I wouldn’t say it’s hedging, but it’s certainly manipulative. If Zodiac wanted to answer the question or present a clear opinion on the identity of the killer, it had the opportunity to do that by using a specific actor for each of the killings. But I think we all agree that Fincher wanted to, as you say, put us in the shoes of the people who couldn’t answer the question.
Okay, let’s argue about Take Shelter now. I’m coming for you, Anonymgeist!
-Tom
Your inability to infer that I meant the one we see in the movie is to be expected if you can’t even infer from the blatant literary devices in [the canonical cut of] Blade Runner that Deckard is a replicant.
This seems like exactly the kind of thing someone who wanted a real performance would do, since replicants don’t know that they are!.
Synecdoche New York: Is Caden ill? What is his final grand plan?
Inception - What really happened, and whats up with his kids?
Mass Effect 3 - Was Shephard really indoctrinated at the end and was it all a dream or did it happen as we saw it?
12 Monkeys - Sometimes I think I have this movie all figured out…then I rewatch it and there ARE subtle signs of things not being what we think they are.
That’s exactly what the civilization in 2001 tries to do with Bowman. It gives him a room filled with human things and human designs as it attempts to communicate with him.
The difference between 2001 and Contact - and here I’m going strictly from the movie Contact, as I haven’t read the book* - is that the alien civilization in 2001 is truly alien. Communication is difficult between two things that have no point of reference. It’s the old Clarke law, right? “Any sufficiently advanced civilization would be indistinguishable from magic.”
The things that happen to Bowman at the end of 2001 are open to interpretation**, because in some very basic way they are unknowable to us. I interpret the ending as the aliens helping Bowman along to the next stage of evolution, the way they did with the ape tribe at the beginning. Which means Bowman’s experience to him is as unknowable to us as orbiting satellite technology was to our ape ancestors.
** Again, going strictly from the movie here. Clarke explains the ending in the book version, poorly in my opinion. I much prefer the ambiguity of Kubrick over the pragmatism of Clarke.
Regarding the use of different actors playing Zodiac, Fincher mentions on the commentary that they cast different actors as Zodiac to fit the varying descriptions given by the surviving witnesses, and the only times we see Zodiac are in the instances where someone was around to see him–hence why his first killings weren’t shown.
As far as Take Shelter goes, I actually agree with your take on the ending, but it feels just ambiguous enough that I can’t say for certain that that’s what really happened–but this is another case where spelling things out either way would have ruined the movie.
The watermelon question was answered in a BB fanzine by BB creator Earl Mac Rauch - official lore holds that the watermelon was being pressure tested so the Banzai Institute could develop melons that could be airdropped into famine-stricken parts of the globe.
You are tiresome, Mr. Arlitt. Sure, one possibility is that I am a complete idiot. Another option is that you don’t present your thoughts very clearly to readers. But I choose not to cast pejoratives on you for such failings - it could happen to anybody.
God, that ending drove me batshit when I was a kid, I had no clue what the takeaway was. So I skipped to the end of Alan Dean Foster’s novelization for at least textual gobbledygook…and he predictably punted.
You mad, bro?
(I take it you didn’t get the message about snarkiness breeding snarkiness - not sure why you got angry about this, but when you resort to nothing but sneers, I think we’re done with this particular discussion.)
Was the bag dropped at the end of Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels?
What the fuck happened in Matrix 2 and 3?
Why does Han owe Jabba money?
He states it in the Greedo conversation - he got boarded by imperials, who seized cargo he was hauling for Jabba.
The Usual Suspects: what actually happened? All we know for certain is there are some dead guys on a boat. The details of the story are all Keyser Soze’s invention.
Alien: where did that ship come from, the one with the weird alien pilot? Oh, wait. Never mind. As much as I’m looking forward to Prometheus, I’m kind of bummed those questions will be answered.
Really??? I thought the cargo seized was payment for Jabba for the money Han OWED?
Here’s the exchange (as you’ll see, he dumped the cargo - I mistakenly thought it was siezed…but, same difference):
Greedo: [In Huttese; subtitled] Going somewhere, Solo?
Han Solo: Yes, Greedo. I was just going to see your boss. Tell Jabba I’ve got his money.
Greedo: It’s too late. You should have paid him when you had the chance. Jabba’s put a price on your head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. I’m lucky I found you first.
Han Solo: Yeah, but this time I’ve got the money.
Greedo: If you give it to me, I might forget I found you.
Han Solo: [stealthily going for his blaster] I don’t have it with me. Tell Jabba…
Greedo: Jabba’s through with you! He has no use for smugglers who drop their shipments at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser.
Han Solo: Even I get boarded sometimes. Do you think I had a choice?
Greedo: You can tell that to Jabba. At best, he may only take your ship.
Han Solo: Over my dead body!
Greedo: That’s the idea… I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.
Han Solo: Yeah, I’ll bet you have.
[Han blasts Greedo, then heads out, tossing the bartender a coin]
Han Solo: Sorry about the mess.
I think you should check your source on that transcript. You missed the part where Greedo fires at Han.
Bending the rules slightly because technically the question is answered:
“How’d you get up there?”
“Wasn’t easy.”
C.
Deckard being a replicant is certainly an unanswered question. Different people who worked on the project had different ideas and you can justify any position. Citing the preference of Scott is irrelevant. Also, Tom, I have no idea what you think “as shot” means but it confused me as well.
The unicorn dreams can be seen as proof that Deckard has been “implanted” with certain dreams or they can just be an indication that there really is no difference between humans and replicants to the extent that they can even share the same dreamscapes. Personally I go with him being a replicant but I don’t think it’s necessary based on any of the versions of the film. In fact I think it makes the movie more interesting in a lot of ways if it turns out he’s human. Making him a replicant nullifies the whole theme of juxtaposing humans with replicants and showing how blurry/non-existent the lines are.