In article <n1b294f7-1f8c-4bac-879c-117863bee9a4n@googlegroups.com>,
qwrtz123@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>In article <20220614-150815.316.0@news.giganews.com>, weberm@polaris.net
>wrote:
>
>>Calling Heavy Metal a cult classic barely scratches the surface. The movie is
>>the definition of cult following given that it grew a devoted fanbase out of
>>taboo material. There's even that secret society element of shadowy influence
>>shifting the world at large.
>>
>>There used to be a time the only way to own Heavy Metal involved bootlegging
>>the film off late-night cable. In the age before the internet, sweaty video
>>hunters lurked by VHS machines waiting for the film to start then hit record.
>>As far as theatrical viewings, it circulated on the midnight movie circuit so
>>long filmmakers needed to pull in the prints because they were being worn
>>out. Since arriving in 1981, Heavy Metal inspired an entire generation of
>>animators to produce more adult content, and that's, in many ways, a grand
>>legacy.
>>
>>
>>The story begins when print magazines still mattered. Tony Hendra, a satirist
>>working for National Lampoon, expressed a desire to include European comics.
>>Along with the support of then editor Sean Kelly, the two started publishing
>>portions of a French magazine called M�tal hurlant. Literally translated as
>>"howling metal" the images and stories within were unlike anything available
>>in the United States.
>>
>>That's mainly due to the Comics Code Authority. Established in 1954, the CCA
>>restricted the kind of content allowed in comics. For decades, this meant
>>zero profanity, overt sexuality, graphic violence, or outright ridicule of
>>authority figures such as the police. But whatever moral victory puritan
>>proponents of the code thought they won only inspired a generation of artists
>>to go underground.
>>
>>Throughout the subsequent years, artists like Robert Crumb drew in defiance
>>of the Comics Code Authority. Sometimes deviant and perverse, these
>>underground comics provided not just more adult content but mature themes.
>>The material readers craved as they grew into adulthood, pondering issues of
>>sexuality and social convention. While comic book heroes upheld notions of
>>truth, justice, and the American way, underground characters like Fritz the
>>Cat got high, rejected the status quo, and had sex.
>>
>>The odd thing is the CCA didn't hold any really power to prevent such comics
>>from being made. Most major distributors went along with the Comics Code
>>simply to avoid losing advertising dollars. Without that official stamp
>>proclaiming a book was "approved by the comics code authority" shops and
>>businesses risked the ire of the self-proclaimed moral majority.
>>
>>Still, a growing market for adult comics inspired Hendra and Kelly to get
>>National Lampoon into the game. European artists like Moebius hadn't been
>>restrained by the Code or capitalist concerns, so they're work naturally
>>gravitated to the more mature material Hendra wanted to expose readers to.
>>And sci-fi stories in M�tal hurlant, similar to pulp fiction, bred what would
>>become the magazine Heavy Metal.
>>
>>Issues featured radical depictions of futuristic settings, graphic violence,
>>and explicit nudity. Yet, these adolescent aspects belie what could at times
>>be challenging content. These mature elements allowed authors and artists to
>>explore concepts which seeded the landscape of several burgeoning sci-fi
>>scenes. For instance, William Gibson, who pioneered the cyberpunk subgenre,
>>wrote in the intro for the Neuromancer graphic novel, "It's entirely fair to
>>say... the way Neuromancer-the-novel 'looks' was influenced in large part by
>>some of the artwork I saw in Heavy Metal."
>>
>>Heavy Metal the magazine provided an outlet for imaginations desperate to see
>>events unconstrained by moralist pearl-clutchers wailing about the mental
>>corruption of children, and it exposed many to a realm of possibilities
>>rarely seen. That's why, following the success of Animal House, National
>>Lampoon Inc. decided one of their next forays into film should be animated.
>>The goal would be to craft something for older audiences, and already owning
>>the rights to Heavy Metal's content made the decision even easier.
>>
>>Ivan Reitman, who also produced Animal House, ended up producing Heavy Metal
>>the movie. "I thought there would be a good film in it," Reitman said, "I do
>>like science fiction, and I loved the illustrations... they were different
>>from anything I had ever seen."
>>
>>Adult animation has endured a stilted evolution in the United States. The
>>last several years have seen quantum leaps in the amount and kinds of content
>>available to mature audiences. However, circa 1981, one's cup didn't exactly
>>runneth over. That's not to say adult-oriented animation never existed. Even
>>as far back as 1928, the comedic cartoon character Eveready Harton appeared
>>in the first animated porno. Still, it wouldn't be until Ralph Bakshi began
>>making films that anything remotely mature become available.
