It Came from Cold War America, Chapter 7: Altered human movies

Paragraaf 7.1: Definite subgenre

Zoals eerder gezegd wordt het altered human subgenre meestal niet als apart herkend. Vaak wordt het onder andere subgenres geschaard, voornamelijk het terrestrial creature genre. Of het wordt niet als sciencefiction herkend, maar als horror getypeerd. Hoewel dit te rechtvaardigen valt is er naar mijn mening wel degelijk sprake van een apart subgenre, dat thema’s aansnijdt die sporadisch in andere subgenres aan bod komen, maar hier doorslaggevend zijn.

Centraal in dit subgenre staat de transformatie van een gewoon mens in een vervorming van menselijkheid, vaak gemengd met niet menselijke eigenschappen. Hierbij verliest de getransformeerde in kwestie langzaamaan zijn menselijkheid, hetzij omdat zijn niet menselijke eigenschappen hem op een negatieve manier overnemen (‘the eruption of the primitive, the return of the repressed unconsciousness’, stelt Biskind¹), hetzij omdat de intolerantie van zijn voormalige medemens hem hiertoe drijft. De getransformeerde houdt de sympathie van het publiek, dat zich door filmische technieken in de narratie met hem/haar identificeert, totdat hij/zij/het door negatieve daden (moord en doodslag) deze sympathie verspeelt, en het gerechtvaardigd is het onschadelijk te maken aangezien het een bedreiging voor de samenleving vormt².

In dit subgenre komen enkele thema’s prominent naar voren. Ten eerste kijkt het naar de intolerantie en angst voor mensen die zich niet conformeren naar de destijds heersende normen. In de jaren vijftig, toen paranoia dankzij de angst voor het communisme alom heerste, werd er vaak met argwaan gekeken naar (potentiële) andersdenkenden die Amerikaanse normen en waarden zouden kunnen ondermijnen. De heksenjacht op communisten die senator McCarthy voerde is hiervan een goed voorbeeld. De personages die in de films uit dit subgenre getransformeerd worden, werden doorgaans gewantrouwd en beschouwd als een gevaar voor de maatschappij dat uitgeschakeld moet worden, desnoods met geweld.

Een tweede thema wat belangrijk is voor dit subgenre is hoogmoed. Meestal bestaat deze uit wetenschappelijke overmoed, waarbij een wetenschapper een briljante uitvinding doet teneinde de mensheid te helpen, maar door bijkomende consequenties de tol betaalt voor zijn hoogmoed: wat vaak aangeduid wordt als playing God. Dit thema is ook aan te treffen in het terrestrial creature subgenre, waarin wetenschappelijke vooruitgang zich in de vorm van monsters tegen de mensheid keert. Het altered human subgenre pakt het echter kleinschaliger aan: in dit subgenre is hoofdzakelijk het individu (bijna altijd de persoon die voor God speelde zelf) de klos, ongeacht het gevaar dat hij voor zijn directe omgeving vormt, terwijl in het terrestrial creature subgenre de mensheid als geheel gestraft wordt voor haar vertrouwen in de wetenschap en het tarten van de natuur.

Wat houdt ‘altered human’ precies in? Simpel gezegd komt het erop neer dat mensen veranderen in iets abnormaals of grotesks. Vaak zijn het veranderingen in schaal, waarbij personen heel groot (zoals in The Amazing Colossal Man (USA: Bert I. Gordon, 1957)), of heel klein (zoals in The Incredible Shrinking Man (USA: Jack Arnold, 1957)) worden. Dit zijn bijna altijd de consequenties van mutaties veroorzaakt door atoomproeven. De meeste andere transformaties komen voort uit fictieve wetenschap. De veranderingen die hierbij optreden zijn meestal ernstige verminkingen (zoals in Tarantula³) of kruisingen tussen mensen en dieren. Gedacht kan worden aan The Fly (USA: Kurt Neumann, 1958), waarbij de protagonist gekruist wordt met een vlieg (zie ook casestudy 3).

Dit subgenre heeft een minder vast omlijnde narratieve formule dan de andere subgenres. Het komt er in principe op neer dat mensen (meestal de protagonisten) transformeren door uit de hand gelopen of mislukte wetenschappelijke experimenten, waarna zij een gevaar vormen voor hun naaste omgeving – met name hun vriendinnen of echtgenotes – waarop zij ten onder gaan. De precieze invulling is echter niet perse gebonden aan een vaste narratieve formule. Desondanks kan dit subgenre nog sterker dan het terrestrial creature genre geschaard worden onder Lucanio’s Prometheustekst⁴. Ook in dit subgenre draait het om de straf die men opgelegd krijgt door in een vlaag van wetenschappelijke hoogmoed in te grijpen in natuurlijke processen, ondanks goede bedoelingen.

De reden dat altered human films vaak geschaard worden onder het terrestrial creature subgenre schuilt in het feit dat de meeste protagonisten na hun transformatie tot monsters of on-menselijke wezens verworden. Zij verliezen hun menselijkheid en vormen een bedreiging voor de samenleving. Op dit punt komt dit subgenre op narratief gebied overeen met films uit het terrestrial creature genre: de plot draait er in beide subgenres om de bedreiging weg te nemen zodat normaliteit hervat kan worden.

Doordat de protagonisten na hun verandering minder menselijke eigenschappen vertonen en monsters worden, wordt dit subgenre vaak gerekend tot het horrorgenre. Op zich is dit niet onlogisch, maar door de sterke rol die wetenschap in dit subgenre speelt is het, toch minstens gedeeltelijk, sciencefiction. Eens te meer zien we hier weer hoe vaag de grenzen tussen beide genres zijn. Praktisch alle films uit dit subgenre zijn overigens gemaakt in de tweede helft van de vijftiger jaren, toen het sciencefictiongenre als geheel richting horror verschoof dankzij het overschot aan goedkoop gemaakte producties die meer gebrand waren op ‘cheap thrills’ dan op serieuze sciencefiction.

 Paragraaf 7.2: Wetenschap in altered human movies

De wetenschap in het altered human subgenre richt zich doorgaans op individuen. Waar het zich in het verwante terrestrial creature subgenre meer concentreerde op wetenschappers in het algemeen, staat in de films uit dit subgenre meestal een enkele wetenschapper centraal. Een narratief thema dat het meest frequent voorkomt in dit subgenre betreft de eenzame wetenschapper die in afzondering werkt aan een uitvinding die van groot nut voor de mensheid zal zijn. Niet voor niets is het altered human subgenre het schoolvoorbeeld voor Lucanio’s Prometheustekst: Prometheus was de Titaan uit de Griekse mythologie die het vuur van de goden stal en aan de mensheid gaf voor hun vooruitgang, en hier gruwelijk voor gestraft werd. Het verhaal van veel altered human films komt sterk overeen met deze mythe: ook zij ‘spelen voor God’ om de mensheid te helpen, en raken hierdoor in ernstige problemen. De wetenschappers gaan te ver met hun experimenten en begeven zich daarbij op verboden terrein⁵.

Wetenschap wordt hier op twee uiteenlopende manieren gerepresenteerd. Ten eerste is het een altruïstische bezigheid: de wetenschapper probeert de mensheid te helpen, en riskeert hiervoor zijn leven, zowel in letterlijke als sociale zin. Om ongestoord te werken zondert hij zich af van zijn medemens, en worden zijn relaties met zijn familie en vrienden verstoord. Emoties en een sociaal leven staan de wetenschappelijke vooruitgang slechts in de weg⁶. Een sterk voorbeeld is hier The Fly, waarin de wetenschapper gelukkig getrouwd is, maar door zijn obsessie voor zijn werk zijn gezin verwaarloost. Hij sluit zich op in zijn kelder en vertelt zijn vrouw haast niets van zijn werk. Een solitair leven is een offer voor de wetenschap, evenals de mogelijkheid dat experimenten uit de hand lopen. In een poging contributies te leveren aan menselijke vooruitgang, en daarvoor henzelf als proefkonijnen te gebruiken, hebben de wetenschappers in dit subgenre de pech hun experiment te zien mislukken en hen te doen transformeren⁷.

