If you're interested in humanity's relationship to technology, then you should definitely check out The Prestige. Or, if Christian Bale's leather-tastic performance in Batman Begins only whetted your appetite, then Christopher Nolan's most recent film, which also stars Bale, should satisfy your longings.
It seems that the Nolan brothers might have taken some lessons from Derrida when they wrote the screenplay. Throughout The Presitge Bale and Michael Caine's characters reference "the secret." They tell us that once the audience knows your secret, you will be nothing to them.
So, the secret constitutes something for the audience only when it remains a secret. The substance is lost as soon as the trick is revealed.
In magic the prestige is the reappearance of the signified/signifier at the end of the trick.
The Tesla coil [pictured above] provides the final, yet-to-be revealed (magic?) technique. With it, Hugh Jackman's character is able to duplicate himself. Because of it, we are challenged to question the ethical implications of invention.
Whether or not this ultimate or absolute prestige should be explained by science, magic or cheap plot tricks, the Nolans seem to suggest that magic is simply technique which few understand.
An argument for empiricism, we are told that a close visual read will produce all answers.
It's not a Romantic sentiment, but whether you're a fan of Romanticism, a (post?)modernist advocate, a follower of the cloning debate, a post-structuralist disciple, or a victim of Bale's Batmanly backside, do yourself a favor and see The Prestige.
No comments:
Post a Comment