Primer

   The movie, Primer, has a fast moving storyline that is about time travel.  To me, the first 15-20 minutes were extremely confusing because I had no idea what was going on, they talked about Physics which I do not know much about. The characters do not exactly tell what they are doing or what they will do next and it ends suddenly without letting the audience feel any relief toward what just happened.   This film was different than other time travel movies because the others always seem to what to change the past and fix the mistakes that people made before. The role of having doubles was new to be because in most films they don’t have such things.  

Limbo

   Primer was an interesting game.  The setting was Gothic and dark and I was waiting for something to happen. At first, I was confused because the character just came up on the screen and was just standing there. I pressed random buttons to see if he would move.  There were absolutely no instructions on how to begin and play the game so my initial response was me wondering why. The setting was suspenseful and creepy; the sounds get louder and soften out and it was a strange sound which made me feel very isolated. There were also unlimited lives to continue on with the game, which I found different than normal videogames. The only light in the game was the character’s eyes which represent his life. As the light from his eyes fade, the game starts all over.

Primer

I didn't really understand Primer and am relying on lecture today to fill me in. I understood that the two main characters built a time machine (and that they had doubles because of their going backwards and forwards in time). But what caused the Aaron to run away in the end to France and the other to stay? Did it get to a point where it was just too much for them to handle? Or is the Aaron in France the double, with the original Aaron, oblivious to time traveling, stayed back and resumed his normal life? 

I am aware that Abe used a fail-safe "box" to go backwards in time to before he even told Aaron of hm what he's found... But something seems to have backfired because Aaron is still aware of the machine's capabilities. As said above, I'm relying on lecture to fill in the missing gaps... 

Time travel is always in interesting concept to explore, and I think the director/writer's deliberate use of diction and frame shooting (although confusing) works very well with the content and message of his film. 

Primer

The movie, Primer, is a fast-paced science fiction film about time travel. This movie is hard to follow along with, due to its vague and unexplained scenes. Rather than answering questions that the audience may have throughout the story, the movie keeps moving forward rapidly; this movie ends without answering questions or clarifying the storyline. Contrary to other time travel stories, where the focus is usually on changing the past to make a character's life better or trying to ensure that the world isn't impacted by a small task that had been done, Primer focused more on the conflict between "doubles". Many time-travel films tend to disregard the idea of "doubles" and the concept of overlap in the timeline of the characters. Primer is definitely a refreshing film that changes up the stereotypical time-travel story. Additionally, this film seemed to suggest that time travel was not a bad thing, but humans made it faulty because of selfish reasons, which is a large element shown within the film.

Also, Primer has a lot of different filming techniques that people were not familiar to; making the audience less likely to enjoy the story. Due to the impact of Classic Hollywood films, most people are used to understanding the story by having a grasp of the entire setting of the film, which is established usually in the beginning of a film. We are used to understanding who, what, when, where, how, and why things are playing out within the story, yet in Primer, I was pretty lost. I was confused by the part when the "doubles" came out and and why towards the end Aaron and Abe, kept going back into the past, attempting to outsmart one another and stop the doubles from ruining their lives. I wasn't even aware that the Original Abe was replaced by the Younger Abe, until I read an explanation of the plot online.

Primer

Primer is a sci-fi movie that deals with the concept of time travel and its paradoxical consequences. throughout the movie there is a great sense of authorial (or in this case directorial?, resistance. The characters are talking about concepts the average person surely wouldn't know, but the confusion is intentional. While the audience feels confused from the lingo, and maybe less confused about the concept of time travel, the characters are confused over the implications of what they built.

A key concept in this time travel movie, is that of doubles, or having copies of the same person in the same time plane. This is a concept that has been done before and I think it raises a lo of questions about individuality. The idea that another you or me could exist seems to diminish our individuality, we are not inherently unique and uncopyable.  We are no more than a collection of elements existing in a period of time to the universe.

Limbo

Limbo is a very interesting but enjoyable game. The controllers took a little time to get used to. Nevertheless, what makes the game interesting is its dark tone. In the game, the player guides a boy though different types of dangerous environments. The game is presented as black and white. It also incorporates many eerie and threatening sounds. This combination creates a very scary atmosphere for the player. Also, the boy dies in horrific and gruesome ways. These disturbing aspects of the game categorize it as a horror game. There are very few games that have incorporated such aspects successfully. However, Limbo is one of them and these aspects keep the user engrossed and hooked to the game.

Limbo

The setting of LIMBO is very similar to many of the gothic texts which we have read this quarter. The game is full of exceedingly creepy elements,  bear traps laying out in the woods, the way the character drowns, a giant spider, and the fact that there seems to be no way to escape the spider at the end of the demo. But it’s not just these elements that make the game frightening. It’s the very atmosphere of the game, it takes place in a dark and dreary forest, there is fog clinging to the ground, and much on the screen is out of focus.

There are also a lot of unanswered questions; a complete lack of exposition. You wake up, get off of the ground, and need to make your way to the right. There was no explanation of how to play or why you are playing, which gives a sense of desolation to the game.

LIMBO

I am definitely not one to play video games, so playing Limbo proved a challenge for me.  I had to try multiple times to get across each deadly trap and really wished that I was able to save the character each time.  Limbo made me feel exactly like I was in Limbo, this alternate universe where I am stuck trying to save myself from the unknown and feeling no closer to the end as I progressed.  The mood created was dark and seemed like I was in some kind of afterlife with no escape.  The boat crossing reminded me of old myths of crossing the river into the underworld.  My main response was I felt ultimately trapped with no way to survive except to keep continuing along this dark path.  It was similar to how I could feel in a survival situation: I kept pushing forward although it seemed as though there was no end and there was darkness and terror around me.

