21 Jump Street: Covalent Bonding

In this poster, please note that, in spite of their tuxedos, they were street shoes. The black and white coloring is important because, just prior to the prom, they have gotten fired from the force for getting expelled and, as we know, the feet symbolize the will, so shoes can indicate important traits about the character's will and direction. Please note Jenko's (Channning Tatum): the white soles and black on top means he is walking in faith (symbolized by the white) that he's doing the right thing for the police force in tracking down the drug dealer and the top black part means he is spiritually dead to any other gain apart from that; contrasted with Schmidt's shoes (Jonah Hill) there are white laces on top, symbolic of the "tying up of loose ends" Schmidt would like to take advantage of in this chance to return to high school which was a curse to him. This three layers to his shoes (white soles, black tops and white laces) mirrors the "threesome" nudity scene in the party at Schmidt's house (Schmidt opens the door to his parents' bedroom and there is a naked guy in-between two girls).  Schmidt, wanting to do good work for the force (one of the girls) is also trying to accomplish what he didn't accomplish in high school (the girl behind him) and when Molly asks, "What was that girl behind him doing?" it refers to her not understanding why Schmidt is really there.

Phil Lord's and Chris Miller's 21 Jump Street  is quite funny, but funny isn't enough: stars Jonah Hill (Schmidt) and Channing Tatum (Jenko) also produced the film and Mr. Hill helped to pen the screenplay, which contains self-awareness about the buddy cop genre that expands its purpose while making timely observations about the new environmental movements gripping this generation's teenagers.

The two future cops briefly in their own high school years, graduating class 2005.  In high school, Jenko (Tatum) is the great athlete but flunks out so he can't be prom king; Schmidt (Hill) is a nerd so even though he can go to prom, he can't get a date. This is just one of the great "covalent structures" the film uses to draw out the stereotypes in high school and cop films. What's important about this particular scene, though, is the hair each of them wears.  Because Jenko thinks extremely well of himself, he has lots of hair (hair symbolizes our thoughts). Schmidt, being a nerd, intentionally tries to "blend in," which his poorly chosen bleached hair accentuates, that wanting to be a "part of the in-crowd," he willingly abandons his own identity and that over-exertion to blend in makes him stick out. 

When Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) shows Schmidt and Jenko a Youtube video of one student who recorded himself taking the drug, that student (a drama student who was scheduled to play Peter Pan in the upcoming school play) wears a green "NOEL" T-shit with a Christmas tree on it. Because the drug resembles a communion wafer, the set-up suggests an alternative religious experience being sought out by high school students today, instead of the more traditional path (which, who are we kidding? Hasn't this always been the case, even in Christian schools?). The kid they watch reacting to the drug dies a few days later from an overdose, but as the principal confesses, no one does anything about it.

"Embrace your stereotype!" Ice Cube tells the undercover cops, so they can blend in with the students better. Schmidt is so busy being scared about going back, he tries to blend in too hard. First, note the blue shirt Schmidt wears: we know he's depressed and it shows in the blue (melancholy) he wears; Jenko wearing red is for his appetites because he excelled  (in many ways) in high school so (while he's not sweating going back to school the way Schmidt is) Jenko is "hungry" (red means the appetites) to stand out on the force for getting this assignment done right, regardless of how he did on assignments in school. 

Covalent bonding is a chemistry term,  used as the film's primary metaphor for the lessons both Schmidt and Jenko need to learn to make it through the film alive and achieve the necessary conversions within themselves to be classified heroes at the end. While I wouldn't classify 21 Jump Street as a conservative film, it does take pains to illustrate and undermine certain liberal agendas, such as extreme environmentalism.

Schmidt under cover with Molly from his acting class and Eric's casual girlfriend. Molly is an important character because her father abandoned her when she was little and the emotional damage that caused her reveals itself in her casual sexuality and letting herself be abused. Just as Molly mis-uses her phone for texting, rather than calling people (which is what they were invented for) Molly also mis-uses her body for casual sex than than intimate (marital) sex.  Because her father leaving her when she was young holds her hostage to the point it threatens her ability to live, Coach Walters holds her hostage and threatens her life. Just as Molly's dad didn't live up to the requirements and responsibilities of his manhood in taking care of his daughter, so Coach Walters doesn't live up to his responsibilities in taking care of Molly (using her for his protection instead of using his masculinity to protect her) and loses his manhood (which is nicely done by the film makers: losing your child is the same as losing your penis, which permitted you to create the child, and throwing away that child, not caring and providing for them, means a man is throwing away his spiritual, emotional and psychological manhood the same way Coach Walters' physical manhood, his penis, is shot off).  Molly's casual sexuality is mirrored by the the girl in the limo: girls see their bodies as vehicles for pleasure rather than the house of the soul. Schmidt and Jenko are in a car chase and a girl is in the back of the limo wanting to perform oral sex on Jenko like a prostitute (she has never met Jenko, and there are prostitutes in the film, and they behave more lady-like than the ladies).  The girl in the limo (a projection of Molly herself) thinks by sexual experimentation (like the drug use in the film) she will really be living and having a good time, but also because girls like Molly who have been damaged emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, behave abnormally by trying to find healing for their low self-esteem through sex, so normal girls who are not damaged see the Mollys of the world and think her abnormal behavior is normal behavior, so the damaged girls lead healthy girls into becoming "sick" like them (we see this exact same situation in the sexually abused Sarah Murphy [Elizabeth Olson] of Silent House).  But this doesn't happen with just girls, Jenko--who is only known because of his good looks and great body--is just as dehumanized as the girl in the limo. Jenko has been used as a vehicle for pleasure by women (the chemistry teacher telling him she wants to "check out his chest" puts his body over his mind) so Jenko in turn dehumanizes others. When Schmidt and Jenko are on the highway stalled in traffic, Jenko pulls a woman out of a pink VW Bug and tells her how hot she is even as he's stealing her car, because to him, she is nothing but a vehicle for him to catch the druggies, because Jenko has been nothing during his life but a vehicle for women's pleasure; it is a vicious cycle of sexual, self-abuse for all involved.

