The Wicker Man (1971)
Modemac
pay-per-view cable channel begins with an amusing sight: the original
warning by the British film rating system that the movie is rated X.
This is amusing not just for nostalgia, but also for some
unintentional irony – specifically because "The Wicker Man" has always
been marketed and promoted as a horror movie. Anyone used to today's
blood-soaked splatterfests masquerading as horror films will be sorely
disappointed with ""The Wicker Man"," because in fact there isn't a
lot of horror in it. It's actually a black comedy, and much of the
entertainment comes from culture shock more than anything else.
"Culture shock?"
If there's any one movie that modern-day pagans love to point to and
say, "this is what we're really like," it's "The Wicker Man". This
movie was made in 1971, before "Wicca" and "paganism" and "New Age"
and the Church of All Worlds had infiltrated bookstores, malls, and
Web sites around the world. Paganism was widespread even in those days
(as the pagans will loudly note), but it was largely an underground
movement. Your typical moviegoer today is somewhat more familiar with
May poles, bonfire rituals, the Green Man, and other concepts than the
audiences of 1971 were. Back then, these things were as alien as UFOs
and Hollywood movie monsters…and the makers of this movie knew it.
I'll state right now that I'm not privy to the behind-the-scenes
banter and intentions that went into the making of ""The Wicker Man";
but on watching the movie, I became convinced that the filmmakers
intended it especially to enlighten mainstream movie watchers – and,
in particular, to offend their religious beliefs. This movie is a big
"fuck you" to mainstream Christianity, and it was done over thirty
years before the atheists set out to offend us with "The God Who
Wasn't There." This is why the movie was rated X – yes, there's sex
and naked breasts and (some) violence in the movie. But what really
offended the censors was the way it skewers Christianity. It revels in
blasphemy, makes no apologies, and even ends on a happy (but gruesome)
note, rejecting Jesus and God to the very end.
The only way they could market this, of course, was to dress it up in
the trappings of a horror film. They even got Christopher Lee to star
in it, playing the role of Lord Summerisle – and he enjoyed himself
immensely, working for no pay just he could get the movie made. (I can
imagine him cackling to himself, "Finally, a role where I don't have
to play another freakin' vampire!") As a result, audiences in 1971
went in expecting to see another take on "Village of the Damned,"
where cult leader Lord Summerisle kept everyone under mind control.
(Actually, that sounds like that genesis for Stephen King's "Children
of the Corn.") And because they knew nothing about "real" paganism,
they wouldn't see anything in the movie to contradict this idea. So,
for a jaded and naive horror movie fan, "The Wicker Man" is a movie
about an upright Christian police officer trapped on an island
controlled by an evil pagan cult – and in the end, the cult wins.
But to those of us in the know, "The Wicker Man" is one big, running
in-joke. Right up to the point where Sergeant Howie "rescues" young
Rowan Morrison from her kidnappers, this is practically a commercial
for the ideal, idyllic community that most pagans wish they could live
in. Imagine a place where the schools teach fertility rites to the
kids instead of sending them to Sunday school; where you can bury your
dead with the rites of the gods instead of being forced to hold a
Christian funeral; and where festivals like May Day are celebrated
with a parade through the town, complete with a sacrifice to the gods.
That's not horror – that's paradise! (Or at least Elysium.) As the
movie unfolds and Sergeant Howie finds horrible blasphemies running
rampant throughout the town – children being taught about phallic
symbols in the schools, fornication going on in the streets, and
blatant, casual rejections of God ("And what of the true God? Whose
glory, churches and monasteries have been built on these islands for
generations past? Now sir, what of him?" "He's dead. Can't complain,
had his chance and in modern parlance, blew it.") – he blusters and
becomes more and more frustrated and angry, while we laugh out loud at
his sheer stupidity. Naturally, Sergeant Howie is portrayed as a
complete idiot, someone who hides behind his own religious faith in
order to protect himself from the world around him. (In the longer
director's cut of the movie, Howie is such a conservative religious
nut that he can't even get along with his fellow police officers.)
