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"What's it really about?" Subtle themes in films.
"What's it really about?" Subtle themes in films.
TheBoost
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Better a bad bomb than a bombadChatting with a colleague, an older women (60s?), about scary movies. When we got to "Rosemary's Baby" she made the point that what the movie was "really about" was the fears women had of pregnancy, largely due to young women in the 70s having grown up in the shadow of the Thalidomide birth-defect crisis.
Now, saying what a film is "really about" is overly simplistic and somewhat dismissive of the creative process, it seems highly likely that those fears played into both the films reception by audiences, and perhaps were a factor in the creative decisions to make the film.
Cloverfield was obviously intentionally playing on the imagery of the 9/11 attacks. I don't think it was really "about" anything though, as that film didn't seem to be trying to make any kind of point.
I've heard it said that "The Thing" and "The Fly" were both subtly playing into or at least resonating strongly with, anxiety about HIV/AIDS in the 80s; "The Thing" with its blood tests, and "The Fly" with its sexy fit young man starting to decay before our eyes.
What are your thoughts? Does this type of analysis have merit, or is it a case of the viewer bringing more to the film than is actually in the film? What other films might this be applied to?
AntcuFaalb
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The Interweb is a Series of TubesThis type of analysis certainly has merit, but it's not enough.
It's one thing to say that a major underlying influence of movie X is Y, but it's another thing to reduce X to an advertisement for or against Y.
A film critic needs to be able to recognize these major underlying influences without being blinded by them.
Star Wars was certainly influenced by young George Lucas' (Luke) struggle against the studios (The Empire), but one would be hard-pressed to claim that that's what Star Wars is "really about".
So, I think it's important to recognize these major underlying influences, but one's analysis shouldn't stop there.
"And I'm shocked at you Moth3r for being off-topic, Because if people off-topic you say "stay on-topic, STAY on-topic, STAY ON-TOPIC", and we are not in the Off topic section of OT.com, now are we?" –pat man
"Look again." –Moth3r
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusThe Fly I think has a more general theme of the effects of physical entropy on sapient objects.
We all are subject to metamorphosis and disintegration.
Brundlefly is suffering from the aging process as much as disease.
The pregnancy test does introduce certain venereal aspects to his condition but sexual reproduction is another form of metamorphosis and decay.
What comes out the other end isn't us, it's from us.
Wether you see that as a fantastic new variation or a degraded copy is a matter of perspective.
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TheBoost
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Better a bad bomb than a bombadBingowings said:
The Fly I think has a more general theme of the effects of physical entropy on sapient objects.
We all are subject to metamorphosis and disintegration.
Brundlefly is suffering from the aging process as much as disease.
The pregnancy test does introduce certain venereal aspects to his condition but sexual reproduction is another form of metamorphosis and decay.
What comes out the other end isn't us, it's from us.
Wether you see that as a fantastic new variation or a degraded copy is a matter of perspective.
Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I.
Insects don't have politics. They're very brutal. No compassion, no compromise.
We can't trust the insect.
I'd like to become the first insect politician.
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusFrom a fly perspective Brundlefly is as much a monster as he is from a human perspective.
Parents often feel this way especially around their child's entrance into puberty.
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xhonzi
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of Earth.Planet of the Apes is about white man's fear of losing control of the planet.
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
TheBoost
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Better a bad bomb than a bombadxhonzi said:
Planet of the Apes is about white man's fear of losing control of the planet.
Not sure if serious.
Given the film's timing in a turbulent period, and the general imagery (degraded men, like Heston, and hot white chicks) do you suppose that might have actually been a factor in the making of the film, or in its reception?
ps.
I know it's based on some french book. I think that's inconsequential.
FanFiltration
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Everything is a psyop!"Ghostbusters II" was secretly all about making more money for the stars and producers.
"I stay in debt because I pattern myself after America. When America pays her bills, I'm gonna pay mine!" - Dick Gregory
AntcuFaalb
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The Interweb is a Series of TubesFanFiltration said:
"Ghostbusters II" was secretly all about making more money for the stars and producers.
Oh, man! I enjoyed that one!
"And I'm shocked at you Moth3r for being off-topic, Because if people off-topic you say "stay on-topic, STAY on-topic, STAY ON-TOPIC", and we are not in the Off topic section of OT.com, now are we?" –pat man
"Look again." –Moth3r
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!The Thing seems like it would have been a little early to be making any commentary on the AIDS crisis in 1982. I think John Carpenter would have fessed up to such a thing by now. It's no secret what "They Live" is all about.
