and the only reason why he is in jail is because of a failed kidnapping attempt on another girl. The main reason why she returns to Melbourne is to prevent him from getting out of jail and this is the overarching plotline of the first season.

Jack: "That wouldn't have anything to do with you barging in there like a freight train, would it?"
Phryne: "I was a charming freight train."

~ Death by Miss Adventures

Phryne is not exactly open about her past, neither does she seem to reflect to much upon either that or the future. Her hedonistic, adventurous side makes her live in the here and now and also from time to time a little bit careless of other people's feelings. Especially Detective Inspector Jack Robinson's who calls her a freight train in Death by Miss Adventures. Phryne does not deny this either, just commenting on the fact that she is a charming one. This indicates that she has self-distance and do realise her flaws.

Phryne grew up in the poor neighbourhood of Collingwood in Melbourne, something that she actually seems pretty proud of. She knows where she is coming from and does not shy away from it. Instead she uses it as a strength both in her professional and personal life.

From what I gather, her father inherited money and a title pretty soon after Jane disappeared when Phryne was still a child. They moved to England and I think this is where Phryne's life "on the run" really started. The move both geographically and socially must have felt like a great relief, but I think Phryne also learned that the easiest way out of situations that demand deeper thoughts and feelings is to flee.

Someone I know's first reaction to Phryne was that she was a shallow female James Bond archetype which is a very common comparison, not least from the author Kerry Greenwood and the producers behind Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Every Cloud Productions. I have talked a lot about how I think this is a degradation of Phryne in previous entries (e.g. here) and also that I think the Astrid Lindgren girls (especially Madicken) is a far better comparison (e.g. here). I will not repeat that argument here (you have to read the linked entries if you want to see my thoughts on the subject), but I have for a while thought about if there is anything to the claim that Phryne is a shallow character.

To be honest, my first instinct was to yell a firm no, but the more I thought about it and also did some rewatches of the series, the more I realised that it is not really true, but there is something to it anyway. Phryne does appear shallow at first glance. From time to time she also seems to make herself appear shallow to get what she wants (mainly from men), which is evident for example in her first meeting with Jack.

In a way, I think the whole first season is about her maturing. I would not say that she grows up, because she is totally capable of taking care of herself like an adult. But the Phryne that steps off the ship in Melbourne in Cocaine Blues is not really a mature woman. This is especially evident in the scene from Murder on the Ballarat train when she hangs out from the end of the train. I cannot see her doing that in season 3.

"I haven't taken anything seriously since 1918"

 ~ Phryne Fisher, The Green Mill Murders

How she handles the war and her relationship with René Dubois also indicates her flighty lifestyle before she returns to Melbourne. I also get the feeling that while obviously meeting a lot of people during that time, she does not really form any deeper connections to those people. They more ressembles "black silhouettes". Of course she has her family and there is Elizabeth "Mac" Macmillan (I get a feeling that we have not really explored their backstory at all on the show really), but no one that she meets on a daily basis. There is another song from Hjälp sökes called Den jag ville vara (The one I wanted to be - sung again by Sofia Pekkari here).



Människan är skapt för att tänja ytterligheter
Bortesta gränsen 
Dömd att för evigt försöka flytta staketen
För existensen

Den jag ville vara
Hon som vågar språnget
Ut i själva livet
Hon som vet att inget är avgjort och givet
Henne ska jag bli
Någonstans i tiden 
Ska den andra kvinnan bli till
Hon är jag om jag vill
Stark och vig tar hon ett språng
Den jag ville vara
Ska jag bli en gång

(Humans are created to stretch the extreme. She who dares the leap out into life itself. She who knows that nothing is decided and given. She's the one I will become. Somewhere in time the other woman will be created. She is I if I want to. Strong and agile she takes a leap. The one I wanted to be, I will become once. )

 ~ Den jag ville vara, Hjälp sökes; 

Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson

When she returns to Melbourne, she almost immediatelly meets pretty much all of the mis-matched group that will form her new family. She does not let them in easily, but she starts caring enough about them so she keeps them close.

Jack tells her at the end of Blood at the Wheel that he will never try to change her, but in a way he already does. I think that is one of the best signs for a healthy relationship of any kind (not just romantically). The people we attach ourselves to, (un)consiously starts to rub off on us. This so we can actually make room for them in our lives. Phryne is probably not used to this attachment. She contiunes to just move along like "a freight train", not realising that she can actually hurt people until she already has. This is especially true when it comes to Jack who, on the other hand, spend pretty much all of his time in reflective mood.

But it is not only the people in Melbourne who has Phryne stop unning. No, the main reason behind her return is because she is more or less forced to meet her past when Murdoch Foyle is about to be let out of prison.

Guido Lupinacci says in Murder and Mozzarella that there is no future in the past. I can see where he means, but as an archaeologist I cannot totally agree. In fact I would say there is lot of future in the past. Not least for Phryne. My motto is that you cannot move forward unless you look backwards. That is really the main reason why I dig downwards. (För att komma framåt måste man se bakåt. Det är därför jag gräver nedåt). This does not mean that you should live in the past. On the contrary, you always need to start from the present. I can go on and on about the the importance of the past for both the present and the future, but that is a topic for another entry.

Phryne's own actions during the first season of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries also go totally against Guido's quote. During the first season she needs not only to face Foyle and Jane's kidnapping/murder, but also René and she comes out of all of it stronger. I find the moment when Phryne reaches out her hand and Jack grabs it at the site where Jane's body has been buried a prof of how much she has evolved throughout the season in regards to having people around. She's not fleeing. She faces her past, present and future all at once. She lets people in. They are not only black silhouettes. They are there to catch her when she falls.