Primer

The movie Primer definitely needs another view to understand completely. It was my first time viewing the movie. It had aspects of sci-fi, but a new world was not created in this movie. Since the plot didn’t impact a large part of society and didn’t change the world we live in, this allowed the viewer to accept the story more. Also, the conversations when the engineers were creating the device were incomprehensible, thus allowing the viewer to not pay attention to the specifics of the design. Therefore, without the specs to creating the machine being unknown, the viewer is oblivious, so the inclination to believe in the creation of the machine is greater.

Primer

In the movie Primer, what I noticed most was the way the film was shot. In a lot of scenes, we would be looking at the people through a window or a door frame, or something which gives the viewer a feeling like their actions are staged. This makes more sense later in the movie when the two guys try to make things right by redoing their actions using an audio track.
Also, in the beginning of the movie I noticed that when they talked, they often overlapped each other, and I thought this was an interesting parallel to time travel and how each time is overlapped with the other.

In the end though, I thought it was horrible how they got rid of a version of themselves so they could try to right things only to make it worse, and how one guy stayed to keep fixing things and the other left. I wonder which is worse...continuously watching and altering your own future thus affecting everyone around you, or going somewhere else to affect the future while letting your already ruined future continue by itself.
Also, I'm not sure why they built the machine in the first place if they didn't know what the results would be.

Primer

I'm not sure that primer ever even uses the title in its name and I'm thinking that is a purposeful choice. I've seen this movie two or three times now and I really think that its called primer because you need a primer before you watch the movie. Its an interesting movie because its science fiction that plays with some characteristics of magical realism, particularly authorial resistance. The two main characters never really explain what they're trying to make. It seems like they're trying to make a refrigerator that turns into a time machine. Their explanation of time travel is vague and simple and the actual mechanics are ignored. The two friends don't tell eachother what they're doing and the audience doesn't know what is happening or which characters are aware of what events. There is a lot that never gets explained clearly (the girls father, what the protagonists do with the ex and his shotgun, what the domestic focused fight between the two protagonists at the ending is about, who is the double who is the original). I think its the point of the movie because scenes where things are briefly, vaguely explained there are always loud audio distractions. This builds a sense of wonder and confusion, comparable to what the characters are probably experiencing, but its also a bit infuriating since I still don't know whats happening and I'm the audience and I want stories because I want entertainment not confusion. If that confusion is the point of the movie and its like a meta-assault on my emotional state, that's interesting, but its not very satisfying.

War of the Worlds Broadcast

This radio broadcast is very interesting. It is a form of radio drama whose events are adapted from HG Well's novel War of the Worlds. The broadcast seems to be a series of news bulletins detailing a martian invasion. However, some listeners at the time panicked, thinking the events were real. This is not surprising. given the techniques used to create the broadcast. It is very realistic. The broadcast was run without any commercial breaks. This made it seem like an emergency broadcast that ran without interruption. Also, the phrase "we interrupt this program" made it seem even more like an emergency. However, most people who panicked at the broadcast reportedly only heard small portions of it. This makes sense. If viewed as a whole it is simply a fictitious narration of events. However, small bits and portions can easily be misinterpreted as real.

War of the Worlds

The way that the War of the World's broadcast starts really does seem convincing that the the listener would think that some creature from a strange meteorite or whatever really did come down and attack people. Although the style in which the radio host talks and the way the other people talk sounds strange to me because I'm not from that era, but besides that, the way it would switch to a band playing music and then to news about the strange object helped make it seem real. I've heard from people that people back then thought it was totally real and that it scared them so much that they locked themselves inside their homes. I wonder if anyone in this age could pull something off like that without people thinking its fake. I think in modern thinking, we are not so scared of aliens invading the planet.

Limbo. I tried to play it but its so difficult to get any progress without knowing the controls. I figured out how to pull but I can't figure out how to climb. So I'm stuck after getting off the boat in the beginning. I think the lack of controls really creates the sense that you are lost and that goes well with the name of the game: Limbo.

Filming Techniques: Primer

Primer is a very well made film given its extremely small budget. It is a sci fi movie. However, rather than relying on star performances or compelling special effects, the director uses a variety of smart tricks to keep the audience engaged. In particular, the conversation throughout the film is very unclear and fast. In addition, the film quality is a little hazy. This serves a purpose. The director is trying to confuse the audience and make them question what is going on?? This constant questioning keeps the audience engaged. If the film was more clear it might have been very boring. Also, the camera is often kept at unusual or awkward angles throughout the film. This is common is film making technique. However, here it seems to be taken to the extreme. Often the conversation is viewed at an angle or from afar. This filming technique leads the audience to interpret the character as confused or deep in thought. In this film, it's more so the later. The culmination of these filming techniques make the events throughout the film very unclear. For example, I was unsure what was the purpose of the man with the shotgun. What did he do? Also, what happened to the person who was following Aaron and Abe? Lack of clarity drives this film. This shows signs of a smart and witty director.

Last blog post so let's make it a good one...

I'll start off by saying I was so happy to play Limbo because it has what I consider the most important quality for a horror video game: atmosphere. The vastness of the forest contrasted with the tiny stature of the boy, made me feel powerless, like something bigger was looming over me, waiting to strike. The fuzzy black and white reminded me of watching David Lynch's Eraserhead, giving the game a similar creepy vibe. The game was almost completely silent, save for the slight crunch of footsteps, sliding logs or swinging ropes.

