Adora
07-31-2004, 02:55 AM
*cough* Okay, don't look at me like that. I didn't mind this movie. I actually thought it was worth more than the 5.70 I paid for it, even if the ending did suck balls. The same cannot be said for King Arthur though...
But anyway. Ever since I took a batch of Film Theory subjects at uni a few years ago and decided I want to major in it, I've always watched films, especially SF films, with an eye for metaphors. Doing a whole subject on SF and the way it is used as a forum for cultural metaphors does that to a fragile little mnid like mine. Aliens is the Monstrous Feminine. Godzilla & Monster films are Japan's way of working through Hiroshima & the firebombing of their country. The Stepford Wives (the original, mind you) is feminist backlash material, etc etc.
So watching Riddick, I couldn't help but read it as a metaphor for someone's take on the sort of "New World Order" that's emerged within the last 20 years or so.
"You keep what you kill" sounded like the 80's capitalist mantra of "Greed is good" to me. Homogenisation, military culture and the shallow masochistic tendencies of the Necromongers screamed "Modern perceptions of the US" also. They attacked the peaceful, seemingly paradise-like planet of 'Prime, with all it's lovely mixed cultures and rather, er, Arabic architecture *cough*. I'm sure you can figure that one out.
And funnily enough, it was the whole "Faith" thing that really stood out to me. If anyone has watched the brilliant first Riddick film (Pitch Black) you know Riddick's a maltheist. The Necromonger's "convert" the remains of the populations they conquer by threatening them with death. And, as good humans always do, the populace tend to put their lives over their faiths. Except for the holier-than-thou Muslim from the first film, who dies an honourable death protecting his family, and who "goes into the afterlife". The only one who ends up being able to defeat the one who's uber-powerful and at the center of the Necromongers is someone with a very twisted sense of faith indeed. The "different kind of evil" mentioned in the narration at the beginning, perhaps?
But at the heart of the Necromonger "Faith" is death, is emptyness and nothingness. A comment on certain cultural trends in modern Western society perhaps? Or perhaps the decadence of modern Christianity? The creepy things with the face-shields that look for living non-Necro's seem to be pointing towards a lack of... something post-conversion, that just seemed like body heat at first but is probably something else. So even a strong streak of maltheism, as warped as the concept is in our society, is preferable to a dead, empty faith bent on nothing except it's own locust-like spread. Or at least, this is what it seems to be saying to me... opinions differ though, I'm sure.
And Judi Dench's character- the Elemental. They don't use magic, it seems, but 'calculate'. Economists? Scientists? Thinktanks? What are they meant to be? They manipulate the situation into an outcome in the end that seems to be the lesser of two evils (yes, even if it does SUCK). What's with Jack/Kira's character, and her sacrfice at the end of the film? The friend I saw mentioned it was like Trinity's death at the end of Revolutions but I think it's more, it's jumping up and down at me trying to get me to figure out what it is, but I just can't work it out, damnit (yeah, mental note to self: stop posting on forums in the morning). Any suggestions are welcome.
Of course, there's the obvious Jesus-metaphor with Riddick's "Furian" ancestry and his childhood (Necromonger ruler ordered all Furian children killed, and Riddick only survived by chance). What sort of kicks this all in the butt is the ending though. Total wtfness, and kind of makes me wonder what they're going to do for the sequel (maybe he runs away from them and becomes a hermit again, then has to come back and save the universe... AGAIN).
Please excuse the disjointed nature of this post, since I'm still trying to sort this all out in my head, really. I only saw it last night, and didn't end up sleeping too well afterwards (not because of the movie, mind you) so I'm having problems getting my thoughts in order. But I have no doubt in years to come someone will be writing academia about this, so I'm just trying to figure out what they could be writing about, so when I look back I can say "I thought of that first!". And frankly, there was nowhere else I could post this (I've abandoned IIDB) so you guys were the chosen victims... I mean volunteers.
But anyway. Ever since I took a batch of Film Theory subjects at uni a few years ago and decided I want to major in it, I've always watched films, especially SF films, with an eye for metaphors. Doing a whole subject on SF and the way it is used as a forum for cultural metaphors does that to a fragile little mnid like mine. Aliens is the Monstrous Feminine. Godzilla & Monster films are Japan's way of working through Hiroshima & the firebombing of their country. The Stepford Wives (the original, mind you) is feminist backlash material, etc etc.
So watching Riddick, I couldn't help but read it as a metaphor for someone's take on the sort of "New World Order" that's emerged within the last 20 years or so.
"You keep what you kill" sounded like the 80's capitalist mantra of "Greed is good" to me. Homogenisation, military culture and the shallow masochistic tendencies of the Necromongers screamed "Modern perceptions of the US" also. They attacked the peaceful, seemingly paradise-like planet of 'Prime, with all it's lovely mixed cultures and rather, er, Arabic architecture *cough*. I'm sure you can figure that one out.
And funnily enough, it was the whole "Faith" thing that really stood out to me. If anyone has watched the brilliant first Riddick film (Pitch Black) you know Riddick's a maltheist. The Necromonger's "convert" the remains of the populations they conquer by threatening them with death. And, as good humans always do, the populace tend to put their lives over their faiths. Except for the holier-than-thou Muslim from the first film, who dies an honourable death protecting his family, and who "goes into the afterlife". The only one who ends up being able to defeat the one who's uber-powerful and at the center of the Necromongers is someone with a very twisted sense of faith indeed. The "different kind of evil" mentioned in the narration at the beginning, perhaps?
But at the heart of the Necromonger "Faith" is death, is emptyness and nothingness. A comment on certain cultural trends in modern Western society perhaps? Or perhaps the decadence of modern Christianity? The creepy things with the face-shields that look for living non-Necro's seem to be pointing towards a lack of... something post-conversion, that just seemed like body heat at first but is probably something else. So even a strong streak of maltheism, as warped as the concept is in our society, is preferable to a dead, empty faith bent on nothing except it's own locust-like spread. Or at least, this is what it seems to be saying to me... opinions differ though, I'm sure.
And Judi Dench's character- the Elemental. They don't use magic, it seems, but 'calculate'. Economists? Scientists? Thinktanks? What are they meant to be? They manipulate the situation into an outcome in the end that seems to be the lesser of two evils (yes, even if it does SUCK). What's with Jack/Kira's character, and her sacrfice at the end of the film? The friend I saw mentioned it was like Trinity's death at the end of Revolutions but I think it's more, it's jumping up and down at me trying to get me to figure out what it is, but I just can't work it out, damnit (yeah, mental note to self: stop posting on forums in the morning). Any suggestions are welcome.
Of course, there's the obvious Jesus-metaphor with Riddick's "Furian" ancestry and his childhood (Necromonger ruler ordered all Furian children killed, and Riddick only survived by chance). What sort of kicks this all in the butt is the ending though. Total wtfness, and kind of makes me wonder what they're going to do for the sequel (maybe he runs away from them and becomes a hermit again, then has to come back and save the universe... AGAIN).
Please excuse the disjointed nature of this post, since I'm still trying to sort this all out in my head, really. I only saw it last night, and didn't end up sleeping too well afterwards (not because of the movie, mind you) so I'm having problems getting my thoughts in order. But I have no doubt in years to come someone will be writing academia about this, so I'm just trying to figure out what they could be writing about, so when I look back I can say "I thought of that first!". And frankly, there was nowhere else I could post this (I've abandoned IIDB) so you guys were the chosen victims... I mean volunteers.