Mike Frank forwards: > ORIGINAL MESSAGE: > > I find that many American movies of the last twenty years or so, > which depict an encounter with supernatural phenomena (e.g., Close Encounters, > E.T., Contact, maybe 2001) tend to suggest the possibility of the supernatural > offering an experience of transcendent redemption: In each of these movies > something fantastic arrives from far away, from the future, or from another > dimension, equipped with superior intelligence, technology, and --more > important--sensitivity, and releases the characters in the film, and thereby > the audience in the theater as well, from the intolerable or meaningless > or repressive existence they have known. By contrast, encounters > with the supernatural in American films of the 1930s and 40s like It's > a Wonderful Life and The Wizard of Oz seem to convey the message that in > fact American life as we know it is just fine, and that when it comes > down to it there really is no place like home. > > Can you suggest any additional films that would serve as good > examples of this contrast, or, if necessary, films that tend to undermine it > and show that a desire for transcendence was as common fifty years ago as it > seems to be today? In addition, do you know of any secondary texts > that explore this topic, or related topics? > > Michael Sugarman > > This is an interesting observation, although I think it has to be tempered by considerations of the motives and motifs of individual directors, the directives of the Production Code (and the Code's later disappearance), and particular social phemonema of the times. The examples that you cite mostly involved some form of non-human intervention to achieve transcendence but there are other types as well. For example, there is Romantic transcendence involving a psychic transformation of the character, sometimes involving an apparent "supernatural" or "paranormal" experience--PETER IBBETSON comes to mind as one example from the 1930s. On the other hand, there is Existential transcendence in which an isolated individual achieves some kind of personal apotheosis--this seems to be a motif in some crime/gangster films, even when the protagonist achieves that apotheosis through self-destruction. HIGH SIERRA and WHITE HEAT suggest themselves as examples. Although he cites few films that are diretly of these types, Peter Biskind's take on films of the 1950s in SEEING IS BELIEVING might offer some further food for thought. Anyway, just from glancing at various Oscar nominees over the years (no more arbitrary than most other lists), here some other titles that seem suggestive: MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (transcendence through self-sacrifice: Thomas Pynchon plays off this image in relation to the death of Dillinger in GRAVITY'S RAINBOW) THE DARK ANGEL (more self-sacrifice) THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR (and other biopics of literary, political and scientific figures who become "heroes" as transcendental role models from Emile Zola to Madame Curie) LOST HORIZON--which finds redemption in Shangri-La but implies that its principles can be found elsewhere with effort (but that's a Capra film, of course) A STAR IS BORN and STELLA DALLAS--More self-sacrifice (of husband for wife and mother for daughter, respectively) YOUNG MR. LINCOLN--Transcendence as Recognition of Destiny (see the famous CAHIERS DU CINEMA analysis for more!) THE GRAPES OF WRATH (with Fonda's Tom Joad taking up the Christ-redemptor role from John Carradine) OUR TOWN--the "ordinary" as part of the Grand Pattern of Life, Time and Space HERE COMES MR. JORDAN--an especially interesting film that seems to play your two trends off against each other. You might compare how Powell and Pressburger deal with somewhat similar matter in STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN. THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES--another heroic biopic THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (there's actually a whole subcategory of such specifically religiously-oriented films that do involve contact with the supernatural, but mainly to convine humanity to mend its ways) THE RAZOR'S EDGE--Transcendence in the Wisdom of the Mystic East (might be interesting to compare to the recent spate of movies about Tibetan Buddhism--from LITTLE BUDDHA to 7 YEARS IN TIBET and Scorsese's forthcoming KUNDUN) THE KILLERS (and other works based on Hemingway)--transcendence by adherence to the existential Hemingway Code MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET--a good example of the "no place like home" theme A LETTER TO THREE WIVES--If the disembodied voice of the temptress Celeste Holme is "supernatural," then the film still proves there's no place like home THE MAGNIFICENT YANKEE--another Heroic Biopic HARVEY--The exception that proves the rule? MOULIN ROUGE--Transcendence through Art. See the death scene at the end, especially. THE GLEN MILLER STORY--Transcendence of the Ordinary through Music (see also THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY, but Goodman did not die for us) THE TEN COMMANDMENTS--and other religious epics. Also see THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR, in which Nancy Davis (Reagan) hears God's voice over the radio. LUST FOR LIFE, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, etc.--more Apotheosis through Art BECKET--interesting combination of Relgious with Existential Apotheosis A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS--likewise! MORGAN!--Ironic transcendence through madness? (also compare Fellini's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS) COOL HAND LUKE--another Christ figure A CLOCKWORK ORANGE--Ironic transcendence? There's no place like home, indeed! THE RULING CLASS--Ironic transcendence of a Christ figure THE EXORCIST--actually we could go back at least to ROSEMARY'S BABY to see the contact with the supernatural theme in relation to the Devil himself, and of course that's been a genre of its own ever since TOMMY and ALTERED STATES--Ken Russell proposing sensory deprivation as a route to True Knowledge The "Force" in the STAR WARS films seems less a route to transcendence than to effective action. Might be an interesting contrast to ET and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. SUPERMAN--Knowledge of Kryptonian society still proves there's no place like Metropolis (It will be interesting to see how Tim Burton and Nicholas Cage twist the story next year) ALL THAT JAZZ--Apotheosis of an artist through self-discovery and acceptance of death THE ELEPHANT MAN--likewise (sort of) RESURRECTION--Encounter with the Afterlife leads to transcendent Healing Powers. See how John Travolta embodied a similar theme recently in PHENOMENON (if I recall the title correctly) and MICHAEL ZELIG and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY, among other Woody Allen films, offer Ironic Transcendence A PASSAGE TO INDIA--Forster's uncertain contact with the unknown in the Marabar Caves PLACE IN THE HEART--See the last scene for the return of the No Place Like Home theme! AGNES OF GOD takes an unusual twist on the possibility of contact with the supernatural--Think of Kris Kringle in MIRACLE ON 34TH ST. accused of being a child molester! FIELD OF DREAMS--There's No Place Like Home Base? GHOST--Another version of the HERE COMES MR. JORDAN theme BARTON FINK, THE FISHER KING--Different kinds of ironic apotheoses and so on. Of course, many of the genres and themes mentioned above continue to the present and have other representative examples. I hope that's of some help and not just confusion! Don Larsson ---------------------- Donald Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) [log in to unmask] ---- To sign off SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]