But it wasn't just that the surroundings looked and felt scary -- they were actually the threat. From spike pits to drowning pools to entrapping webs, it felt like the whole environment was conspiring to kill the little hero I controlled (often in ways that would have been quite graphic if not for the silhouette nature of the graphics). That's another important point: the game is not just in black white, but plays with light and shadow. We really only see the shadowy outline of our character, so he almost blends in with the ground and the trees.

Even though dark sinister world I found myself in left me anxious, I still felt curious and wanted to explore. Running ahead blindly, searching for the 11 hidden points, my recklessness meant I walked straight into traps many times. But I think that's the charm of the game -- the immense and enthralling world call to be discovered, so that the lurking dangers sit in the back of your mind until it's too late. This made the many gruesome deaths I suffered all the more shocking. Especially the final one! What a cruel, cruel ending to a demo, I almost bought the game then and there. But I think it was just more than mere marketing leaving the boy's life in our hands that way -- it put the player's role in the game into perspective. Not as an observer, or a controller, but as a guardian, trying to keep the boy from falling astray into traps and hazards. It almost felt like instead of making the boy traverse the forest, I was intervening from the forest killing him, like a benevolent protector lending a guiding hand.

Primer and LIMBO

Primer was a very confusing movie. The science in the movie wasn't very clear and the way they talked didn't really help. During the first scenes they would each talk over each other making it hard to understand the already confusing subject they're talking about. Abe and Aaron accidentally build a time travel machine by trying to build a machine that lowers the weight of an object. After they insert a watch into the box, they find that the watch had traveled into the future and bounced back. They soon made a box big enough for themselves and time traveled for personal gains. It was very science fiction and supernatural as time itself is very hard to control. This reminds of Cabin in the Woods also were control is a very big part of the film.
LIMBO is also a very interesting game with a very fitting name. Limbo is like an intermediate state, an uncertain period of resolution, a purgatory state, which is kind of how the game is. The little boy "wakes" up in a dark forest and we are left clueless as to what exactly is going on but to just move forward and avoid all the traps set up. It also very much ties in with the horror and gothic genre as it involves a great deal of nature and family also; he is trying to find his missing sister which we don't know if he every does indeed find her.

Primer

Aside from causality loops, multiverses, and the Novikov self-consistency principle (which Primer does not follow) that come with time travel it seems like the main point of the film is about the human element involved with technology. On the one the humans love technology, but also have self doubts when these new discoveries give them extraordinary powers. In Primer the protagonists are able to travel back in time and change events in the past by seeing events over and over again or using future knowledge to take advantage of the past. The type of time travel in the film allows for Abe and Aaron to affect the past substantially and to effectively have “doubles” since there past and future self can be in the same place at the same time. With this newfound discovery, Aaron and Abe recognize that this power can have extreme effects on the past, as seen when they save Abe’s girlfriend, Rachel.

It is interesting that at the end Aaron and Abe decide that the time travel is not necessarily wrong, but that it is too dangerous for them to continue to use. This ending seems to imply that people view the weakest link in technologies like time travel is the human element. It is unlikely that scientific progress will be halted at any point in the near future from public opinion, but it is certainly worthwhile to think about how new technologies will certainly bring more questions regarding humanity.  Can we trust ourselves to make the “right” decisions? Or perhaps technology will become so advanced that it can self regulate itself so that humans cannot abuse it or harm themselves with it. In any case humanity will likely have to face difficult questions with how to use technology and whether we can trust ourselves with it in the future.

Infographic about time travel in Primer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Time_Travel_Method-2.svg

Infographic about time travel in movies (warning spoilers):

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-04/tangled-logic-time-travel-in-movies-infographic

LIMBO creates a very unique mood through its lack of information provided both about the game, such as controls, and about the story. The game is based in a seemingly similar world to our own initially, but the introduction of giant spiders, the vast, barren landscape, and the lack of any other people who are not dead, hostile, or running away causes many more important issues, such as the questions of in what world this person is, why seemingly everyone is hostile, what happened to everyone else, and where the giant spiders are from. Unfortunately, the game provides few to no answers to these questions; however, the growing lack of important information adds greatly to the overall eerie mood.

Primer, LIMBO, & War of the Worlds

The three pieces covered this week were similar in regards to technology. Primer regarded science and time travel, The War of the Worlds radio broadcast was an audio book detailing a Martian attack, and LIMBO was a computer game with an eerie setting and of course a giant spider. The movie Primer was definitely a mind bender. I do not run into many confusing movies but this one was certainly one of them. It involved time travel, doubles, and potentially murder. Regarding the demo of the game LIMBO, I’d say it is well done.  From the section I played the graphics were simple but effective. I had to figure out my characters moves, my end goal, and each challenge provided a new learning experience. The War of the Worlds radio broadcast brought me back a few decades with the music and sound quality. The broadcast sounded real, like it was a music station repeatedly interrupted by breaking news from different accounts detailing the Martians. My favorite part was the destruction of the aliens by the disease and bacteria on earth. It shows our evolution was effective in its own way. What I thought was very interesting was a few years back I was told that when this radio broadcast was made, some people actually though this broadcast was real. It created a frenzy that was supposedly fixed by an announcement stating the broadcast was a story not a real report. 

Limbo

Limbo is, quite honestly, one of the most disturbing video games I have ever played. Beginning with its morbid simplicity, you, as the player, are left in the darkness, given no controls or instructions. You are left to venture a forest of darkness and shadows, and it is your duty to decide what the purpose of the game is, what you are trying to accomplish, and what you are trying to avoid. I was startled multiple times by this game, whether it was the random bear traps that severed my buddy into two, or the large spider that practically speared him.