>>
>>Adapting Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat into an animated feature, the box
>>office success of the film--$90 million off a budget of $700,000--proved a
>>public appetite for such movies. Although Fritz earned the notorious X-rating
>>when released in 1972, its frank depiction of sex, violence, and drug use
>>served a purpose. As John Grant wrote in Masters of Animation, "generally and
>>too easily dismissed as a self-indulgent scatological romp through hippy
>>clich�s of the 1960s. It is, however, something more than that... a portrayal
>>of a particular stratum of Western society... it is often almost disturbingly
>>accurate."
>>
>>Still, studios routinely hesitated to finance such projects. Animation
>>remained not only the realm of Disney, a giant no one wanted to fight, but
>>many perceived cartoons as sanitized reality meant only for children. It
>>didn't matter what kind of surreal social horrors (e.g., murder,
>>prostitution, racism, etc.) that Bakshi depicted in feature films like 1973's
>>Heavy Traffic, producers seemed to think of animation only in terms of
>>content for kids.
>>
>>Again, this mainly stemmed from censorship. Kin to the Comics Code Authority,
>>the Hays Code provided similar constraints for motion pictures. In addition,
>>it restricted the release of adult animation from other countries. As such,
>>audiences in the United States remained oblivious to the more mature content
>>emerging in foreign markets. Still, a few shorts trickled out especially as
>>the Hays Code faded away. Flicks like "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" and "Bambi
>>Meets Godzilla" existed as short spoofs, but could be dismissed as outliers.
>>Eventually, though, the Motion Picture Association film rating system
>>replaced the Hays Code, freeing filmmakers to explore avenues in animation
>>previously taboo.
>>
>>The new system also allowed for the import of those foreign features which in
>>turn made animators aware they could go beyond the bounds of children's
>>films. Not solely in content but stylization. Animated films no longer needed
>>to be cutesy kid friendly films. They could be ugly, mean, and sexy if
>>necessary. All this emerging freedom arrived just in time for Heavy Metal to
>>hit the scene hard.
>>
>>To that end, Ivan Reitman employed Gerald Potterton. A veteran animator who
>>worked on projects such as The Beatles: Yellow Submarine (1968) and sequences
>>for Sesame Street, Potterton received the tremendous responsibility of
>>herding the efforts of 1,000 animators in 17 different countries. Potterton
>>said, "I knew about the Heavy Metal magazine in France, and I liked the
>>drawings... but I couldn't see doing a ninety-minute film in just one style."
>>
>>He wanted to tell several stories instead of just one. This would allow the
>>inclusion of a variety of techniques to bring Heavy Metal to life. Plus, it'd
>>make the film more like its print variant.
>>
>>Besides traditional animation, Potterton employed extensive use of
>>rotoscoping. Max Fleischer patented the process in 1917 which could be
>>considered a predecessor to motion capture. Live performers acted out scenes
>>on a minimal set. Then animators used blown-up photos to trace the
>>performances as well as add in details like cityscapes or apartment settings,
>>depending on the scene. While they mostly stuck to the performers' features,
>>they often exaggerated for emphasis, a smile, or eyes wider than natural.
>>This technique has appeared in a variety of films, particularly those by
>>Ralph Bakshi but Disney used it too, not to mention the Superman animated
>>shorts of the 1940s. It gave animation, particularly in something like Heavy
>>Metal, a life-like quality it couldn't otherwise possess, but also a surreal
>>essence since the movements are real yet not.
>>
>>Using alternating visual styles even shaped the movie's structure. Each
>>variation in animation style is meant to compliment a specific story, while
>>setting it apart from the others. This allows segments to remain unique, yet
>>part of an animated whole.
>>
>>The film unfolds as a series of vignettes told by the nefarious entity the
>>Loc-Nar. The overall plot to Heavy Metal is that a malevolent, sentient
>>sphere is detailing its evil past to a terrified young girl. It arrives at
>>her home thanks to her father, an astronaut who returns to Earth when a low
>>orbit space shuttle drops him in a convertible sports car out of its bay
>>doors. (Stick with me here.) While descending, freefalling for miles, "Radar
>>Rider" by Riggs plays in the background. Upon landing he speeds home.
>>Unfortunately, opening the case containing the Loc-Nar, Daddy melts away, but
>>now, the movie can begin.
>>
>>There's a degree of unabashed insanity to that which is not present in most
>>films. Fortunately, madness continues unflinching throughout the rest of the
>>movie. Composed of several stories harvested from the Heavy Metal magazine,
>>the anthology format utilizes the talents of multiple writers like Dan
>>O'Bannon, most famous for writing Alien. It also does some sleight
>>repackaging, such as in the case of the "Taarna" piece, which used Moebius's
>>wordless series Arzach as source material.
>>
>>Tropes aplenty populate Heavy Metal. The buxom femme fatale tries to double-
>>cross a cynical cabbie in a futuristic noir. The nerdy teen is transported
>>and transformed into a Herculean figure fighting to save the day in a sword
>>and sorcery epic. Intrepid pilots of a bomber endeavor to survive when their
>>slain crewmates become zombies midflight. The last member of a race of
>>mythical warriors must battle mutant hordes to avenge slaughtered innocents.
