- Sep 22, 2013
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When archaeologists of the future look back at our time and take note of the graphically violent video games and movies sold in America such as Assassin's Creed and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they will wonder what drew humanity towards gross images of misshapen psychology and deformed metaphysics.
When I see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, I think about the 'practical beauty' found in evolutionary biology. When I see a disgusting array of fungus growing on aging and badly-stored bread, I think about the creepy 'tentacles of ugliness' lurking in the waters of Earth right beneath our sensitive noses.
The American sci-fi horror film Leviathan presents the story of undersea miners encountering a terrifying predatory undersea creature that gorges and absorbs the flesh of its victims to become a giant misshapen monstrosity of devouring mass (with a mind!). The word 'leviathan' refers to a sea-beast (or dragon) signifying chaos and unruliness.
What makes a coral reef or crystal so beautiful? What makes a burnt forest or psoriasis so unsightly?
Nature provides us with both events of splendor and events of complete deformity, which is one of the messages presented in Mary Shelley's iconic science-paranoia novel Frankenstein.
It is also a message presented in Victor Hugo's iconic deformity-empathy novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which presents the story of a deformed hunchback named Quasimodo who works peevishly in a cathedral (like a slave) but soon discovers the heroism of self-sacrifice. Quasimodo represents self-image humility when confronting the cruelty and unpredictability of nature and perhaps can be referenced as a 'folk mythos avatar' in discussions about 'periodic psychosis.'
So if archaeologists look back at our time and notice video games featuring the fictional chainsaw-wielding horror-film monster Leatherface, will they ask questions such as, "Where does the 'Quasimodo Malady' originate?"
Such considerations abound in the intriguing field of 'Archaeology of Theater' which is not the same as a 'Film History' course.
Department of Cinema And Media Studies (U-Chicago Website)
When I see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, I think about the 'practical beauty' found in evolutionary biology. When I see a disgusting array of fungus growing on aging and badly-stored bread, I think about the creepy 'tentacles of ugliness' lurking in the waters of Earth right beneath our sensitive noses.
The American sci-fi horror film Leviathan presents the story of undersea miners encountering a terrifying predatory undersea creature that gorges and absorbs the flesh of its victims to become a giant misshapen monstrosity of devouring mass (with a mind!). The word 'leviathan' refers to a sea-beast (or dragon) signifying chaos and unruliness.
What makes a coral reef or crystal so beautiful? What makes a burnt forest or psoriasis so unsightly?
Nature provides us with both events of splendor and events of complete deformity, which is one of the messages presented in Mary Shelley's iconic science-paranoia novel Frankenstein.
It is also a message presented in Victor Hugo's iconic deformity-empathy novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which presents the story of a deformed hunchback named Quasimodo who works peevishly in a cathedral (like a slave) but soon discovers the heroism of self-sacrifice. Quasimodo represents self-image humility when confronting the cruelty and unpredictability of nature and perhaps can be referenced as a 'folk mythos avatar' in discussions about 'periodic psychosis.'
So if archaeologists look back at our time and notice video games featuring the fictional chainsaw-wielding horror-film monster Leatherface, will they ask questions such as, "Where does the 'Quasimodo Malady' originate?"
Such considerations abound in the intriguing field of 'Archaeology of Theater' which is not the same as a 'Film History' course.
Department of Cinema And Media Studies (U-Chicago Website)