Though disturbing, it was refreshing to not be given any instruction, for you are allowed to define the bounds of the game without already being told. As a player, there is a lot more suspense and caution practiced. An element of mystery was added because of this lack of instruction or information. I am still unable to decide what my purpose is, but the game itself is thoroughly entertaining.

The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods is a very refreshing film that deviates from a lot of the common horror movie elements, throwing odd twists and turns that manage to surprise the audience many times. Metafiction is clearly visible within the film, as the characters are partaking in a fabricated horror story, controlled by technicians who are trying to kill them to please a supernatural "ancient" being. All the zombies and frightening monsters that the five characters see are sent out accordingly by the technicians that are controlling the cabin. This reminded me of the many dystopian novels where there is an omnipresent force that constantly monitors the people they are controlling, such as the Hunger Games and the Maze Runner. The film captures the essence of the fantastic, where the characters are reasoning with themselves, trying to figure out their situation. When Dana and Marty realize that everything that they experienced in the cabin was controlled by people, it is not considered to be uncanny but instead metafiction. However, in the end it is revealed that there indeed is an otherworldly force, the "ancients" who will destroy the world, if the 5 individuals are not killed. This is definitely the supernatural, because there is a world that works in a different set of laws. I found that this unexpected plot twist was a bit ridiculous, yet pretty interesting. Never have I ever come across a horror story that basically ridicules the fundamental elements of horror other than The Cabin in the Woods. 

Zombies...?

So, Cabin in the Woods. This is a strange film to me. It doesn't come off as a Zombie film to me. The Zombies don't seem to play a major role in the film. Because the idea is the hero in these stories, but the idea here doesn't seem to be, "If you ignore the superstitious signs, you will be eaten by zombies." The zombies are a transition state, they represent all of the fairytale/supernatural characters that play a bigger role in sacrificing humans. We have yet to finish to the movie, but Gods and sacrificing seem to be at the center of the plot. The Zombies seemed to be chosen as the means of killing the humans because this is supposed to be a scary movie and producers needed a killer that would bring in people to the movies, and zombies have been a consistent and reliable staple of scary movies for a long time. Zombies, all in all, don't seem like a major necessity for the plot, but a way to make this movie more appealing to scary movie goers.

The Cabin in the Woods is BRILLIANT

I'm not a fan of most horror movies, but I love Cabin in the Woods, in fact I would go so far as to say it was one of the best movies released in the past three or so years. And while it does have all the elements of a horror film, Cabin in the Woods takes all the typical tropes of a horror movie, turns them on their head, and tears them apart. It is a deconstruction of horror movies, explaining all the things we take for granted in them: why the characters act so unbelievably dumb and impulsive, why circumstances align just right so that the characters are trapped just when they need to escape the monster, where the creatures come from, that sort of thing.

Explaining all of these details, giving a reason for the supernatural and unbelievable occurrences, changes the supernatural nature of the film. If we know where the monsters come from (the underground pens) and why they are attacking the characters, it takes away some of the uncertainty and fantastic nature of the film. In this way, it is almost more of a science fiction film, where the rules of the universe are different than our own real world, but they are clearly defined to set boundaries and give reasons for the film's events. However, the movie's explanations create as many questions as they answer (what is the story with the gods/ ancient creatures living under the earth? how exactly does the organization performing the sacrifices function?) so really we are left equally mystified by the supernatural aspects of the film.

I also enjoyed the film's metafictional perspective on horror fans. We see the workers in the control room having a party while Dana is being massacred by a zombie, and the audience is disgusted at how jovial they are when such brutal violence is happening in front of them, and how cavalier they are towards the entire situation. And yet, later in the film when the underground is being massacred by the freed monsters, we can't help but look on in awe and, dare I say it, enjoyment -- I know I wasn't the only one in the theater who laughed when the Steve Hadley was murdered by the merman he had so wished to see.

Cabin in the woods

I really liked this movie yesterday. It was incredibly cheesy, but that was exactly what it was aiming for. It is a satire, and is making fun of all the horror movies before it. The 'government agency' aspect is interesting, and is just another way to make fun of the horror genre by making fun of the audience. The sacrifice a few to save many is also an interesting concept. It weird how they feel they need to have to elaborately trick people, you think of the whole human population they could find some cultists people who willing sacrifice themselves, but maybe it has to be against their will, who knows? I think this also plays on the concept of free will, which has applied to a lot of our reading lately. In this movie it seems that all the characters actions can be predicted and influenced by simple stereotypes or chemical reactions. It seems to suggest that there really isn't that much free will if it can actions can be shaped that easily.

A Game for the End of the World

Cabin in the Woods!
Wonderful movie and a great plot. It has the setting of a horror movie, but becomes more of a scifi action (still retains that sense of excitement and anticipation).
The grossly exaggerated elements of horror, like the different types of people and who would die first, causes the movie to lose its fear-inducing effect. Because these elements are so exaggerated, it becomes sort of comedic to the audience. You are essentially taking something they've seen before and removing the horror from it, leaving something familiar but not disagreeable. For example, zombies are something familiar that we've learned to fear through generations of media, but the zombies in this movie are red-necked, pain-loving, religious zombies, which is so outlandish and far-fetched that its hilarious.
The agency that sets all this up to prevent the end of the world makes it a game, which also lends to comical aspects of the movie. It takes away the fear and creates kind of this new world of technology and advancement vs. old world of zombies and "fictional creatures." The way the agency monitors the sacrificial group with their technology and precision resembles spy movies.

