THE MT VOID
12/13/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 24, Whole Number 2358
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.netCo-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 9 (MEMOIR OF A SNAIL, THE SUBSTANCE,
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM) (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
Amazing Prediction (prediction by Mark R. Leeper)
The Lydeckers: Pioneers of Practical Effects (YouTube link
from Gregory Frederick)
THE METAMORPHOSIS (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
This Week's Reading (THE JEFFERSON BIBLE edited
by Henry E. Jackson) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 9 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
Here is the ninth batch of mini-reviews, more 2024 films of the
fantastic:
MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (2024): MEMOIR OF A SNAIL is an Australian
claymation film--a very Australian claymation film. There are
references to Vegemite and Chiko Rolls, and the film assumes the
audience realizes Perth is on one side of Australia and Canberra
on the other, and that the outback lies between them. (They do
flash a map at one point, for the benefit of non-Australians.)
But more than that, Gilbert's plight seems to be an echo of that
of First Nations people. He loses his parents when they die,
rather than being kidnapped from them, but then he is sent far
away, to live with a family with a totally different culture (in
Gilbert's case, a really extreme Christian fundamentalism) and to
be stripped of his past and molded to their culture.
The storyline in fact is very familiar in what one might find in
ordinary live-action films. Two twins are separated when they are
orphaned. They are separated both in distance (opposite sides of
the continent) and in environment. Gilbert (as I said) ends up in
a super-strict ultra-Christian family, while Grace ends up with
foster parents who go to key parties (are most viewers even going
to know what these were?), nude cruises, and so on.
Again, as in live-action films, Grace meets Pinky, an eccentric
old woman who teaches her about life, similar to Gloria Dump in
BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, or any number of Magical Negroes, although
thankfully the filmmakers of MEMOIRS OF A SNAIL do not make her a
First Nations person.
I like the fact that many real books show up, with characters
reading THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, and a lot
more I cannot remember. The books often refer to the characters'
situation or state of mind, but this is not hammered at you.
Two good quotes:
Pinky says, "I feel older than I look, and I look like a testicle."
And a character quotes Kierkegaard (without attribution): "Life
can only be understood backwards, but we have to live it forward."
Some of the snail shapes seem to be references/homages to the
spiral shapes in another claymation film,`THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE
CHRISTMAS. [-ecl]
Released theatrically 25 October 2024.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23770030/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/memoir_of_a_snail>
THE SUBSTANCE (2024): In an early scene in THE SUBSTANCE, we see a
hospital technician whose skin is so perfect he looks like an
android, while the skin on Elizabeth's face is photographed to
show every wrinkle (and probably had a bunch added either by
make-up or CGI).
There is a lot of symbolic imagery: Elizabeth goes to an aging
part of town, she travels through a seeming "birth canal" to a
brightly lit room resembling a hospital (delivery) room. The
transformation scenes seem to have been inspired by CAT PEOPLE, AN
AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, and other shape-shifting movies.
There's also some David-Cronenberg-style body horror, and even an
homage to a Hitchcock transformation sequence.. And a sleazy
producer named Harvey.
The ending is perhaps a bit overdone.(and illogical--there seems
to be spontaneous creation of matter involved).
There have been many films about aging actresses (but none about
aging actors, so far as I know). But until recently, the aging
was inevitable. Nothing was going to solve Norma Desmond's
problem. Now of course technology has stepped in. The idea that
technology can solve the problems of aging actresses was also
treated in THE CONGRESS with Robin Wright. The two would make an
excellent double feature.
This yet another film that starts out with no sound, making you
think your streaming is messed up. I suppose it's a ploy to get
everyone back into the theaters, but now that they have sunk to
the level of the audience singing all with WICKED (and not just
showings dedicated to that), it's not going to work with me.
[-ecl]
Released theatrically 20 September 2024.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_substance>
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM (2024): There is a new disease. The doctors
cannot cure it, but they hope to stabilize it. Lana, Francois's
wife and Emile's mother, has this disease. It doesn't seem to
have a name, but we've seen it before, albeit without any
scientific basis. She (and others) are mutating into other
species. And now Emile is too. As I've said. we've seen this
with werewolves, and in films such as THE REPTILE, but the
explanations as supernatural, rather than (presumably) scientific.
I'm sure this is supposed to be an analogy to something, though
I'm not quite sure what. In one sense, it's about accepting what
you are and enjoying that freedom. On the other hand, Emile
reminds me of Leon Carridos. There is a sense of being in the
closet. Ultimately, I suppose, it is the fear of the outsider:
both the outsider's fear of being found out, and the insider fear
of the outsider themselves.
But scientific basis or not, this is ultimately a fancied-up
werewolf movie. [-ecl]
Released streaming 15 March 2024.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16606592/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_animal_kingdom>
===================================================================
TOPIC: Amazing Prediction (prediction by Mark R. Leeper)
Back in the 01/04/02 issue of the MT VOID, we ran the following:
This issue of the MT VOID is brought to you in part by THE
HOMECOMING.
Coming in February: Homer's THE HOMECOMING. For the many avid
fans of Homer, the wait is over. Homer has finally completed the
third book in the Odysseus Saga. Odysseus has fought, he has
wandered, but sometimes greatest challenges can be found at home.
Read Homer's THE HOMECOMING from Penguin Classics.
"It's like nothing Homer ever wrote before. THE HOMECOMING is a
real departure." --Rosetta Stone, Harvard Department of Classics
Well, now it's 2024, and on December 6, THE RETURN was released
(there's always a title change or two along the way), described
in the IMDb as follows: "After twenty years Odysseus finally
returns to Ithaca, where he finds his wife held prisoner by
suitors vying to be king and his son facing death at their hands.
