At the end of this week’s tutorial, it reminds me of the movie Mad Max.
Firstly, I am confused about whether it could be defined as a Cypherpunk Movie, while it normally refers to a type of combining the advanced technology and deteriorated social structure. Mad Max, however, is in an instinct background of the country and social context. The characters are a group of people who seem like been abandoned by dominating cultures and society. Nevertheless, this movie has the visual impression of Cyberpunk, with showing all kinds of new weapons (in a magical way to combine the technology and primitivity) combined with strong sensory stimulation, forming the aesthetics style. I am confused about whether this style could be defined as Cyberpunk.
Secondly, Mad Max also brings me with the concept of a moving city, as introduced by Abbott. The background setting is a bit similar to Resident Evil, although most of the catastrophe films seem to have this kind of setting. In the article written by Tsutsui, the city is a fixed, physical place, in a dominating way that surrounded by its citizens, whereas it is a fluid concept with mobility in Abbott’s reading. The city, in the latter way, is constructed based on the requirements of people, which is easily deconstructed and reconstructed. It’s not a physical place but more similar to a conceptual space and lost its dominating role when compared with the former. Many disaster films (Resident Evil, 2012, World War Z,) contains the background set of a moving city(people have to leave their country or lost nationality) but pursues to construct a geographical city. It seems combined both concepts introduced by Abbott and Tsutsui, that the relationship between the city and its residence is important(by Abbott) yet also inessential(by Tsutsui). Mainly because the social norms and conformity are strongly shaped human’s concept toward life and city, which makes the distributed city, the idea of “a place urban realm” to impossibly achieve. From my perspective, it is contradictory that those directors and screenwriters of certain disaster film types (Resident Evil) are depicting the plots that people are pursuing freedom in a way of losing freedom. (trying to find the safe town and unify people together.) The concept bring by Tsutsui, the moving city is more conceptual freedom to me. As demonstrated in the movie by Kubrick, Spartacus, it is not the day when those slaves arrive Roma, or anywhere, can they enjoy the freedom, yet they have already gain freedom since the day they are no longer a slave.
Thirdly, Tsutsui mentioned the concept of aesthetics of destruction. In his perspective, it is mainly dominated by the meaning behind the film context, for example, it reminds the underlying energy of the city to be reconstructed toward citizens, and also give hope to whom. However, movies like Mad Max convey a pure aesthetic of destruction by visual and auditory stimulation, it may without any meaning yet still attractive toward its audiences, similar to the movie style of Quentin Tarantino( eg. Kill Bill).
(It is another interesting way to de-structure disaster films apart from Tsutsui’s view, which may able us to apply another way to make movie analysis, that some psychology theories may be involved in, to figure out the reason that people are so into the catastrophe as well as figures the city been destroyed.)
Iris Yeung
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Very good examples raised with regard to films containing direct themes of mobility, underlying issues of nomadism or foregrounding migrancy – physical and social. By extension, your discussion on freedom in disaster films like Resident Evil, 2012, World War Z and epics like Spartacus is a poignant one, even more so in current context where conditions taken for granted as freely accessible are being subverted and/or questioned. To add to your list, take a look at Mortal Engines (2018), an apocalyptic film that addresses the issues you have raised and re-opens the problematic of colonialism and power in a future scenario where cities literally move; and where powerful nations can literally swallow and dismantle weaker ones. An allegorical tale that is at once historical yet sadly contemporary.