This is the point of the seduction scene, where the ravishing and very
naked Willow dances in her hotel room, inviting Howie to come over and
ravish her. This was actually a test: If Howie succumbed to her
temptations and did the nasty with her, then he no longer would have
been chaste, and Lord Summerisle's plan for him would have been for
naught. But because Howie remains faithful, he becomes the perfect
target for Lord Summerisle and his "cult" – and in the end, he gets
what he deserves.
Having said this, I'll gladly give credit to Edward Woodward for his
portrayal of the buffoonish Howie. While he blunders through the movie
and becomes increasingly appalled at the goings-on around him, he
never appears cartoony or unrealistic. He's simply a man out of his
element, someone totally unprepared for the alien world he's been
thrust into – a world that rejects his beliefs utterly. For a person
like that, it would be only natural, even noble to cling to his
religious faith and use it as a shield at the very end; even though
this is what dooms him. His frightened panic at the end is what gives
us suspense and horror…that and the cult-like happiness exuded by Lord
Summerisle and his followers. At its climax, "The Wicker Man" does
indeed become a horror movie – even, ironically, as it no longer
becomes a portrayal of what modern-day paganism is "really" like. (The
ancient Druids did perform human sacrifices of this sort, but their
descendants have taken pains to let the world know that "we don't do
that anymore!")
Also of note are the lovely cinematography and the equally lovely
music here. Although the movie does have something of a washed-out
pallor, there are many lovely images worth remembering (not the least
of which is Willow's naked dance). The soundtrack has become legendary
on its own, even to the point where it's commonly mistaken for a
series of "traditional pagan" songs…though because of this movie, the
Maypole song has often been heard in real-life Beltane dances.
--
The High Weirdness Project
http://www.modemac.com
NeuroManson
"Modemac" <mod...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a6c3555f-5481-438b...@d23g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
"Culture shock?"
------------------------------
Or one could say that's also how the current religious right sees things
happening every day in America, whenever they aren't pulling the strings
(remember "The War on Christmas", the hullabaloo about the pagan kid
refusing to include "under god" in the pledge of allegiance, the malarky
regarding the rabbi who protested the Christmas decorations at SeaTac
airport, etc). If the kids aren't in church 24/7, they're obviously being
subverted by some non-Christian religions somewhere!
Case in point, from about 20 years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpfYV64ZP2s
(believe it or not, this moronic network is STILL around today, as the
Trinity Broadcasting Network)
XODDI
"Modemac" <mod...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a6c3555f-5481-438b...@d23g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
>The print of "The Wicker Man" that is currently playing on the FearNet
>pay-per-view cable channel...
These were also JOLLY pagans. Christopher Lee is AVUNCULAR!
very inexact paraphrase:
Woodward: "How can you jump over a fire without any clothes on?"
Girl: "If you wore clothes they might catch on fire."
Rev. Anna Dynamite
Wicker Man'; it's also worthwhile to note that Edgar Wright picked up on
that as well for his buddy-cop send-up, 'Hot Fuzz,' right down to
casting Edward Woodward as one of the residents of Sandford. In fact,
'Hot Fuzz' plays better as an homage to 'The Wicker Man' than it does as
an homage to action flicks, in my opinion.
Francis A. Miniter
> The print of "The Wicker Man" that is currently playing on the FearNet
> pay-per-view cable channel begins with an amusing sight: the original
> warning by the British film rating system that the movie is rated X.
> This is amusing not just for nostalgia, but also for some
> unintentional irony � specifically because "The Wicker Man" has always
> been marketed and promoted as a horror movie. Anyone used to today's
> blood-soaked splatterfests masquerading as horror films will be sorely
> disappointed with ""The Wicker Man"," because in fact there isn't a
> lot of horror in it. It's actually a black comedy, and much of the
> entertainment comes from culture shock more than anything else.
>
Yes, and in the horrible Hollywood remake, they were afraid
to tread on any toes.
--
Francis A. Miniter
Oscuramente
libros, laminas, llaves
siguen mi suerte.
Jorge Luis Borges, La Cifra Haiku, 6
Paul B. Thompson
news:a6c3555f-5481-438b...@d23g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
pay-per-view cable channel begins with an amusing sight: the original
warning by the British film rating system that the movie is rated X.
