- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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Subtext: Fear of one's own body
Anyway I wanna give this a shot.
Username: Cakebaker
Movie: Cloud Atlas (2012)
Subtext: The effectivelessness of non-violent protest
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Aug 24, 2014 20:21
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May 14, 2024 21:56
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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So is Skeletons Disguised as People a real concept, or do I have to come up with exactly what that means? Google just got me back to this thread (and to a few threads about RPGs where people really wanted to become skeletons)
Anyway I like that I got Naked Lunch. I've been meaning to see it forever.
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Sep 2, 2014 11:22
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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I refuse to rewatch I Am Legend so I'm going to be working off of my memory of it from 2007. I hope that is okay.
If you're anything like me that would mean writing the whole essay on the scene where Will Smith yells at a mannequin.
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Sep 2, 2014 16:21
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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I just saw Naked lunch. Amazing movie. Disregard my question from before, I know exactly how I want to write this.
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Sep 3, 2014 00:24
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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I have around 2 pages and it's almost finished, just need to put some finishing touches on it. But it's been election night here in Sweden so I haven't really been able to work on it today. But I'll finish it before 9 am cst (that's in 16 hours right?)
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Sep 15, 2014 00:17
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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Sent!
The ending got a bit rushed, hope it didn't turn out to bad.
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Sep 15, 2014 13:27
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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I am now awake. The deadline is now. I will have everything updated and set to the two other judges asap.
Do we get some score or notes on what you thought, or will only the winners be announced?
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Sep 15, 2014 19:26
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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If the guy who got assigned Naked Lunch didn't do his, I'd love to see someone else take a shot at it.
Also, I think axleblaze got off pretty easy with his combo, but then again, so did I, so I can't really complain.
I did it, haven't posted it in thread though. Here it is:
quote:
Naked Lunch and the concept of Skeletons Disguised as People
Naked Lunch has been described not so much as an adaptation of William S. Burroughs novel but as a biography of the writer himself, and the experiences that went into creating that novel. However, the movie taken on its own, without consideration of outside sources, appears on the surface level (if such a thing can be said for a movie like Naked Lunch) to be dealing with the destructive nature of addiction. Opening with our protagonist attempting a fresh start, the movie continues on to show how he inevitably is drawn back into his old lifestyle of drug abuse and hallucination. However, looking a little deeper reavels another story altogether. It becomes clear that our hero’s struggle with addiction is a metaphor for a struggle concerning us all, namely that at the core of our being there is a skeleton, and that the human we see when we look at others is merely an ever present disguise. Our true selves are buried beneath layers of organs, fat and skin, invisible to the senses of other people.
The metaphor is apt to make because there is only one way to reveal our inner selves, and that is through communication, just like the only place to reveal your skeletal core is by opening your mouth. All of the most basic feelings are accompanied by a showing of our teeth. Happiness - a smile, surprise - a widening of the mouth, anger - a bearing of the teeth and so on. It is this desire to express the underlying framework of emotion that lies at the core of the problems our protagonist, Bill Lee, is facing.
It is established early in the movie that verbal communication is not Bill’s strong suit. We see constant shots of his expressionless face in reaction to a series of stranger and stranger occurrences culminating one day when he comes home to find his wife having an affair with another man. Bill looks for a few seconds at the couple making out on the couch before turning away, appearing disinterested. Interesting to note is that in Bill’s restrained face he rarely shows his teeth when speaking, instead choosing a mumbling, monotone voice, trying to prevent even a glimpse of the real him showing through. This is to demonstrate how repressed Bill’s inner skeleton is in the presence of others, never displaying anything but the thick flesh cover he hides behind.
Later in that same scene, in a last ditch attempt to communicate the anger he must feel at the infidelity of his wife, even though his face betrays nothing, he fires a bullet at her head which lodges in her cranium. Finally he has managed a connection with her skeleton, but it came at the cost of her life. The camera zooms in on Bill and, forgetting for a moment that he is not alone, we see that his face reveals a brief look of sadness. Soon he remembers his friend standing in the doorway and his face returns to the usual mask as he leaves.