>>These familiar elements allow for abbreviated storytelling, keeping the pace
>>going. If a section falls flat, well, no worries, a fresh scene will start
>>soon enough.
>>
>>What comes together is a mish-mosh of styles, themes, and stories any pulp
>>fiction fan will recognize. However, not all hit the bull's eye. The
>>meandering plot doesn't always feel cohesive. Heavy Metal often teeters on
>>the brink of collapse, but what holds up this house of cards is its audacity.
>>
>>Elements of it may not sit well with modern audiences. The sexuality is
>>decidedly skewed heterosexual, and the women are all designed for the male
>>gaze. That's to say, revealing clothes, when they even have any on, and
>>physical dimensions that are shapely to put it mildly. The titular -- no pun
>>intended -- Taarna even does what could be considered a reverse striptease as
>>she dons the typical lingerie inspired armor seen in sword and sorcery. But
>>there's also blood, profanity, drugs, and horror that never made it into
>>animated features before. Plus, a juvenile sense of humor that prevents
>>several segments from getting too serious.
>>
>>Though one doesn't have to excuse what may be less, if not unacceptable now,
>>it should be considered in the context of its time. This amounted to a
>>subversive form of entertainment defying any ideas of what cartoons could
>>include. The fact it even got made is an accomplishment which paved the way
>>for features and series many take for granted nowadays. Progress doesn't
>>necessarily start on the best foot, but a blazed trail is just the start of a
>>long journey. Other paths have branched off from Heavy Metal. If we can get
>>full frontal animated vagina, there's no reason for a floppy dork dangling on
>>screen too. Animation is art, meaning it shouldn't be constrained. An
>>unbridled imagination is very revealing, displaying the good and the bad, a
>>fact on full display in Heavy Metal.
>>
>>Things don't always age well. Yet, there's no guarantee what some things will
>>inspire. Consider Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja
>>Turtles. "It blew me away," Eastman said, talking about Heavy Metal the
>>movie. "I saw it nine times at a local theater... after the same old
>>superhero comic schlock, this whole other universe opened to me."
>>
>>Finally, there's the soundtrack. Surprising no one, the lineup is solid heavy
>>metal. Not the caustic murder cacophony of more modern acts, but the slick
>>grooving thunder of early pioneers. There's Black Sabbath when Dio reigned,
>>Blue �yster Cult, Sammy Haggar, Nazareth, and Journey. Other stellar
>>contributors include Grand Funk Railroad, Devo, and Cheap Trick. An
>>assortment that easily shifts from psychedelic to sledgehammer but is always
>>in tune with the mood of the movie.
>>
>>As Sammy Haggar sings, "it's your one-way ticket to midnight." Whatever that
>>means, Heavy Metal embodies it all. It's a midnight movie filled with
>>unapologetic content. By going over the top, it showed the limits don't
>>exist. At least not for the fearless. Perhaps it has become smirk inducingly
>>out of touch with the times, a bit too cheesy and sexist, but it can still be
>>a source of inspiration. For proof of that notion, look no further than the
>>Netflix series Love, Death, & Robots.
>>
>>For years, director David Fincher wanted to do another Heavy Metal movie.
>>However, the project went through typical development hell problems.
>>Different directors kept being attached then lost, funding troubles, the
>>rights slipped through Fincher's fingers, until finally, he settled on a
>>different option. Unable to make a Heavy Metal film, he created a spiritual
>>successor of sorts in the shape of Love, Death, & Robots.
>>
>>About to start its third season on Netflix, the series utilizes what is in
>>essence the Heavy Metal template to tell stories. Granted, critics are mixed
>>on their reactions. Perhaps Wired magazine said it best when their critic
>>wrote the show was "aiming at a particular retrograde subset of genre fans.
>>But sequence the show yourself, and you'll find an endlessly inventive
>>wellspring of ideas and visuals." The point is there's potential within this
>>spiritual successor to Heavy Metal to explore those avenues the initial film
>>didn't.
>>
>>The internet is sadly lacking in obscurity. Everything is available in some
>>capacity or another. I often raise an eyebrow in shock not at what's
>>available online but what isn't. However, there used to be a time certain
>>content existed on the edge of urban legend.
>>
>>Whispers in the comic book shop suggested an animated film existed that
>>spilled buckets of blood and wasn't shy about sex either. It sounded
>>implausible until one day, some friend of a friend of a friend passes along a
>>bootleg video. Then there it is, the mythical Heavy Metal. And even if it
>>didn't live up to expectations, it certainly changed them forever.
>
>Heavy Metal has a great song track and the animation style is really fun.
>Good movie.