There's a script review of Guillermo Del Toro's production of one of H.P. Lovecraft's greatest stories At the Mountains of Madness. I find the secular author's approach to the atheism of Lovecraft and the Christian elements included by Del Toro to be fascinating, for obvious reasons.
The tension between Lovecraft's* beautifully misanthropic thesis (that beauty, science, art and man are useless) and his efforts (namely: the studied portrayal of beauty, science art and man) is a wonder to behold, even seventy years after first publication. I can only imagine what Del Toro is going to go through to try realize this on film. Even a failure could be a wonderful one.
Some great insights and excellent questions are raised by Big Ross at CC2K.
Spoilers, obviously.
As if Lovecraft's words are mortal enough to be spoiled...
*Even old Howard's surname betrays him: Love. (Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ) Craft. (Creation testifies to its own Maker.) Can something be simultaneously delicious and painful? Certainly. A diet of ice cream, after all, likely contributed to the great man's untimely demise.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
At the Mountains of Madness in Del Toro's Hands
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2 comments:
Thanks for the link. Interesting article. However, after reading some of Del Toro's interviews, I couldn't help but wonder if any inclusion of Christian themes on his part was to ridicule or deconstruct them.
Oh, I totally agree. But I love the ridicule and welcome the deconstruction.
The ridicule of our faith, our Lord and everything I live for is welcome at many levels. First, if it somehow causes my suffering or offense, then I count what small offense that's been launched on me as at least an echo of fellowship with Christ.
Second, most puffed up "satire" or ridicule of our faith is, to put it bluntly, weak-minded and pathetic, kind of like the dart player in Roxanne. It is, therefore, an invitation to a far more substantial and winning retort.
Third, ridicule that strikes a chord (after all, even broken clocks are right twice a day) provides reproof to me: God working through the Amonites, so to speak.
I count that all gain, reason to rejoice evermore.
As to the deconstruction, bring it the heck on. Anti-christian deconstructionists forget that the Worshippers of the Original Constructor may just know a thing or two about the art of creation. How much more gifted might we be at the art of unbundling that which was made? The deconstructionists with a mind to outwit God are going to find Him cataloging and bifurcating every hair on their head.
I hope I don't sound boastful in myself. This is my boast in the Lord.
The thesis of Lovecraft, the "deconstruction" of Del Toro all provide opportunity to play in the fields of the Lord, not to redeem that which cannot be, but only to frame one's best argument in the temple of the modern day and win.
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