A Nightmare on Elm Street: A lesson in Sexual Violence

In a cult classic slasher movie such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, various ideas of sexual violence, repression and family are brought to the attention of the viewer.  The film is able to provide a lot of information regarding gender theory and queer theory because of character interaction.  A Nightmare on Elm Street also follows many of the same archetypal plot devices or characterizations as films such as Richard Donner’s The Omen or Ted Browner’s Dracula.

As the most memorable character of the film by far, Freddy Krueger represents male intention in the form of sexual aggression and plain terror, and as he terrorizes and murders a group of teenagers, he slowly but surely reaches his last victim, Nancy Thompson.  What is particularly interesting about the murderous relationship between Freddy and Nancy is that the monster of Freddy is born out of Nancy’s mom’s actions.  As a character, Nancy’s mom may have the most complex characterization out of everyone in the movie: she spawns Freddy, is a single parent, and she is an alcoholic because her husband left her.  As the story unfurls and Freddy’s origin story comes in to play, it is revealed that Nancy’s mom burned the once living child molester to death, and Freddy Krueger is born. Metaphorically Freddy Krueger is the embodiment of sexual repression and frustration in Nancy’s mom, which is the result of the abandonment of her husband. Interestingly, as the movie goes on and Nancy’s mom becomes drunk off of alcohol, Freddy becomes more blood drunk.  As a statement not only about parents, but also the eighties culture it became quickly clear that the mother was the initial push for Nancy to be sexually repressed and assaulted, revisiting yet again, the 1980’s paradigm of lack of parental support, and overall vacancy. Carol J Clover sites in her article Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film that “The tale would indeed seem to be one of sex and parents.”  A Nightmare on Elm Street also has much to offer in terms of gender theory, and queer theory.  

Gender theory and queer theory often play a large role in the horror genre.  Gender theory in horror films often stereotypes each gender in to roles seeing the man as the masked or deformed monster as well as the overt sexual boyfriend.  There are really only two kinds of roles for women in horror films, one being the harlot who must be punished for sexual thoughts or acts, or the second is the innocent victim who must rise up and conquer the monster.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is not different from any other stereotypical horror film in that aspect.  As far as the queer theory goes (a theory explaining how a character can also embody traits of the opposite sex) in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger has a very large trait similar to a woman, five in fact, his long blade finger nails.  This female trait signifies the attempted female complex Krueger has throughout the movie.  Unlike most horror films Nancy does not use a phallic weapon to defeat her enemy; she retains her womanhood and attempts to kill Freddy with fire.  Despite this one anomaly A Nightmare on Elm Street still followed many of the same archetypes the genre had passed down.   

As we continue in to the post-modern 1980’s period, A Nightmare on Elm Street is no different.  Films such as The Omen and Dracula have similar characterizations or plot points.  Richard Donner’s The Omen shows how the absence of a parent of the opposite sex destroys the child’s chances of having a normal life.  In this film, Damien (the devil’s son) is without his mother from childbirth and is forced (as the genre states) in to a life of struggle.  Another film which could be connected to A Nightmare on Elm Street is Dracula.  Dracula is an early monster/horror movie in which sets the precedent of having the monster terrorizes the innocent female while killing the harlot.    A Nightmare on Elm Street certainly has various ties to films set in similar storylines and characters.

A Nightmare on Elm Street has dialogue that harms my ears as much as the blood hurdling screams of the film, while also having such a poorly acted cast.  The film still bears much merit in terms of gender and queer theory while also still maintaining a post-modern, culturally relevant 1980’s horror flick.

Wargames: or How I learned to Worry About Dropping the Bomb

Wargames: or How I learned to Worry About Dropping the Bomb

John Badham’s Wargames is not only a box office hit, but also a critically successful film and socially important film that unmasks the hacker process while also giving the audience a lesson in nuclear warfare and adolescence.  Wargames is undoubtedly rooted clearly in post-modernism with references to Kubrick’s classic Dr. Strangelove. 