The window of time between Schmidt's and Jenko's graduation, and their re-entering high school under the cover of finding the drug dealers, is only a seven year period; what's the biggest part of the last seven years taken up by? The current political administration.  So when Jenko and Schmidt walk into school, they try to identify everyone by their clothes, hairstyles and cars, and make a huge mistake.

It is interesting because we don't see them graduating high school, but we do see them graduating from police training. Why is this important? The film sets up the differences between high school students less than a decade ago, and students today, how dangerous their world has become and not particularly legal.  The emphasis on Schmidt and Jenko graduating from police training creates the dichotomy of the older generation still wanting to be of service to society, whereas this younger generation is more about themselves, even under the guise of the environment (more on this important topic below).

Jenko had made it through high school being popular by making fun of others who tried. Going into their "new school," Jenko tells Schmidt, "Never try at anything and always make fun of those who do." Having driven a Ford Mustang into the parking lot, Eric (Dave Franco) encounters Jenko and seriously jokes with him, "How many miles to the gallon does that get? Like 10?" to which Jenko replies, "Like 7. . . .  Do I smell egg rolls?" Jenko and Schmidt discover that Eric's car runs on recycled frying oil from a local restaurant. It turns out that Eric is also the dealer for the HFS drug.

This interior is a Christian church, Aroma of Christ Church, specifically for Korean Christians (because of a grotto with the Virgin Mary outside the church, invoking Lourdes specifically, it is possibly even a Catholic Church, emphasized by the sign they see inside the church "God Is Love," the title of Pope Benedict's first encyclical).  Each of the people you see sitting in the pews are from the police force and are going to be going undercover. Here on the immediate right is a slice of Ice Cube portraying Captain Dickson, the one in charge of the covert operations.  Why is there a "Korean Jesus" being crucified? After Schmidt and Jenko realize what they are going to be doing, Schmidt kneels at a communion railing and tries to pray, telling Jesus how "freaked out about going back to high school" he is; why does this happen? The "Korean Jesus" symbolizes how "foreign" Jesus has become to people today, and the 21 Jump Street operation being housed inside a church is possible because no one is going to church anymore for it to be used as a church, which means, the police force now has to do the work churches once did, teaching kids to turn to God instead of drugs. Interesting, Schmidt's parents smoke pot.

Eric's radical environmentalism (he's also a vegan and worries about going to prison because they won't serve vegans) is all ago for mother earth, yet he cares little or nothing about fellow humans. What his car consumes is more important to him than what his peers consume, which brings up a word used a couple of times in the film: unnatural. Just because someone adheres to "nature" doesn't mean their actions are in accordance with what nature intended for us to do (for example, the casual sexual relations Eric and Molly have between them which obviously hurts and damages her emotionally and also invokes how unnatural it was for her father to have run out on her when she was growing up and how that damage is what "holds Molly hostage" when Walters--also a bad male role model--holds Molly hostage).
Which brings us to the supplier:  Mr. Walters (Rob Riggle).

It's only the first hour of the first day of school and all ready, Schmidt has been able to find the dealer, Eric, pictured above, and make a purchase for two hits at $20 a pop. While Eric works on the school yearbook, he insists Jenko and Schmidt do the drug there so he knows they aren't narcs.  "Only narcs say narcs," he tells them, which is what he originally called them. Eric, however, successfully manages to deconstruct himself a number of times, including when he realizes Schmidt is an undercover cop and Eric can't believe Schmidt betrayed him: "You bought us Taco Bell," he says, even though he's vegan.  

It's interesting the way Mr. Walters is introduced to us, because immediately after taking the drug and Schmidt and Jenko are unable to vomit it up, they encounter Mr. Walters in the hallway who notices their passes are expired so he "makes a deal" with them to keep them out of the principal's office. He also immediately recognizes that they have done drugs, so this should alert the observant viewer that the one willing to make a deal is (literally) the dealer.

Mr. Walters the high school coach who is also the supplier for the HFS drug. He works with Eric after having caught Eric smoking weed and "made a deal with him," to sell more stuff. Why? Mr. Walters' teacher salary barely paid his alimony.  This provides us with the look at teachers who destroying kids instead of building them up and being role models to them (which most teachers do with very little thanks or reward). Mr. Walters complains of not having anyone who can run on the track, but look at him: because he hasn't "run the race" of Christ, he is not "fit" to teach anyone. The chips he eats informs us about what he "takes in" (not to mention the empty bottles there on the table from the mini-bar). Mr. Walters is a man of his appetites (which is probably why he got divorced, resulting in the alimony he had to pay) and that's the reason why Schmidt shoots his penis off towards the end of the film (accidentally, but explained below).  In this picture, the pinatas are filled with drugs and drug money and, curled up with them on the couch as if they were his wife and kids, we see how he uses people as if they were no more to him than the papier-mache of the pinatas destined to be destroyed, just like himself.

Why are the drugs and the money transported via pinata?
It invokes the Oscar winning Steven Soderbergh film of 2000, Traffic, when cocaine is transported in the shape of a doll (and other child's toys).  Pinatas celebrate birth (they are popular at birthday parties) but they carry the instruments of death; just as the Youtube student who died from the drug wasn't celebrating the birth of Christ--the Noel for us all--which led to his death, so the taking of what the pinatas hold is also a celebration of death, not life. It also reminds us of the problem we had in 2000, and how that problem hasn't gone away, it's gotten worse.

Arriving at prom, the three other guys with them are the nerds Jenko has befriended who are going to run the wire taps to record evidence they gather; Jenko also hooked them up with three prostitutes so they would have dates for the night...  At this point in the story, Jenko and Schmidt are off the force, so they are doing this on their own. When they were  kicked off for getting expelled (because Jenko was upset that Schmidt was getting too involved with being popular) there is a brief camera shot of the Korean Jesus crucified in the Church; whereas, when Schmidt made his original prayer, Jesus was extending his right hand with a dove in it (symbolic of the Holy Spirit), now that they have been fired, the dove is gone. In the shot above, as they were getting out of the limo, Jenko (you can see him still holding the box) released several white doves into the air for their "arrival effect."  The Holy Spirit is with them not only as the dove, but also in the limo (vehicles symbolize the Holy Spirit as well) and we especially know the Holy Spirit is with them when Johnny Depp shows up because that saves them.

Towards the end of the film, Jenko takes a bullet for Schmidt--showing how much he has matured throughout this ordeal, and can care about someone else other than himself--and Schmidt fires his gun at Mr. Walters, accidentally hitting him in the penis. Is this more crassness? Actually, no.  The penis is the symbol of a male's manhood, and because Mr. Walters has failed in being a role-model for children entrusted to his care, he has lost his manhood has a result for not living up to the standard; when Walters (handcuffed) tries to pick up his severed penis from the ground with his mouth, it demonstrates how he will try to resuscitate his masculinity via his appetites (the mouth) again at a later date, even though it obviously won't work.

This is one of the moments when Schmidt chokes. He choked in the beginning of the film asking a girl to prom, then he choked when a drug user was evading arrest and he didn't do enough to stop him,  and instead of firing his gun like Jenko is doing, he throws his gun at the back of an escaping criminal. When Schmidt fires at Walters, Schmidt is "coming into" his manhood that has eluded him the whole film because he overcomes his fears and realizes what manhood really is by seeing what it is not.

When Tom Hanson (Johnny Depp) shows up, why does he get shot in the neck?
He gets shot in the neck twice, because the neck symbolizes what guides us (like a yoke or a collar) and twice in his life, he has allowed false, superficial things to control him and only when he is dying does he realize it. Why? Obviously, when we are losing our life, everything is being taken from us and we see what is really important, but more importantly, it's so the audience will hear the lessons about what guided his life so we can repent of making the same mistakes before it's too late. (Schmidt mysteriously gets stabbed in the back at his party; why? It foreshadows how Jenko will stab him in the back by sabotaging the school play, even though Jenko feels Schmidt is stabbing him in the back).

Of all the things to notice in this shot, his shoe laces are untied. Why? By this point in the shoot-out, he's shot several people, and getting a little crazy, possibly because he and Schmidt aren't on the best of terms still, and he's still hoping to bring in the dealer to get their jobs back, so those things guiding his will previously are starting to "lose their hold on him" during the heat of the battle with bullets flying around. 

One last little note about drugs.
Schmidt and Jenko have that huge party at Schmidt's house and Schmidt's parents return during it, and as Mrs. Schmidt is blowing up, she mentions that she knew Robert Downey Jr. when he was still on drugs and was still fun. Now, the little logo picture on the HFS drug wrapper is a tornado; given how well Mr. Downey's life is going now, do you think he would want to go back to that "stormy" lifestyle he worked so hard to overcome and that nearly ruined him? This hysterical monologue Mrs. Schmidt makes demonstrates the problem between reality and perceived living it up and having a good time, and how no one thinks about "paying the piper."

So why make another buddy cop film?
Because we all have talents, whether we are more like Schmidt or Jenko, none of us can do it alone, and films such as 21 Jump Street go a long way in reminding us of all talents and our needs, and how we shouldn't hesitate to let another shine so we can do our own shining later.

More on Jonah Hill can be found in my post Moneyball and the Great American Economy ; more on Channing Tatum can be found in The Eagle & the End Of the Known World.

