The Lost Boys
Jul. 21st, 2005 01:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethAwaiting inspiration on the writing
am watching 'The Lost Boys'
it has a lot of the same quirks that annoyed me in Flatliners and the Batman films - primary colors lighting, unsubtle backgrounds - but in this film they work. They work with the story, painting it larger than life. Like with Batman, I didn't object to comic book colors on comic book villains. But unlike Batman there is actual contrast, regular bad guys, ordinary world. Daylight scenes contrast with the fairground night time. And that suits the story.
The best thing about Lost Boys is that they don't sell vampirism - they don't try and get him to join them for the murder or even the immortality - that he finds out about later, when he's in too deep already. The attraction is belonging. Love. Not just on the vampire side either, the family has the same stuff going on (and I could get a few pages out of analysing this film in terms of the breakdown of the nuclear family and what it says from a feminist perspective. But then I would have to be annoyed at it.)
And while it might be supposed to be a love story between Michael and Star, all she ever does is exist. She looks pretty. He looks at her. End of story. But between David and Michael it is a seduction. Guy dominance hierarchy stuff, daring, pushing each other. A very bloke kind of seduction. Plus the serious eye contact kind. Star is easy to ignore. This film is all about falling for the wrong guy.
Also noticed this time through that the vampires being fearless can't just be a pose - they race their bikes towards a cliff, which is only dangerous for humans. But they also race through forest, and a wrong move there will kill a vamp just as dead.
The extremely 80s bits of the film - the clothes and hair most noticeably - are necessary backdrop to the music video teen culture part of the story. But they are also easier to ignore on the main characters. Michael's look has been vaguely fashionable since the 50s, black jacket and blue jeans. David's long black coat is another fashion statement that doesn't go away. So with them you can concentrate on what they do more than what they look like.
I've paused it when they're heading into the cave to start the killing. Before this point the movie is about belonging, and more fear of becoming than fear of attack. After this it is all about deciding the enemy is on the outside and if you kill the source of the temptation you kill the temptation. Doesn't quite work as well for me. But vampire movies often have that problem, if the protagonists are human. One reason I like Angel, he knows it doesn't work that way.
The version I'm used to watching is notably less gross. The vampire death scenes are like three times as long on DVD. Is actually kind of boring. Who cares how messily they die?
I love the last shot. The look on their faces when the old guy says about 'all the damn vampires'. Classic.
I've noticed watching this time through that, once again, I've totally ceased to identify with the teenage characters. This should be obvious, really, given that I'm like twice their age now, but it changes how I view these films that have been favourites of mine for years. I'm no longer quite the comic geek kid. Its like changing angle, like I've got taller or something.
Plus I can watch with my Cultural Studies hat on or pull it apart for writer craft stuff and see what everyone represents.
Makes for a very different viewing experience.
Incidentally - the subtitles are, once again, rubbish. Random word changes and missed bits. Very irritating.
am watching 'The Lost Boys'
it has a lot of the same quirks that annoyed me in Flatliners and the Batman films - primary colors lighting, unsubtle backgrounds - but in this film they work. They work with the story, painting it larger than life. Like with Batman, I didn't object to comic book colors on comic book villains. But unlike Batman there is actual contrast, regular bad guys, ordinary world. Daylight scenes contrast with the fairground night time. And that suits the story.
The best thing about Lost Boys is that they don't sell vampirism - they don't try and get him to join them for the murder or even the immortality - that he finds out about later, when he's in too deep already. The attraction is belonging. Love. Not just on the vampire side either, the family has the same stuff going on (and I could get a few pages out of analysing this film in terms of the breakdown of the nuclear family and what it says from a feminist perspective. But then I would have to be annoyed at it.)
And while it might be supposed to be a love story between Michael and Star, all she ever does is exist. She looks pretty. He looks at her. End of story. But between David and Michael it is a seduction. Guy dominance hierarchy stuff, daring, pushing each other. A very bloke kind of seduction. Plus the serious eye contact kind. Star is easy to ignore. This film is all about falling for the wrong guy.
Also noticed this time through that the vampires being fearless can't just be a pose - they race their bikes towards a cliff, which is only dangerous for humans. But they also race through forest, and a wrong move there will kill a vamp just as dead.
The extremely 80s bits of the film - the clothes and hair most noticeably - are necessary backdrop to the music video teen culture part of the story. But they are also easier to ignore on the main characters. Michael's look has been vaguely fashionable since the 50s, black jacket and blue jeans. David's long black coat is another fashion statement that doesn't go away. So with them you can concentrate on what they do more than what they look like.
I've paused it when they're heading into the cave to start the killing. Before this point the movie is about belonging, and more fear of becoming than fear of attack. After this it is all about deciding the enemy is on the outside and if you kill the source of the temptation you kill the temptation. Doesn't quite work as well for me. But vampire movies often have that problem, if the protagonists are human. One reason I like Angel, he knows it doesn't work that way.
The version I'm used to watching is notably less gross. The vampire death scenes are like three times as long on DVD. Is actually kind of boring. Who cares how messily they die?
I love the last shot. The look on their faces when the old guy says about 'all the damn vampires'. Classic.
I've noticed watching this time through that, once again, I've totally ceased to identify with the teenage characters. This should be obvious, really, given that I'm like twice their age now, but it changes how I view these films that have been favourites of mine for years. I'm no longer quite the comic geek kid. Its like changing angle, like I've got taller or something.
Plus I can watch with my Cultural Studies hat on or pull it apart for writer craft stuff and see what everyone represents.
Makes for a very different viewing experience.
Incidentally - the subtitles are, once again, rubbish. Random word changes and missed bits. Very irritating.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 04:47 am (UTC)So true about the seduction between Michael and David. That's the main show. The rest is fluff - but nice fluff. I especially like the mom - she does naive so well, and the head vampire.
I need to rewatch to see if my perspective has changed since I first saw it. From memory, my favorite scene is near the beginning - I think it's because of the music - but the lure of the darkside is strong in young males, and having 3 boys, you are always hoping that they get thru their adolescence relatively undamaged and whole.
But there isn't a damn thing you can do about it if they decide to give into the temptations of *evil* - for want of a simple catch phrase.
Oh, and the Frog brothers. Comic (comic book) relief? Nerds as opposed to those seduced by the flesh? Huh. Must rewatch soon.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Becca.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 08:25 pm (UTC)Also also interesting was that the Frogs and the kid brother turned into a mini gang of their own.
I liked the relationship with the mother because it is what saves the thing from being all homophobic. I mean it makes all kinds of desire a big vampire problem, and not just the m/m kind. Completely different message that way.
yeah, new angles for interpretation :eyeroll: