Visual Essay #1

Visual Essay 1:
Follow the link to see Doctor, Heal Thyself: Examining Doctor Strangelove-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT6OzRsh3y4

If you need me to upload the video directly onto the blog, please leave a comment to that effect.

A Special Message

Today I'd like to talk to you about a serious problem effecting dozens of film stars every year:

Labilitis, more commonly known as "The Missing Lip."

Kevin McCarthy, a labilitis suffer himself, first brought this tragic condition to the public attention in his stirring portrayal of the lipless protagonist in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." He, along with longtime friend and fellow lipless star Rod Serling, would invest millions of dollars and years of their lives helping their fellow libilitis victims, exploring treatments and possible cures.

Years later, America would elect their first lipless President. Ronald Reagan would go on to do the labilitis community proud.

Despite this victory, the battle rages on. Kenneth Branagh currently heads the Guild of Lipless Actors with Determination, where research is under way in the promising field of mustaches.

With your support, we can continue the fight, and one day humanity can live free of the fear of Labilitis.

Thank you.

Forbidden Planet and Sexual Creepyness

Now, he way sexuality is portrayed in films around Forbidden Planet's era stands somewhere between hilarious and disturbing.
As for Forbidden Planet itself, I've personally always found it much more on the side of disturbing. Besides all the basic "big white men rightfully exerting power and authority" stuff, and even the "how men behave when horny is the woman's fault" stuff, there is one basic fact that has made Forbidden Planet such a creepy movie for me since the first time I saw it: Alta is a giant adult baby.
As a character, she's impossibly naive, even given her limited influences, and she's pretty much completely vulnerable. But even in terms of her appearance, they made her look as child-like as possible. Her hair was even done up in a way to make her forehead stand out!
I can only assume this wasn't intentional on the part of the movie makers, but it really does make that "kissing lessons" scene evoke less of a "Haha, that fox!" reaction than a "Someone call the police!" reaction.And I should point out, this isn't the reaction of a politically correct, over analyzing college student- I had this reaction when I first saw the film at age 14. When a 14 year old male can't help but tear his eyes away from a blond in a form fitting mini skirt dress to see the underlying creepiness, you've done something wrong.

I told you not to call me Shirley!

Another Random Thought

Just a quick one here- in class we were talking about tributes, references, and parodies of sci-fi, right?
Well, this was one I just remembered while at work. (To start with, I should point out that this was the first time I've seen Metropolis.)
In the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, of which I am a fan, there was this mad scientist character called Pearl Forrester. She was malevolent for malevolent's sake. Sometimes, to punctuate an evil deed or plan, she'd give the camera an odd, lingering look- head tilted down, one eye half closed, the other wide with an arched eyebrow, and a weird smirk.
Because the show is filled with references, I tried for a while to figure out if that look meant anything, but eventually I just decided it was a generic "crazy look."



....huh. Whelp, case closed! Pearl was referencing Mecha-Maria.
Man I loved that show.

First Post: Random Thoughts

Watching "Metropolis," I have basically two thoughts:
First is to point out how much better of an actor Alfred Abel (Jon,) seems to be than Gustav Fröhlich, (Freder.) Of course, given how early film was, I think, meant to be an extension of mime, that's hard to tell. Still, you could tell what Jon was thinking even when he was standing stalk still, and you could be confused as to what Freder was thinking even as he emoted like a mute opera singer.
"Oh my God, Maria's killing him with her mind! He's trying to fight her, but her will is too great! What an amazing- Oh, he's in love. Oops."
It might be reasonable to say that Abel was more in tune with modern acting ideas, but in the end it was probably just the director's way of making Jon seem less capable of emotion.

Second thought:
I thought it was great to see Robbie Coltrane pre-prising his role as Hagrid!

"The number 12 engine has blown a cylinder, I've found four more workers carrying secret plans, and Voldemort has been spotted out in the Forbidden Forest."