Dark Shadows Trailer

Everyone, I am DEEPLY sorry: the internet has been down for three days, Adobe keeps crashing and everything is taking five times longer than normal. I am just stopping for the day and off to see 21 Jump Street and will be posting my immediate reactions via Twitter (on the phone, not computer);  hopefully all will be well tomorrow. 
God bless you this Lenten Friday!

Dark Shadows, set for a May 11 release, gives us the year 1972; what happened in 1972? The Watergate Scandal had started and would result in Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974. Fear about the economy in the United Kingdom growing as unemployment exceeded 1 million for the first time since World War II; equal rights amendment passed; The Godfather released, the death penalty is declared unconstitutional (interesting considering that "stoning" as a means of state execution is mentioned in the trailer and two vampires who do not die), "The Troubles" begin in Northern Ireland, there is the Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes, growing knowledge about DNA signals the birth of molecular biology, The Joy of Sex is first published (which may have something to do with this film). 1972 was, like 2012, an election year for incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon who won despite low voter turnout.

Besides a "scorned woman" (which we have seen in The Woman in Black, The Innkeepers and now Dark Shadows) there is also importance placed on the family business being "restored." This is obviously a reference to the down economy currently in the country, but what will happen, and exactly why Barnabas is a vampire (a political vampire like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, or a romantic one like Twilight) will color, to say the least, which side of the political spectrum Barnabas is going to "wake up" on. There is, to say the least, quite a bit of historical baggage the film invites by taking place in 1972, and we will have to see how it unpacks those bags.

This weekend I will be seeing 21 Jump Street, which gave Johnny Depp his kick start in the industry. The same problems which haunted the two lead characters in high school will come back now in their grown up days; there will be excessive foul language in the film, as well as drugs and some sexuality. What I am looking for is not so much the problems the film will present, rather, the cause of the problems and how, if at all, they will be resolved.

Naming the Harlot: The Woman In Black

James Watkins' thriller The Woman In Black displays all the advantages of great scripting, stage crafting and technique: while a simple narrative, rich details included by the director and art department make the film a treasure chest of reading possibilities (as I posited in my initial post, Queen Victoria, Monkeys & the Catholic Church: The Woman In Black). Upon my second viewing of the film, I would like to add a new element of interpretative possibilities and a further dimension to one all ready discussed; we will do the new element of interpretation first.

Eel Marsh House, the residence of Alice Drablow and the place where everything takes place in the film, becomes a museum of Great Britain: like the great country itself, Eel Marsh House is an island cut off by water (just as Britain is cut off by water); inside the house, all the portraits, the furniture, the diverse rooms and statues, could all be understood as elements of the past of English history, with the struggle between two sisters the ultimate historical drama the story wants to explore, like Arthur creeping through the house.

Inside Eel Marsh House: when Arthur arrives, Alice Drablow has been deceased for only a month, yet the house looks as if it has been abandoned for years; it's not a mistake between the script and art department, rather, we are to understand the dilapidated state in a more symbolic manner rather than just the dust, grime and filth of naturally occurring decay. Something has caused this decay to take place, something has caused the grounds of the house to fall to ruin and something has caused the dust to settle in thick heaps; all these details invite us, like the woman in black herself beckoning Arthur to the cemetery, to peer in and see a greater mystery.

Little Nathaniel, the son of Jennet Humphrey (the woman in black), who was taken by his aunt Alice and her husband Charles, died in 1889 by drowning in mud. What complicates this issue, is a brief moment of the film suggests that Nathaniel was also conceived in mud. Taken theologically, which we will do in greater detail below, it would suggest that Nathaniel was both born in and died in a state of sin (sin as a filth to the soul symbolized by the mud because no mention is ever made of Nathaniel's father because he was, legally speaking, a bastard); but what about the soul of the country?

The round object in the immediate center is the head of the child, Nathaniel, coming up out of the bed through an area with a "supernatural" mud stain occurring upon the linens. Why? Since his mother Jennet was not married, Nathaniel was conceived in sin, hence the mud "which gives rise to him" and Arthur witnesses, unlike his own son, Joseph, whose mother gave her life's blood for him (the birthing stains upon her bed linens contrasted with Jennet's).

In 1882, the Married Women's Property Act was passed which greatly altered the ability of women entering the state of matrimony to control their own property and money; heretofore, when a woman married, everything became the property of her husband. The law didn't take effect until 1883, however, which--according to the film--Nathaniel was all ready born to a woman not in a state of marriage (thereby in control of her own property).  It can be argued then, that Jennet was anxious to stay unwed, regardless of being pregnant, for the sake of money and that is the "mud" and filth into which Nathaniel was born: greed.

Nathaniel covered in the mud in which he drowned. Not having a biological father, it suggests that, given the plethora of monkeys filling his room (and that his adopted father's name was Charles) the father of evolution, Charles Darwin, is the "father" of those children born in the same circumstances as Nathaniel.

 Just as Nathaniel was conceived in mud, so did he die.
What happened in Britain in 1889 when Nathaniel drowned?
The "Children's Charter," or Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act was passed. The law "enabled the state to intervene, for the first time, in relations between parents and children. Police could arrest anyone found ill-treating a child, and enter a home if a child was thought to be in danger. The act included guidelines on the employment of children and outlawed begging." This little fact illuminates the bitter struggle for us between sisters and the role the state took in their dispute.