Cabin in the Woods

Similar to 28 Days Later, Cabin in the Woods uses certain techniques to build tension for the audience. There is an almost heavy handed use of music and lighting, not to mention foreshadowing as a result of the men in the control room. Further, they used themes that are common to any thriller, which makes the tension that much stronger to anybody who has ever seen a horror film. For example, the tension leading up to the scene where Jules was killed very nearly had me covering my face in anticipation.

Where this film differs from traditional horror films, however, is the control room. There is something very off-putting about the people involved, the people responsible for these kids deaths, sitting around joking, making bets, and so on. It is a somewhat jarring experience to be suddenly pulled out of the story and thrown into another. It seems to draw attention to the fact that it is a movie, one character gaining self awareness about being filmed, which is followed by blood and violence.

Warm Bodies / The Cabin in the Woods

I thought it was a fascinating concept how Perry Kelvin repeatedly shows up in R's thoughts. By consuming his brain, does R actually infuse his thoughts with those of Perry's? Or is it simply his imagination? On page 122, he hears a collective voice of all the people he consumed: "We tried to make a beautiful world here" (Marion). Is he hearing these voices because, again, he consumed them, or are these voices made out of his own personal thoughts––what he thinks they'd say? Marion includes many twists into his book that many typical zombie fiction stories do not have, simply because there lacks a reputable number of fiction that presents the zombie's perspective.

In regards to the film we watched in class, The Cabin in the Woods, it starts out with a group of characters that are manipulated into cliches we are all familiar with. The plot line doesn't follow a typical horror movie's (for everything is controlled and operated by a secret government program to satisfy ancient gods––who thinks of that?), but the characters remain the same. There is the jock, intelligent and insensitive, who the government turns into the "alpha male." His girlfriend, a sensual blonde, lets loose her wild side when the agents let loose a certain hormone in the air for her to breathe in. There is the virgin, new to everything, and the stoner who smokes weed all day and has deep thoughts. I feel the way the director/screenwriter allowed these characters to turn into very stereotypical cliche characters in normal horror movies adds another distinct quality to The Cabin in the Woods.

Puppeteers

Cabin in the Woods starts off as a typical horror film with college students preparing for a weekend of fun and partying at a secluded house in the woods.  Although many things seem creepy to them like the man at the gas station and the scary painting/mirror in the room, the characters overlook it and continue with their fun.  Even the characters are typical of a horror film including a jock and his dumb blonde overtly sexual girlfriend, sweet and innocent "virgin" girl, hot but sensitive guy, and the comic relief stoner fifth wheel friend.  Even the movie seems typical, it is not predictable and has elements of anxiety and terror.  This group of friends is in a way randomly and unknowingly chosen to be sacrificed and are monitored by a high tech company who bets on the ways they are going to be killed. They are mastermind puppeteers that control the setting and their minds.  It creates anxiety because these people are manipulated and do not have control over their outcome, in a sense.  Having lack of control is terrifying because no matter what you do, your outcome is fixed.  This can cause anxiety in the viewer because it makes them wonder if they have control over their life or if they may just be manipulated by society too.  We may not be manipulated by some company who wants to kill us for a sacrificial ritual, but our thoughts can be manipulated by things like social media and other forms of technology.

The Cabin In the Woods

The Cabin In the Woods directly addresses the ruthlessness of humanity and the lengths that we will go to ensure our survival. The film presents seemingly innocent young adults in search of a good time. The most twisted aspect of the film is that the group is unconsciously a part of a murderous experiment directed by a group of powerful scientists. Upon their arrival, the group initiates the revival of a family of zombies, and according to the scientists, their fate of death is deserved because of their conscious choice to enter the situation. The justification for the actions of the scientists is completely irrational. I was thoroughly disturbed by the presentation of humanity in this film, for it is strongly suggested that humanity would not hesitate to sacrifice its own kind in order to ensure its survival. Though the conclusion of the film has not been unveiled, I can only imagine that it will only to continue to make harsh criticisms regarding humanity.

Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods is an amazing film. It deviates from the typical story line of most horror films and dares to change it up. The movie is filled with unexpected twist and turns, constantly keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. In addition, the film pokes fun at the many repetitive aspects of horror movies. For example, it starts off with five friends who decide to stay at an isolated cabin. Also, on their way there they meet a creepy, old gasoline station manager. At this point, the audience expects a typical hack and slash movie. They expect most or maybe all of the friends to die. This is the case, but not in the way we would expect. Through the majority of the film, the director, Josh Wheedon, fills us with hope then subsequently crushes it. Each of the friends make valiant and brave efforts to escape, but most fail. Curt crashes into the force field while making his motorcycle jump. Also, Holden gets stabbed in the throat after attempting to reassure Dana. Finally, near the end, Dana is getting beat to death by a zombie. This is when I thought the film would end. I was disappointed. It seemed like all the friends died. In addition, those bastards controlling everything were partying. However, this is the point where Wheedon dared to be different. This scene is simply the climax of the film. Wheedon changes up the film and ends it in an unexpected fashion. Dana and Marty survive till the end and attempt to overthrow those who seemed to control their fate. However, Marty's death was necessary to appease the Gods and, ultimately, the whole world suffers for it. This ending left me dazed and confused but ultimately satisfied.

Metafiction

In The Cabin in the Woods the metafiction is clear in that the horror story is completely fabricated by a company that has to make sacrifices to some mysterious groups called the “ancients.” The meta aspect of the movie reminds me of the show Community, which is a sitcom that often makes fun of sitcom tropes by featuring them on the show and dissecting them. Much of the humor in Community is meta-humor and I think it is often done to show the ridiculousness of sitcom tropes. These formulaic ideas make us think about why these reoccur in so many movies and TV shows or how odd they would seem in actual life. Like in The Cabin in the Woods there’s the typical jock, the blonde, the virgin, the jock’s friend, and a quirkier, paranoid character. The difference is that in the film the characters are forced to play these roles. It is odd to think that the film is just fiction about fiction or has humor about humor. I think it is interesting to me to think about do we decide to repeat these types of fiction or jokes or is that just sort of innate way that we tell stories. I suppose it is just a commentary on culture and how our own storytelling has evolved.

