Jan 30 2008
Minor thoughts on Cloverfield
I’ve talk to a few people who watched this movie, and they universally panned it. From the jittery camera direction to the “amaturish acting”, quite a few of my associates roundly dismissed the movie as a queasy thrill-ride version of the Blair Witch Project, whose infamy in camera jittery-pokery was, and still is, legendary. I believe ‘nauseated’ is the term. Among them, I was of the minority opinion. But then again, for readers of this blog, this should come as no surprise.
Like my compatriots, I could have done without all the shaking and hair pulling and screaming hysterics. It was a sensational movie to begin with. How much more sensational is a thirty story beast rampaging Manhattan? However, I think the movie provides invaluable insight, if you have the eyes to see it.
First of all, if you go see this film and want to derive anything meaningful from it aside from the obvious, you must accede to the premise of the story off the top without question. Know that you are going to get wobbled out of your membranes and jolted until something falls out. That’s just a given. Two is to approach this with an open mind and not treat it as just another scary monster gore-fest. At least, this is how I tried to approach this movie.
When I left the theater, I was dazed but not because of the shaking camera. As a Christian, I looked at that movie and thought, “Is this how people are going to react when calamity befalls us as it surely will?”
As far as it goes, the group, collective dynamics exemplified in the movie is SPOT ON. I’ve been to parties almost exactly like the one portrayed in the movie, although admittedly less posh, and the human interaction between the characters is pretty darn realistic. The halting semi-coherent speech. The desperate desire to have all the information about what’s going on while refusing to give any information to others. The psychotherapy relationship dramas. These characteristics are the traits of people thirty years old and younger.
On the flip side, also exemplified in the movie is the intense loyalty and bonds between the characters to where they would follow each other willingly toward death, even as an alternative is presented to them. This trait is also ubiquitous to my generation and younger, and by the way, it’s this generation that’s in Iraq right now.
But the main insight I derived from the movie is one based upon my faith’s assertions of the End Times. I think the monster in the movie is metaphor for the Apollyon and his hoard. The Bible describes these creatures as being scorpion-like, which I think is portrayed in the movie.
10And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
I think that JJ. Abrams used this scripture as the starting point of this movie and built the plot around it. Strangely enough, I haven’t seen another Christian seeing the connection between this movie and Revelation. Though of course, this movie doesn’t present the coming of Apollyon, the Destroyer, exactly as the Bible laid it out, but it has echoes. I’ll not analyze it more than this.
I’ll sign off tonight on a side note. Over the course of a couple of months, I’ve spoken to relatives and acquaintances in Houston and Los Angeles and everyone said they feel in their bones an impending calamity befalling our nation. I’ve seen this reflected in the anxiety we all feel about this current Presidential election and in the daily news reports around the world, as though we’re all holding our breaths, waiting.
I also find it interesting that for the holiday season this past November and December, we were treated to two apocalyptic-esque movies, The Mist and I Am Legend. And now we have Cloverfield.
What this ultimately means, who knows? But I don’t lightly blow off the collective anxiety and fears emanating from all corners of our entire nation. Something is clearly happening. I’m just not sure I know what that is.
And another thing…
For people who complain about Cloverfield’s wobbly camera action, I’ve got a question. What’s the difference between all the stomach churning “home video” feature of this movie and all the strobing, flashing, epileptic visual style of actions movies? To me, they are only a two degree difference between them.