Arthur first entering Eel Marsh House and the grand staircase. As always, in great horror films, going up the stairs means one enters into a higher plane of consciousness, or thought (which is why scenes taking place on the "upper floors" are confusing to audiences because they are highly symbolic). There is also the element that, as Arthur enters the house, he enters into himself. This is an entirely different approach to the one we are currently discussing, yet, "opening the door" means Arthur opens the door into himself as well. Most of what Arthur does is read in the house, and it is through his reading of documents (pictured below) that he learns of the legal and intimate battle over guardianship of Nathaniel.

We would automatically think such an act would be desirous, that children should be protected from such awful treatment, but The Woman In Black provides a glimpse of what happens the moment the state is allowed to interfere in the relationship between the parents and children: they are separated, just as Nathaniel was separated from Jennet. Jennet being separated from Nathaniel means he is put in the guardianship of the state, symbolized by Charles and Alice who, as I have mentioned in my previous post, could be invocations of writer Charles Dickens or scientist Charles Darwin (who died in 182, the year Nathaniel was born, so that makes it more probable) and Alice of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (because Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles).

One of the dolls of the three Fisher girls, note the mud splattered on the face.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland aren't about Wonderland at all, rather, about the craziness and nonsense of society, created by the state who, creating the law in 1889, could take children into their custody and be taught according to the writings of Charles Darwin about how they "rose" from micro-organisms in the earth and water and, since there is no after-life in Darwinism, we return to earth and water when we die. Not being taught any religion by the state then, little Nathaniel would have been condemned to hell for not "being saved." The writing on the wall in Nathaniel's bedroom, "You could have saved him," meant that he could have at least been baptized, but instead of being saved in the sacrament of "life-giving water," he was lost in the mud. This adds a rather new layer of understanding to Jennet's own suicide, self-murder, to condemn herself to hell so be with her son.

Nathaniel's room with the wallpaper that has the alphabet and the monkey, to the left, which starts playing the music in just a moment. Please note how,  just by Arthur's right arm, is a curtain, pulled back for no apparent reason. In art, stemming from the medieval era, a curtain pulled back implied that something was "being revealed," and in this room, the "writing is on the wall."

An important clue to understanding why the woman in black takes the children of other couples is that the parents are never there when the children kill themselves. The presence of the "demon woman" inserting itself in place of the parents is a perverse illustration of the way Alice arranged for Nathaniel to be taken from Jennet and the state inserted itself in the place of the parents. (Now, of course, it can be argued how hypocritical is Jennet being, she had an illicit relationship with a man to conceive Nathaniel, so how religious could she be? But it is important that among the undelivered birthday cards for Nathaniel was also the rosary which Arthur places upon Nathaniel's body in his bedroom).

Nathaniel's room, towards the end when Arthur attempts to re-unite mother and son. The rocking chair plays an enormous role in the characterization of Jennet and what happened to her. Typically, a rocking chair is used by mothers to rock their children to sleep. Not having a child to rock to sleep, Jennet uses it to rock herself to "eternal" sleep, death.

And now for something completely different.
The hallmark of a great story is that it can be understood upon so many different levels, that there is always something else, always something new to discover within it. In my previous post, I discussed how the "woman in black" could be understood by the English Anglicans to be the Roman Catholic Church, which has recently made concessions to Anglicans wanting to leave that rite to leave the English Church and become Catholic (please see Queen Victoria, Monkeys and the Catholic Church: The Woman In Black for details).

Arthur reading the papers providing him with the information to understand what happened between Alice and Jennet. The pages and pages of writings and documents aren't just Alice's papers, they are the very archives of England, the great stories and literature of the age and just as we read them, so Arthur reads it and forms his own ideas and interpretations of what happened between Jennet and Alice as if reading Alice In Wonderland.

Like the woman in black always looking over Arthur's shoulder (I myself am a convert to the Roman Church), the Anglican Church might feel the Catholic Church to be waiting for every chance to "steal her Anglican children" from her. When Arthur goes through the papers, and finds the letters written in Jennet's crazy scrawling handwriting, Jennet calls her sister Alice a "harlot" and tells her to "rot in hell." Importantly, these provocations are written upon religious images so it invites a religious/theological interpretation.

Jennet hangs ominously in the background watching Arthur.

The original reason for the split between the Catholic and Anglican churches were the accusations of sinfulness (the filth of sin) in the Roman Church and the Roman Church accused the Anglican king Henry VIII of being promiscuous because he broke off relations with the church to have relations with Anne Boleyn. The name calling in the writings of Jennet to her sister could be likened to the papal bulls condemning Queen Elizabeth I to hell for heresy.

In order to get the locked bedroom of Nathaniel open, Arthur has to go down and get a hatchet, suggesting that there is a hatchet that has to be buried.

Yet this is where great film making happens.
In Nathaniel's room, the room of a small boy, when Arthur enters for the first time, as he pulls out a trunk from underneath the bed, to Arthur's left, on the wall, small but definite, is the paining of a nude woman lying upon a bed. We are not to take this as Nathaniel being exposed to pornography, rather, that his mother, in conceiving him out of wedlock, was the harlot, not Alice (as Jennet called her). While it's a small detail, it's an important detail, playing into Biblical imagery of the Roman Church being the "harlot of Babylon" because of the sins of its members.