Bludgeoning metaphors and metafiction

Last week I wrote about my displeasure with how readily available and blatant Warm Bodies' metaphors were. I think that there's a certain amount of authorial resistance or vagueness that actually adds depth to a piece by leaving open more interpretations by the audience. Warm Bodies was so blatant it was almost a metafiction, like Cabin in the Woods is. They two are really different though, since Cabin in the Woods is metafiction for comedic purposes but also to critique the horror genre and the audience, especially the male audience. I think they do a really good job poking fun at the horror genre (the dissappointed chemist who didn't realize that zombies and redneck backwoods zombie-freaks were different) and the audience (the males gawking at the young woman and one of the directors saying 'you have to keep the audience happy').  Metafiction is especially interesting in horror since it can be used to remove the audience from the story and relieve their anxieties and frights by adding comedic effect, or whatever else. Movies like Tucker and Dale vs Evil do both this as well and are a little less blatant than Cabin in the Woods. Metafiction itself is actually really interesting on its own, because its vaguely narcissistic, involving the audience for the sake of their entertainment. Metafiction seems to rarely exist for the sake of the story. I'm not sure if kids shows like blues clues which are interactive count as Metafictions but I feel like they should.



(If anyone actually reads this I really recommend you watch tucker and dale its on netflix for free and its hilarious)

Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods puts a strange twist on other horror movies, and even though there are zombies, it is not truly a zombie film. The movie adds a new perspective to horror films; it basically shows that the type of monster or murderer is not a major factor in the story (aside from the fact that there is one), that is why Cabin in the Woods should not be classified as a zombie film. The idea that the entire ordeal is set up, monitored, and affected by an outside party adds an even stronger disturbing factor. It is similar to The Hunger Games in the fact that people are being killed for the entertainment of others; it is turned into a game and they are trying to make a better “show.” This idea that other humans are purposefully putting the characters through these terrible events shows a lack of humanity and makes it demented, rather than just horrifying.

The Cabin in the Woods takes a very different approach to the whole concept of real, fantastic, and the supernatural that we've been discussing. Many of the events that it presents that could be interpreted as fantastic are quickly explained to be either some supernatural event, as in the case of the zombies and the other creatures underneath the cabin, or real and caused by some mechanism, such as the doors slamming shut and locking them in. I thought it was very interesting how the film presented many common horror movie themes but removed that uncertainty that characterizes the fantastic, completely changing the mood of the movie.

Cabin in the Woods

What I find odd about this movie is the fact that the inhabitants of the cabin must die. I understand that it is orchestrated and death must be the final outcome, but I wonder who or what their deaths have a purpose for. When the scientist guy cursed at the little Japanese school children who were able to do a sort of exorcism to the ghost, I wondered why he was so upset. I remember him saying something like Japan having a perfect record or some sort, and my guess is that he says that because Japan has been able to conquer their monsters. I would think that being able to conquer things that terrify you and harm you would be a good thing. Those Japanese children placing the ghosts soul into a frog and saying that the ghost will be at peace now, could suggest that the scientists may hate people turning something negative into a positive. I guess it goes against the purpose of trapping people and sending monsters to them to kill them. I can't wait to see if the rest of the film will provide any answers to that.

The Cabin in the Woods

   This film has Supernatural-Gothic theme for there are flickering lights, dark scenes, creatures, nature, graveyards, screams and shouts, trap doors, and two way mirrors in the cabin. They find a little girl's diary from the early 1900s -- which recounts a series of horrifying events that unfolded where the five teens go for vacation. After reading the diary, the whole story starts to take hold and eventually reaching climax. This film offers both the supernatural and sci-fi because of the workers working in the lab with their high technology. These workers do not care what happens to the humans; they make bets to see what horrible things will happen, there is only one man who is new to the job that believes what they are doing is ridiculous.

The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods movie looked to be an accumulation of many of the topics we covered; humans, zombies, technology, curses, ghosts, and demons…etc.  There is a clear emphasis on different realities. The scientists have come to terms with ‘the ancients’ and the ritual they have to conduct. They make the death of five people seem like a party and they make bets on how they’ll die. However, the newcomer to the group comes in with that sense of shock and horror (emotion) that the scientists seem to be lacking. The scientists accept the supernatural creatures and mainly believe themselves above being injured in their job. By the end they are as vulnerable to the supernatural creatures as the victims. The ‘victims’ are shocked and try not to believe in the supernatural but have too. Humans are sacrificed to keep peace between what we believe is reality and the underworld. The movie characteristics resemble the Supernatural-Gothic theme for there are flickering lights, dark scenes, creatures, nature, trap doors, and two way mirrors in the cabin. Although, the setting switches to an underground lab and the technology they use is high-tech implying a technologically advanced group which is a Sci-Fi theme. 

Warm Bodies

   R has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. After experiencing a Perry’s memories while eating his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins an awkward and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is full of life and has a colorful personality compared to the dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world. Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between which I find interesting because as R changes over time,  it makes  the reader feel that  he is more human. 