Ten tweede is wetenschap vaak ook een trotse aangelegenheid, vervuld van hoogmoed. De wetenschapper gaat zo op in zijn werk dat hij zich onkwetsbaar en superieur waant. Hierop sluit het ‘playing God’ thema aan: de wetenschapper schept technologie die voor zijn medemens meer weg heeft van magie of krachten waarmee alleen God zich bezig mag houden. Vaak wordt de wetenschapper door zijn naasten gewaarschuwd voor de consequenties van zijn obsessie, maar hoont hij het weg in de naam van de oppermachtige vooruitgang waarvoor alles geoorloofd is. Deze hoogmoed komt ernstig voor de val als de uitvinding zich tegen de wetenschapper keert en hij getransformeerd wordt. Uiteindelijk wordt de wetenschapper door zijn transformatie (en dus door zijn eigen werk) vernietigd.

Zoals gezegd kan de transformatie verschillende vormen aannemen. Een frequent thema, opnieuw verwant aan het terrestrial creature subgenre, betreft de versmelting van de mens met het dier, of de versterking van zijn dierlijke kant. In dit thema herkennen we een binaire oppositie die aansluit op het beeld van de wetenschap als rationele, emotieloze zaak. De wetenschapper, die eerst zijn werk boven alles stelde en zich daarvoor de geneugtes van het leven ontbeerde, wordt in zijn transformatie onderworpen aan zijn primitieve, emotionele kant; hij verliest zijn mogelijkheid tot rede of rationaliteit en transformeert terug naar het terrein van de natuur, gekenmerkt door basis-emoties en een dierlijke kant. Ook hier kan The Fly als voorbeeld genoemd worden, samen met onder andere War of the Colossal Beast (USA: Bert I. Gordon, 1958) en Monster on the Campus (USA: Jack Arnold, 1958).

Hoewel bovenstaande narratieve formules en thema’s het meest typerend zijn voor het altered human subgenre, is er een grote diversiteit binnen dit subgenre: veel films wijken af van bovenstaande patronen, en slaan een eigen weg in. Opvallend is hierbij dat deel van het subgenre waarin de transformaties veroorzaakt worden door atoomproeven. Deze films schaar ik onder dit subgenre, maar vertonen op narratief gebied meer overeenkomsten met het terrestrial creature subgenre. Exemplarisch zijn hiervoor The Amazing Colossal Man en The Incredible Shrinking Man. In de eerste wordt een militair door blootstelling aan atoomstraling enorm groot, en daardoor een bedreiging voor zijn omgeving. In dit geval lijkt hij zelf een terrestrial creature. In de tweede film wordt de protagonist enorm klein, waardoor wezens uit zijn omgeving (een kat, een spin) terrestrial creatures lijken: het is een omgekeerde versie van de standaardformule van dat subgenre.

De rol die wetenschap in zulke variaties op het altered human subgenre speelt vertoont sterke overeenkomsten met de rol van wetenschap in het terrestrial creature subgenre. Maar in dit geval valt wetenschap de menselijke natuur aan. De getransformeerde mens wordt hier ‘the Other’: hij wordt de andersdenkende of degene die er anders uitziet dan de rest, waardoor hij geschuwd wordt. Voor hem is in deze conformistische maatschappij geen plaats, en dat laat zij merken. Hij zal moeten verdwijnen, ook al is het niet zijn schuld. De wetenschap kan hem niet helpen zijn voormalige plaats in de samenleving te herwinnen, ook al is zij verantwoordelijk voor zijn transformatie. In deze variatie op het subgenre neemt de wetenschap aanzienlijk minder verantwoordelijkheid.

Casestudy 3: The Fly

The Fly voldoet aan Lucanio’s definitie van de Prometheustekst, en richt zich op een enkele wetenschapper, André (David Hedison), die werkt aan een revolutionaire uitvinding die de wereld kan veranderen. In tegenstelling tot de meer sobere en kalme scientist heroes uit de voorgaande casestudies is André meer emotioneel en gevoelsmatig, en laat hij zich leiden door intuïtie en impulsiviteit in plaats van slechts rationaliteit en analyse. Waar de scientist heroes uit de eerder geanalyseerde films samenwerkten met collegae en getrouwd waren met hun werk, werkt André alleen in de kelder van zijn huis, waar hij woont met zijn vrouw, Helene (Patricia Owens) en zoon Philippe. Zo is hij identificeerbaar voor het publiek, ongeacht zijn merkwaardige experimenten; ondanks zijn intellectuele capaciteiten staat hij niet boven het simpele geluk dat het gezinsleven met zich meebrengt. Hij geeft veel om zijn gezin, en is niet star en emotieloos zoals de wetenschappers in de voorgaande casestudies. Hij droomt van de positieve veranderingen die zijn uitvinding kan veroorzaken, waardoor hij het gevaar niet ziet, of niet wil zien. In plaats van eerst voorzichtig en analytisch zijn apparaat te testen, neemt hij risico’s omdat hij overtuigd is dat zijn werk onfeilbaar is, met noodlottige consequenties. Als hij in een impulsieve roes van tevredenheid over zijn apparaat de kat van zijn zoon opoffert voor zijn experimenten, wordt hij geplaagd door schuld en schaamte. De wetenschappers in de klassieke tekst zouden nooit zo onvoorzichtig te werk zijn gegaan: zij zouden hun machine eerst uitgebreid getest hebben totdat zij zeker waren van de mogelijkheden van het apparaat. Bovendien werken zij niet alleen: zij gebruiken hun collegae voor verificatie, uitwisseling van ideeën en second opinions. André werkt alleen: zijn uitvinding is te bijzonder voor andere wetenschappers. Opnieuw toont hij zo overmoed.

De uitvinding in kwestie is een matter transfer machine, een apparaat dat dingen van de ene naar de andere plaats kan transporteren door hun atomen uit elkaar te plukken en weer te samen te voegen. De uitvinding kan een ware revolutie in transport ontketenen: vliegtuigen, auto’s, treinen zouden allemaal nutteloos worden, reizen is niet meer nodig. André ziet slechts de positieve kanten van zijn apparaat, maar zijn vrouw herinnert hem eraan dat het ook gevaarlijk kan zijn:

Helene: ‘It’s frightening. It’s like playing God.’

André: ‘God gives us intelligence to uncover the wonders of nature. Without that gift nothing is possible.’

Helene: ‘Oh André, I get so scared sometimes. The suddenness of our age; electronics, rockets, earth satellites, supersonic flight. And now this. It’s not so much who invents them, it’s the fact that they exist.’

André: ‘But you’re not frightened of TV, or radio, or X-rays, or electricity, or that the Earth is round.’

Helene: ‘No, but everything’s going so fast, I’m just not ready to take it all in. It’s all so quick!’

