Compelled by Doom
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--
DID I MAKE MY GOAL?
Big picture, I’m working away on the post-production of our horror film, Dead Media. I’m editing the film in chronological order. Last week, I committed to the goal of sending three post-production planning emails and editing up to minute 85 of the film.
I surpassed the email goal, but I did not reach the editing goal. I made it to minute 78 which is fairly far from 85.
I hit scenes that were extremely FUN to work on—strange scenes with opportunities for inventive editing—and some scenes that were CHALLENGING—action pieces we shot at the end of day so we really had to keep moving.
I really want to get the first draft of the edit done by the end of the month so I’m going to continue to give myself aggressive goals. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to report success!
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
This week was an adventure in thinking about HOW we appreciate (or don’t!) art.
I feel like modern social media and clickbait driven punditry encourages us to LOVE or HATE a piece of art. You watch it. You must quickly decide if you’re on TEAM LOVE or TEAM HATE. Was it good? Was it bad? Decide! Because it’s almost time to move on to the next piece of art to grind through the mill stone.
I have my opinions about what is good and what is bad. I can absolutely back up my opinions with critical analysis. I have years of experience in creative fields. I have co-hosted an in-depth pop culture analysis podcast for 9 years. I have a minor in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. I can defend a thesis statement with supporting evidence until the heat death of the universe.
But as a viewer I find myself deeply uninterested in GOOD or BAD. The best word I can come up with for what I care about is COMPELLING.
On Sunday afternoon, I went to the New Beverly Cinema to see a matinee screening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom on 35 mm film.
If you’re not familiar with the New Beverly, it’s a relatively small one screen theater, owned by Quentin Tarantino. The theater makes a big effort to build the community film experience with double features, midnight screenings, matinees, pre-film introductions. There are themed cartoons and old trailers for their upcoming screenings. In a bit of time travel oddness, I got to see a trailer for 2007’s Spider-Man 3 before 1984’s Temple of Doom.
I didn’t get to see Temple of Doom as a kid. I think my parents heard that it was violent and scary—which it very much is! (We did see Gremlins that summer which complicated my relationship with microwaves.)
Once I got older and the entire Indiana Jones original trilogy was complete, I was told by many peers that the agreed upon cultural decision is that Temple of Doom was the bad one. Iron clad. Just like the rule that only even-numbered Star Trek movies were good. Stamped and approved movie truth, I was told.
To be clear, I agree with many of the criticisms of Temple of Doom. I definitely understand and respect there are important discussions around some of the film’s cultural depictions. (If you’re interested in more on that discussion and the film as a whole, my ForceCenter co-host Ken Napzok and I did a multi-hour podcast on it you can check out here.)
But I do think the film is BETTER than it’s given credit for. It’s a follow up to a lightning-in-a-bottle, instant cinema classic in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Instead of just repeating that film, they did something very different.
Even though it is a very dark and sometimes disturbing film, it’s fairly clear in its thesis—that seeking fortune and glory and power from stealing sacred artifacts is BAD.
Indy’s ultimate goal in the film is the protection of children, family, community. His treasure is NOT the mystical MacGuffin but the return of the family unit. The kidnapped children are returned to the village and Indy ends the film with his own strange family unit of Willie Scott and Short Round restored. It’s an aggressive 1950s-esque DEFENSE of the family unit. It’s just that the family literally and metaphorically descends into HELL first.
Anyway, my point is I have opinions, I have thesis statements and supporting evidence about the evergreen question “Is it good or bad?” But what I care about is why it’s COMPELLING to me.
Here’s a dictionary definition of compelling: “evoking interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way.”
To me, the film is mesmerizing, hypnotic. It starts with an old Hollywood song and dance number of Cole Porter’s ANYTHING GOES. And immediately adopts the ethos of “anything goes” when the dance number surreally defies the logic of the physical space. Then in an explosion of morbid pulpy violence. Our hero gets poisoned by chugging a martini off a lazy susan and impales someone with a giant flaming shish kabob which leads into an action sequence where our two main characters desperately fight for two objects—a diamond and an antidote. Not only does that dichotomy support the film thematically (which is more important—fortune and glory or life itself?) but I feel it in my bones as an expansive metaphor. What, as a human, am I desperately scrambling for? The shiny thing or just a chance to keep on living?
That’s the beginning of the film before it gets really visceral and upsetting.