Transitions

I noticed at some point close to the finish of the first section of Warm Bodies we read that R's transition back towards humanity also marked a transition into a less interesting story. He becomes to easy to relate to. I had a great interest in the point of view of a zombie but the point of view of a half zombie is really just the point of view of a mopy and angsty yet romantic teen. Zombies are often metaphors for cultural and societal plagues or discontent. But in Warm Bodies the zombies are too much of a metpahore, they're too apparently a metaphor and we're bludgeoned with the idea as R transforms and enters the stadium. Warm bodies juxtaposes humans with feelings and without a purpose and zombies without feelings but with a purpose. We have these zombies that are listless or empty and restrained by their condition and environment but some have minds full of desire. I feel like this is a commentary or metaphor for youth lacking fulfillment and my interest was lost here because there's not much that's interesting in youth finding what they lack or people finding what they've lost. There's not a lot of deep drama for an end of the world situation and its disappointed me. The commentary/deeper meaning is pretty surface level.

28 days

The way that the movie 28 days later was produced adds a lot of tension to those watching. The director used multiple jump cuts throughout the movie, putting the viewer up close to the action or characters, and then suddenly pulled back away, to see how desolate they were. Combining this with the use of music (specifically East Hastings, by Godspeed You! Black Emperor) slowly building during the course of the action was an incredible way to add to the tension inherent in the film.

I find it amazing how easy and effective it is to convey emotions through a set of techniques like these.

Warm Bodies

One of the qualities I really liked about Warm Bodies was the idea of redemption. Different from most zombie films, including 28 Days Later, Warm Bodies show the more humane nature of zombies and the notion that zombies can turn good. This was an intriguing approach to the film, making zombies seem nicer than usual and able to fall in love, showing that they retain some of their human qualities from their previous life. In films like 28 Days Later, zombies are shown to lose their human self in a few moments after they are infected, so people tend to kill the infected without hesitation. I actually really liked how the humans and the zombies in Warm Bodies, team against the Bonies, which are skeleton-esc creatures that have completely lost their humanity and go about ravaging on humans. This idea that the zombies are on the humans' side and that there were beings that are far more dangerous, which ultimately led to the end of the apocalypse. The zombies are accepted back into society and they become more and more human. R, ends up bleeding, showing that he indeed was human, or shall I say, more human. Overall, Warm Bodies had a very interesting approach to the typical zombie film, which I readily enjoyed. 

Warm Bodies vs. 28 Days Later

Warm bodies and 28 Days Later are excellent stories. The commonality between the two is that they are both zombie stories. However, they're very different representations of zombie stories. 28 Days Later is told from the perspective of a human, Jim, surviving in a post apocalyptic world filled with zombies. The events, for the most part, are centered around him. The emotions expressed throughout the film are usually from his perspective. For example, if Jim is confused or scared the camera angle might be twisted when focused on him to further exaggerate these emotions. Also, 28 Days Later is typical zombie style movie. The premise simply involves Jim and his companions trying to survive. The film is also very violent. Much of the film just involves the killing of zombies.

Warm Bodies, on the other hand, has a much more interesting story. This story is centered around a zombie, rather than a human, named R. R is not a typical zombie. While, 28 Days later represents zombies as brainless killing machines, R is actually very human like. He displays many human like emotions and, as the story develops, acts according to a calculated and conscious judgement. In addition, R starts to fall in love with the girl he saved, Julie. As a result of these qualities, R is a very likable character and we tend to sympathize with him as the plot develops.

In conclusion, Warm Bodies and 28 Days Later are both very different and enjoyable stores. However, I enjoyed Warm Bodies more because it strayed away from the common premise of zombie stories and dared to tackle an interesting yet sensitive subject.

28 Days later

I think there is one aspect of why zombie movies/fiction are so popular that we didn't touch on in class. A common theme in a lot of zombie movies/fiction is that there is a return to nature, and a social reset. Obviously in a zombie pandemic the worst place to be is in a city, so every one moves out to the country side. When they get there, there are few if any remnants of the old social system, and it falls on each person to act on their own moral compass. Each man and women that makes it to the country side is now free of any law, and they can be whatever they want to be, or whomever they really are, be it villain or hero.

As the population gets bigger and bigger, the world has gotten smaller and smaller. Its easy to lose identity and purpose in an increasingly larger and more encompassing society.  While a zombie outbreak would horrible and terrifying, it simplifies the life of the the survivors. Their only goal is to fight and live; a primal existence.

"Human"

Continually in class we have been talking about the concept of life: where does it begin and where does it stop? Are zombies ‘humans’? How do we determine the difference? “Warm Bodies” was supposed to be a story from the other perspective, to show that they do in fact have feelings and are human as well. Though, when you consider the character R, the only reason he seems more human is because he is acting more human. It seems that he is not changing our view of zombies and making us believe they are human, but solidifying our belief that zombies are in fact not human. R continually wants to divert away from being a zombie. Only when he starts experiencing human qualities – emotions, dreams and love – does he start to believe himself that things are changing. R exemplifies this idea that you are human if you experience these things because the only time he feels at all human if when he experiences these moments of clarity and emotion. Once he starts to distance himself from the acts that quantify a zombie, do we start to believe he is ‘human’.

Warm Bodies

In Warm Bodies, the things I found most interesting were the Dead's societal structure. They had the ability to communicate at some level, so they built this hierarchy with the Boneys in charge. They had friends and marriage and children and religion and classes for their children, and all this reflects their humanity even though they're Dead.
When the zombies return to the Living, I thought it was really interesting how the (already) Living forgive them so easily. They blamed it on the zombie and not the man, but normally there would be some more resistance to integration of the Dead into a Living society.
I also wonder since R contains Perry as part of him (and maybe his other victims as well), does that mean the other zombies do as well, even when they return to the Living?