André: ‘Just do like Philippe does; accept them as part of our normal life. They’re facts, wonderful facts.’ ⁸

Helene heeft gelijk wanneer ze zegt dat het allemaal zo snel gaat: in de jaren veertig en vijftig deden talloze nieuwe apparaten hun intrede in de samenleving, waar men in korte tijd aan moest wennen. Hoewel veel van deze uitvindingen het leven aangenamer maakten, waren er ook nieuwe apparaten die juist een bedreiging vormden voor het leven zoals men dat kende, waaronder de atoombom. Door deze hoeveelheid aan nieuwe machines werd de maatschappij in korte tijd ingrijpend veranderd, wat bij menigeen, vooral de oudere generaties, een gevoel van onbehagen en taboe teweeg bracht. Niet iedereen kon zo snel wennen aan alle nieuwigheden⁹.

André negeert Helene’s waarschuwingen en doet ze af als onwetendheid. Dit is typisch voor het altered human subgenre: in praktisch alle films die spelen met het playing God thema wordt de scientist hero door zijn naaste omgeving (familie, vrienden, collegae die minder onorthodox (of minder overmoedig) werken) gewaarschuwd voor zijn praktijken, maar negeert hij ze in naam van de onvermijdelijke vooruitgang: als hij het niet doet, doet iemand anders het wel, maar nu krijgt hij de eer. Pas als hij de tol betaalt voor zijn arrogantie ziet hij zijn hoogmoed in, maar dan is het te laat.

André vormt hierop geen uitzondering. Zijn fixatie met het transporteren van organisch materiaal neemt obsessieve vormen aan, voornamelijk door zijn schuldgevoelens om de dood van de kat, die hij in een opwelling van vreugde over zijn eerste positieve resultaten transporteerde (impulsief gedrag is niet atypisch voor wetenschappers in de Prometheustekst), met rampzalige gevolgen¹⁰. Op den duur acht hij zijn machine geschikt voor menselijk transport, maar omdat hij geen andere mensen als proefkonijnen durft te gebruiken test hij het op zichzelf. Evenals in films uit het terrestrial creature subgenre heeft de wetenschapper hier de integriteit verantwoording te nemen voor zijn daden. In dat genre wekten de wetenschappers het monster op, maar deden zij het ook weer teniet. Hier maakt André het apparaat, dus alles wat het aanricht is op zijn rekening te schrijven. Zijn apparaat heeft al een onschuldig wezen het leven gekost. De verantwoordelijkheid en schuld daarvoor drijft hem ertoe niet onzorgvuldig om te gaan met anderen. Het is zijn apparaat, dus hij zal het proefkonijn zijn.

In zijn gespannen toestand merkt hij echter niet dat een vlieg met hem het apparaat is binnengetreden, waardoor zijn materie versmelt met die van de vlieg. Vervolgens wordt hij getransformeerd tot een mens met het hoofd en arm van een vlieg. Zo wordt hij gestraft voor zijn arrogantie. Ook kan gesteld worden dat hij gestraft wordt voor goddeloosheid: niet voor niets zei hij bij de eerste demonstratie voor Helene van zijn apparaat ‘you’re the first to see a miracle’. Aangezien God de enige is die mirakelen kan doen plaatsvinden wordt hij letterlijk berispt voor het spelen van God.

Hoewel hij het hoofd van een vlieg heeft, bezit hij nog wel enigszins het verstand van André. Hier zit geen logica achter, het is zuiver een plot device. In de loop van de film krijgen de dierlijke instincten van de vlieg een steeds grotere controle over hem, en dreigt zijn menselijke kant het onderspit te delven. Praten kan hij niet meer, dus de enige manier om met zijn vrouw te communiceren is te schrijven, maar ook dit gaat hoe langer hoe moeizamer. Hij gedraagt zich steeds wilder en onmenselijker: hij heeft moeite de dierlijke kant van de vlieg onder controle te houden. Met het restant van zijn wetenschappelijke kennis probeert hij koortsachtig een manier te vinden om zijn oorspronkelijke gedaante te herwinnen, maar het mag niet baten. Uiteindelijk beseft hij dat zijn sterker wordende natuurlijke driften een gevaar vormen voor zijn omgeving, en verkiest hij de dood. Hij kan het echter niet meer zelf doen, want zijn dierlijke instinct voor zelfbehoud staat het niet toe. Daarom vraagt hij zijn vrouw hem te vermoorden.

Op dit punt verschilt The Fly van de meeste andere films uit het altered human subgenre: doorgaans nemen de primitieve kanten van de getransformeerde al snel de overhand, waarna hij zijn omgeving terroriseert door dood en verderf te zaaien. Dit geeft de samenleving een reden om haar sympathie voor de getransformeerde opzij te zetten en hem uit te schakelen, om verdere rampspoed te voorkomen. André weet echter dat hij zijn donkere kant niet kan beheersen en verkiest zijn dood zelf te bewerkstelligen in plaats van het onvermijdelijke af te wachten. Mogelijk komt dit door zijn familiebanden die hem doen inzien dat het beter is te sterven dan het leven van zijn gezin te riskeren, hoewel dit speculatie is. Door zijn nobele beslissing behoudt hij tot het bittere einde de sympathie en het medeleven van het publiek¹¹. Hij is niet slechts een gewetenloos primitief creatuur, maar een weldenkend, sympathiek mens gevangen in het lichaam van een primitief creatuur. Ondanks zijn uiterlijk kan de kijker zich zo met hem identificeren en medelijden met hem hebben.

In dit subgenre is wetenschap niet zozeer goed of fout, het draait erom hoe het gebruikt wordt door de wetenschapper. Meestal raakt de wetenschapper overmoedig, wat ertoe leidt dat hij in zijn poging ‘God te spelen’ onoplettend en impulsief wordt, ‘gestraft’ wordt voor zijn gedrag: hierop transformeert hij, waarbij een wezen ontstaat dat voornamelijk gedreven wordt door instinct en emotie: de wetenschappelijke rede die hij (of wetenschap in het algemeen) zo koesterde is dan niet meer. Ook in The Fly is dit het geval. Zoals André in bovenstaande conversatie met zijn vrouw opmerkt kan wetenschappelijke vooruitgang ook tot goede dingen leiden. Hij had goede intenties met zijn uitvinding, maar zijn overmoed zorgde voor ongeluk. Zo illustreert The Fly dat wetenschappers voorzichtig moeten zijn met technologische vooruitgang en niet teveel trots in hun capaciteiten moeten hebben, maar bedachtzaam en nederig te werk moeten gaan. Ze moeten zich niet slechts afvragen of hun dromen van revolutionaire uitvindingen, hoe positief ook, te realiseren zijn; ze moeten ook kijken naar de mogelijke consequenties die hun werk met zich meebrengt.

Conclusie

Het sciencefictiongenre in de vijftiger jaren gaf geenszins een eenzijdig beeld van wetenschap. Wetenschap was niet per definitie iets goeds of iets slechts, maar omvatte beide kanten van de munt. Daarbij werd de weergave van wetenschap in sciencefictionfilms beïnvloed door de tijdsgeest, maar vooral in de eerste helft van de jaren vijftig, aangezien het genre toen een serieuzere toon hanteerde: in de tweede helft van het decennium verschoof het genre richting horror en werd wetenschap voornamelijk een manier om een goedkoop horrorverhaal voort te stuwen, waardoor het genre minder een boodschap leverde en zich meer richtte op amusement.

