OF CONSPIRACIES AND CLASS: NAVIGATING THE INTELLECTUAL ABSURDITY OF LANTHIMOS’S BUGONIA
TEXT: MANOTHAM TIAMTIABRAT
PHOTO COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES
(For Thai, press here)
Welcome to a vast, but unsafe, insecure empire, which provided very limited freedom, inside an enclosured space, with majestic height of ceiling of Yagos Lanthimos’ s universe.
Therefore, randomly you can pick up any titles, after all, his audiences yet willingly enterring into a correctional patenentiary of esthetic, ie : Dogtooth, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, in which the main character remaining still in his hospital bed which tremendious high ceiling, notwithstanding contradicted to rules of construction, or else, the ‘poor thing’ role whom submissively obliged herself locked inside an inconvenience facility.
Astronomically predicted, the most appropiated material required to be his up-coming masterful work of adaptation, that promisingly would be equillibrium to his standard, there would be nothing more than Dalton Trumbo’ s Johnny Got His Gun,which the protagonist lying on his patience’ s bed for the whole course of the story.
Presumeably, the source that inspired, the Korean cult phenomena, Save the Green Planet!(지구를 지켜라! Jigureul jikyeora!, 2003, Jang Joon-hwan) had been, by unintentionally made for the purpose to be exclusively adapted by Lanthimos, unaware of those who had seen the original,would be spoilt. At this time, Lanthimos switching by alternate sexes among agitators, from male-female couples to male-male cousins, furthermore, theater audiences yet experiencing double-exposure of collisional of clashes, in cultural aspect, that source of material, not solely Asian cinema, but conjugated in combination with its own heritageship of American intellectual resource of literature, John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, especially in characterization of Teddy (Jesse Plemons)’ s part-cousin, part-under-manipulated and exploited assistance, Donny (Aidan Delbis, who contributes an exquisite performance) that adequately resemblance by comparison To Lenny Small of Steinbeck’ s work.
Regardingly to the movie’s inceptive origin, Steinbeck characterized role of the central protagonist, George Milton as a mentally and psychological balance, consequentially in higher degree of adaptation, that almost and close to hybrid, one character who obligatory to protect his buddy, like Milton-to-Lenny kind of relationship, henceforthwith Teddy & Don, seemingly to be distance. In the movie, beginning With Teddy, introduced to us , as an initiator of a big scheme, kidnapping a Corporate, employer CEO, Michelle fuller (Emma Stone), gradually in progress, at some aspect of dimension, we had seen very little value of difference between these two cousins.
For instance, suppose any one of them, categorized as a half-wit, the other should be regarded non difference than a dim-wit, on the contrary, if the film-maker allowed us to skepticise on Michelle, the victim of kidnap CEO would be, or would be not an alien, according to Ted’ s offense, on audiences’ behalf, deserved fully absolute rights in sympathy on freedom-refrained, with tendencies in opposing against terrorism-alike.
Meanwhile, Michelle’ s part as the one who shares the other characters in Lanthimos’ s realm, particularly those children of the family in Dogtooth, the son whom kept hospitalized in bed-riddden condition in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Hereafter, the role of both kidnappers should be accurately another spinning-off from the dictator-dad out of Dogtooth, who eventually entitiled as a CEO in a factory plant, a common socio-status, in female version to Michelle, a blank space for arguing with.
In watching, in audiences’ s psychological involved, likely to be protest against and anti activities practicing by Ted, prior to be by any chance and probability to get hooked and seduced by series of convinceable informations that lead us to believe in Michelle’s accusation of being an alien in transformed into a human-shape for real, but no sooner than that Ted commits aggressively acts with violence, his credibility would be , in the mean time, on Michelle’ side, the more she converses her opponent with smoothly and calm by wisdom with comparatively more composed maturity, indifferent to practicing her authority in control the company staff, but in confrontation with private terrorizer, the outcome turned out to be even more severely horrified result, that there’ s no need for her to commit by herself, in the mean time, the film-maker also offers us two pararelled situations, with highly skilled montage technique in-comparison, when one brutally extortion by physical threatening, whereas exploited, but submissive hostage, responding to the other party with rational and convinceable make-believe lies, but contributes unexpected gruesome decision.
Besides, another termatized definition for ‘alien’, sometimes we call ‘intelligence’ (as well as we define informative agency), likewise, in the movie, we also represented another oppositional type of characters, where a half-wit befriended with a dim-wit that there are no space provided for both kinds in blending altogether, except knitt-wit, on the other hand, another life-form enabling to survive and earn it’s living by intelligence and intellectual for all its life.