This is amusing not just for nostalgia, but also for some
unintentional irony � specifically because "The Wicker Man" has always
been marketed and promoted as a horror movie. Anyone used to today's
blood-soaked splatterfests masquerading as horror films will be sorely
disappointed with ""The Wicker Man"," because in fact there isn't a
lot of horror in it. It's actually a black comedy, and much of the
entertainment comes from culture shock more than anything else.
Response:
I know this movie well. Every now and then I show it to a young
audience--college age, usually--and it never fails to freak them out.
I think you miss an essential point of the film though. It isn't just about
jolly (if bloodthirsty) pagans versus a numbnuts Christian cop. Summerisle
is supposedly too far north to sustain agriculture, but because of the
husbandry instituted back in the 19th century the island has had an Indian
summer of plenty. This green revolution coincided with the reintroduction of
paganism but religion has nothing to do with the island's ephemeral success.
Now in Howie's time the crops and failing, hence the resort to human
sacrifice. Howie frantically tells Lord Summerisle and Company the island's
ecosystem will not sustain them, and that their crops will continue to fail
until they utterly collapse. They happily burn him just the same.
TWM is not about free spirited, earth-friendly pagans versus a priggish,
uptight Christian. Both religions are shown to be mere bundles of
superstition (as they indeed are). The horror--and it is there, quite
viscerally--is that the smiling, singing islanders roast Edward Woodward for
nothing.
PBT
Rev. Susie the Floozie
'51 to '70, horror movies got the "X" rating, even without
titties...before that, there was an "H" category for Horror.
http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/newsite/INDEX/COUNTRIES/UK/UKRatings.asp
Zapanaz
wrote:
You know I watched that movie, and it grated on me, but -because- I
thought the cop was such an idiot, and I was trying to see it from the
protagonist's point of view. (This is also IMO why A Clockwork Orange
is such a weirdly shocking movie ... it's a reflex to watch a movie
from the protagonist's point of view, but the protagonist is truly
unsympathizable.)
Now it makes sense, I have to watch it again.
--
Zapanaz
International Satanic Conspiracy
Customer Support Specialist
http://joecosby.com/
When sporks are outlawed, only outlaws will own sporks.
:: Currently listening to Sailing to Byzantium, 2004, by Lisa Gerrard/Patrick Cassidy, from "Immortal Memory"
Kingo Gondo
occult/pagan/satanist genre (I know these concepts are not the same, but
that didn't stop filmmakers from tossing them into the blender). As kid in
the early 70s it seemed that every other M4TV movie (especially on ABC)
dealt with these subjects.
In this one you just have to love the glorious paganism, the visceral
anti-Christian tone and that fantastic ending. I've never seen the remake,
mainly out of fear I'd be so horribly depressed about how much our film
culture has lost over the years.
XODDI
"Kingo Gondo" <kingo_nos...@gmail.org> wrote in message
news:cpCdndtJbbDK_S3X...@earthlink.com...
Try "The Devil Rides Out". Good occult horror schlockfest. Dennis Wheately,
the author of the novel the film was based on, did a lot of occult research
and it shows up in the film.
Need I mention "Curse of the Demon"?
Halmyre
> "Modemac" <mode...@gmail.com> wrote in message
They should have included the line in the novel (novelisation?) when
Howie tells Summerisle that sacrificing him will do no good - and that
next year when the crops fail again it will be no less than Summerisle
himself for the chop.
--
Halmyre
Evergreen
> On 16 Sep, 02:50, "Paul B. Thompson" <mra...@verizon.net>
> wrote:
>
>> "Modemac" <mode...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:a6c3555f-5481-438b...@d23g2000vbm.googlegr
>> oups.com... The print of "The Wicker Man" that is currently
>> playing on the FearNet pay-per-view cable channel begins with
>> an amusing sight: the original warning by the British film
>> rating system that the movie is rated X. This is amusing not
>> just for nostalgia, but also for some unintentional irony
>> =96 specifically because "The Wicker Man" has always been
>> marketed and promoted as a horror movie. Anyone used to
>> today's blood-soaked splatterfests masquerading as horror
>> films will be sorely disappointed with ""The Wicker Man","
>> because in fact there isn't a lot of horror in it. It's
>> actually a black comedy, and much of the entertainment comes
>> from culture shock more than anything else.