Frightened by his lacking ability for interpersonal communication Bill decides to turn to a more solitary method of expression: writing. In a metaphor that is almost a little too on the nose his typewriter morphs into a beetle, an insect with an exoskeleton, representing how he uses this machine to lay his innermost feelings bare. If the symbolism wasn’t obvious enough, the insect is outfitted with a mouth on its back to further demonstrate how this is Bill’s only way of communication. The insect analog is used throughout the movie; another example is at the beginning of the movie where, in an attempt to leave his old life behind, Bill works as an exterminator, literally killing beings who possess the ability which he desires. At other points in the movie we see Bill stop at exotic markets, inspecting various insects prepared as snacks, always with a look of intrigue.
As the movie progresses we are shown that Bill’s solitary approach to communication is starting to take its toll. He begins to abuse the substance used to kill the bugs, either by injecting it into himself - trying to infuse his inner being with the power reserved for the bugs - or by applying it directly to his skeletal structure at the mouth/teeth.
Hallucinations start to become more and more commonplace, and suddenly he finds himself in a foreign land encountering a series of peculiar characters; mostly fellow writers. In an especially revealing scene a new friend manages to communicate with him telepathically - skeleton to skeleton so to speak. At first Bill isn’t even aware that it’s happening, but after a while he sees that the other person’s lip-movements does not correspond to what he is hearing. Astonished, Bill borrows the gentlemans bug/typewriter in order to learn the secret for himself, but is later forced to watch in despair as it is attacked by his own. Whatever the trick behind interskeletal communication is, these typewriters can not help him.
The friend takes revenge on Bill for the broken typewriter by stealing his as a replacement, leaving him only with the scattered pieces of the broken one. A blacksmith at the market helps him repair it, but after getting high again he sees that the creature he has ended up with this time is entirely different from the earlier insect. This time the typewriter morphs into an alien-like skeletal creature, representing a new direction in Bill’s journey. If the insect from before show an attempt to reverse the nature of himself, pushing the skeleton to the outside, this new companion does away with the whole illusion of organs, muscle and tissue. The truth is that we are skeletons and nothing more, all else is a lie.
Soon after, at the climax of the movie, Bill finds himself at the heart of the drug operation in the city, surrounded by a large number of these skeletal beings. Finally it appears he will get some answers to the questions he has as he is confronted by the leader herself. In a startling revelation she begins to remove her own skin, and Bill looks on with anticipation to see the skeleton to be revealed underneath. Alas, it is a bluff; underneath is another human. Bill realizes that there are no answers here, only more trickery. This person has managed their disguise so well that there is another one waiting below.
In the closing scene of the film, Bill again uses a gun to reach a connection with another humans skeleton. However this time his face show a look of acceptance. He may not have found the answer to proper interskeletal communication, but he is determined to devote his life to keep looking.
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Sep 18, 2014 10:50
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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What does Platinum go for these days? Seems like shipping a dvd to Sweden with Amazon costs like 8 bucks, so it's not very worthwhile. And for moviepostersshop.com slowest shipping to Sweden for a poster is 14.99 which leaves me 0.01$ for the actual purchase x)
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Oct 1, 2014 12:46
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May 14, 2024 21:56
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- Cakebaker
- Jul 23, 2007
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Wanna buy some cake?
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Haha, I was waiting for someone overseas to win and for me to look like an idiot. Yeah, I could grab you Platinum if that is what you want.
Platinum sounds good. Do you need anything more than the username?
The entries were pretty good overall this year with nothing I thought was outright bad. Most points were taken off for minor grievances and things that annoy me personally. If you want to know what I thought of your individual essays, just ask.
I'm all for feedback. Personally I think mine got less and less focused the longer it went, with no real finish. I got a bit too invested in the Swedish election which took place the same day as the deadline, so I found myself not having a lot of time for it at the end. I also did try to warp the subtext more to fit the movie than the other way around.
The Naked Lunch essay is fantastic, and as many times as I've seen that film the essay pointed out things I still hadn't noticed. Great job there.
Thanks! Yeah you really start noticing new stuff when trying to get at the movie from a different angle.
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Oct 1, 2014 19:40
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Aug 24, 2014 20:21
