Post-Modern Prometheus
Trevor Mettam
Wow, this episode was deliriously off-kilter... I loved it!
How about all those "You have *got* to be kidding" glances exchanged by M&S?
--
===---------------------------+---------------------------------------------===
Trevor Mettam |"Having worked with computers for most of my
Software Engineering Group | school and adult life, I have come to the
CSC Australia | conclusion that they, as machines, are not
| stupid... Just hideously evil!"
E-Mail: tr...@syd.csa.com.au |
Mobile: +61-41-1491139 |
===---------------------------+---------------------------------------------===
Andrew S Mccutcheon
I LOVED IT!
It has to have been the best MOTW episode yet.
I LOVED the music! The off-key bells mixed with the usual string section
said right from the beginning, "This will be something different!". It
ran right through the teaser, creating a mood which would pave the way
for the following hour. Also, the Cher music was completely different for
the series, and the selection of the songs fitted their respective scenes
flawlessly!
I LOVED the "mad scientist" scene! Standing in the darkened laboratory.
Camera angling upward at the white-coated doctor showing him as possessing
so much power. The lightning and thunder every time a character finished
a line was very comic, and took the mickey out of so many horror films.
I LOVED the monster. The way it went from being a horrific, primative
beast at the start of the episode, to a disfigured human at the end.
First when we saw it, it was roaming the countryside, poisoning women and
raping them. Then we learnt it may be a genetic mutation of a human.
Next we discover it likes peanut-butter sandwiches and Cher music, giving
it a human quality. We find out it has language, showing us it is human.
We hear its tragic tale of rejection, and feel sorry for it. We finally
befriend it and enjoy a rock-concert with it. It was all written so well
to make it go through these stages at just the right moments.
I LOVED the casting! The townsfolk all looked so paranoid and nosey. The
scene which showed us the relationships between the people and the farm-
animals even made THEM seem less human than the monster.
I LOVED Mulder and Scully's dance! The most tender and moving moment the
two have shared since the beginning, and only Chris Carter's direction
could pull off such a scene without implying and deeper meaning than a
friendly dance. I have always believed in Carter's decision to not let
Mulder and Scully get involved, but after this episode, I realise what a
cute couple they do make!
All in all, a classic episode which everyone must enjoy. I'm sure my video
tape of this episode will be first to wear out over summer!
Andrew McCutcheon.
--
"Regret is an inevitable consequence of life."
-- The Cigarette Smoking Man, "The X Files"
Mea Culpa
This season just keeps getting better. Haven't laughed so much in ages.
I wouldn't have been surprised to see Agent Cooper walk in talking to Dianne
in his cassette recorder. It was a real Twin peaks/twilight zone meets the
X-Files.
The use of black and white was unreal. Give me more!!
Mea
Trevor Mettam wrote in message ...
Creepy
Hello,
Mea Culpa wrote in message <35075...@139.134.5.33>...
>This season just keeps getting better. Haven't laughed so much in
>ages. I wouldn't have been surprised to see Agent Cooper walk in
>talking to Dianne in his cassette recorder. It was a real Twin
>peaks/twilight zone meets the X-Files.
Come to my arms, someone else who saw the Twin Peaks-ish side of it!!
:)
This was the sort of stuff Twin Peaks revelled in...yet many XF fans
couldn't see the point...oh well
<shrugs shoulders>
See ya,
Creepy
Rod Pinna
faults, something like the X-Files would have had almost no
chance of ever getting off the ground.
I thought there were also a couple of camera shots in there (and
don't ask me to remember which :) ) which were more than a little
reminiscent of the original Twilight Show.
Actually, as far the Cooper suggestion above, I thought something
similar during it too.
Rod Pinna
(rpi...@XcivilX.uwa.edu.au Remove the X for email)
Wolfgang Schoepf
On 11 Mar 1998, Andrew S Mccutcheon wrote:
> I LOVED IT!
>
> It has to have been the best MOTW episode yet.
>
> I LOVED the music! The off-key bells mixed with the usual string section
> said right from the beginning, "This will be something different!". It
> ran right through the teaser, creating a mood which would pave the way
> for the following hour. Also, the Cher music was completely different for
> the series, and the selection of the songs fitted their respective scenes
> flawlessly!
I agree, the whole episode was phantastic, but the music was the best.
Interestingly, I talked to someone today who didn't like it at all, and
thought is was nothing more than a blatant Twin Peak rip-off.