De representatie van wetenschap was doorgaans afhankelijk van de politieke invalshoek die de makers hanteerden: in de left-wing films werd wetenschap voornamelijk beschouwd als onfeilbaar en een en al rationaliteit en tolerantie. Wetenschappers in deze films werden gezien als een bron van vooruitgang en vrede die technologie ten goede gebruikten. In de right-wing films had wetenschap een schaduwkant: wetenschappers hadden goede bedoelingen, maar wisten niet altijd hoe ze wetenschap correct moesten gebruiken, vaak met nare consequenties. Wetenschappers in right-wing films konden net zo goed als iedereen fouten maken. Maar in geen van beide perspectieven was wetenschap zuiver een bron van kwaad of had het negatieve intenties. In beide perspectieven stonden wetenschappers echter klaar om in harmonie met het militaire apparaat de maatschappij tegen indringers te beschermen.

Belangrijk is de manier waarop wetenschappers zelf geportretteerd werden. Het beeld dat het genre in deze tijd gaf van wetenschappers was overwegend positief. Hoewel wetenschappers soms ernstige inschattingsfouten maakten hadden ze vrijwel altijd goede bedoelingen. Via wetenschap wilden zij het kennispeil en de levensstandaard van de mensheid verhogen, of de mensheid beschermen tegen kwaadwillende elementen. Vaak gingen zij te ver in hun poging de mensheid van dienst te zijn, maar achteraf gezien realiseerden zij zich dit zelf ook. Deze representatie van wetenschappers verschilt niet zoveel per subgenre, hoewel de wetenschappers in het alien invasion genre minder te maken kregen met schuldgevoelens achteraf, aangezien zij nooit verantwoordelijk waren voor de ontstane situatie. De wetenschappers in de terrestrial creature en altered human genres, bij wie de schuld wel gelegd kon worden door hun uit de hand gelopen experimenten, leerden echter een belangrijke les die hen zou weerhouden van verdere fouten: ze dienden meer te letten op ethische en morele kwesties die op hun werk van toepassing waren, en hun werk met nederigheid en zonder overmoed te doen.

De donkere kanten van wetenschap, die meestal representatief waren voor destijds heersende zaken (zoals het gevaar van atoomenergie, de technologische capaciteiten van een mogelijk vijandige natie en het ongebreidelde vertrouwen in onvermijdelijke vooruitgang) kwamen sterk naar voren in de verschillende subgenres. Buitenaardse wezens die een hoog ontwikkelde wetenschap hadden en deze ten goede of ten kwade gebruikten, enorme monsters voortgebracht door atoomenergie, of mensen vervormd door verkeerd ingeschat technologisch potentieel leverden cinema met een boodschap op. Over het algemeen kan geconcludeerd worden dat wetenschap niet goed of slecht is, maar dat het er om gaat hoe het gebruikt wordt. Wetenschap die met zorg en nederigheid bedreven wordt kan veel goeds betekenen voor de mensheid. Wetenschap die zonder ethiek en met overmoed wordt ingezet kan echter fatale consequenties hebben. Het sciencefictiongenre in de vijftiger jaren (en meestal ook nu nog) toonde de kijker beide mogelijkheden, waardoor deze geen eenzijdig beeld van wetenschap voorgeschoteld kreeg.

Bibliografie

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http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0130103-102538/

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1 Biskind 1983: 119

2 Sobchack 1980: 52

3 Tarantula wordt gerekend tot het terrestrial creature genre vanwege het titelfiguur, de spin die na wetenschappelijke experimenten uitgroeit tot onnatuurlijke proporties. Desondanks kan het ook gedeeltelijk gerekend worden tot het altered human subgenre: de eerste helft van de film concentreert zich op enkele wetenschappers die na op zichzelf geëxperimenteerd te hebben ernstig verminkt raken en hun verstand verliezen, en zo een gevaar voor de samenleving vormen.

4 Lucanio 1987: 46-52

5 Lucanio 1987: 90

6 Vieth 2001: 149

7 Tudor 1989: 145

8 Fly, The. Reg. Kurt Neumann. 20^th Century Fox, 1958.

9 Vieth 2001: 158

10 Katovich en Kinkade 1993: 630

11 Tudor 1989: 144

Wes Anderson's kids are allright

Moonrise Kingdom: ****/*****, or 8/10

And so Wes Anderson, that overly creative director of delightful family comedy drama, returns to live action filming after having taken a short break from it in favour of proving his style is equally charming when applied to stop motion animation, which resulted in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the classic children's novel by Roald Dahl. Anderson apparently picked up a thing or two in a narrative sense from the great author, considering the newest addition to his own oeuvre as a distinguished film auteur (his style always instantly recognizable in every scene) like many of Dahl's stories deals with intelligent kids breaking free from the often abusive world of angry adults that simply refuses to understand them, instead restricting their growth processes by incapsulating them in a repressive regime of habits. Whether inspired by Dahl or simply containing thematic similarities by pure coincidence, Moonrise Kingdom is a wonderful hommage to smart children and their first steps towards true self-reliance despite the obstacle that adults usually prove to be.

The stage for Moonrise Kingdom is provided by New Penzance, a fictional New England island like only Wes Andersonland can provide, complete with Native American cultural leftovers, red-and-white coloured lighthouse, ferry and mail plane, plus the addition of existing Rhode Island (where the movie was shot) natural beauty of stunning quality, the bare facts of all this being relayed to the audience by an odd looking old man in a red coat and a silly hat who simply acts as narrator, not as a relevant character otherwise. The year being 1965, it's the perfect spot for a boy scout camp, which is run by part time math teacher Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton, Fight Club) in a tight and strictly organized manner, which makes it all the harder for the man to accept one of his scouts, the pipe smoking orphan boy Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) has gone AWOL. At the same time, the dysfunctional Bishop family is dismayed to discover their little girl Suzy (Kara Hayward) has also made a run for it without their knowledge or permission, upsetting her attorney parents Walt and Laura (Bill Murray, Anderson's go-to-guy – this film marking their sixth collaboration – and newcomer-to-his-work Frances McDormand, of Burn After Reading fame). A search for the pair of runaways is swiftly underway, spearheaded by local police officer Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis, also an Anderson first-timer), a likeable but lonely man who happens to have an affair with Laura. While the search progresses, it becomes blatantly clear the two kids have planned their escape much more effectively than the generally dimwitted adults are seen to conduct their pursuit of them, making for many an hilarious gag in the process as we have come to expect and enjoy from Wes Anderson.

In a flashback we learn Sam and Suzy, both only twelve years of age, met the year before at a local church play, which led to mutual intrigue at first, followed by a pen pal connection and an eventual love relationship, which led them to elope together in order to both escape their incompetent guardians and get married and live in the wilderness. It's a deliciously naive but romantic ploy only the mind of a child could conceive, despite the minds of both kids appearing to be in a better overall condition than those of their grown-up trackers. In fact, it's Scout Master Ward's relentless (and prone to violence) team of boy scouts who locate the runaways first, leading to a surprisingly suggestive moment of aggression and a dead scout mascotte, proving Sam and Suzy are ready to fight for their freedom and their now hard earned right to live alone on a beautiful private beach.

Unfortunately the timing for their escape could have been better, as a devastating hurricane and the resulting flood threatens their island paradise, adding a sense of urgency to the plot. Fortunately for them – or not – the adults find them in time, but by now both Captain Sharp and the boy scouts have come to respect the sensible pair's honest wishes and fully understand their desire to get away from their messed up guardians. Despite the bloody incident earlier between them, in a surprising turn of events the scouts spring both Sam and Suzy from their confinement and relocate them to a church during the now raging storm. Again cornered by the ones they tried to get away from, as well as confronted by a lady from Social Services (Tilda Swinton) – a nameless character simply referred to by everyone, including herself, as 'Social Services', a joke the Dutch subtitling sadly does not pick up – Sam and Suzy again make a now desperate run for it, risking their lives to prove the world their love is real, as is their desire to fight for their independence.