The film FEELS turbulent. Even two of its primary creators, Spielberg and Lucas, at different times have distanced themselves from it. These two masters of POPULAR filmmaking were going through some shit and it got into the celluloid. It isn’t perfect. It’s rough. It gets incredibly nasty and then leaps back from the precipice with extremely broad comedy. It celebrates the wholesome love of a parent for a child while also having multiple scenes of just straight-up libido and lust between Indy and Willie. The action set pieces are intense, echoing the film’s emotional conflict. It feels like a tonal rollercoaster and there is LITERALLY a rollercoaster set piece. The film’s not just nodding at the conventions and tropes of pulp storytelling. It’s embracing the lurid tone and the fears underpinning pulp storytelling. Our family unit meets, falls from the sky, descends into a fiery pit of violence and horror, and eventually end their adventure by literally ascending a shattered bridge and clambering up onto the side of safety and peace. It’s toying with disturbing ideas and images in the safe space of art where the heroes will eventually pull themselves and us back up from the pit.
The surface of the film is well-made. Well shot, amazing set-pieces, well-performed (in my opinion.) But the beating heart of the thing is messy and conflicted and ricocheting between extremes. In other words, it’s human.
Ultimately, I think that’s what I mean by compelling.
I enjoy an extremely well-made film where every piece fits together perfectly. (Hello, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Citizen Kane, Hot Fuzz, It’s A Wonderful Life, and Booksmart to name a few of my favorites across the ages.)
But I think a lot of art risks losing its humanity in its pursuit of perfection.
I think the “good vs bad” emphasis sometimes encourages us to experience art logically with our heads and not emotionally, viscerally with our hearts.
When I find myself gravitating toward imperfect art, it’s my heart that’s pulling me toward it. Then my head follows, asking my heart lots of probing questions about why? Why does this messy, flawed piece of art speak to you?
The point of art isn’t to rank it and make sure it has iron clad defenses to criticism. It’s to make us feel something. I feel Indy’s journey. His conflict. His hubris and his guilt and his relief.
I also think what’s compelling is a more insightful conversation to have with other people. If someone dislikes a film and wants to rattle off a well-worn list of logical plot holes, I learn absolutely nothing about that person. But if someone can talk through why they are not personally COMPELLED by a piece of art, it becomes a human conversation about how we process and experience things differently.
It was great to finally see Temple of Doom on the big screen. There were people in cosplay. Several prepared adults did take their kids out of the theater for the scary parts then came back for the happy ending. People laughed and cheered and gasped. The scent of popcorn was heavy in the air.
But I had my greatest thrill in the lobby after the film. I overheard a woman talking to someone in the box office thanking them for showing the film. She said, “Just so you know, that gentleman who just left is Willard Huyck, one of the screenwriters.” Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz not only wrote Temple of Doom and many other films, they did a dialogue polish on the original Star Wars.
It was amazing to think of this man who, I would imagine, has gone on a rollercoaster with this film in its 41 years of existence, now just kicking back and watching it on a Sunday afternoon. Not doing an intro to the film, apparently not letting anyone know he was there, just experiencing the art and hearing all those cheers and applause.
What a strange, complicated, compelling human experience.
LIGHT PLUGS—
The Nightmare Adorable!
I wrote and directed this short horror film back in 2023.
AWOOGA: Can you help us get to 1000 views on YouTube? I’d love to get more views on this short film as I look ahead to the promotion of Dead Media.
Speaking of Dead Media, We’ve got a fiscal sponsorship with the great Minnesota organization Film North. They can accept one-time donations that will go directly toward finishing the film: SCORE, VFX, COLOR GRADING, etc. It’s like a Kickstarter where the rewards are A) a tax deduction and B) helping us make the film.
For full info, please check out the page for the upcoming horror film, DEAD MEDIA!
Or if you have any questions about supporting the film, feel free to reach out to me personally!
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
My foot remains on the gas for Dead Media. I need to really focus on the editing so nothing but a big editing goal. My goal for next week is to edit up to minute 90 of the film.
YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?
A LITTLE SKETCH--
I had fun doing a quick sketch of Indiana Jones realizing he has another problem. The structure of the Indy films is inspired by old cliffhanger serials where every problem leads to another problem. But for me the emotional impact of that is extremely relatable. Indy’s day might be full of danger and adventure but it feels like mine. I just need to eat before I send this email, but now I spilled soup on my computer and my pajama pants, so I whip them off just when the doorbell rings for that window repair I forget about and then my phone rings and—and—and—and. Anyway, it’s nice to know every day is an adventure for Indy, too.