The only thing I didn't like, was the Channel Ten stunt at the beginning:
"This is a b/w telecast". They probably were afraid of all the callers.
Wolfgang
Rachael Bahl
Wolfgang Schoepf <cs...@jcu.edu.au> writes:
>The only thing I didn't like, was the Channel Ten stunt at the beginning:
>"This is a b/w telecast". They probably were afraid of all the callers.
I didn't see that! <maybe they only do it for Queenslanders!>
Rachael.
Wolfgang Schoepf
I wouldn't be too surprised ...
Wolfgang
iola
What, you mean it was supposed to be in black and white? Damn, I
thought it was the TV. Guess us here in them backwoods aren't as clever as
all you cityfolk. ;-)
Kenneth Alexander Finlayson
POST-MODERN PROMETHEUS
Season 5 Episode 5
It would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word
of friendly warning. We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein,
a man of science, who sought to create a man in his own image, without
reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals
with the two greatest mysteries of creation: life... and death. I think
it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even *horrify* you. So
if any on you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such
a strain, now's your chance to... well, we warned you!
-- "Frankenstein", Universal Pictures (1931)
Excruciating. This word best sums up my experience of watching "Post-
Modern Prometheus". It's not a bad episode by any means, and I can't
deny it has its moments, but it felt like a joke which was too long in
the telling. I have the terrible feeling it was written simply to meet
a 'whimsy quota'.
The first thing wrong with the episode is its title. "The Great Mutato"
would have been a better title, more in keeping with the episode's ironic
self-reference. Although "Post-Modern Prometheus" is a neat pun on Mary
Shelley's original title, the episode wasn't really very post-modern.
Post-modernism is a style where old elements are combined to produce
something which is new, but which resonates with what we already know.
"The Simpsons", in the way it quotes scenes from movies, TV shows, and
the way it quotes pop culture in general, is a post-modern show.
It's informative to compare this episode to "Jose Chung's 'From Outer
Space'", a truly post-modern episode. "Jose Chung" quite cleverly combines
a variety of UFO myths (aliens who bring Enlightenment, the Inner Earth,
greys and abductions, MIBs, Government cover-ups, hypnotic regression, and
others) in a post-modern way. I greatly enjoyed "Jose Chung".
In contrast, "Post-Modern Prometheus" suffers from the paucity of
Frankenstein myths. As a result, the episode is a fairly straightforward
retelling of Shelley's tale, with the setting updated to 90s hickville
America. The episode is decked out with the usual horror movie cliches.
We have the dark and stormy night, the mad scientist, the idiot
villagers... When Mulder and Scully were in the barn, I muttered "All we
need now is a torch carrying mob". And on cue, there they were.
Had there been more sources for this episode to draw from, the cliches might
have worked. But there were not, and the flashes of lightning shifted from
clever to tedious.
The use of black and white was also something of a failure. In story terms,
the episode was black and white because the narrative was contained within a
comic book; but this feels like a hollow excuse. Watching B&W movies gives
the sense that the directors exploited the restrictions forced upon them by
the absence of colour. Black and white movies have a distinctive style, and
I'm not just thinking of Expressionism and film noir. By comparison, "Post-
Modern Prometheus" seems to be a colour episode filmed in black and white.
I have the impression that B&W was used only because that's the way old
films are.
Like Shelley's novel, this episode is a fable with the moral that 'creatures
are all supposed to love each other'. Frankenstein doesn't make a monster by
stitching body parts together, he makes one by rejecting his creation.
Shelley's criticism was not that scientists can make monsters, but that
humans can.
In the original, the Monster pleads for his creator to love him like a
father. When he discovers that Frankenstein cannot love him, the Monster
asks for a mate. Frankenstein refuses, and the Monster's wickedness is
assured. Similarly in "Post-Modern Prometheus", Dr Pollidori refuses to meet
the Great Mutato's requests. Unlike Shelley's tale, a substitute father
figure is found, who fulfills Mutato's wishes. This substantially weakens
any moral argument which follows Shelley, as there is nothing to support the
claim that absence of love breeds monsters. But it's clear nonetheless that
Carter intends his tale to follow Shelley's moral, with Izzy realising
"Hey... he's no monster!", the happy ending, and Shaineh's remark "What's
not to love?"
(We should be thankful that Chris Carter has followed Shelley's lead with
the belief that the doctor's creation is not inherently evil. In contrast,
Universal's "Frankenstein" (1931), made the monster evil because he had a
criminal's brain, thereby ruining Shelley's morality tale. Carter --
following the modern (and entirely false) opinion that genes completely
determine behaviour -- could have had Pollidori's genetically engineered
monster born evil; ruining Shelley's tale again.)
