{"title":"‘Help me be human’:","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv138428x.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv138428x.4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125009787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-06DOI: 10.3828/LIVERPOOL/9781911325420.003.0009
Emma Westwood
This chapter studies the reception and legacy of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). Critical discourse around The Fly leapt on a social anxiety that was generating worldwide media attention at this exact time in the mid-1980s and appeared to be playing out explicitly in The Fly — that of a man suffering through the incremental stages of death from AIDS. Cronenberg has publicly steered clear of supporting the AIDS analogy theories, openly stating at a number of occasions that drawing such parallels to the AIDS epidemic was not on his agenda. In watching The Fly retrospectively, a far broader meaning is unmistakable. That is not to say the AIDS metaphor is meaningless in any way, but The Fly is not just about death and mortality through AIDS; it is about death and mortality, full-stop. The chapter then looks at the sequel, The Fly II, which was directed by Chris Walas. Just as the original The Fly continues to be attributed in pop culture, Cronenberg's work receives its fair share of homages too.
{"title":"‘Be afraid, be very afraid’: Aftermath and Legacy","authors":"Emma Westwood","doi":"10.3828/LIVERPOOL/9781911325420.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/LIVERPOOL/9781911325420.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter studies the reception and legacy of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). Critical discourse around The Fly leapt on a social anxiety that was generating worldwide media attention at this exact time in the mid-1980s and appeared to be playing out explicitly in The Fly — that of a man suffering through the incremental stages of death from AIDS. Cronenberg has publicly steered clear of supporting the AIDS analogy theories, openly stating at a number of occasions that drawing such parallels to the AIDS epidemic was not on his agenda. In watching The Fly retrospectively, a far broader meaning is unmistakable. That is not to say the AIDS metaphor is meaningless in any way, but The Fly is not just about death and mortality through AIDS; it is about death and mortality, full-stop. The chapter then looks at the sequel, The Fly II, which was directed by Chris Walas. Just as the original The Fly continues to be attributed in pop culture, Cronenberg's work receives its fair share of homages too.","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123555458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-06DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0006
Emma Westwood
This chapter assesses the scenes of Act One of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). The film opens with a mid-shot of Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) talking to the camera; the next shot determines Brundle is actually talking to Geena Davis' character of Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Quaife. Within seconds, the two-hander format of the narrative is established, and another important aspect of the film: Veronica as the audience. The chapter then considers Cronenberg's oscillation between human seduction and scientific explanation in the interactions between Seth and Veronica. It also looks at the introduction of the third character of the love triangle, Stathis Borans. It is at this point that the singularity of Cronenberg's storytelling becomes strikingly apparent. With the introduction of Borans, Cronenberg has established the ‘trunk’ of his story structure, the interplay — conversational or otherwise — between Seth and Veronica, with all other scenes and incidences acting as ‘branches’ from this ‘trunk’. It is this singular simplicity of vision and structure that makes The Fly such a smart screenplay.
{"title":"‘I’ve come here to say one magic word to you: cheeseburger.’ The Fly scene-by-scene: Act One","authors":"Emma Westwood","doi":"10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter assesses the scenes of Act One of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). The film opens with a mid-shot of Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) talking to the camera; the next shot determines Brundle is actually talking to Geena Davis' character of Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Quaife. Within seconds, the two-hander format of the narrative is established, and another important aspect of the film: Veronica as the audience. The chapter then considers Cronenberg's oscillation between human seduction and scientific explanation in the interactions between Seth and Veronica. It also looks at the introduction of the third character of the love triangle, Stathis Borans. It is at this point that the singularity of Cronenberg's storytelling becomes strikingly apparent. With the introduction of Borans, Cronenberg has established the ‘trunk’ of his story structure, the interplay — conversational or otherwise — between Seth and Veronica, with all other scenes and incidences acting as ‘branches’ from this ‘trunk’. It is this singular simplicity of vision and structure that makes The Fly such a smart screenplay.","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129489186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Be afraid, be very afraid’:","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv138428x.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv138428x.11","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124402099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-06DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0005
Emma Westwood
This chapter details the process of remaking The Fly. Strip out all the special effects from The Fly and you've got a singularly focused and somewhat forthright drama, heavily driven by dialogue with just the occasional set and location change. But add in these special effects and the film production becomes a whole different beast — a titanic effort in both problem-solving and firsts in filmmaking or, at the very least, filmmaking tactics very rarely attempted. However, to reduce The Fly to the narrow label of ‘a special effects movie’ could not be more inaccurate. Unlike the ‘special effects movies’ of a new millennium, The Fly relied less on post-production and more on effects produced in-camera and/or on-set, the exception being optical animation. In a case of life imitating art, David Cronenberg fully embraced the symbiotic themes within The Fly film and then extended them into his practical filmmaking approach. He confesses to being the physically fittest he has ever been during The Fly's shoot due to the daily workouts in the filming breaks, mirroring what Jeff Goldblum was doing and completing this fusion-of-sorts with his lead actor.