             In a new world where technological breakthroughs in digital control; hackers had the potential to bring any company, government or individual in to complete submission.  Wargames, in 1983 had in fact shown the new realities of a potential new world war because of what a single hacker could do with malcontent or carelessness.  The film scares reality in to its audience about potential cyber-attacks the United States could be facing.  As Stephanie Ricker Schulte references in her article The Wargames Scenario: Regulating Teenagers and Teenaged Technology, even the United States Congress addressed the issues of computer hacking in various subcommittees.  The film’s protagonist David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) shows the audience not only to dial in to the internet, but also how a hacker could inadvertently hack in to a defense system and unintentionally cause World War Three.  Personally, I know next to nothing about hacking or advanced computer tricks, so to see it on-screen not only allowed me to see the ease in attacking someone through cyber warfare it also leads me to question whether or not I am safe from these attacks.  I honestly became one of the film’s target recipients of the simple theme of safety. 

            Clearly demonstrated in Wargames is the difference between youth and adult.  As a paradigm in many teenage angst films the kid is always right and adults are stupid.  There really is not much difference in Wargames, only this time it is not about a stupid argument pertaining to going on a trip or to a rock concert, this time it is about nuclear holocaust.  Technically the problem was in fact caused by three kids, David, his “girlfriend,” Jennifer Mack, and the aptly named computer Joshua.  The computer Joshua who had begun the games is named after the son of the first adult to trust in the youths, Dr. Falken.  Throughout the film David Lightman and (Ally Sheedy) endure intense persecution from the authority figures of the film only to come back and prove that the kids had the solution the entire time if the adults had bothered to listen.  This demonstrates the ignorance of the parents to the idea that kids can fix their own mistakes if they are granted the opportunity in doing so.  As well as using teenage angst to drive the film, Wargames also pays homage to its nuclear predecessor Dr. Strangelove.  

            It is hardly unnoticeable if you have seen Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove to not notice certain similarities in Wargames.  The first one being in disconnect and pure ignorance and idiocy that the Government’s share in terms of nuclear consequences.  As portrayed in both films the central Governments do not have the foresight to look beyond immediate consequences and goals in destroying the opposition.  By not realizing this and condemning the world to nuclear holocaust reality sets in for the audience.  Another similarity comes in the setting of most of the picture.  Dr. Strangelove and Wargames both share the main set piece of the film, being the war room.  It is in the war room that most of the debauchery takes place.  It has become the setting of one of the greatest lines in cinematic history being “Gentlemen you can’t fight in here this is the war room.”  This line is actually similarly referenced where a military official that he couldn’t run inside the war room, suggesting that information should be handled calmly and without transparency.  One of the last homages I noticed came in character to similarity to Dr. Strangelove’s Major TJ “King” Kong, played by Slim Pickens.  This character is iconically remembered for riding a nuclear bomb to his death.  Picken’s character is nearly mirrored in General Beringer as both characters are southern war hawks that are hell bent on launching nuclear weapons for the safety of their own country.  The irony being that launching a nuclear war head would actually be the leading event causing their country’s downfall.

            As hackers have charted a seemingly uncharted world during the 1980’s in the internet, it can be seen the dangers of irresponsibility and danger hacking can put the world in.  Similarly to the imminent danger Dr. Strangelove portrays at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, similarities can be seen in the 1980’s as Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov once again threaten nuclear war.  Wargames, is a film that at the peak of nuclear tension between Cold War contenders the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics we are reminded of the potential outbreak and disaster of nuclear war.  Stephanie Ricker Schulte says “The film positioned the establishment as unprepared and ignorant, placing nongovernmental individuals as the world’s saviors, the only ones able to use technology for good.”

Blade Runner: Forget it Deckard, it’s Chinatown

Blade Runner: Forget it Deckard, it’s Chinatown

As the dystopian film genre goes, Blade Runner is a film that has much to say about the human condition and 1980’s society.  Not only that, but a post-modernist tone is given to the film remnant of noir films including John Huston’s Maltese Falcon and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown.  These three combined attributes have gained Blade Runner not only critical acclaim but cult status. 

