The Shape of Water is a gorgeous two-hour allegory . The fish man isn't really a fish man. He's a stand-in for everyone we, as a society, exclude as a curiosity rather than a living, breathing, emoting being. But what's so great about the film is that it doesn't stop there. It weaves in other marginalised groups throughout the film, giving them depth and personhood: the fact that we see Elisa (Sally Hawkins), who is mute, masturbating in the first few minutes of the film, as part of her daily routine on equal footing with boiling an egg, marks her as a sexual being. It's jarring because we're not used to considering disabled people — and especially disabled women — in that light.