MAIN » ARTICLESAn Immediate Reaction to THX 1138
To analyse this film I will draw on what I like to call the "key concepts", of which there are but four. That's right, this film is almost orange-like in its segmentation of the important issues at play. I will also be analysing it using strong overtones of deep, deep confusion and a lacing of that feeling you get when you're too tired to really understand simple actions and behaviour. So, before I go on to make it painfully obvious I didn't get THX 1138, here are the 4 "key concepts":
Monkey
Midget
Robots with Sticks
Black Guy
The monkey or monkeys appear right near the end of the film, for the first time, so you can imagine how confusing this scene was for me. There was no explanation as to why they were there or what they were doing. At first I thought it was the opening scene of 2001 spliced into the editing, but apparently they were CGI monkeys in the directors cut, replacing what were originally people with dirt on them (to look like monkeys, obviously).
However, despite this taking me entirely by surprise I have come to realise that this scene is one of the most important in the film. This is for the sole reason that these animals say a lot of interesting things without ever moving their lips. This is a stark contrast to the main actors in the film, some of who occasionally do talk, but say nothing which makes any sense to me. The monkey was perfect and frankly I've built myself up to a point now in which I wish there was more of them. On reflection, I think he was probably there to make THX smile as he left.
The midget (or dwarf, I don't know which) was in the part where SEN and THX have been placed in the -white-open-space for their 'crimes'. This is another bit I don't understand.. it's just a really large white space which must take up about 20 minutes of the film in total. I know it must have been really cheap to film this bit but what about the visual stimulation of the viewer. I kept spacing out and seeing fireworks leeping out of people's eyes, filling up the background with a multitude of weird and wonderful colours and patterns. It was like bonfire night and I was really happy.
Anyway, the midget is great because he's completely random, just like black guy (3). I have no idea who he was or why he was there but the way he looks out over whatever he's behind is brilliant - clearly a top-class actor who has played this kind of role before. He also hasn't shaved for a while, and strongly resembles an unemployed oompa-loompa in the depths of a drinking binge. It's a shame we never find out what happened to him, since the real ending isn't very interesting.
Robots with sticks play an important role in the narrative-flow of THX 1138... probably. They're almost like prototype versions of stormtroopers, mostly white and equally as useless against a man in shabby clothing. One of them gets jumped, or maybe it's two of them, and beaten by the human guys, and the fight they put up is pretty pathetic. The noise of the sicks supposedly resembles that of early lightsabers, but they're nowhere near as effective and the robots are slow too. I would reprogramme then into highly-tuned killing machines and install a few devices to fire molotov cocktails at people because for what I assume is security, these guys aren't doing much good.
Written by J. King
The monkey or monkeys appear right near the end of the film, for the first time, so you can imagine how confusing this scene was for me. There was no explanation as to why they were there or what they were doing. At first I thought it was the opening scene of 2001 spliced into the editing, but apparently they were CGI monkeys in the directors cut, replacing what were originally people with dirt on them (to look like monkeys, obviously).
However, despite this taking me entirely by surprise I have come to realise that this scene is one of the most important in the film. This is for the sole reason that these animals say a lot of interesting things without ever moving their lips. This is a stark contrast to the main actors in the film, some of who occasionally do talk, but say nothing which makes any sense to me. The monkey was perfect and frankly I've built myself up to a point now in which I wish there was more of them. On reflection, I think he was probably there to make THX smile as he left.
The midget (or dwarf, I don't know which) was in the part where SEN and THX have been placed in the -white-open-space for their 'crimes'. This is another bit I don't understand.. it's just a really large white space which must take up about 20 minutes of the film in total. I know it must have been really cheap to film this bit but what about the visual stimulation of the viewer. I kept spacing out and seeing fireworks leeping out of people's eyes, filling up the background with a multitude of weird and wonderful colours and patterns. It was like bonfire night and I was really happy.
Anyway, the midget is great because he's completely random, just like black guy (3). I have no idea who he was or why he was there but the way he looks out over whatever he's behind is brilliant - clearly a top-class actor who has played this kind of role before. He also hasn't shaved for a while, and strongly resembles an unemployed oompa-loompa in the depths of a drinking binge. It's a shame we never find out what happened to him, since the real ending isn't very interesting.
Robots with sticks play an important role in the narrative-flow of THX 1138... probably. They're almost like prototype versions of stormtroopers, mostly white and equally as useless against a man in shabby clothing. One of them gets jumped, or maybe it's two of them, and beaten by the human guys, and the fight they put up is pretty pathetic. The noise of the sicks supposedly resembles that of early lightsabers, but they're nowhere near as effective and the robots are slow too. I would reprogramme then into highly-tuned killing machines and install a few devices to fire molotov cocktails at people because for what I assume is security, these guys aren't doing much good.
Written by J. King