            Blade Runner asks the question who is more human, the replicants or actual humans?  It seems as antagonist (I use this term very cautiously) and replicant Roy Batty’s sacrifice at the end of the film, his feelings as love Pris’ dies and his own mortality shown throughout the movie, answers the question.  Roy is particularly juxtaposed by his creator Tyrell.  Tyrell, the corporate official, offers up emotional vacancy in contrast to the emotional and regretful Roy.  These two characters were particularly interesting to me as Tyrell is vengeful enough to kill his own creation in Roy, where Roy just wants to fight against his own mortality and live a free life, which ironically seems freer than any other character in the film.  The freedom is represented quite often in the film by the theme of sight.  Sight is demonstrated throughout the film as Tyrell uses glasses, or technology to see the world.  Pris who spray paints her eyes to give the appearance of blindness, while Roy has clear sight.  In a climax of the film, Roy breaks Tyrell’s glasses and gouges his eyes out, rendering him useless and killing him.  Fulfilling the wrath the creation has on the creator for creating a mortal being.  A large part of the film engages humanity and what it means to be human, and the protagonist Deckard provides ambiguity as to if he is indeed a replicant or not, which engages the middle ground of Roy and Tyrell reinforcing the films theme of “who knows?”  As important the theme and cultural message is to the film, another important idea was in play in the depiction of dystopian Los Angeles in the year 2019.

            1980’s culture whether it be because of Reagan economics or the crack-cocaine era, a large gap in economic and social class was found in the rest of the country, but particularly in Los Angeles.  Through Blade Runner Ridley Scott honestly and brutally depicts the current state of L.A. and sees it through an even more urbanized and socially imbalanced society as the city is separated in to a ghetto and a more lavish lifestyle up in skyscrapers.  As Norman Kline suggests in his article Building Blade Runner, he offers that the ghetto closely resembles old forties structures, while skyscrapers are built right on top of the old buildings (Scott makes this decision with a societal theme in mind but also with post-modern aspects at play).  He chooses Chinatown specifically because of the American people’s fear of Asian imperialism and the fear and possibility of not being the only super power in the world.  Directionally, it is as if the upper class is directly looking down at the lower classes and the old way of life.  Also interestingly as Kline points out in his article many city planners vocally fantasized about making Los Angeles similar to the bladerunner city.  Ironically this dystopian city features acid rain, non-existent nature surroundings, classist and economically separated culture and an environment where humans are no longer human.  It may seem as though as a society we are moving away from the bladerunner city, but perhaps we actually are not.  Ridley Scott as a director made various decisions in order to follow the post-modern movement of the time by paying homage to past noir films and earlier cinema.

            Throughout Blade Runner I noticed quite a few small references from movies such as Chinatown, Metropolis, 2001: A Space Odyssey while following the overall noir genre.  While watching Blade Runner I noticed that the Tyrell Company looked similar to the workhouse in Fritz Lang’s German expressionist film Metropolis.  Since I could recognize the similarities the first time I watched Blade Runner I was able to infer how I would later be introduced to the Tyrell Corporation.  Chinatown for me was quite obvious how the hard-boiled independent detective had to solve a crime and hunt down an individual in order to find out information.  I also found that the lower ghetto was indeed patterned on Chinatown, while the skyscrapers were built on top also was fairly symbolic.  I was also taken back to John Huston’s classic Maltese Falcon which by many is considered the essential noir film.  It includes a hard-boiled detective trying to figure out a crime while a crime and femme-fatale stands in the way of his case (Huston also had an important role in Chinatown that would cause film buffs an immediate association).  So in the spirit of post-modern movement Scott chose to reconnect with the film noir genre in order to give the genre new strength.                    

            Blade Runner deemed by many to be one of the most important American films ever made, not only makes questions morality and the state of current human condition but also as to future and dystopian possibilities.  As a post-modern film it along with its predecessor Chinatown nearly single-handedly revived the genre to inspire other more contemporary films such as The Dark Knight, Sin City and Memento many of which Norman Kline gives as example. Where this film can certainly ask more questions than answer, it asks the audience to question the emotional and immoral state in which we move towards the future and what we as a society can do about it.      

ET: American Resurrection

E.T.: American Resurrection

            E.T. the Extra Terrestrial is a touching story not only of friendship and cultural understanding, but also of socio/political importance.  Spielberg’s box office hit quite blatantly parallels biblical allegories, the main allegory suggesting that the alien ET as being depicted as Jesus Christ.  Although there are various homages to other classic films such as The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars as well as biblical references they all relate to 1980’s political culture with relations to Russia.

