David Cronenberg made his name shocking people in what on the surface
could be dismissed by some as pulp genre fiction schlock. However, body horror
films like Shivers, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly and Dead Ringers
tell us more about ourselves and address societal matters like AIDS, trauma, the
influence of technology in our lives, the physical transformation of the flesh
more than any po-faced drama could. Speaking of drama, not only did Cronenberg
in the nineties adapt two of his favourite novels, William S. Burrough’s Naked
Lunch and J.G. Ballard’s Crash, but he has also made a fine stab at the genre,
with A History Of Violence, Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method firmly entrenched
in a more recognizable, but no more relevant reality than his earlier works. A
director with as much importance in the medium as a Philip K. Dick in
literature, using genre fiction as a metaphorical means to enlighten us to our
very existence.
No comments:
Post a Comment