Overall, it's not a complicated plot and a brief synopsis might only make it sound childish, but it's Wes Anderson's approach to things that makes it work as well as it does. As is his usual style, the film is as quirky and colourful as his previous works, making every scene vibrantly appealing and cramped with little details, most of them only visible a brief moment, thus in itself making the film worthy of a second viewing if only to take in all the hidden jokes. Fortunately there's an abundance of not so hard to miss gags as well, both visual and in dialogue, all the actors chipping in to make the jokes as well timed and performed ad they need be. To add to the movie's charm, the film is shot using a 16 mm camera (a first for Anderson), thus enhancing the general 'old movie' feel, making it subconsciously feel more realistically like 1965, which only shows Anderson still isn't afraid to experiment a little bit here and there to discover what works best to convey a style all his own as compellingly as possible. As for experimenting, extra credit is due to him for the fact he dares to explore the blossoming sexual feelings of his two underage main characters, resulting in a 'French kissing' scene in underwear that will undoubtedly make conservative America cringe and whine, but in the context of the scene feels perfectly justified and innocent, as are all the activities he allows this pair, considering the rigid and awkward people they attempt to escape from.

Visual style and experimentation aside, as always it's the actors that make a Wes Anderson movie feel the most like a Wes Anderson movie, utilizing a typical acting style that carefully balances between introvert and emotionally disconnected on the one side and completely over the top on the other. In Moonrise Kingdom's case the greatest accomplishment in this regard comes courtesy of Hayward and Gilman, both completely inexperienced as actors with no previously established acting skills to back them up, yet both delivering a surprisingly successful and engaging performance, making it feel like they've been playing around in Anderson's movies for years. Of course, Bill Murray, who has been doing just that, also succeeds in adding yet another zany character to his repertoire, as does Jason Schwartzmann, whose bit part as an amoral and corrupt Scout leader unfortunately proves all too short. Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Edward Norton fit right in, too, quickly adopting the less emotional and more dysfunctional manner of acting we've grown accustomed too in Anderson's work, despite never having appeared in one of his films before. The weakest link in this star-studded ensemble proves to be Bruce Willis, oddly enough considering his long range of expertise, who, despite portraying Captain Sharp convincingly as a sympathetic but not all too bright character, simply feels both out of place and out of touch in this film, as if not having been able to fully master the acting style required for a Wes Anderson movie. Fortunately this never gets too frustratingly apparent, nor does it ruin any of the scenes he appears in. But no matter how well any of the established actors do in Moonrise Kingdom, its genuine tour-de-force of acting is supplied by the two young main characters who carry the majority of the movie and steal our hearts in the process, making us only hope we'll be hearing more of them in the future.

Moonrise Kingdom could be called a return to form on Wes Anderson's part, a redemption after the wholesomely disappointing The Darjeeling Limited in 2007, were it not that the off-beat Fantastic Mr. Fox, despite being an animated movie, was too blatantly 'Andersonesque' to be deservedly called a deviation from his specific form. As a live action film, his latest release proves a very nice reminder just wat he's capable of, ranking among his best right alongside Rushmore (1998) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), for being both genuinely funny and admittedly adorable to watch, while also containing enough heart and soul to be raised above average comedy. Be they live action or be they animation, Moonrise Kingdom strongly reaffirms the fact Wes Anderson films are always something to truly look forward to.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/moonrisekingdom/

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Charlize Theron is fairer than y'all

Snow White and the Huntsman: ***/*****, or 6/10

Re-imagining fairy tales feminist style seems to be getting all the rage lately. After having young Alice don armour to fight the evil queen in Tim Burton's recent Alice in Wonderland, Snow White now gets to do the exact same thing (courtesy of the same producer, Joe Roth, no doubt). Considering her previous failure as a comedian in Tarsem Singh's Mirror, Mirror only two months ago, applying a more action oriented approach might not have been a bad idea. It obviously sets this Snow White apart from that disappointment. Unfortunately, the resulting Snow White and the Huntsmen still leaves a lot to be desired, and makes it frustratingly clear just how damn subjective the term 'fair' actually is.

Snow White and the Huntsmen does away with the overly feel-good style of both its comedic predecessor and the classic Disney version, instead traveling a grittier, bleaker and definitely gorier road, making it feel more like a Tim Burton or Peter Jackson flick at times. At least first time director Rupert Sanders took hints from his accomplished peers instead of slavishly rehashing the many versions of the Snow White tale that came before. His best card comes in the shape of casting Charlize Theron as the evil queen, in this version named Ravenna instead of just dubbed 'evil queen' as happens more frequently. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Sanders' biggest problem turns out to be Kristen Stewart's performance as Snow White herself, a rather soulless and bland piece of casting that fails to convince the audience to root for her as a brave and inspiring leader of men in their desperate struggle against tyranny. For this is basically what the tale of Snow White has been turned into in this film, a typical fight between good and evil that never leaves the viewer pondering whose side the characters are on since both terms are clearly delineated and leave no room for compromise.

The movie opens with a lengthy but intriguing flashback revealing the series of events that lead to the status quo as it is when the story truly kicks off. For unclear reasons this prologue is narrated by the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth largely reprising his role as Thor, playing an impulsive and stubborn though often foolish but ultimately likeable strongman, but with a Scottish accent this time), who takes no part in this background history himself, probably to give Hemsworth something to do before entering the movie after it has been running for 40 minutes already. The backstory tells of the birth of Snow White in a beautiful kingdom under the happy reign of her wise and beloved mother and father, before it falls into ruin and despair when the queen dies and her husband is tricked into marrying the beautiful Ravenna, only to be murdered by the treacherous wench on his wedding night. When this pretender usurps the throne, young Snow White is swiftly locked away and all those who oppose the new queen's reign are ruthlessly disposed of. The movie does not hesitate at all to portray Ravenna as a vile witch with no sense of good in her at all, while Snow White simply can do no wrong and is eventually heralded a female Messiah for the otherwise nameless fantasy realm the movie takes place in. It's this overly simplistic way of depicting both sides of the coin without any possibility for overlap to the other side from either character that makes Snow White and the Huntsmen loose touch with the older demographics the movie aims for- the film is rated PG-13 in the USA, while it's '12' in the Netherlands – since few people in the audience would ever swallow good and evil are so easily and strictly defined.

At least Charlize Theron got it easy, since her Ravenna is not just a wholesomely despicable person, but also dabbles in the dark arts, thus allowing the accomplished actress (who can currently be seen delivering another stellar performance in Ridley Scott's Prometheus) to have a ball playing this wicked witch, wearing impressive gowns, surrounded by beautiful eerie castle sets and pointy props, going around viciously intimidating and torturing people and poking into bird guts in her spare time. She has good cause for engaging in such naughty behavior, having been used and abused by men since childhood, turning to black magic to ensure her ongoing beauty so she would never be powerless against men again and instead could use them for her own purposes. Thus, the movie gives the queen some much needed character background most other versions of the fairy tale have lacked, making Ravenna initially sympathetic until she does to Snow White what has been done to her. Theron makes no secret she's enjoying the role immensely, and delivers the movie's standout performance, ranging from subtle manipulation of ill-fated prisoners to boldly going over the top when throwing temper-tantrums at her incompetent inferiors who keep messing up her plans for total domination.