            Various biblical allusions are made throughout the movie, specifically through the character of ET, who shares the same ark as the religious figure Jesus Christ.  Critic Frank Tomasulo similarly illustrated and made the connection between the two.  I’ll draw on the similarities that are much more obvious. To start with both come to earth through either supernatural or extraterrestrial means.  One from an impregnated virgin and one from a space ship, I’ll let you decide which one is more probable.  As the ark continues, ET slowly builds followers, or disciples.  Jesus gained twelve disciples represented in the form of men, and ET who gained six followers (a multiple of twelve) who were represented by the six children within the film (the followers are represented as kids in the movie for socio-political reasons that I’ll talk about later on).  Similarly to Jesus, ET sacrificed himself for another and was rebirthed again to live with his family.  ET was also pictorally depicted to Jesus (as shown in image one) to share a similar popular depiction Christ.  As Spielberg uses religion to connect with his audience, he also uses some of his own films to resonate with the audience.

 

Image One (Spielberg)

            To effectively not pigeon-hole himself in to a single religious demographic, Steven Spielberg chose to ground his film by including other cinematic masterpieces to keep the attention of film lovers everywhere.  Spielberg includes various references of his own films to give the audience the ability to reminisce about past Spielberg films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jaws.  Personally, as soon as I saw ET’s space ship I immediately jumped to a Close Encounters reference to the alien’s space ship.  As I saw the ship a floodgate of memories jumped to mind.  Spielberg also subtly drops a Jaws reference as Elliot terrorizes his fish with a shark toy that was a reference to Spielberg’s 1975 classic.  While twenty-six years later at the end of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Spielberg has ET make an alien cameo as homage to his classic children’s movie.  Surprisingly, Spielberg also references a few other classic films such as The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Breathless.  

            Contrary to most box office directors, Spielberg not only paid homage to just piece of classic cinema but multiple pieces as part of the rising post-modernist movement, specifically Victor Flemming’s The Wizard of Oz, George Lucas’  Star Wars and Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless.  Spielberg references the fantasy classic The Wizard of Oz not only once but at least twice fairly blatantly.  The first time being Elliot and ET as they ride the bike in the sky similarly to Elmira Gulch (or the Wicked Witch of the West) in the tornado.  The second obvious reference came at the very end of the film as ET’s ship flew away over the rainbow, to a fantasy dimension, similar to Oz.  Another cinematic classic often referenced was Star Wars.  It was referenced multiple times as Elliot was introducing ET to his Greedo, Bobba Fett, and even a musician in the Cantina bar action figures.  ET was also drawn to Yoda during the Halloween scene.  The most foreign reference however came from the jump cut used most popularly by Jean Luc-Godard’s game changing French new wave classic Breathless.  The jump cut was used as an effective tool to not only convey Elliot’s surprised reaction to first seeing ET but also to take the viewer out of the moment and to fracture their own worldly understanding.  As Spielberg uses religion and film history to ground his movie, he still makes a socio-political statement within the film.

            As ET is a children’s movie typically you don’t expect to see political motivations but ET is also a story detailing U.S. and Soviet relations and how if they worked together they could accomplish a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship.  I mentioned earlier that ET’s disciples were children, and this is because that socially, it is the children that can observe and rebel against adult or governmental ideals such as the loathing of Soviet culture.  This is depicted in the government agencies interest to hunt down ET and use them to their own benefit.  Also in an earlier scene, ET is walking around the kitchen with Gertie and mother Mary, while Gertie keeps insisting the mother meet ET, but instead she continually ignores ET and simply goes about her business and effectively ignores the alien in the room.  Another scene shows the synchronization of Elliot and ET’s brain waves, which was a political reference between similar characteristics of U.S.S.R. and U.S. political policies as both countries had shown similar actions such as an arms and space race of the cold war.   This was remnant of 1980’s culture just prior to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and to me a message Spielberg wished to share was that if both countries were able to find a way to act peacefully both countries would then be able to prosper peacefully in their own separate worlds.    

            At the end of the day, ET is not just a kid’s movie but a film which contains great political and cinematic weight.  Ironically although it’s thought of as a kid’s movie many adults could profit from its various themes.