Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Reckoning, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Guilt and Legacy
Morality, Survival, and Perspective
Sexuality and Shame
Body Image and Publicity
Indifference vs. Feeling
Summary
Analysis
After years of working on Fast Forward, Magda wants something different. Soon after she leaves, she is sent a script for the charming, bucolic movie: Babe, co-written by George Miller, the creator of Mad Max. When Magda arrives for the read-through of Babe, she sees the beginnings of CGI mechanics in the studio. When Miller wrote the film, it required technology that did not yet exist. Thought too young to play Esme Hoggett alongside Jamie Cromwell, Magda is asked to voice the dog, Fly; but Magda is so eager to play Esme—who resembles Margaret and Meg—that she gets the part.
Magda Szubanski’s international renown is due primarily to her role in Babe. The fact that the author does not mention this until now suggests that this role is not integral to her as a person, despite what the public might believe. In fact, themes of legacy and mental health are at the heart of all details about Magda’s acting career. This suggests that personal trials are always at the basis of public success—a fact which can be easily forgotten in the case of public figures.
Themes
The filming for Babe takes place in a small village in New South Wales. To Magda, who has just gone through a breakup, the bucolic beauty of the setting and the fairytale house will be healing. On set, there is a barn full of animals, including all the 48 Babes who appear in the final film. The set is populated with trainers who are later erased from the scenes. Each scene is bathed in golden light to create a nostalgic effect. Working on Babe, Magda has her first acting challenge: when Babe wins over Mrs. Hoggett, Mrs. Hoggett bursts into tears. Luckily, Magda’s recent break-up has put her in a vulnerable state, making it easy to cry on command.
Magda provides information about the making of Babe that a viewer may not have known from seeing the movie. The use of multiple pigs for the role of Babe and the manipulation of the lighting clues the reader into all that’s involved in making a movie.
Themes
After filming Babe, Magda goes to LA for the press conference. As the publicist drives her through the city, Magda exclaims at how LA looks like a giant Croydon. After the press conference, Magda returns to LA with her agent, Hilary, for meetings with Hollywood agencies; several executives turn Magda down, telling her to stay in Australia. Two men at an agency commend Magda’s humor, but they are disingenuous; under pretense of talking business, they slyly try to poach Hilary’s list of Australian director clients. To Magda’s admiration, Hilary deflects. The ruthless atmosphere of Hollywood unnerves Magda.
Hollywood both underwhelms and overwhelms Magda. On the one hand, Los Angeles looks like her hometown. On the other, Hollywood is a fast-paced and business-oriented place, and money seems to take precedence over talent there. Far from being interested in exciting projects for the sake of the projects themselves, the executives are only interested in meeting famous directors. This heartless approach does not appeal to Magda, who has a deeper connection to acting.
Themes
Changing tactics, Magda and Hilary arrange meetings with comic agencies. After one meeting, Magda gets an emotionless voicemail from a director, praising her humor and sending her to Bernie Brillstein, the founder of Saturday Night Live. Magda clicks with Bernie; soon there is talk of a new show built around her, requiring her to relocate to LA for six years.
Magda’s opportunity in Hollywood arises when she strikes a connection with the founder of Saturday Night Live. This is in contrast to how the majority of Hollywood seems to work: executives poking around for famous names.
Themes
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A few days later, Magda’s manager at Bernie’s agency takes her to lunch at a fancy restaurant. The manager points to a blonde woman a table over—the “richest woman in the world”—and describes her lavish parties and the influence she has over the world. As Magda think longingly of this woman’s “safe harbor,” the manager points out the woman’s security, hired after her son had been kidnapped. Suddenly pitying, Magda thinks how “Warsaw is everywhere,” no matter how rich a person is. Changing the subject, the manager says that Magda has the potential to be a major star. Magda giggles. The two pillars of her existence—her sexuality and her work—are so at odds that the idea of success as an actor is absurd.
Magda is torn between wanting fame and feeling that fame doesn’t align with her personality. She wants the safety of fame, but she recognizes that it is just an appearance that hides the trouble that happens to everyone indiscriminately. What is more, Magda cannot conceive of herself as famous. In fact, the idea makes her laugh. She has always thought of herself as different; what is more, the world does not accept lesbians. Therefore, any fame she accrued would seem to her like a blatant mistake and would require her to be someone she is not.
Themes
Looking at “the richest woman in the world,” Magda stops laughing; making it in Hollywood feels like climbing Everest without oxygen. Magda’s manger mentions Ellen DeGeneres, whom the public assumes and accepts is gay (in 1997 when Ellen comes out, however, she is publicly shunned for three years). Despite her manager’s assurance, Magda puts an end to this opportunity of becoming a Hollywood star.
Ultimately, Magda abandons Hollywood out of fear. At the time, Ellen DeGeneres had not yet come out, but the fact that she does and is shunned a few years later suggests that Magda narrowly escaped a similar fate. If Magda had continued to work in Hollywood, she might have ended up in DeGeneres’s shoes.
Themes
Soon after she returns to Australia from LA, Peter visits Magda. To Magda’s surprise, Peter comes not at Margaret’s bidding, but of his own volition. As Magda serves tea, Peter asks what is holding Magda back. Flustered by his tenderness, Magda deflects. Peter asks what Magda fears. Privately, Magda is struck by Peter’s perceptiveness. Hollywood had showed her something in herself that she feared, and she felt that if she stayed there, the chasm between her real and false selves would widen. Tears fill her eyes, but Magda insists to Peter that she is fine. Peter says that Magda can do anything she desires. Magda wonders how things would have been different if Peter had said this to her earlier.
Peter’s absence from the last few chapters created the sense that he had stopped talking to Magda because she had chosen a career path other than the one he wanted for her. Therefore, Peter’s suddenly caring gesture comes as a surprise. Unprecedented for Peter’s character, such a gesture suggests that Peter has regained some emotional sensitivity. Furthermore, the scene suggests that Peter’s disdain of fear stems from the fact that fear prevents a person from accomplishing the greatness they are capable of.
Themes
