A clip from Rob Ager's film analysis of The Fly. Full 98 min version available at: www.collativele... Support me on PATREON: / robager Follow me on FACEBOOK: / robagerpublic Follow me on TWITTER: Ro...
3:07 I always interpreted the opening visuals as the kaleidoscopic representation of seeing through the eyes of a fly looking at the people below. In this interpretation, the audience becomes a "fly on the wall" as it were as the film kicks off.
Off topic, but what's with all the one eye symbolism in movie posters over the past 30 years?. I noticed the poster for the 1986 The Fly uses this technique. You never see this in film posters from the 1960s and before. What's going on with all this, it can't be just down to creativity of the artist or photographer. Music album covers and music videos are rife with that kind of imagery, and so too are movie artworks and not all of them are mainstream Hollywood. I've seen the same thing on very mundane films that hardly anyone will have heard of.
I've always thought the infamous "monkey cat" scene should have been left in. It shows not only Brundle's greatly reduced capacity for empathy by that point in his transformation but it also highlights the horror of the telepods themselves; the horror of infinite possibilities. He's no longer a scientist but a conjurer with the means to brew all sorts of grotesque amalgamations of bodies. Take them apart and put them together, over and over again. It's sort of done right at the end of the sequel where Martin performs the reverse process on himself, but I would have liked to have seen it explored more I think it would have elevated the sequel beyond gory sci-fi channel B movie material.
You know, the fly's conscious perspective is not something I thought about nearly enough when watching this movie. When Brundle begins talking about insect politics, and finally says: "I'm an insect, who dreamed he was a man, and loved it. But now that dream is over, and the insect is awake." I get chills every time. But I always just thought of it as him capitulating to his fate and losing his mind. I didn't think of this as... the mind of the fly that was in the telepod with him, actually taking the light and speaking through Seth's mouth. After all it was a conscious entity too. We think of it as an afterthought, like its just Seth's mind in there, going through physical changes now that the Fly's body was assimilated... But to the fly maybe it's experiencing the same thing in the inverse. Suddenly it finds itself experiencing the colossal qualia of being something thousands of times larger than itself. How a human might feel if we suddenly inhabited the body of some comsic, lovecraftian godlike being who lives for thousands of years, and experience the complex pleasures of its world that are entirely incomprehensible to us. It got to experience being one with Seth, making love to Veronica, feeling the rush of being a human and being in love, feeling its own strength make a sort of synergy with Seth's and make him into something stronger than both of them at either of their respective scales. "An insect, who dreamed it was a man, and loved it." And then that synergy starts to decay, some nightmarish case of graft-vs-host begins to tear BrundleFly apart. Its fly mind cannot handle the expansive madness of human complexities, and Seth's human body is not equipped to handle the visceral horrors of insect simplicity. So the metamorphosis reaches a critical crossing point where now it is no longer the fly's consciousness passively along for the ride in a complex human body and mind... but Seth's complex human mind capitulates and merges entirely with that of the fly, to the lowest common denominator between them, and returns to the visceral and brutal simplicity of the insect. "The dream is over... and the insect is awake." That really adds a layer of existential horror to this story that I already loved. Wow.
I think that the fly only became violent when it became part of Brundle. The violent desires within all humans became part of the fly. Brundle only acted upon these desures because he was now powerful enough to get away with it. Or so he thought. To me, it's vaguely reminiscent of the wendigo legend.
Great video, Rob. I was just talking with a friend about how one of the most merciful things about the world from a human's point of view, is our size, and the horrors we avoid by merely being big.
Not just big, we are smart too, so we have learned how to exploit our environments without having to use merciless violence. This hasn't gone un notice either. The various crows in the Corvid family are also very smart (as smart as a 7 year old child studies have shown) and they know to stay close to humans because we have so many things figured out. For example, the term 'straight as the crow flies' is misleading. Crows don't fly straight over long distances...they follow the roads systems we have built!
There would also be bacteria in the telepod. It's everywhere in the environment. Bacteria also exists on the surface of our skin, hair, and on inside of our digestive system. Why would Jeff Goldblum not fuse with that stuff?
