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FORBIDDEN_PLANET
June 30, 2004
Somewhere along the way, it became
popular to say that "Forbidden
Planet" is a science fiction SPOILERS
version of the Tempest.
This is grossly overstated.
Yes, it's about an encounter with a
ship-wrecked magician (of sorts),
and yes he has a daughter, and there
are some spirits/monsters in his Morbius, Alta, Robbie...
employ. And the "Monsters from the Id"
But there's very little thematic
overlap between the film and the
Shakespeare play.
The magician gives up
his magic? Perhaps.
Consider, however, that
the name of the ship is
the Bellerophon:
In "The Iliad" there
is the tale of "brave
Bellerophon, a man Most characters in the Iliad have
without a fault". these associated catch-phrases,
something like "the caped crusader"
He had a few kings or "the man without fear".
plotting against him
(they were set on him
by a spurned jealous TAKEN_LIGHTLY
woman by the name of
Antea, no connection
to Alta, I presume).
One of these kings sets
Bellerophon a task:
"he ordered Bellerophon to kill the Chimaera --
grim monster sprung of the gods, nothing human,
all lion in front, all snake behind, all goat between,
terrible, blasting lethal fire at every breath!"
"Hector Returns to Troy"
Book 6, line 210
Homer's "The Iliad"
(Robert Fagles translation).
A number of aspects
of this film are
worthy of note.
The soundtrack: Louis and Bebe Baron's
non-deterministic electronics. There's a persistent
myth that they were
A truly great using therimens, but
work of music. that's just wrong.
They hacked their own
electronics.
There's a strange element ("The Day the
imported from fantasy: Earth Stood Still"
the virgin that can calm An ability is a better
the beasts. she loses example of a
once she's therimen
been "kissed". soundtrack.)
But then, Alta's
degree of naivete Not only does her
is literally an tiger suddenly try
impossibility, to kill her, but In a fit
given her Captain Leslie of jealousy?
familiarity with acts like it
literature. should be Because she's
*completely* no longer
The only plausible obvious why this magically pure?
explanation is that has happened.
she really is "You really don't
putting them on, know, do you?" The artist
giving them "the tried to
business". Duh, everyone knows outline
your tiger tries to an image of
Though there are some kill you if you fool the beast:
scenes (e.g. when around behind its
she's complaining to back. Dangerous,
her father about the savage...
Captain) where she When we next prone to
really seems an see Alta jealous
astounding innocent. again, she's rages.
no longer in
A fantasy virgin, a white gown,
so inexperienced instead she It's obscured
she might even be wears a black by these strange
impressed with a mini-skirt. overtones of
schmuck like you. unicorn tales.
What a strangely GOTH_TRANSFORM
repressed time
that was...
Not just a
delicate lack
of mention of
sexual details, And this in a story
as you find in about the inevitability
films only ten of the beast within for
years earlier, people that have risen
but a complete up from beasts.
faking of human
nature.
(Jan 06, 2017)
The bald, hypocritical lie There's one good line
replaces restrained hints... that might explain Alta's
character-- "As though
all that biology had
something to do with me!"
Alta is raised by a man
who wants to believe
that rationality can
control the "animal
within"-- she's insulted
and surprised that
anyone might regard her
as a sexual entity.
It isn't so much an
ignorance of sexuality
as a presumption that
that that's just of
historical interest.
There's something going on with visual motifs that
puzzles me, and I don't expect to ever understand:
The crew of the Bellerophon wear
a design of concentric circles as I'm not sure if this was a
their logo, their badge. sign of ship or service.
I guess it might have been
Targets? rank: circular stripes.
Orbits?
Orbitals? A complex
vagina?
layers
within
layers
At the movie's climax, a hand
pushes down the destruct
plunger, and the visual motif
reappears: the plunger is
located in the center of some
glowing concentric circles...
The real core of the film
has to do with the dangers
of powerful technologies and
the need for safety features.
The Krell technology amplifies
human power to the point where
unconscious impulses can have
immediate, worldwide effects.
It unleashes the
"monsters of the Id".
This by itself might be taken
as a warning that human spirit
and technology are ultimately
incompatible...
But opposed to this is
the example of "Robbie" --
a hybrid-technology, built
by humans using Krell
capabilities. With Robbie
the need for checks
on power was not overlooked. Robbie does pretty
well with a 6-bit
In true "Asimov's Laws" electro-mechanical
fashion, the robot is accumulator.
incapable of harming
human beings.
"No, no, I deny you!
I give you up!"
So, which is it?
Is it a forbidden
planet, or not?
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