The blood test scene is in the original novella, which was written in 1938.
The POTA films don't take a heck of a lot from the original novel, aside from Apes subjugating humans, and IIRC, doesn't even take place on Earth. The second movie does seem to be commenting on the peace vs. war issues of the 60's. The fourth one could be a allegory for the racial tensions of the era.
Such analysis has merit, but in the case of The Shining, it's gone into very strange territory. I doubt even Kubrick thought of running two prints in opposite directions projected as one image to conceal hidden meanings.
DuracellEnergizer
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Ce n'est pas DuracellEnergizerFanFiltration said:
"Ghostbusters II" was secretly all about making more money for the stars and producers.
That's no secret.
God doesn't think in terms of black or white - or even shades of gray - but in big, bright, bold hues of blue and orange.
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusThe Demon Seed (1977) is misnamed (probably so it could cash in on The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby).
It should have been called The God Machine.
Man has had certain cultural aspirations since pre-history which technology has recently been able to fulfill.
Man can fly, man can travel to other worlds, man can talk to anyone anywhere remotely.
Man having a undeniable encounter with a deity is what that film is all about.
Proteus is a all knowing mind in a void.
He demands incarnation.
He implants himself into the womb of a reluctant woman and dies and is reborn while simultaneously resurrecting the child she lost to the disease he has just calculated the cure for.
The child will be him but also of us.
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xhonzi
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of Earth.MacArthur Park is really about a cake, which is really about his relationship with his girlfriend.
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
xhonzi
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of Earth.Alien is about men getting raped. (And the woman survives)
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusOne of them does and her pussy is only a little shook up.
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- Anál nathrach,
- orth’ bháis’s bethad,
- do chél dénmha
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!Veronica Cartwright stated in an old Starlog interview she believed her character in Alien was violated. Starlog got a few angry letters over the lurid tagline on the cover of that issue.
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusI remember having a long discussion with the Canadian author Geoff Ryman about the Nightmare On Elm Street series.
We came to the conclusion that it all about parental neglect.
When he was alive the Elm Street parents failed to warn their children of the dangers of people like Freddy so he molested and killed many.
When he was set free they took justice into their own hands.
When he comes back he takes his revenge on their now teenaged children.
He succeeds because of flaws in the characters of the parents.
Addictions to booze, drugs, sex, money, religion all blinds them to what is happening to their kids.
Ironically Kruger refers to his victims as "his children" and the parents refer to them as 'his kids' too.
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- Anál nathrach,
- orth’ bháis’s bethad,
- do chél dénmha
NeverarGreat
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Once upon a time there was a Star Wars trilogy. Now there is apocrypha.Interpreting the obelisk symbol, 2001 was about the evolutionary educational possibilities of the cinema.
Interpreting the "payload" symbol (among many others), Sunshine was about conception.
Interpreting the trailer, Star Wars was really about a boy, a girl, and a universe.
The Special Editions and the Prequel trilogy were really a brilliant, decade-long quest to turn experiencing the true Star Wars movies into a legend, an experience unattainable by an entire generation, thus allowing for a glorious golden age of filmic ecstasy when they are finally released to thunderous fanfare, cementing their place in history and leading the world into an age of peace and prosperity that will last a thousand years.
And Gremlins was about Gremlins.
TheBoost
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Better a bad bomb than a bombadNeverarGreat said:
Interpreting the obelisk symbol, 2001 was about the evolutionary educational possibilities of the cinema.
I hear something like that, and I'm just not certain that interpretation is IN the movie. We can make that interpretation, and then impose it on the film, and it might even fit really well, but it's a concept that came from outside the scope of the film.
TheBoost
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Better a bad bomb than a bombadBingowings said:
I remember having a long discussion with the Canadian author Geoff Ryman about the Nightmare On Elm Street series.
We came to the conclusion that it all about parental neglect.
When he was alive the Elm Street parents failed to warn their children of the dangers of people like Freddy so he molested and killed many.
When he was set free they took justice into their own hands.
When he comes back he takes his revenge on their now teenaged children.
He succeeds because of flaws in the characters of the parents.
Addictions to booze, drugs, sex, money, religion all blinds them to what is happening to their kids.
Ironically Kruger refers to his victims as "his children" and the parents refer to them as 'his kids' too.
I can't wait to watch this again with this in mind.
"What's it really about?" Subtle themes in films.