I feel the Insect did have a transition period, from the fusion to the physical mutated redevelopment. Whilst Brundles body and psyche deteriorates he begins to accept his mutation. Whilst the insect part of him develops internally. Becoming excited with the metamorphosis within him yet still mourning his loss of identity and the love and acceptance of Ronnie. Ultimately becoming addicted to the idea of possesing her physically and psychologically by being fused together within her like some warped poetic nightmare of jealousy, longing and mutilation. Manifested in an (if ever shown on film would of been horrifying) "beautiful body" to quote Stathis from the sequel. I like the question of, is the insect aroused by mutilation or is this the only way Brundle can feel normal by physically being joined to Ronnie. Dark thoughts indeed. Thank God for that Shotgun! 😄🤢🤮💣💥
Can't help but laugh @ 'Ant', as we discuss The Fly. Mark, "Reboots" are typically because of a highly successful franchise and/or the limited capability of the Production staff (F/X, Cinematography, Funding) during the original film. Seeing as the 80's remake was an essential masterpiece, and there was NOT a successful franchise or sequels afterwards ("The Return" & "Curse"), I would HIGHLY doubt a green light for a reboot..
As great as Cronenbergs *The Fly* is (and it is) I'm not sure it has that kind of broad brand-recognition that would make a remake seem like an economically viable prospect to the Hollywoodland desk mammals
Lynch is weirder, but most of his films and series are nearly undecypherable... They are not on the same level for sure, tho they both like body-horror.
*_John 3.16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God._* _Jesus Christ loves you. Repent and be saved._
Imagine your therapist was a giant fly with it's legs crossed and a note pad at hand. Taking in all your problems and life's troubles and imperfections and then throwing them up at you whilst watching your brain melt... That's Cronenberg for ya.
"Brundelchup" The 58th variety of Heinz ketchup... made through the same GMO splicing of fish cells into tomato cells as all the other 57 varieties... True story!
Flies don't leap upon and attack other creatures? My man, you live in the same world as horse flies. What do you even mean? Maybe you could draw a line between flying around, landing on, then taking chunks out of flesh as something different from leaping upon and taking chunks out of flesh but that's a very thin line to draw.
Last week I heard that my nephew,nephew's who is a grown man of 30 was bitten by a hourse fly and am not sure the details but I know he feels awful at ths moment so I know flies are capable of attacking and eating flesh now or I would of just thought the same as described in this video.
@@transmissionggb2820 Thankfully, Brundle was only mixed with a house fly instead of horse fly. Imagine all the neighing and galloping mixed in with the transformation.
@@robag555 that would would a bit different, although ever since I saw the fly as a kid in the 80s I really hated the thought of flys being anywhere near me because of the way Brundle fly ate in the film and I found out how flies ate.
I have seen larger flys act in a predatory manner I found creepy. Once while walking, I came across a grub that had been dropped by a fly that had been startled by me As I inspected the writhing grub I noticed the fly had flown some distance away and was watching, like a cat
Truly bizarre that Geena Davies and Jeff Goldblum went straight from making THIS horrific movie to making _Earth girls are easy_ together (the same year?) You couldn't imagine a bigger tone shift than these two movies! (and Earth girls has a kind of 50s B movie vibe going on as well!) SO crazy!
The puppet looks a bit silly. Maybe just leave in some slurping sounds while focusing on Statis's face before cutting back to Brundle and we just see him licking this lips. Let your imagination fill in the blanks
The black flies where I live in Pennsylvania attack and bite the shit out of you during certain parts of the summer. They are absolutely vicious little buggers!
The finale of the original The Fly still makes my blood run cold. Brilliant movie I don't like the newer Cronenberg one though. Too much comic book logic. Putting fly dna wouldn't grant superhuman strength. Insect and arachnid strength is one of the most overblown misconceptions
Haha, that biological strength inaccuracy bothered you in the new one, but the notion that the physiology of a fly and a man being similar enough to swap heads didn't? There's a big section of the full vid that goes into the biological stuff. Both movies are wildly inaccurate, but with a purpose - exploration of human truths at the thematic level.
@@robag555 There's only so far I can suspend my disbelief, and the 2 Cronenberg movies tred dangerously close into being like weird superhero movies instead of horror movies
Mannerisms based on birds like in movie Starman (film) where Jeff Bridges admits that alien character based on birds behaviors of head movement (Twitcher - Trainspooter LoL ). Liquefaction of food that is 100% spider domain.