Perhaps it's due to the excessive amount of screen time the poor Snow White spends huddled in dark dungeons, wading through sewers or crawling in mud that Kristen Stewart's portrayal pales so much in comparison. Stewart, of Twilight fame, spends most of the movie running for her life from the forces of the queen, ending up in the so-called Dark Forest, a generally unpleasant place filled with creepy crawlies, damp fog and the like, a place from which only one man has ever returned. And so Ravenna tasks this man, the nameless Huntsman of the title, to track the renegade royalty, since it conveniently occurred she happened to escape on the very day the queen found out she had to consume the girl's heart to gain eternal beauty and immortality, after having locked her away for ten years without ever taking the time to decide what to actually do with her. The Huntsman reluctantly agrees to pursue the runaway in the exchange for the resurrection of his dead wife by the queen, something both parties fully realize isn't gonna happen at all.

Warning! Here be spoilers! When the Huntsman locates Snow White after about a five minute search, Stewart finally gets someone to play off against, but again fails to prove her worth as an actress, instead delivering a fairly uncompelling performance against Hemsworth's more agreeable portrayal of a man who lived a shallow life due to lack of faith in himself, found happiness in life with his wife and lost everything again when she was taken from him, being reduced to a much maligned drunkard. Apparently even a drunkard can find his way through the Dark Forest, so after predictably having switched allegiance, him and Snow White set out in search of the rebel fortress ruled over by an old friend of Snow White's father, whose son, Prince William (Sam Claflin as the less robust looking hunk of the film, for those girls in the audience who like their men less hairy and muddy) once fell in love with the princess but, along with the rest of the outside world has considered her to be dead since Ravenna took control. Apparently, where ever Kristen Stewart goes, love triangles follow, as she has romantic interludes with both the Huntsman and William the moment the latter joins up with her again. Anyone who wants her to hook up with either guy gets cheated in the end as the plot doesn't resolve the issue of which man will be hers, but leaves it open for the sequel. (A sequel already has been announced, despite the fact this movie has an otherwise closed ending that covers most of the original fairy tale. As was the case with Clash of the Titans, when the promise of money is involved, Hollywood will itself decide when a story is done, going so far as to make more of it up if needs be.)

On the way to the rebel stronghold the movie trades in a dark Gothic horror atmosphere for a more typical fantasy feel as Snow White and her friends encounter ever more diverse creatures of various shapes and sizes, including a giant troll, fairies and a forest god, indicating Snow White's power to inspire life and natural growth, as opposed to Ravenna who only deals in death and decay. The generally overtly digital characters only make Stewart's performance more inadequate, but fortunately eight (!) new characters soon enter the story to add some much need acting talent (mostly British) and some humour (since the film has so far taken itself overly serious), and few things in life are a funny as dwarves. These are not your average little people though: in fact, they're not little people at all, but normal sized actors having undergone digital alterations to make them appear smaller. Already an uproar has been created within the little people community over the absence of actual dwarves in favour of talented British actors of normal stature. It's an understandable reaction considering the already limited number of possible movie roles for little people, but the fact remains these eight dwarves add some much needed levity and heart to the film, mostly because of the talent assembled here, which includes Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins and Nick Frost. Lamenting the decline of the Dwarves (as a fantasy race, not as a medical condition) since Ravenna seized power, they willingly pledge their lives to Snow White's cause, but don't fret, they also sing and dance.

After having arrived at her allies' base and rallying the noble men to her cause by use of a rather uninspiring and unconvincing battle speech, the company of heroes set out to vanquish Ravenna in her dark tower, which leads to an not all that epic battle, and the pay-off between the two women, one pure, one evil, the movie has spent the last two hours to set up. Snow White dukes it out with Ravenna and her insidious sorcery over the dominion of the realm and the right to be called 'the fairest of them all'. Of course, the movie takes the meaning of the word 'fair' to include mental and spiritual beauty instead of solely referring to physical attractiveness, which is what Ravenna is all about. Though few men (and/or women) would seriously pick Stewart over Theron when it comes to physical looks (or acting skills), Theron's Ravenna obviously is a mean bitch and you wouldn't want her “ruling your country”. However, the movie defeminizes Snow White in the climax, having her confront Ravenna fully battle clad in shining armour and equipped with a particularly sticky sword, and as such completely masculine instead of fighting the queen on feminine terms, thus making her cheat. Even though Ravenna uses men to fight for her while Snow White gets men to love her (mostly in a platonic sense), in the end she feels more like a brother-in-arms to the Huntsman, the Prince and the Dwarves, a feeling which is reinforced at the end of the movie when Snow White refuses to pick one potential love interest over another, having reconquered her throne on their terms by vicious bloodshed in battle. The alternative of course would have been to let either the Huntsman or the Prince save the day and fighting her battle for her, as was the case in the classic Disney movie. But such stereotypical male gallantry is not desired in this day and age, especially when the movie needs to appeal to the modern teenage girls for who Stewart undoubtedly is the main draw of the piece. As for keeping it open who she ends up with, it took her four Twilight films to decide to finally have sex with that vampire instead of the werewolf, so she's just catering to her fanbase's expectations.

So the final score is:

-acting: Theron 1, Stewart 0

-physical appearance: Theron 1, Stewart 0 (too much mud)

-playing a nice girl: Theron 0, Stewart 1

Theron is fairest! Besides, many guys generally prefer bad girls anyway.

Overall, Snow White proves to her own weakest link in Snow White and the Huntsman, as she is outperformed by the evil queen, outcharmed by the Dwarves, outmuddied by the Huntsman and outed as a tomboy by wearing battle armour to kill the witch. In short, Stewart's Snow White has no heart, which makes it hard to compellingly win those of her fellow freedom fighters, and impossible for the queen to rip out of her chest, forcing the latter to steal the audience's hearts instead by doing a better acting job by far. The movie at least delivers great visuals and decent action scenes, plus the most fun Dwarves and grimiest Huntsman so far. A good look, excellent cast of supporting characters, cool evil queen and teen heroine in shining armour: basically the producer of Alice in Wonderland gives us more of the same with Snow White and the Huntsman. There's many other fairy tales left to apply the same tactics too, so maybe we'll see the Little Mermaid or Sleeping Beauty in a similar fashion too in the not too distant future.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/snowwhiteandthehuntsman/

How to make a Xenomorph

Prometheus: ****/*****, or 8/10

A tall, pale humanoid stands at the top of a towering waterfall and nearly ritualistically drinks a black liquid. Within seconds, his body starts to physically come apart in a most gruesome way, his cells literally unraveling and his physique disintegrating as he plunges himself into the roaring chasm and his DNA mixes with the water. And with this eerie opening the tone is set for Prometheus, the eagerly awaited latest science fiction blockbuster from Sir Ridley Scott, who with this film not only returns to his own roots but also to the roots of the much acclaimed and beloved Alien saga. And herein could lie a problem, since explaining some of the mysteries of his own original Alien film (1979) might hurt the franchise as a whole in terms of narrative continuity. The trick, however, is not minding that it hurts, especially given the fact Sir Ridley delivers a whole set of other intriguing questions in the process, building upon which may very well reinvigorate this franchise which until recently seemed milked dry completely.

-Warning! Here be spoilers!- When scientists and lovebirds Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) in the year 2089 make a connection between the depiction of a tall figure pointing at a set of ever identically proportioned dots on cave paintings and murals of various ancient cultures around the globe and a distant star system, the starship Prometheus is dispatched by the Weyland Corporation to investigate the pair's claims that humanity was spawned by a race of alien beings dubbed 'Engineers' which experimented with our DNA and left said dots as a message to come look for them in space. Upon arrival at the barren world of LV-223, a large artificial structure is found containing endless corridors, a decapitated alien corpse and a room containing a giant stone head and hundreds of odd cylinders containing black liquid. It seems the gods the Prometheus was send to find have died, but they left something behind...