Where it fails as an episode, as a piece of entertainment; it succeeds as
a text. Intellectually, I found it very engaging. I've said that the episode
wasn't very post-modern -- and it wasn't -- but the few attempts it made
were very enjoyable.
The framing device of the comic book was quite clever, and can be read on
a number of levels. On the level of the episode, the comic book tells the
story of the Great Mutato the way it should have happened. Mulder's protest
that "This isn't the way the story's supposed to end! Where's the writer?
I want to speak to the writer!" marks the departure of the comic book
narrative from the real events.
On the level of the Frankenstein myth, the comic book replaces the framing
device of Shelley's narrative, a letter written by a captain in Arctic
waters. And on the level of authorship, it marks this episode as Chris
Carter's homage to the monster movies he loves. X-Philes have paid homage
to Carter's series in prose and in comics, and he acknowledges fans even as
he honours the B movies of old. This episode is Chris Carter's attempt at
fan-fiction.
A familiarity with the story of how Shelley came to write "Frankenstein"
alerts us to another intellectual joke. While in a castle by Lake Geneva,
Percy and Mary Shelley, Byron, and Byron's physician held a competition to
see who could write the scariest (short) story. Shelley, of course, wrote
"Frankenstein". The physician wrote "The Vampyre". His name? John Polidori.
It is said that Polidori took an instant dislike to Mary Shelley. Further,
the vampyre of Polidori's story supposedly resembles Byron. Isn't it then
doubly fitting that the mad doctor of the episode be named Pollidori?
There are three other references to Shelley's original text. Dr Pollidori
is to attend a conference in Ingolstadt, which is where Victor Frankenstein
studied and worked. Dr Pollidori's wife is Elizabeth, the same as
Frankenstein's. And when Pollidori describes his father as "a pale student
of my unhallowed arts" he repeats almost exactly Shelley's description of
her Frankenstein.
There's one final possible reference to the Frankenstein tradition, and
that's Cher as the Bride of Frankenstein. Like Shelley's monster, the Great
Mutato asks his 'father' to make him a bride. But, as the ending shows, he
doesn't need his father to make a bride. She already exists. Mutato knows
Cher could love a monster -- he's seen _Mask_. And Cher has undergone enough
plastic surgery to be considered the creation of a doctor.
I've said that the episode had its moments, and to close, I'll tell you what
they were.
There were three sparkling moments of humour: the bumbling assistant who
asks "What shall I do with these Doctor Polidori? ... never mind", Scully's
expression as she looked at the sandwich with two bites, Mulder's fall which
ruins his angry denunciation of Pollidori.
But the best thing about the episode was the incidental music. It almost
made up for the episode's failings.
But not quite.
--
She is the flypaper my love is stuck on
"46 lines", Steven Herrick
Daniel Frankham
On 17 Mar 98 06:17:20 GMT, Kenneth Alexander Finlayson wrote:
>The use of black and white was also something of a failure. In story terms,
>the episode was black and white because the narrative was contained within a
>comic book; but this feels like a hollow excuse. Watching B&W movies gives
>the sense that the directors exploited the restrictions forced upon them by
>the absence of colour. Black and white movies have a distinctive style, and
>I'm not just thinking of Expressionism and film noir. By comparison, "Post-
>Modern Prometheus" seems to be a colour episode filmed in black and white.
>I have the impression that B&W was used only because that's the way old
>films are.
I liked the episode, but I also thought the b&w wasn't used very well. It
didn't have the same "look" as on old movie. I suppose that old-movie look
wouldn't be considered to be broadcast-quality for a TV series.
>On the level of the Frankenstein myth, the comic book replaces the framing
>device of Shelley's narrative, a letter written by a captain in Arctic
>waters. And on the level of authorship, it marks this episode as Chris
>Carter's homage to the monster movies he loves. X-Philes have paid homage
>to Carter's series in prose and in comics, and he acknowledges fans even as
>he honours the B movies of old. This episode is Chris Carter's attempt at
>fan-fiction.
Interesting. It's actually the only CC-penned episode I've liked :)
>A familiarity with the story of how Shelley came to write "Frankenstein"
>alerts us to another intellectual joke. While in a castle by Lake Geneva,
>Percy and Mary Shelley, Byron, and Byron's physician held a competition to
>see who could write the scariest (short) story. Shelley, of course, wrote
>"Frankenstein". The physician wrote "The Vampyre". His name? John Polidori.