>>
>> Response:
>>
>> I know this movie well. Every now and then I show it to a
>> young audience--college age, usually--and it never fails to
>> freak them out.
>>
>> I think you miss an essential point of the film though. It
>> isn't just abo=
>
> ut
>
>> jolly (if bloodthirsty) pagans versus a numbnuts Christian
>> cop. Summerisl=
>
> e
>
>> is supposedly too far north to sustain agriculture, but
>> because of the husbandry instituted back in the 19th century
>> the island has had an India=
>
> n
>
>> summer of plenty. This green revolution coincided with the
>> reintroduction=
>
> of
>
>> paganism but religion has nothing to do with the island's
>> ephemeral succe=
>
> ss.
>
>> Now in Howie's time the crops and failing, hence the resort to
>> human sacrifice. Howie frantically tells Lord Summerisle and
>> Company the island=
>
> 's
>
>> ecosystem will not sustain them, and that their crops will
>> continue to fa=
>
> il
>
>> until they utterly collapse. They happily burn him just the
>> same.
>>
>> TWM is not about free spirited, earth-friendly pagans versus
>> a priggish, uptight Christian. Both religions are shown
>> to be mere bundles of superstition (as they indeed are).
>> The horror--and it is there, quite viscerally--is that the
>> smiling, singing islanders roast Edward Woodward =
>
> for
>
>> nothing.
>
>
> They should have included the line in the novel (novelisation?)
> when Howie tells Summerisle that sacrificing him will do no
> good - and that next year when the crops fail again it will be
> no less than Summerisle himself for the chop.
>
> -- Halmyre
Interesting thing about these 'neo-pagan' groups is that you
can't tell if they are talking about fiction or their psuedo-religions.
And that's because they are _both_ fiction.
Sid
--
Sidney Lambe
Wiccan Priest and Apprentice Magician
http://tinyurl.com/7vs9zb
usenet4444 (at) gmail (dot) com
Endymion9
encountered in any movie is Willow's dance (Britt Ekland) on the other side
of the wall, seducing Sergent Howie.
--
Dennis/Endy9
~Some will sink, but we will float. Grab your coat. Let's get out of here.
You're my witness, I'm your Mutineer.~ Warren Zevon
--
Halmyre
Aren't you indulging in a bit of a stones/glass-houses scenario here?
--
Halmyre
Evergreen
> On 16 Sep, 21:28, Evergreen <sidneyla...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Halmyre <flashgordonreced...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> > On 16 Sep, 02:50, "Paul B. Thompson" <mra...@verizon.net>
>> > wrote:
>>
>> >> "Modemac" <mode...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>> >>news:a6c3555f-5481-438b...@d23g2000vbm.google
>> >>gr oups.com... The print of "The Wicker Man" that is
>> >>currently playing on the FearNet pay-per-view cable channel
>> >>begins with an amusing sight: the original warning by the
>> >>British film rating system that the movie is rated X.
>> >>This is amusing not just for nostalgia, but also for some
>> >>unintentional irony =3D96 specifically because "The Wicker
>> >>Man" has always been marketed and promoted as a horror
>> >>movie. Anyone used to today's blood-soaked splatterfests
>> >>masquerading as horror films will be sorely disappointed
>> >>with ""The Wicker Man"," because in fact there isn't a lot
>> >>of horror in it. It's actually a black comedy, and much
>> >>of the entertainment comes from culture shock more than
>> >>anything else.
>>
>> >> Response:
>>
>> >> I know this movie well. Every now and then I show it to a
>> >> young audience--college age, usually--and it never fails to
>> >> freak them out.