So far the plot seems like a mix between Sir Ridley's own original Alien film, about a spaceship crew send to a deserted planet and encountering an age old lifeform, and the often maligned spin-off Alien VS Predator which revolves around the discovery humanity was kick-started by the extra-terrestrial Predators for their own shady purposes. Of course, Sir Ridley does not mean to copy either, his Prometheus just starts on familiar ground in order to have the plot turn in a whole different direction when we're settled in, at which point it quickly gets quite darker than we have known his work to be for the last few decades. Apparently the black liquid destroys lifeforms it comes into contact with by turning it into a different kind of lifeform: humanity was tricked into believing they would find its creators across the gulf of space and only found its apparent doom instead. And so the crew of the Prometheus must fight for their lives or face total destruction of all mankind. Problem is, the crew is divided into various camps all with their own goals, both selfless and selfish, and all with their own take as to just what the hell is going on. Given the somewhat erratic and hard to follow plot, the audience too must figure out for itself just what to make of things, since Sir Ridley has no intention to just hand us the answers on a platter, but wants us to work for them instead.

It has been a while since a decently philosophical blockbuster sci-fi film tormented the audience by conjuring up sometimes nigh unfathomable questions regarding Life, the Universe and Everything, so Sir Ridley's attempt at provoking the audience to use their brains a bit is certainly worthy of praise, but the plot makes it challenging to comprehend Prometheus' intentions. It's quite likely studio involvement is to blame, as is usually the case with Sir Ridley's films, since studio executives often feel his movies are too difficult to understand for general audiences which leads to them being edited to focus less on the deep issues addressed and more on the action. Already a Director's Cut has been announced that will hopefully make for a better structured narrative, but so far we can only speculate as to the Engineers' actual intentions by creating the black liquid and their apparent loss of interest for humanity's wellbeing.

So far, exploring the background of these Engineers, who we originally came to know as the Space Jockey from the first Alien film, does sadly demystify the awesome introduction of this species in Sir Ridley's breakthrough motion picture, by fleshing them out in more detail than we might have liked, and eventually even reducing them to more typical movie monsters as we watch the last of their kind alive go on a murderous rampage to kill the Prometheus' crew, just to be destroyed by its own lethal creation that was meant to be humanity's undoing instead, but not before duking it out with this monstrosity in a 'monster versus monster' battle of standard Hollywood procedure feeling (again, there's a touch of Alien VS Predator here, and not for the better). Which of course leads to the question that is first and foremost on everybody's mind since they learned this movie is more or less a prequel to Alien: just what is the Xenomorph's deal?

It's in regard to this matter that Prometheus remains the most vague, as if Ridley never really wanted to provide any actual answers. Suffice to say, Xenomorphs appear to be a a bio-weapon after all, which they were always hinted to be used for by the evil Company in the Alien films proper. It definitely seems open for debate (an offer I accepted when travelling home with a friend while returning from watching this film; we spend about an hour trying to wrap our brains around it, with plenty of questions still unanswered, mind you), but it seems to me the black liquid is this film's incarnation of the 'Genesis device', creating life on a barren world by mixing it with water (as the alien “Prometheus” did at the opening scene of the film), or replacing already existing life with such life. It's a complicated process for sure, and apparently it never works the same in this film: while a worm coming into contact with the black goo is turned into a Xenomorph like snake, a Prometheus crewmember that gets a full dose in his face simply turns into a prowling, deformed madman turning on his shipmates and viciously killing them, before being shot at, burned and run down by a truck. Of course the main question foremost on the fans' minds will be, 'is the traditional Xenomorph we've come to love in Prometheus?' Having given a nicely red coloured spoiler warning some paragraphs above, I will simply answer this question positively by stating that it is... sort of... The problem for me is not its appearance (which differs from what we've seen before), but its creation. In answer to the question cleverly hidden in this article's title, here's the recipe Prometheus gives for creating a genuine chestbursting Alien (don't try this at home!):

-Slip a small dose of black liquid into an unsuspecting male victim's drink

-Let the male victim have sex with a woman, even though she's sterile

-After successful (unsafe) love making, the woman will find herself pregnant within ten hours

-Soon afterwards, the squid like creature gestating inside her tummy will burst through her chest (unless she manages to remove it by performing an caesarean section on herself)

-The squid will rapidly grow in size from about 1 ft. long to a whopping 10 ft. long overnight

-Have the now full sized creature penetrate an Engineer's mouth with its ovipositor

-After several hours, a small Xenomorph will spring from the Engineer's chest, killing him in the process (as is Xenomorph tradition)

Say what you will about Prometheus' dubious and overly convoluted Xenomorph origins, it makes for some very effective and affective horror, as the above description makes clear. It's safe to say Sir Ridley hasn't added such overtly gory scenes to any of his films since the original Alien in 1979. Where he sticked to an occasional chestbursting scene and limited the gore to suggestive imagery in that movie, he certainly went all out here, resulting in a plethora of scenes featuring the likes of genetically decomposing, arm snapping, involuntary facial penetration, burning and general dismemberment, not to mention a certain explicit self-operation scene that had even me gasping for breath while firmly grasping my seat. To think the studio ever considered this movie susceptible for a PG-13 rating seems completely unrealistic, since Prometheus is largely the stuff only a hard R rating can do justice. It's good to know Sir Ridley still knows how to shock his audience convincingly, like he did with Alien at the start of his career.

Something else this accomplished director succeeds in perfectly is eliciting excellent performances from his cast. In fact, Rapace and Marshall-Green, though they do an adequate job for sure, are outclassed at every turn by their colleagues, with Michael Fassbender delivering the film's standout performance in the role of the android (wouldn't be an Alien film without one, eh?) David, balancing carefully and compellingly between the psychotic and the angelic, between a child asking his parents how and why he came to be and a slave eager to turn on his oppressors at the first opportunity, so you never know what his agenda is and whose side he's one (if anybody's). The film successfully draws parallells between his human masters searching for their supposed creators and David living amidst his own creators who he obviously finds flawed, in several all too short scenes of which we can only hope there's more where those came from on the expected Director's Cut. At the other end of the spectrum there's Charlize Theron in the role of Meredith Vickers, the mission leader whose apparent job it is to make sure the Weyland Corporation gets its money worth out of this excessively expensive space trip, though her plight is far more personal considering she's the actual daughter of Mr. Weyland himself, who preferred David's company over hers, since the android is the closest thing he ever had to a son. Theron plays the role on fire, shrewdly maneuvering between appearing as a coldhearted rich bitch simply out to make money and a wronged daughter aiming for revenge. And then there's the old man himself, being played by Guy Pearce in heavy make-up. Weyland was a secret passenger, like Prometheus was on a secret mission to make contact with the Engineers and ask them for the secret to immortality so the dying old man could yet be saved.

As the movie makes perfectly clear, human immortality is actually far from the Engineers' minds, which results in some solid action scenes, both those involving the Engineers and Xenomorphs as well as those without. Also laudable is the quality of the visual effects, which help remind the audience of the original Alien atmosphere in both human and extra-terrestrial sense, but also being uniquely Prometheus material instead of simply rehashing what was done before. In fact, this sums up the whole of the film, since as a supposed Alien prequel, it certainly stands on its own merits, only hinting at the events in that earlier film without giving the exact explanations as to what happened prior to the events in Alien, so there's still some mystery to enjoy in that regard. It does at time contradict the later entries into the franchise though: the role of the badass Alien Queen which drove much of the later Alien films' plots now seems under serious scrutiny. But considering Sir Ridley's involvement with the franchise ended then right after the first film, it's understandable he favours his own appraoch here above building on the work of others who took over his job in the past.

