Re: Kenneth Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:57 pm
Re-watching this set over the weekend, I enjoyed identifying some of the themes running through what initially seems to be the very diverse subjects of the films.
All of the films are about uniforms (the naval uniforms of Fireworks, the eighteenth century dress of the woman in Eaux d'artifice, the pierrot in Rabbit's Moon, the biker leathers of Scorpio Rising, the black magic robes of Invocation, the Egyptian gods of Lucifer Rising and most interestingly those totally self-created/self-willed icons of Puce Moment and Pleasure Dome) and the worship of the central character of a more powerful figure or unattainable object.
A film like Rabbit's Moon with the pierrot becoming infatuated by the moon and continually trying to capture it while getting involved and teased by a more worldly wise and somewhat dastardly Joker character (and a coquettish fairy!) is perhaps the purest version of this idea, while in the other films the idea often becomes more internalised in the characters wanting to change themselves into some kind of unattainable figure, and ultimately reaching for the goal of death itself (the beating in Fireworks, the final race in Scorpio, the ephemeral shots of nature in Eaux d'artifice or the lava pools in Lucifer Rising). I particularly like the way that the footage of Jesus from the silent King of Kings is used intercut with the biker gang meeting in the final section of Scorpio Rising, sometimes as if Jesus is the 'square' looking on while all the debauchery is occurring! And there is that amusing moment when the blind man kneels before Jesus and there is a cut to a crotch level point of view shot of an erection poking out of a biker's leathers, which is extremely cheeky! (But I assume that all this intercutting is to make the point that Jesus is just another guy dressed in a peculiar fetishised garb, leading a gang around in pursuit of his own untimely death, simply for doing what he loved!)
This pursuit of unattainable goals or moulding yourself into a certain persona always seems to involve drugs and ritualistic behaviours, dressing in a certain manner in order to summon a particular atmosphere.
Yet I think there is also an idea of play acting involved - that the characters in these films aren't quite as dangerous or 'evil' or 'devillish' (or 'butch'!) as they would like to be! There's the fascination with actions and iconography of 'real danger' or subversion (devil worship, UFOs, the swastika) as if the characters are trying to cloak themselves with tainted objects in the hope that some of the controversy will rub off on them.
Kustom Kar Kommandos is very interesting because it takes vehicle worship to the ultimate extreme - I like that the inside of the car we see is totally reflective so that the driver can really just admire and watch themselves manipulating the controls! The driver who we see get behind the wheel just seems to enjoy playing with all the knobs and dials instead of actually working the controls in any meaningful way, which seems to feed into that sense of playacting at a certain activity that is full of significance without really being deadly serious in intent or competent at performing the activity! I get the impression that if the 'mythologising' rock and roll soundtrack was stripped away from that particular scene that the chap behind the wheel would be making childish "Vroom! Vroom!" noises as he was playing with the gearstick! (Though the regular introduction of a character wielding a sharp knife in Invocation of My Demon Brother, Lucifer Rising, Scorpio Rising and so on suggests the danger of playacting escalating into something more violent)
But this leads to an important point about the music through all of the films playing an important role - it allows the characters to escape their confines (once they have dressed appropriately!) and soar off into their own imaginative universe.
There is a regular use of mirrors and reflective surfaces through the other films as well, something which suggests a kind of narcissistic quality to all the subjects of the films that undercuts all the transgressions. It also suggests a kind of duality of persona - the split between public and private; between work and leisure time; between human and God. Why can't 'real people' become embodiments of a mythological figure or a fantastical way of life?
Out of all of the films I like Eaux d'artifice and Lucifer Rising the best. I particularly like the sequence in Lucifer Rising of the blonde woman in the black cape climbing to the top of the rock formation during the day with cuts to a procession of torch wielding figures climing the same formation at night, and then back again - that whole section feels extremely dream-like and reminiscent of a Jean Rollin film (and the woman looks quite similar to the gorgeous Brigitte Lahaie who was so striking in many of Rollin's films)!
All of these films are fascinating to watch though and there is a lot to enjoy in noting the very fine line the films walk between the insipiring and the prosaic; the epic and the intimate; the mythological and the absurd, and how each side of the debate informs and enriches the other more deeply.