>>
>> >> I think you miss an essential point of the film though. It
>> >> isn't just abo=3D
>>
>> > ut
>>
>> >> jolly (if bloodthirsty) pagans versus a numbnuts Christian
>> >> cop. Summerisl=3D
>>
>> > e
>>
>> >> is supposedly too far north to sustain agriculture, but
>> >> because of the husbandry instituted back in the 19th
>> >> century the island has had an India=3D
>>
>> > n
>>
>> >> summer of plenty. This green revolution coincided with the
>> >> reintroduction=3D
>>
>> > =A0of
>>
>> >> paganism but religion has nothing to do with the island's
>> >> ephemeral succe=3D
>>
>> > ss.
>>
>> >> Now in Howie's time the crops and failing, hence the resort
>> >> to human sacrifice. Howie frantically tells Lord Summerisle
>> >> and Company the island=3D
>>
>> > 's
>>
>> >> ecosystem will not sustain them, and that their crops will
>> >> continue to fa=3D
>>
>> > il
>>
>> >> until they utterly collapse. They happily burn him just the
>> >> same.
>>
>> >> TWM is not about free spirited, earth-friendly pagans
>> >> versus a priggish, uptight Christian. Both religions are
>> >> shown to be mere bundles of superstition (as they indeed
>> >> are). The horror--and it is there, quite viscerally--is
>> >> that the smiling, singing islanders roast Edward Woodward
>> >> =3D
>>
>> > for
>>
>> >> nothing.
>>
>> > They should have included the line in the novel
>> > (novelisation?) when Howie tells Summerisle that sacrificing
>> > him will do no good - and that next year when the crops fail
>> > again it will be no less than Summerisle himself for the
>> > chop.
>>
>> > -- Halmyre
>>
>> Interesting thing about these 'neo-pagan' groups is that
>> you can't tell if they are talking about fiction or their
>> psuedo-religions.
>>
>> And that's because they are _both_ fiction.
>
>
> Aren't you indulging in a bit of a stones/glass-houses scenario
> here?
>
> -- Halmyre
No.
Francis A. Miniter
> The one scene that dominates this film for me and the sexiest scene I've
> encountered in any movie is Willow's dance (Britt Ekland) on the other
> side of the wall, seducing Sergent Howie.
>
Indeed, there is one other truly sexy scene that comes to
mind. The sex scene in *The Unbearable Lightness of Being*
with the bowler hat.
Lord Cyclohexane
> On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:33:08 -0700 (PDT), Halmyre
> <flashgordonreced...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >They should have included the line in the novel (novelisation?) when
> >Howie tells Summerisle that sacrificing him will do no good - and that
> >next year when the crops fail again it will be no less than Summerisle
> >himself for the chop.
> Actually, they do include that line in the movie -- in the end, Howie
> screams it as he is trapped in the Wicker Man. Summerisle's response
> is to bellow, "THEY WILL NOT FAIL!" -- in a voice that sounds
> desperate, I'll agree. Paul's suggestion has merit, and I'll have to
> see it again to look for other clues of the sort that he proposes.
> (This was my fist time seeing the movie.) However, from the
> perspective of the movie as opposed to the book (which I haven't
> read), the film's penultimate shot shows the Wicker Man collapsing,
> and then the camera focuses on the sun -- in such a way that I got the
> idea that it's showing us how the god of the sun himself was
> apparently watching the sacrifice. This could suggest that (again,
> within the context of the film) the sacrifice was successful.
Replying purely to quote a post that will be deleted from Google
Groups.
Baird Stafford
<1bae4973-bb66-4568...@f10g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>,
Lord Cyclohexane <lordcyc...@gmail.com> wrote:
If that's so, it's another argument for using a real NNTP service to
follow usenet rather than Google Groups.
Baird
--
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice
there is. -Yogi Berra
Zapanaz
Except that a real NNTP service isn't going to cause a post to be
archived either.
--
Zapanaz
International Satanic Conspiracy
Customer Support Specialist
http://joecosby.com/
It would at least be fairly funny, IMO, if there was a wave of murders
of major religious figures every time a natural disaster happened. It
would kind of put the ball back in their court where it belongs.
:: Currently listening to Plock, 1999, by Plone, from "For Beginner Piano"