Would someone please explain what is better explanation of the movie:
1. the man cracked his brain (using mushs) and love healed him;
What about the X-ray results then?
2. mind over metter is possible, however impossible it might seem
If first explanation is untrue, wouldn't such story make this movie more realistic and "on the ground" and could still stay "high"?
Thanks.
Are you asking of the weird bone xray thing? I THINK it's just that somehow he regressed to a non-homosapian(sp?), like pre-homoesapian and that's where the bone or whatever showed up in his x-ray, after he freaked out in that humourous scene (keep in mind I'm a vegan, it's the crappy fx I like) where he smashes that gazelle's head with that rock and rolls away down the streets of whatever American city it takes place in. I'm assuming he ate his kill and maybe he couldn't speak properly because of the obstruction? I guess maybe I'm not so sure what you're asking? It's not a documentary right? Just a bit of genius early 80's art. There was some great creativity happening in response to one dimensional punk, so I've discovered. It's like as the Flaming Lips said in the mid 80's...'The punks are finally taking acid'. I suppose maybe we shouldn't read TOO much into it and enjoy the greatness/weird thinking concepts and ride it out untill we come down. For example, think of you seeing red. You know the colour red right? You've been taught that red is red. Granted. What if my Kindergarden teacher taught me that the colour green is actually red so whenever I see red, I see green?! I guess I mean that everything is open to everyone's personal interpretation. For the record I've never done acid,
but mshrms+this movie= genius. This movie was the centre of my 90's teenage years. Seriously watching it right now at 4 in the morning (Ontario time) for maybe the 16,000th time. Ok I'm bending the spoon of truth a little. Probably 15,654th time. Oh wait! Just saw that the obstruction in his throat was before that zoo scene! Alright forget everything I drunkenly typed. I know nothing. Sorry if you read all of this.
P.S. Best line ever in this movie...'I'm on *beep* fire!'
That 'beep' is supposed to be F'ing'.
shareNo, my question goes deeper. Did flesh mutations really happen and if yes, did the mutation had anything with mind or the mutations were result of some disease (leukemia is mentioned if a remember correctly). Or - mutations didn't happen at all - we saw what Eddie Jessup thought in his flying thoughts. He really lost it and finally love healed him (brought him back to Earth). Got to find those mushr* anyway though;).
shareI think within the conceit of the film, there is some temporary physiological "morphing" that happens. But the physiological changes are only temporary and that the simian throat structure that is described in the x-ray is transitory.
I agree with your metaphor that love is what "saves" Eddie and what saves us all. That closing sequence moves me to tears every time because we are isolated in our "bag of skin" (whether those bags are coded for homo sapien genetics or some simian code) and the only way out of the horror of the isolation Eddie has seen is through reaching out and--hopefully--making contact! That idea of touch is as old as out humanity. . . just two quick juxtapositions to make the point: compare Michaelangelo's "Creation of Adam" with Spielberg's poster for ET. . . the power of touch!
I've been reading about a reasonably new concept of understanding the universe (it's been around for approx. 20 or so years, and is grounded in best scientific method, and stemming out of brain research and quantum mechanics). It's called the Holographic Universe. Michael Talbot wrote an amazing book describing it's development and how it applies to our world(s). What I'm getting at is this: Yes, mind over matter is very real, probably even the primary reality. The altering of our (unconsious) beliefs can change our physicality (what is normally understood as matter). This is very clearly demonstrated in the movie, when he 'regresses' and changes shapes. The state of his mind/consciousness is changing the state of his appearance. This is a very interesting reaearch subject for anyone who really wants to get closer to understanding what our true nature could be.
(PS: from what I understand the film is based on real events, which makes it even more interesting)
Thank you for the lead, pmk. (BTW, the "true events" you refer to may relate to the work of John Lilly, who pioneered the use of isolation tanks.)
"Anyway, we delivered the Bomb."
Yeah, I am pretty sure Lilly's experiments were all hallucinations. The book and movie adapt this into physical manifestations for dramatic effect. Lilly observed a subject acting as a proto-human simian, but it was psychological and not physical.
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Paddy Chayefsky wrote the book and part of the screenplay to explore the dimensions of reality and consciousness that have been debated at least since the ancient Greeks. The most amazing concept that he reified (yes, Eddie did "deconstitute" corporally into a simian ancestor, temporarily) was that we all carry in our DNA all the history of all of our ancestors going back probably well prior to hominids-- and that it's possible, just possible, that we can access that history. Not a new idea, but Chayefsky wove in concepts from Julian Jayne, Robert Ornstein, Ralph Metzner, John Lilly, and others who wrote about consciousness (he mentions several of these in the script). Much of the dialogue is pure Chayefsky, and is a bit like Shakespeare-- Hurt, being a trained Shakesperian actor, was able to pull it off pretty well. Looking back at in now in 2010-- I last saw it probably 20 or 25 years ago-- it's obviously dated, and the special effects are quite hokey, but much of the dialogue and many of the visuals (think of Blair Brown turning into a Sphinx over the sandstorm of time) are still provocative. Until someone figures out God, reality, and consciousness, this movie remains one of the few to truly explore these concepts. Can someone think of another movie as literate that has delved into these topics?
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