The woman in black inciting Lucy to burn herself to death. Taken in conjunction with little Victoria who drank lye, a cleaning agent, and fire is a purgative symbol, we could understand the woman in black as inciting children to "penance" in cleansing their souls violently because Nathaniel died in the filth of sin.

In conclusion, for now anyway, there is a myriad of readings possible for this fabulous film, and little details can mean a great deal. Whether the laws of the time or the religious dialogues today, films can draw our attention to dramas that would have escaped our notice were it not for the accomplished artistry of the film makers themselves.

Battleship Trailer Snow White & the Huntsman Features & New Wrath of the Titans Spots

I was in the theater watching some film and the trailer for Battleship (May 18) came on and the woman sitting in the row in front of me turned to her husband and said, "Well, that looks stupid." Trust me, dear reader, I nearly busted a lecture on her about the role of aliens in film since the 1950s, but, fortunately for her and her husband, I didn't. Here, instead, is the third trailer released for the film and it's looking good!

While I absolutely hate seeing the John Paul Jones sunk like that, this is going to be a serious political thriller (the John Paul Jones invokes the American Revolutionary War) however, the "end of the world" scenario and the extinction of humans is a  matter of protecting the status quo which may--or may not--literally be protecting the political status quo.

This is what a lot of us have been waiting for: new behind-the-scene looks at costumes, sets and concepts for the highly anticipated Snow White and the Huntsman. Here are three separate videos with great footage:

I'm glad I saw those bones on that wedding dress, that is something I totally could have missed. Knowing, also, that the kingdom has fallen into decay, and that Snow White has to rescue it, is really hopeful that it is not supporting the status quo the way I feared it might. These tidbits just make it harder to wait. 

One last little note, even though Dark Shadows is due in theaters in only two months, there is still no trailer! You can count on me to get it posted as soon as it comes out, but everyone is wondering, when will it come out?

On the other hand, the closer to the end of the month we get--and the release of Wrath of the Titans--the more trailers they are putting out. Here are several new ones, along with a more detailed synopsis: A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus—the demigod son of Zeus—is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind

 

 

 

 

The reason film makers spend so much money on advertising is because... it works. If, after having seen these awesome trailers, this movie turns into a bad blind date, I will be heart-broken. There are so many interesting elements at work here, I'm going to wait a few days to pull out some of the issues (it comes out at the end of the month with Mirror, Mirror). Okay, what Republican doesn't want to see George Washington in the imprisoned Zeus, and the escaped Titans pictured above as Obama, Clinton, Peolsi and Reid?

They'll feel my wrath if this movie is bad...

John Carter and . . . the Anti-Christ?

If you have seen John Carter, and read my initial post John Carter & the Political Language Of Barsoom, you probably noticed the glaring omission  I made of the Therns, the so-called messengers of the goddess Issus, and they are the reason I needed a bit more time to turn the film over. Several aspects of their role appears contradictory, however, if we patiently examine what the film makers have given us, I think we can understand who they are and why they have been heavily encoded, like so much of the rest of the film.

Mark Strong as the Thern Matai Shang who approaches Dominic West's character Sab Than about becoming the absolute ruler of Barsoom (Mars) with the help of a weapon of great destructive power (the Ninth Ray). Let's examine what his costume says about him. His head is bald, which means an emphasis on knowledge and wisdom and that certainly proves true. The dominant color of his outfit is gray. Gray can be the color of a pilgrim, a novice, or the color of penance because of the role of ashes (which are gray) when one is doing penance. However, because gray does denote ashes, in John Carter, it makes more sense that the gray invokes "the ashes of destruction" because the Therns want Barsoom destroyed, and use the great weapon they bequeath to Sab Than to destroy, not preserve. Since gray covers the Therns entirely, they themselves are completely involved in destruction. On his chest is a medallion, which is the means to transport himself in-between worlds and to exercise all his power (discussed below). Because it's over his heart (or, in the place where his heart should be) that power is what they love and gives them strength and purpose. I am not sure the right word to describe it, but the outfit has a gathered, or creased look to the fabric that, upon close examination, both resembles an animal's fur and the sand dunes of a desert.

When the film opens, there is a monologue introducing us to the political situation in Mars, "the red planet," the dying planet, because the Zodangans, a "predator city," is robbing the planet of what little oxygen it has. Their leader, Sab Than (Dominic West), battles the city of Helium, led by Tardos Mors (Ciaran Hinds) for complete control over Barsoom. The Therns appear to Sab Than and tell him that he has been chosen by the goddess Issus to yield a weapon of the Ninth Ray so he can subjugate the city of Helium, rule Barsoom and ensure its destruction and Sab Than gratefully takes the Therns up on their offer. Using the Ninth Ray, Sab Than is able to corner Helium's warriors during a sandstorm and capitalize on his advantage that puts him in a position to force his rival Tardos Mors for the hand of his daughter, Deja.

Dominic West as Sab Than, leader of the warring Zodangans. His people are using up all the oxygen on Mars and hastening the death of the planet. That they are fighting with the people of Helium means the planet is in a civil war. These are all important matters to consider in putting together a coherent understanding of the film.