To win back his family and all he has lost, Odysseus must
rediscover his strength."
Way to go, Mark!
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Lydeckers: Pioneers of Practical Effects (YouTube link
from Gregory Frederick)
[Here is] a link to a YouTube video which has a very cool behind
the scenes view of 1940-1960s film, serial and even TV special
effects from the Lydecker brothers. They did some really neat
miniature effects with explosions, etc. If you don't want to
watch the whole thing watch from 33:19 to the end. The woman (who
is a film preservationist) in the YouTube put together a very
funny greatest hits of the same actor used in many films and
serials getting into major explosions and crashes which were done
by the Lydecker brothers.
<
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb4JDf8K5J0>
[-gf]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE METAMORPHOSIS (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
In response to Evelyn's comments on THE METAMORPHOSIS in the
12/06/24 issue of the MT VOID, Gary McGath writes:
[Evelyn writes,] "Even with the first sentence, the book is a
puzzle. "One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled
dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a ..." what?
"Horrible vermin"? "... monstrous verminous bug"? "monstrous
vermin"? "... monstrous cockroach"? "... beetle"? "... giant
insect"? (David Wyllie, Ian Johnston, Stanley Corngold (and
Google), Michael Hofmann, Vladimir Nabokov, and unknown,
respectively) The original German is "ungeheuren Ungeziefer",
which is no help, because "Ungeziefer" is not a strictly defined
entomological term."
I'm not a native German speaker, but "monstrous vermin" seems
closest to me. Definitely not anything that suggests a particular
species. [-gmg]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
A few weeks ago in my review of Peter Manseau's THE JEFFERSON
BIBLE (MT VOID, 11/15/24), I mentioned THE THOMAS JEFFERSON BIBLE
edited by Henry E. Jackson. I now have read that, or at least
Jackson's (lengthy) introductory comments, and I have more to say.
In particular, I want to address a few quotes from Jackson.
"No two Presidents of the United States more effectively exhibited
Christian principles in operation than did Thomas Jefferson and
Abraham Lincoln, and yet none were so bitterly criticized by
conventional Christians."
Well, Jefferson's reputation has taken a dive since then, as his
actions regarding slavery clearly did not reflect his lofty
writings on equality. (For that matter, many of his own writings
did not reflect his lofty writings on equality--see his comments
on the intellectual abilities of Blacks in NOTES ON THE STATE OF
VIRGINIA.)
"If you were asked to name one or two good books which deserved
first place in each of these groups, what books would you suggest?
Under the first group you could readily suggest several: 'Social
Environment and Moral Progress,' by Alfred Russel Wallace;
'Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure,' by Edward Carpenter; 'The
Rising Tide of Color,' by Lothrop Stoddard."
I don't know about the other two, but THE RISING TIDE OF COLOR has
not aged well at all, and is now perceived as racist, white
supremacist, and anti-miscegenation. One quote, "if the Negroes
have separate schools, they shall be good schools; ... if they
have separate train accommodations, they shall have good
accommodations," led black audiences to laugh in disbelief.
"To say that Mary's conception of her baby was immaculate, is not
only to insinuate but to assert that every other mother's
conception of her baby is maculate. Whereas every child conceived
in love is an immaculate conception, for wherever love is, God is."
Among other things, Jackson doesn't understand what the Immaculate
Conception refers to. It is *not* the Virgin Birth; it is rather
than *Mary* was conceived without original sin.
"Look at the preamble of the Declaration. The three basic rights
which it treats--'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'--are
not these subjects exactly paralleled in the teaching and thought
of Jesus? First--'life'; said Jesus, 'I have come that they may
have life and may have it in abundance.' Second--'liberty'; said
Jesus, 'Ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.'
Third--'the pursuit of happiness'; said Jesus, 'I have spoken to
you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be
full.' From the standpoint of undistorted facts, is it not
obvious that these causes were common to Jesus and the author of
the Declaration?"
This is, I thinking really stretching the analogies.
"As Carlyle's wish for a truthful portrait of Jesus can never be
satisfied, although Leonardo da Vinci's probably comes nearer to
it than any other ..."
Except of course, da Vinci's is definitely Caucasian, and Jesus
wasn't. For that matter, I am not sure if if Jackson is referring
to the portrait in "The Last Supper" or "Salvator Mundi". In the
latter, Jesus is also dressed in Renaissance era clothing, and
making the sign of the cross. One is reminded of the "St. Columba
Altarpiece Adoration of the Magi" by Rogier van der Weyden, in
which you see the Three Wise Men at the manger, and on the back
wall of the manger is hanging a crucifix!
See <
https://broadview.org/the-many-faces-of-jesus/> for other
comments.
"The two marks of man, which distinguish him most from animals,
are: first, his power to think; second, his capacity to love."
Of course, not we're pretty sure that some animals can think, and
that some animals can love. (Of course, this involves trying to
define "thinking" and "love", and lots of luck with that.)
"It is safe to trust yourself alone with Jesus. As soon as we
acquire the courage to apply the democratic principle to
education, then it will be possible to put into everybody’s hands
at least the teachings of Jesus printed by themselves alone as
they are in the Jefferson Bible. They could even be put into the
curriculum of the public school."
Welcome to Oklahoma. Except there it's not the Jefferson Bible,
it's the Trump Bible. Ack, ptui. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net What convinces masses are not facts, not even invented
facts, but only the consistency of the illusion.
--Hannah Arendt
MT VOID, 12/13/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 24, Whole Number 2358