George Ilutsik
World Cinema
Final
03/20/12
Terry Gilliam
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
Grabbing
your attention is an element that Gilliam seems to do effortlessly. In the first minuet of Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas I was instantly intrigued in why the main character was
trying to catch imaginary bats. My
hopes where now a bar higher. His
style, art, and philosophy shine through out the film.
As
I have only seen “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” it was nice to see similar
aspects in Fear and Loathing. There
is only one word to describe his style, and it would be underlying. Another would be contradictory. And another would be convoluted
incessant impressionism. Therefore,
his style is contradictory & convoluted. If you followed that then you would enjoy the ride Gilliam
takes you with Depp in Vegas.
You
see many instances where characters contradict themselves. When Depp states that there is no way
to tell the fear he is feeling while on drugs, and he continues to express how
everything around him is terrifying. Or the fact that they are at an anti drug seminar and
they themselves are drug users.
I
think he wants us to wonder if what he is showing is fantasy or reality. He will commonly show something that is
outrageous and fiction, and then give a small hint that maybe what we are
seeing is real. Again with the bat
scene. We figure that everything
Depp is seeing is in his head, but then Gilliam gives a singshot of a dead bat
on the side of the road. I would
say this is where is personality comes out.
Where
I perceive to be the second act, is Depp waking up to his hotel room in a huge
mess. Everything is out of place
and dirty. He eventually listens
to a tape recorder that is hanging around his neck. From the sounds he starts to remember fragments of the night
before. And this is Gilliam’s
impression of the whole film.
Everything is just one long memory of Depp’s character in Las
Vegas. I see the tape recorder as
a symbol of this.
Overall
this I would say is his best piece of art. It looks great and it is full of his style and
personality. But there is no
underlying meaning. If there was I
didn’t find it.
Twelve Monkeys:
Another
aspect is the surrealism that he brings to his films. The constant thought of wondering if what we are seeing is
reality or fiction keeps our attention.
In the beginning of Twelve Monkeys we understand that Bruce is in a
futuristic world. But what we did
not expect is to see a bear, or a lion roaming around a once populated
city. Yet it could be
believable.
At
first we think that Bruce’s character is half crazy. Elements that support this is the scene where he is washed
both in the future, and in the mental hospital. Both shots are similar and hint that maybe everything is
just in his head. It is not until
we see physical proof of him in different time eras that we are totally sure
that he is time traveling.
The
fact that the twelve monkey sign is covered with music posters might be
referring to the fact that we ignore certain issues. Brad’s character states that we are all monkeys. His hidden agenda was only to free the
animals. His monkey chanting in
the end doesn’t help either.
In
the end I believe what is trying to be said is that we will destroy ourselves
in the end. It is human nature
that will undo us all.
Work cited
© 2012 A&E Television Networks, http://www.biography.com/people/terry-gilliam-9311519
© 2012 Contactmusic.com Ltd, http://www.contactmusic.com/info/terry_gilliam
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