Examining the lines of narration above, it doesn't make sense that "messengers of a goddess" would, as we later discover, hasten and steer dying worlds towards their ultimate doom. That's just not what gods and goddesses do, unless they are evil, in which case, they are demons. This is just how art works, the values upon which it is built so that it can universally communicate with an audience; that there is a kink in the vocabulary may be the reason critics have panned the film so thoroughly, but not a reason for us to be deterred in finding out what it really means.

Tardos Mors (Ciaran Hinds) and his daughter, the princess Deja (Lynn Collins). Sab Than's strength is so great now that Helium can no longer fight. Deja has found the Ninth Ray, the source of the power of Sab Than's weapon, but her work was destroyed by a Thern so her father is now telling her that Sab Than's price for peace is her hand in marriage and she's not particularly excited about that.

I wouldn't ask you to consider the Therns to be demons unless I could substantiate it. First, death, destruction, chaos are all negative values, that is, anything leading to death is viewed as bad, hence evil, by our culture, but this is exactly what they are doing. Secondly, just so we know, without a doubt, that the great power in the weapon given to Sab Than to rule Barsoom is meant to be used for evil, Deja finds, harnesses and presents the same power to her father so they can use it to defend themselves and use it for endless scientific discoveries. Just as she is presenting it to her father and the other leaders of Helium, a Thern uses his power to cause it to explode, thereby destroying Helium's chances at using the power for good instead of evil. That's pretty persuasive right there that Therns only favor destruction and annihilation.

John Carter being "overwhelmed" by the Ninth Ray power (the web-like blue stuff all over him, which is how it ties into the spider cave and the web of the universe and inter-connectivity of all things, etc.).

But one last item.
In my post John Carter and the Political Language of Barsoom, I took great care in listing off all the films John Carter sites and references, with the exception of two. What character is Mark Strong best known for? Lord Blackwood in the 2009 hit Sherlock Holmes (and this isn't a stretch; Mr. Strong is an accomplished actor with a good range of flexibility in his voice and expressions, so when he's talking to John Carter and explaining what is going to happen, that he intentionally incorporates his "Lord Blackwood" persona is meant to make us remember that character). What was it Lord Blackwood wanted to do? Use satanic "magic" to take over Parliament and rule the world.

Matai Shang and John Carter watching the wedding procession.

Secondly, Dominic West is best known for playing the corrupt senator Theron in 300 of 2006. What did he do? He was a senator making deals to sell Sparta to the Persians for his own profit. Again, I argued previously that John Carter is intentionally siting other films so that we would experience deja vu (like the name of the princess) so we could incorporate those films into a dialogue with John Carter (this approach is known as Reader Response, which targets the knowledge of art/film/literature an audience all ready has when they enter into a new art experience and upon which artists will draw to reference situations for the "informed audience").

Matai Shang has sided with the Tharks (the four-armed green guys) to kill John Carter so he can't interfere with his plan. This shot clearly indicates his means of "controlling" events and people and manipulating outcomes.

There is a power Therns have: shape-shifting. A Thern can take on the appearance of any person, even (at one point in the story) John Carter himself.  What other villain have we recently been introduced to that can do this same thing? Thor's Loki, the god of mischief (Tom Hiddleston) who is also the primary villain in the summer's upcoming The Avengers. Shape-shifting is an artistic way of demonstrating how someone is lying, how they are manipulating the truth to their advantage (but, as in Thor, John Carter is also separated by the solar system from his love, Deja, as Thor is separated from Jane so this provides two strong references to the film).

When the Therns use their power, their eyes turn completely icy blue. We have seen this color before, the rock in Chronicle. As I have said, the color blue can either mean depression or wisdom (because the road to wisdom is often accompanied by sadness), however, icy blue such as this can invoke ice (when, for example, ice has recently broken off a glacier, you can tell because it will be an icy blue just like that color). Given the desert of Mars, we can compare their eyes to another desert: an arctic desert, of waste and barrenness.

If we understand the political language, and hence the destiny of Barsoom to be in the control of the demonic Therns, then their control and manipulation of Sab Than would make him an Anti-Christ figure because, just as Sab Than appears to be making peace in wanting to show his concern for Deja and the union with Helium, so the Anti-Christ is supposed to make peace and be a conciliator (from the book of Revelations in the Bible).

A fresco of the anti-Christ with the devil whispering instructions into his ear, which is exactly what happens in John Carter with the Therns constantly giving instructions to Sab Than on maximizing his circumstances (no one else can see the Therns unless they want to be seen by them). Deeds of the Anti-Christ by Luca Signorelli, circa 1501.

Why would that be important?
We're not looking at Mars in the 1860's, we are looking at the United States today. All films exist within a political context and John Carter clearly demonstrates a self-awareness at encoding; why encode? If the message is politically sensitive enough, it could be fear of reprisals but also because that's what art does: it presents a parable to us (like Christ's teachings) because if it's a good enough parable, it will stay with us longer than a mere command or statement.

The female figure on the far left, wearing the brown clothing and not the sheer gold cloth like the rest of the women, is a Thern who has shape-shifted to spy on Deja during her wedding preparations.