Overall, Ridley Scott proves he can still distill a good movie out of the dried up franchise he created, the result being both spectacular and thought provoking, but frustratingly feeling incomplete, something he has even gone so far as to admit it simply is. Prometheus is a thinking man's Sci-Fi horror rollercoaster, a rare thing to behold in the post-Avatar days where science fiction feels dumbed down a bit due to the focus on visual and 3-D effects and the lack of exploring philosophical themes as the genre used to do more often. Given the large number of new unsolved questions, a sequel feels both likely and desireable. Sir Ridley could leave it in the hands of a capable young director like he did last time (it was James Cameron then, it shouldn't be now), or he can save everyone three decades and just do it himself, instead of having to do some damage control in another 33 years time. Either way, the Pandora's Box opened by Prometheus certainly won't be closed just yet.

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/prometheus/

Dream TV Series

I still didn't get to watch any new movies (my vacation isn't over yet), so I got some time to think about any dream projects I'd really like to see get made some time, but this time I focused on television series. This is of course dangerous territory for me, since I only followed a brief course in Television Studies in my early college days and never pursued the topic further, opting instead for Film Studies (like most of my fellow students did). Though I enjoy a good TV show as much as the average bloke, I'm much more of a layman when it comes to the subject, but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion on it, like I have an opinion about... well, everything really. So here's a few ideas for TV shows I really hope get picked up by the right people and like to see realized as epically as they deserve.

Rome 2.0

Remember that fabulously well written, violently gritty and sexy, largely realistic TV series about the last days of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire HBO produced a few years back? Well, you should! It's still my favorite TV series, and it got very positive reactions from audiences and critics all over the globe (which is not related to it simply being my favorite TV series, I'm just a fan as basically all its viewers understandably became). Sadly, HBO considered the show so expensive (which really showed!), they pulled the plug prematurely, so while Rome was opted for five seasons, only two of them got made (and the second season, though still of great quality, did indeed feel a bit rushed). This decision was all about money, because regardless of the high production costs involved everybody loved it and kept on watching for all 22 episodes, so it wasn't the audience's fault. HBO exces later stated they regretted cancelling the show, which lead to talk about a Rome theatrical film. That project unfortunately still hasn't gotten to fruition, and I doubt it ever will at this point.

But why not just throw out the movie idea altogether and pick off where the show left us? In fact, why not explore ancient Rome before the start of the series too? What would really make me happy is a show chronicling the whole history of Rome, starting ab urbe condita in 753 B.C., and ending with the downfall of the Western Empire in 476 A.D., showing us all of the city's history, from King to Republic to Empire, all in the style and quality of the first Rome TV series. I hear you thinking, 'that's much too epic a project'. Yup, it is, which is why it's just a dream of mine. But it could be very good television, not to mention a very very very long series. There certainly seems to be an audience for it, judging from the success of films like Gladiator and shows like Spartacus: Blood and Sand (of course, the existence of such works would make certain periods of Roman history already familiar to audiences, but in this time of remakes, reboots and reimaginings, that hardly seems a relevant issue). And indeed, the glory of Rome itself, which went well before its time. Plus, now that Spartacus is coming to an end despite its continuous popularity, there seems to be a vacancy here...

Iliad and Odyssey

Speaking of glory, how come two of the most quintessential works of literature still haven't gotten the audiovisual treatment they deserve? Homer's Iliad, about the Trojan War, and Odyssey, about Odysseus' journey home, have both seen numerous adaptations, and very few of them did the original stories justice. As the movie Troy showed, any movie, even one with a running time of 196 minutes, would just be too short to tell the whole story properly. So why not a TV series instead, and indeed tell the whole story, including all the stuff later authors added to it: granted, some of the additions were uncalled for, while others became iconic, even near synonymous with Homer's work, like the Trojan Horse. 

A TV show could tell it all and wouldn't need to skip a thing, showing us stuff we never got to see in any adaptations so far, like Achilles fighting the Amazons, or the destruction of the Ithacan fleet by the Laistrygonian giants. Of course, this show too would be too long and too epic to ever be realistically produceable. But I'm sure that's what they said about A Song of Ice and Fire before, and look how well that turned out... HBO, I hope you're reading this!

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck

This seems like an odd choice, but those who have actually read these particular Uncle Scrooge comics by Keno Don Rosa, – undoubtedly the greatest Duck artist since Carl 'The Duck Man' Barks – will know better. The original twelve part comic book series reveals the full life story of the richest Duck in the world and how he got to be so stupendously wealthy, yet also so pitifully lonely. From his early days as a poor kid on the streets of Glasgow to his financial empire building in the first half of the 20^th Century, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck offers human drama at its best. In fact, you could even substitute the ducks for humans with no effect to the overall story. But why not stay true to the source material and use real Ducks? That is, animated of course. Computer animation, possibly even motion capture techniques similar to the recent The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, seems the best way to go here, bringing life to this particular avian convincingly enough to care for him as he relentlessly seeks riches to escape the utter poverty of his childhood days and restore the name of the once proud Clan McDuck, only to find getting rich comes with a price as he has to abandon the potential love of his life and his relationship with his direct family turns bitter, when he evolves from a once loving and caring boy to a hardened sourdough into a tired, battered old man with no friends or family, just a shitload of money.

This is not the Scrooge McDuck you think you know from the often embarrasingly childish Disney kiddy magazines, this is hardcore Duck lore filled with tragedy, woe and hard earned life lessons! Certain scenes still get me every time no matter how often I've read them, -Spoilers!-  like the way news of the tragic death of Scrooge's mother reaches him as he's chained to the steam pipes of a river boat by his archnemesis Slick who means to publicly humiliate him, only to witness Scrooge break into utter rage in pain over his loss and destroy the whole ship singlehandedly. As this scene illustrates, there's room for humour thrown in too at times, so it doesn't get too hard to watch. Plus, it's surprisingly historically accurate, as Scrooge meets actual historical characters (except they're 'black nosed' in the obligatory Disney fashion) and lives through some epic historical events, among them the Krakatau eruption in 1883 and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. A TV miniseries could tell the story chapter by chapter, remaing true to Don Rosa's original art and losing very little in the translation. Remember the Young Indiana Jones TV series? Well, it's very much like that, but with Ducks. And it still beats it easily.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

And then there's this much beloved science fiction adventure story, which really ought to be remade properly (despite my love for the 1954 movie) before the recent silly plans to give Will Smith Nemo's captain's chair come true. You'd think a classic tale like this would have been given a decent treatment in the present age of CGI blockbuster remakes, but apparently it's not the case. Or worse, they could do to this Jules Verne story what they did to Journey to the Center of the Earth and Mysterious Island and turn it into some preposterous 3D action flick aimed primarily at kids and making money over their lack of developed taste. Or maybe, just maybe, they could treat it with honors and remain faithful to the original work (minus the rampant animal abuse of the nineteen-hundreds). 

A TV miniseries seems the most appropriate here, some 13 episodes of showcasing Professor Aronnax's adventures sous la mer as he and his friends set out in search of the sea monster which turns out to be a highly advanced submarine constructed and captained by a bitter man who has turned his back on humanity, choosing life under the sea instead. For some reason, I always envisioned Jeremy Irons in the role of Nemo, but I'm open to other (good) options. A miniseries set in the Victorian Era, chronicling the explorations of the deep seas, watching aquanauts battling giant squids and enjoying the occasional trips to cannibal infested tropical island paradises? Bring it on! But at least treat it seriously, and with some shred of decency, unlike the fate which befell some of Verne's other works recently...