Aronofsky’s Noah and the Missing Wives

Of the discrepancies between Darren Aronofsky’s 2014 biblical epic film Noah and Genesis chapters 6-9, the director’s omission of the sons’ wives (Genesis 6:18, 7:13, and 8:15) initiates a series of events in the movie’s plot that darken Noah’s character, explain his mysterious inebriated nudity, and circumvent the cryptic and dangerously controversial curse of Ham. The deviation from biblical text offered in Noah provides an altered view of the flood account. In the text, the Lord commanded Noah to ensure that specific individuals were on board before the flood began, “And I will set up my covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife, and the wives of your sons, with you,” but there are no wives for two of Noah’s sons in the film.

Noah therefore travels to a nearby settlement seeking mates for his offspring, but he is appalled after witnessing fathers trading their daughters for food. Noah’s heart is hardened, and he determines that it must be God’s will for all humanity (including his own descendants) to perish. Because the protagonist believes that his family is spared only to tend animals within the ark, he abandons the search for wives and plans to slaughter any female children born to Shem and Ila. However, Noah’s well-intended homicides are thwarted by his love for the infant twins.

Guilt and shame then plague the patriarch, as he believes that by sparing his infant grandchildren, he has not followed the will of God to end humanity entirely. This deviation provides a much needed explanation behind Noah’s reclusively drunken stupor at the story’s conclusion; he drinks to forget what was done and what was left undone. By altering the cast of characters and plot, the director is able to provide Noah with a previously unknown motivation for his inebriation and nudity. Also impacted by the seemingly unrelated aforementioned textual omissions, the controversial account of Ham’s curse and exile is diffused (Genesis 9:22 – 29). In the film, Ham’s self-imposed exile is in response to his betrayal with Tubal-cain against his father, and not sexual acts. This plot alteration brilliantly removes Ham’s curse and uncomfortable vague textual allusions of rape and castration from the film all together.

The director’s omission of two of the three sons’ wives mentioned in Genesis 6:18, 7:13, and 8:15 change the movie’s plot and allow Noah’s purpose and motivations to be altered and explained. The search for wives initiates Noah’s trip to the settlement (where inhabitants warp his view on humanity), and murderous tendencies arise in an otherwise righteous man. By omitting characters from the film, adding female grandchildren, and hardening Noah’s heart to all of humanity, Aronofsky explains the protagonist’s drunken nakedness at the film’s conclusion and is able to circumvent the cryptic and dangerously controversial curse of Ham.