{"title":"‘The flesh. It should make the computer, uh, crazy’: Remaking The Fly","authors":"Emma Westwood","doi":"10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter details the process of remaking The Fly. Strip out all the special effects from The Fly and you've got a singularly focused and somewhat forthright drama, heavily driven by dialogue with just the occasional set and location change. But add in these special effects and the film production becomes a whole different beast — a titanic effort in both problem-solving and firsts in filmmaking or, at the very least, filmmaking tactics very rarely attempted. However, to reduce The Fly to the narrow label of ‘a special effects movie’ could not be more inaccurate. Unlike the ‘special effects movies’ of a new millennium, The Fly relied less on post-production and more on effects produced in-camera and/or on-set, the exception being optical animation. In a case of life imitating art, David Cronenberg fully embraced the symbiotic themes within The Fly film and then extended them into his practical filmmaking approach. He confesses to being the physically fittest he has ever been during The Fly's shoot due to the daily workouts in the filming breaks, mirroring what Jeff Goldblum was doing and completing this fusion-of-sorts with his lead actor.","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"47 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133136741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-06DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0002
Emma Westwood
This chapter discusses the relationship between Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg and his film, The Fly (1986). Even though, as a remake, The Fly had travelled a long way before falling into the creative hands of Cronenberg, it embodies him at an almost molecular level. Just as Frankenstein's Monster bears the name of its creator, and people are often confused between the two, The Fly is chromosomally ‘Cronenbergian’. It is a strident example of Cronenber's signature mode of ‘body horror’ or ‘visceral horror’ and the perfect crescendo to the first act in his filmmaking career, which had reached its natural conclusion at that particular point in time: 1986. The Fly additionally highlights Cronenberg's uncanny ability to create something uniquely personal to his own self — in the vein of an auteur — while borne from the mind of another storyteller with no immediate connection to himself.
{"title":"‘Help me be human’: Cronenberg Becomes The Fly","authors":"Emma Westwood","doi":"10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses the relationship between Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg and his film, The Fly (1986). Even though, as a remake, The Fly had travelled a long way before falling into the creative hands of Cronenberg, it embodies him at an almost molecular level. Just as Frankenstein's Monster bears the name of its creator, and people are often confused between the two, The Fly is chromosomally ‘Cronenbergian’. It is a strident example of Cronenber's signature mode of ‘body horror’ or ‘visceral horror’ and the perfect crescendo to the first act in his filmmaking career, which had reached its natural conclusion at that particular point in time: 1986. The Fly additionally highlights Cronenberg's uncanny ability to create something uniquely personal to his own self — in the vein of an auteur — while borne from the mind of another storyteller with no immediate connection to himself.","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121966663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘There was an old lady who swallowed a fly’:","authors":"Lucille Colandro","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv138428x.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv138428x.5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"175 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129046017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘I’ve come here to say one magic word to you:","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv138428x.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv138428x.8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"113 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133703657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-06DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0007
Emma Westwood
This chapter describes the scenes of Act Two of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). In Act Two, Seth Brundle makes the transition from amiable and reclusive scientist to predatory and misogynistic Brundlefly — a seamless character transition that creeps up on the audience through Cronenberg's screenplay and direction, and Jeff Goldblum's subtle yet defined performance. As the Brundlefly persona comes to the fore, the audience still sympathises with the overtly animalistic, egregious person he has become. They know this is not the real Seth; it is the corruption of Seth at a cellular level. Cronenberg's patented brand of body horror is coming into its own right here with Seth finally admitting to himself that something is wrong. He questions whether he is dying, and if this is what dying is like, which directly references Cronenberg's own explanation of the film: that it is an allegory for our mortality as human beings and the natural processes that lead to old age and death. It is by way of the computer that he discovers his DNA has fused with a fly — the vital ‘reveal’ — in a cinematic moment common to many great science-fiction films where pivotal information of emotional resonance is not communicated between human beings but between human and machine.
{"title":"‘I’ll hurt you if you stay.’ The Fly scene-by-scene: Act Two","authors":"Emma Westwood","doi":"10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781911325420.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter describes the scenes of Act Two of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). In Act Two, Seth Brundle makes the transition from amiable and reclusive scientist to predatory and misogynistic Brundlefly — a seamless character transition that creeps up on the audience through Cronenberg's screenplay and direction, and Jeff Goldblum's subtle yet defined performance. As the Brundlefly persona comes to the fore, the audience still sympathises with the overtly animalistic, egregious person he has become. They know this is not the real Seth; it is the corruption of Seth at a cellular level. Cronenberg's patented brand of body horror is coming into its own right here with Seth finally admitting to himself that something is wrong. He questions whether he is dying, and if this is what dying is like, which directly references Cronenberg's own explanation of the film: that it is an allegory for our mortality as human beings and the natural processes that lead to old age and death. It is by way of the computer that he discovers his DNA has fused with a fly — the vital ‘reveal’ — in a cinematic moment common to many great science-fiction films where pivotal information of emotional resonance is not communicated between human beings but between human and machine.","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"98 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122626206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘I’ll hurt you if you stay.’ The Fly scene-by-scene:","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv138428x.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv138428x.9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":366202,"journal":{"name":"The Fly","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126899062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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