CGAA Unit 1 Anatomy: Shapeshifters 2: The Fly (1986) 20/09/2011

Summary:

Not so much a remake of Kurt Neumann's 1958 film of the same name but rather a re-telling of George Langalaan’s original short story. Horror master David Cronenberg strips away the murder-mystery aspect of the original, instead choosing to create an intense character study of scientist Seth Brundle – who, after an experiment goes drastically wrong, is slowly and gruesomely transforming into a fly, both in mind and body. Though Cronenberg considers the film an analogy for disease in general, upon its release it was latched onto as a metaphor for the heightened paranoia and cultural acknowledgement of the AIDs epidemic.

Analysis:

“...the masochistic regression to nature, unconsciousness, and fusion with the maternal body – the image of the doctor-god with the spectre of the womb over which he will preside floating mid-belly neatly summarizes the common theme of Cronenberg’s last two films of the 1980s.”(Cohan, 2002:134)

“The protagonists of Dead Ringers and The Fly suffer from womb envy, a feeling of impotence clearly stemming from their jealousy of female reproductive power.” (Cohan, 2002:135)

Cohan, Steven (2002) Screening the male: exploring masculinities in Hollywood cinema. London: Routledge

Release:

1986

Director:

David Cronenberg

Screenplay by:

Charles Edward Pogue, David Cronenberg

Produced by:

Stuart Cornfield

Genre/subgenre:

Science Fiction, Horror, Body Horror

Country:

United States

Cast:

Jeff Goldblum,Geena Davies, John Getz

Selected Director Filmography:

The Fly, Dead Ringers, Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, Crash, A History of Violence

Related Films:

The Fly 2, The Fly 1958, The Thing, An American Werewolf in London, Alien, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Altered States, Bug, District 9