28 Days Later and Warm Bodies

Both "28 Days Later" and Warm Bodies force us to become conscious of our state of living; that is, are we truly experiencing what it is to be alive? Both stories present a character who exists to define what it means to be living, while there is also a character—who still holds a human form—who does not embrace the conditions of being live and exists in a “dead” state. These works call attention to the meaningless aspects of life that we depend so heavily on and the way in which we can detach ourselves in order to “preserve” our survival.  We are encouraged as an audience to live freely and lovingly while our hearts still beat, while we remain human.

Warm Bodies differs from "28 Days Later" in that the zombie holds more life than most of the humans in the story. Though R has been converted to a zombie, he shows that he is capable of transformation through his willingness to feel emotion and behave humanly. He does not hesitate to feel regret, love, or guilt. He is able to recognize his faults and reverse them, a characteristic that humans so often avoid. He demonstrates great bravery through his various attempts to save Julie as well as defend her in any way possible. Whether it be from the attacks of the Boneys or simply unkind words from the men from the bar, R does not pause to contemplate; he behaves off human, emotion-based instinct. In this way, R behaves commendably and is regarded as a human throughout the text.

Boneys

In Warm Bodies there are two types of zombies: fleshies and boneys.  Fleshies are the typical zombies portrayed in the zombie genre, however boneys are a new phenomenon.  When first reading Warm Bodies, I found the boneys to be comical since they are simply skeletons walking around. However, as the story progressed they actually became more terrifying.  Even though they do not look human anymore and are just bones, they represent humans at their core.  Since the boneys do not like change and in a sense are evil, it makes me think, are we evil at our core?  Is this how society fell in Warm Bodies because of who they became?  Another terrifying aspect of the boneys is the strange humming sound they make.  It is a sound so far from being human-like and it builds up anxiety in the characters and the readers.  It makes you question your purpose as a human being: are we leaving the world to allow it to prosper? or are we causing its downfall?

Warm Bodies and Memories

What I find the most interesting about the zombies in Warm Bodies besides the fact that they can become alive again, as evident with R's gradual transformation into a Living person, is the fact that the zombies can literally consume the Living's memories when they eat the brain. When they eat the brain they get flashes of the Living person's life. And eating the brain and seeing these memories seems to be the favorite part for most zombies. R likes it, saying that biting into the brain makes his head "...light up like a picture tube" (p. 7). These memories hold remnants of someone's life and these zombies can see what their victim's life was like. Zombies being able to see these memories is kind of like a compensation for not being able to remember their own lives. And I think its these memories that probably helps them hold onto what little "life" they have as a zombie.

As is evident from R becoming the Living, these zombies are in a  kind of limbo. They aren't exactly full dead nor fully alive. They are given a choice if they want to become human again. R was determined to keep from attacking so this helped his transformation into becoming alive again. He had to embrace change to allow this to happen. It was eating Perry's brain and meeting Julie which influenced R to change.

Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies was interesting as it's based on a post-apocalyptic world through the point of view of a zombie. All of the internal monologues from R added to the idea that the struggle against the zombies was also at its heart an internal one. Perry also had an internal struggle but he ultimately failed and truly died. He didn't become a zombie and essentially didn't have a chance at redemption/rebirth like R did. And for R, it was through understanding the internal workings of both himself and Perry, that R could have some sort of rebirth and dezombify himself. The inner struggles depicted in the book lead to both an internal and external cure for the zombie-ism.

Societal Anxieties and the Zombie Apocalypse

The film Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George A. Romero played on the American cultural anxieties at the time. These included, among others, fear of Communism, fear of desegregation, and a fear of the “other” in general. Zombies, by definition, used to be human so they were among regular humans but after infection pose a grave danger. One of the fears with zombies is that they are among us, but we don’t know who will be infected next.

In Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies the setting is much more modern and America has moved on to its fear of extremist ideologies and the War on Terror. Just as before, threats could be among us and we will never know who they are until it is too late. But, I think that is just the connection to modern society. I think what Marion is trying to get across is that humans even before the zombie apocalypse were “dead” in the sense that they were not satisfied with life and were just going through the motions. R even laments his death because his life as a zombie is so boring and that he remembers his past life as filled with goals and aspirations. He makes the apt comment that applies not just to him, but life before the infection: “Being dead is easy” (9). Eventually R does change his life and becomes something else other than just zombie, but perhaps not quite “human” as we think of it now. But the idea that R brings up is important because he contrasts the way life carries out now where the status quo is reinforced at every turn and trying to deviate from the setting of modern life is frowned upon. Society’s fear of becoming too barbaric leading to the end of the civilization has, perhaps, ended everyone’s lives anyways by being too robotic.  Marion’s ending appears to touch on this idea by implying that change is the only constant and that oftentimes it is jarring to society in its uncertainty or messiness. However, people can change as well if they want to and our unwillingness to venture into the unknown is killing us just as much as what we cannot see. 

Warm Bodies and 28 Days Later

In Warm Bodies and 28 Days Later neither of the main characters knows how his world ended. Both are physically incapable of remembering; one was in a coma in the hospital and the other cannot remember anything before his death. It is interesting that neither of them show a strong interest in discovering what the exact cause was. R says that it does not matter; it could have been many things but all that matters is that it happened. While Jim does look at newspapers, he does not verbally inquire about what happened from Selena or Mark when he meets them. Both men are focused on what is happening in the “here and now” rather than what happened in the past. They are looking for solutions and ways to make the world a better place. Although one is living and one is a zombie, Jim and R gain a similar idea of hope for themselves and their world as the storylines unfold.