All of the films are about uniforms (the naval uniforms of Fireworks, the eighteenth century dress of the woman in Eaux d'artifice, the pierrot in Rabbit's Moon, the biker leathers of Scorpio Rising, the black magic robes of Invocation, the Egyptian gods of Lucifer Rising and most interestingly those totally self-created/self-willed icons of Puce Moment and Pleasure Dome) and the worship of the central character of a more powerful figure or unattainable object.
A film like Rabbit's Moon with the pierrot becoming infatuated by the moon and continually trying to capture it while getting involved and teased by a more worldly wise and somewhat dastardly Joker character (and a coquettish fairy!) is perhaps the purest version of this idea, while in the other films the idea often becomes more internalised in the characters wanting to change themselves into some kind of unattainable figure, and ultimately reaching for the goal of death itself (the beating in Fireworks, the final race in Scorpio, the ephemeral shots of nature in Eaux d'artifice or the lava pools in Lucifer Rising). I particularly like the way that the footage of Jesus from the silent King of Kings is used intercut with the biker gang meeting in the final section of Scorpio Rising, sometimes as if Jesus is the 'square' looking on while all the debauchery is occurring! And there is that amusing moment when the blind man kneels before Jesus and there is a cut to a crotch level point of view shot of an erection poking out of a biker's leathers, which is extremely cheeky! (But I assume that all this intercutting is to make the point that Jesus is just another guy dressed in a peculiar fetishised garb, leading a gang around in pursuit of his own untimely death, simply for doing what he loved!)
This pursuit of unattainable goals or moulding yourself into a certain persona always seems to involve drugs and ritualistic behaviours, dressing in a certain manner in order to summon a particular atmosphere.
Yet I think there is also an idea of play acting involved - that the characters in these films aren't quite as dangerous or 'evil' or 'devillish' (or 'butch'!) as they would like to be! There's the fascination with actions and iconography of 'real danger' or subversion (devil worship, UFOs, the swastika) as if the characters are trying to cloak themselves with tainted objects in the hope that some of the controversy will rub off on them.
Kustom Kar Kommandos is very interesting because it takes vehicle worship to the ultimate extreme - I like that the inside of the car we see is totally reflective so that the driver can really just admire and watch themselves manipulating the controls! The driver who we see get behind the wheel just seems to enjoy playing with all the knobs and dials instead of actually working the controls in any meaningful way, which seems to feed into that sense of playacting at a certain activity that is full of significance without really being deadly serious in intent or competent at performing the activity! I get the impression that if the 'mythologising' rock and roll soundtrack was stripped away from that particular scene that the chap behind the wheel would be making childish "Vroom! Vroom!" noises as he was playing with the gearstick! (Though the regular introduction of a character wielding a sharp knife in Invocation of My Demon Brother, Lucifer Rising, Scorpio Rising and so on suggests the danger of playacting escalating into something more violent)
But this leads to an important point about the music through all of the films playing an important role - it allows the characters to escape their confines (once they have dressed appropriately!) and soar off into their own imaginative universe.
There is a regular use of mirrors and reflective surfaces through the other films as well, something which suggests a kind of narcissistic quality to all the subjects of the films that undercuts all the transgressions. It also suggests a kind of duality of persona - the split between public and private; between work and leisure time; between human and God. Why can't 'real people' become embodiments of a mythological figure or a fantastical way of life?
Out of all of the films I like Eaux d'artifice and Lucifer Rising the best. I particularly like the sequence in Lucifer Rising of the blonde woman in the black cape climbing to the top of the rock formation during the day with cuts to a procession of torch wielding figures climing the same formation at night, and then back again - that whole section feels extremely dream-like and reminiscent of a Jean Rollin film (and the woman looks quite similar to the gorgeous Brigitte Lahaie who was so striking in many of Rollin's films)!
All of these films are fascinating to watch though and there is a lot to enjoy in noting the very fine line the films walk between the insipiring and the prosaic; the epic and the intimate; the mythological and the absurd, and how each side of the debate informs and enriches the other more deeply.