>
>It is said that Polidori took an instant dislike to Mary Shelley. Further,
>the vampyre of Polidori's story supposedly resembles Byron. Isn't it then
>doubly fitting that the mad doctor of the episode be named Pollidori?
Romantic Trivia: Only Mary and Polidori finished their ghost stories; but
Polidori's was based on the couple of pages Byron wrote. When he got back
to England, having been dismissed by Byron, Polidori published his book
anonymously, but in such a way as to make it appear to be by Byron (to
increase sales). The Byronic vampire was probably part of this deception --
most of Byron's protagonists were romanticised versions of himself.
IIRC, Polidori committed suicide when Byron's publisher issued a statement
saying Byron hadn't written it. (I know he committed suicide; not sure if
this was the reason, though...)
<snip>
>There's one final possible reference to the Frankenstein tradition, and
>that's Cher as the Bride of Frankenstein. Like Shelley's monster, the Great
>Mutato asks his 'father' to make him a bride. But, as the ending shows, he
>doesn't need his father to make a bride. She already exists. Mutato knows
>Cher could love a monster -- he's seen _Mask_. And Cher has undergone enough
>plastic surgery to be considered the creation of a doctor.
Other references:
The newspaper reporter is modelled on the Bride of Frankenstein, from the
1935 movie (the same hair, and the jerky movements).
In that movie, Elsa Lanchester plays both the Bride and Mary Shelley; and
the journalist in PMP is (like Mary) one of the people recording the story
of the Great Mutato. (This "reference" might be stretching a bit :)
The teenage comic-book writer is the same age Mary was when Frankenstein
was published (18). He's the son of a single mother; Mary was the daughter
of a single father. He goes to a comic book convention against his mother's
wishes; Mary ran away to Switzerland with a married anarchist against her
father's wishes :)
There's some very Freudian stuff with the Great Mutato having sex with his
creator's wife :) This echoes the stuff in the novel where the creature
demands to have a wife of his own, or else he'll take away his creator's.
Like the creature, the Great Mutato "learns" by hanging around people's
houses reading their books and watching videos and listening to CDs. (OK,
the original creature didn't listen to CDs or watch videos... but he
listened through a hole in the wall while someone read a book aloud.)
BTW, someone I knew at Uni spent (and, I believe, still spends) her time
making flies grow legs out of their eyes... The ultimate purpose of the
research was that it might help to find a cure for cancer[1], or satisfy
her mad, megalomaniacal urge to toy with the Stuff of Life, or something.
[1] Well, that was what they told the people who hand out research funds. I
gather it was stretching a bit :)
==========================================================================
_Woman's Weekly_ is monthly, _Woman's Day_ is weekly,
_New Idea_ has never had one, and _Family Circle_ is a rectangle.
Gail Pamphilon
I did not enjoy this episode either: not because I thought it was
awful, but because one has to appreciate black comedy to enjoy it. I
suppose all the cliches fell together a little too heavily and
obviously. There were a few funny moments, though. I liked the
journalist who held up her notebook and pen in an uncomfortable
position for writing, the better to appear cliched, and looked
suitably po-faced. I liked her triangular glasses, too. ;-)
Has anyone seen the film The Elephant Man? If not, be sure to hire the
video, as it's outstanding. The ending of PMP, where everyone was
having a good time at the nightclub, reminded me strongly of this
film. It seemed so...politically correct. M&S had big smiles on their
faces, as if to say, 'look, we have this horribly disfigured young
man, but that's all right - he's normal! Yay! Let's have fun! And the
way the young mutant suddenly started to boogie with a big smile on
his face - it was just too *forced*. I thought of the Elephant Man all
throughout this scene, and thought, 'rip-off'.
But was the scene meant to be part of the overall cliches of the
episode, or was it just cringeworthy PC?
Oh, another thing - our heroes couldn't follow up on Mutato's life
(does anyone know his name?) because the episode had to end. But in
future years, what will he do with his life? Will he find a 'mate' and
if not, how will he cope not having one? Fodder for a sequel, perhaps?
A sequel would be interesting, provided it's not another 'comic book'
story. I was thinking of this during the nightclub scene and as the
credits rolled. What will happen to Mutato now?
Perhaps someone will be inspired to write some fan fiction about it.
;-)
Gail