If the makers of John Carter are stating that we should be weary of someone who has started a civil war in this country, and is using their power to destroy--rather than build--the country, and if the makers of John Carter are warning us against making a "marriage alliance" with that destroyer, despite how strong that figure might appear to be, we have to read "the writing on the wall" as in the Book of Daniel, and decide, just like the war-weary John Carter, which side we are going to take.

Deja helping John to read "the writing on the wall" in the temple.

An interesting feature of the story is, John Carter realizes that his body is like a telecopy, i.e., his real body is left on earth while a copy of it is on Barsoom, fighting a political battle. It's not dissimilar to ourselves, because John Carter's "telecopy" body is like our own, that is, "our political body," and just as we are individuals within our own identity, there is a copy of us present in the greater political drama being played out in the country and in the world and we have to decide which side we are going to take.

John Carter first waking up on Mars.

With all the facets the film ties together, and the striving to teach us the language of Barsoom, we are invited to take our entertainment seriously. Given how reactionary the reviews have been towards the film, indicates that there is something far more important taking place than a typical theatrical flop. As always, we each decide what message we will take (if any) from our encounters with art, but it is clear that John Carter wants us to be reminded that things aren't always what they appear to be, and that we have greater power than what we might imagine.

Deja and Sab Than drinking from the wedding chalice.

The Beat Generation Revisited & a Teaser Trailer For a Trailer...

With a glittering, all-star cast, On the Road looks to be what the Beat Generation was all for, socialism and a wild time. The Beat Generation created an aesthetic which retains its unique identity today, but proved unsustainable (all the "stars" either died when they were young or lived too long and became irrelevant). No release date has been set for it yet:

Touchback, due for release in April, is a bit more uplifting to me because, unlike On the Road above, it's about capitalism; if we take his injury to be the "country's injury" and the game of football to be--as in Moneyball--the game of free markets and innovation, then his "second chance" is about undoing the mistake we made that got us in the mess we are in:

I know that you have all ready seen this trailer for The Cabin In the Woods, also being released in April, but I waited to post it because, for a long time, it has seemed like a sore thumb sticking out; it makes a little more sense now.

We can answer these questions on our own: what is it that isn't what it appears to be? What is it that is wanting to punish us? What is it that wants us to "split up?" We all have our own answers to these questions, but the point is, six years ago, would these have been questions that we would even have considered asking ourselves?
Did you doubt me about Ridley Scott?
Who in Hollywood releases a teaser trailer for a trailer? If you are interested, you can view a few new glimpses of Prometheus here in anticipation of a new trailer about to be released...

 The newest James Bond installment, Skyfall, is starting to look very interesting indeed; the simple black and white logo design lets us know that nothing will be black and white in this film and, along with a look at Oscar winning villain Javier Bardem (below) we get this delicious little snippet: Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.  

It's always bad when the villain is "disguised" as a good guy, but what villain is trying to disguise himself as a good guy in today's world?

It also appears that the 1987 flop Garbage Pail Kids will be remade... In the Book of Proverbs, it is written that he who does not learn from another's  mistake is a fool; it doesn't even bother to say what one is who doesn't learn from his own mistake.
And, here is a new image from the upcoming Mirror, Mirror being released March 30:

Before Mirror, Mirror comes out, I will be examining both the original Grim Brothers fairy tale of Snow White (both the Grimm Brothers are given credit as screenwriters) and the Walt Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (which is how most people are familiar with the tale). What should we be looking for? Well, in Mirror, Mirror, we know that the wonderful Sean Bean plays "The King," so we may actually see the king dying (which, in today's economy, and questions of violations against the American Constitution, could be very important) but the real hook in the trailer for me is when the Evil Queen (Julia Roberts) proposes to sweep the young prince Andrew (Armie Hammer) off his feet so her financial troubles will be over; who else, in the government, is having financial troubles?

AND...
Good news for fans of Chronicle, YES (I have never been so happy about a sequel except maybe for A Game of Shadows)! There will be a sequel! Hooray! Bad news for people everywhere, Project X is also set to have a sequel. Wow, it must really be nice to have so much money that you can just blow on really stupid stuff.

 Keira Knightley's and Jude Law's Anna Karenina has a US release date of November, followed by a remake of Robocop in 2013. . . . the only good thing about this remake of AK, is that the incomparable Tom Stoppard is the screenwriter.

This Is Not a Film, documenting Jafar Panahi's house arrest in Tehran, Iran, for making films (he has been sentenced to six years in prison and banned from making films for 20 years) was filmed primarily on is iPhone and smuggled into France via a wedding cake so the rest of the world could see. It shows discussions with his lawyer and family, detailing the importance of art and films in our lives and his sacrifices. If you have a chance to see it, do.

Mr. Daniel Craig as James Bond, press release photo for Skyfall

Along with a tagline more revealing of what James Bond will be battling in the November release of Skyfall are a couple of new photos. Bond films have done an expert job of providing the landscape in-sync with Bond's moods and spiritual states so what we are seeing above and below is probably going to be indicative of the greater film.

The villain's hideout called the "Skyfall Lounge."

Bond's British super-car, the Astin Martin, returns.