Mica Levi - UTS Score composer interview
Really great interview with Mica Levi - lots of great detail on what she was asked to produce in terms of score for UTS link
Barbara Creed Monstrous Feminine links
Excellent essay exploring the link between Prometheus and the 1979 Alien link
Barbara Creed's original monstrous femminism essay extract link
Extended essay examining the monstrous femminism in the Alien franchise link
Barbara Creed's original monstrous femminism essay extract link
Extended essay examining the monstrous femminism in the Alien franchise link
Prometheus links
The writer of this website has far too much spare time - a scene by scene analysis - also contains some interesting links to other sites link
Wolski's eloborate lighting LED lighting set up detailed - link
Discussion of post production control link
Some interesting discussion of set design in Prometheus link
Wolski's eloborate lighting LED lighting set up detailed - link
Discussion of post production control link
Some interesting discussion of set design in Prometheus link
Gender Representation in UTS
Representation and UTS
ScarJo goes nude
A huge amount of the pre-release publicity for Under The Skin focused, rather lecherously, on the fact that Scarlett Johansson was going full-frontal for some of the intimate scenes. On the surface, this is simply a case of resorting to desperate measures to promote a difficult movie.However, the choice of Scarlett Johansson as the central character is actually remarkably shrewd. Depending on who you talk to, she is the sexiest woman in the world – someone that would appear on the sexual fantasy lists of many men. This plays into the central conceit of the film, in which sexual blindness afflicts many of the unfortunate male characters. In the scenes where Johansson puts an end to her prey, she leads them into a pitch black room, in which the only thing they can see is her body as she strips off. Both literally and metaphorically, they are blind to everything else and it is this that leads them to a very sticky and unpleasant demise.
More to life than conventional beauty?
So we’ve established that Under The Skin puts forward the notion that being blinded by beauty can only lead to horrible things. But what of its beautiful protagonist herself? There’s a pivotal scene in the second act of the film in which Johansson’s character picks up a hooded man in her van. When he removes his hood, he is shown to have a number of disfiguring tumours on his face (due to a rare condition called neurofibromatosis). Her tender conversation with this man triggers a vulnerability that she had not previously shown. In a recent interview with The Observer, actor Adam Pearson gave his interpretation of that particular scene and the message of Under The Skin. “For me, the film is about what the world looks like without knowledge and without prejudice. It’s about seeing the world through alien eyes, I guess.”
This is the clear position occupied by Scarlett Johansson in the film. Her character views the man played by Pearson without the discomfort some humans may display. She doesn’t think that image matters, until she notices the effect it has had on a man for whom she has a lot of warmth. Crucially, the moment that Johansson’s character becomes aware of the notion of body image, she becomes cripplingly insecure and is unable to continue her work.
Her lowest ebb comes when she attempts to have sex with a kindly man, but is unable to. She can mimic human beauty, but she cannot attain human intimacy. For her at least, looking attractive and luring in men is no longer enough.
Constructed sexiness is our downfall
At the climax of Under The Skin, Scarlett Johansson’s central character is killed when she is set on fire. When her human skin starts to come away, it is revealed that, under the pretty facade, there is nothing but blackness and emptiness to her.It’s a fitting indictment on the character that give her demise a poignancy that it would not otherwise have had. Despite her development and vulnerability, it is human lust (she is killed by a man who tries to rape her) that ultimately destroys her and reveals the nothingness within. So there you go. I just hope this article is more entertaining than Under The Skin.
https://thepopcornmuncher.com/2014/04/18/analysis-under-the-skin-as-a-critique-of-a-society-obsessed-with-body-image/
ScarJo goes nude
A huge amount of the pre-release publicity for Under The Skin focused, rather lecherously, on the fact that Scarlett Johansson was going full-frontal for some of the intimate scenes. On the surface, this is simply a case of resorting to desperate measures to promote a difficult movie.However, the choice of Scarlett Johansson as the central character is actually remarkably shrewd. Depending on who you talk to, she is the sexiest woman in the world – someone that would appear on the sexual fantasy lists of many men. This plays into the central conceit of the film, in which sexual blindness afflicts many of the unfortunate male characters. In the scenes where Johansson puts an end to her prey, she leads them into a pitch black room, in which the only thing they can see is her body as she strips off. Both literally and metaphorically, they are blind to everything else and it is this that leads them to a very sticky and unpleasant demise.
More to life than conventional beauty?
So we’ve established that Under The Skin puts forward the notion that being blinded by beauty can only lead to horrible things. But what of its beautiful protagonist herself? There’s a pivotal scene in the second act of the film in which Johansson’s character picks up a hooded man in her van. When he removes his hood, he is shown to have a number of disfiguring tumours on his face (due to a rare condition called neurofibromatosis). Her tender conversation with this man triggers a vulnerability that she had not previously shown. In a recent interview with The Observer, actor Adam Pearson gave his interpretation of that particular scene and the message of Under The Skin. “For me, the film is about what the world looks like without knowledge and without prejudice. It’s about seeing the world through alien eyes, I guess.”
This is the clear position occupied by Scarlett Johansson in the film. Her character views the man played by Pearson without the discomfort some humans may display. She doesn’t think that image matters, until she notices the effect it has had on a man for whom she has a lot of warmth. Crucially, the moment that Johansson’s character becomes aware of the notion of body image, she becomes cripplingly insecure and is unable to continue her work.
Her lowest ebb comes when she attempts to have sex with a kindly man, but is unable to. She can mimic human beauty, but she cannot attain human intimacy. For her at least, looking attractive and luring in men is no longer enough.
Constructed sexiness is our downfall
At the climax of Under The Skin, Scarlett Johansson’s central character is killed when she is set on fire. When her human skin starts to come away, it is revealed that, under the pretty facade, there is nothing but blackness and emptiness to her.It’s a fitting indictment on the character that give her demise a poignancy that it would not otherwise have had. Despite her development and vulnerability, it is human lust (she is killed by a man who tries to rape her) that ultimately destroys her and reveals the nothingness within. So there you go. I just hope this article is more entertaining than Under The Skin.
https://thepopcornmuncher.com/2014/04/18/analysis-under-the-skin-as-a-critique-of-a-society-obsessed-with-body-image/
Glazer's use of Nature symbolism in UTS
Glazer’s use of nature symbolism
A social realist film very rarely uses the natural world or nature. The second half of Glazer’s film moves dramatically to the natural world. Why?
How does Glazer’s use of nature fit into this?
What does glazer use these moments?
Does Glazer use fire, water, earth, ide symbolically?
A social realist film very rarely uses the natural world or nature. The second half of Glazer’s film moves dramatically to the natural world. Why?
How does Glazer’s use of nature fit into this?
What does glazer use these moments?
Does Glazer use fire, water, earth, ide symbolically?
Bifurcated narratives UTS
Bifurcated narratives - a narrative in which the story is split in two.
This film does not use a conventional Todorovian narrative structure.
How is the story split in two?
What comparisons similarities are there with the two halves?
How does the alien change in the these two halves?
What is the subtext of this bifurcated narrative? What is Glazer’s message?
How does the use of a bifurcated narrative relate to the wider themes of beauty and society’s perceptions of beauty?
This film does not use a conventional Todorovian narrative structure.
How is the story split in two?
What comparisons similarities are there with the two halves?
How does the alien change in the these two halves?
What is the subtext of this bifurcated narrative? What is Glazer’s message?
How does the use of a bifurcated narrative relate to the wider themes of beauty and society’s perceptions of beauty?
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