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So, Eraserhead...what the fuck?

post #1 of 19
11/8/04 at 12:20am
Thread Starter 
Please share, disscuss and analyse your thoughts on this surreal masterpiece of 'what the fuck?' cinema.

Because honestly I don't know what the hell to make of it myself. I'm usually good at analysing the themes and such in surreal movies, but this one just passed a point where I was no longer acknowledging what the hell was happening on-screen, I just absorbed it.
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post #2 of 19
11/8/04 at 6:21am
Top of my head, the main themes are:

Refusal to acknowledge the responsibilities of being a parent and being disgusted with your child instead of loving it

Being stuck in a relationship with someone you don't love

The insignificance of our lives on a cosmic level

The attraction of death and the seduction of suicide

Weird dancing ladies crushing worms under radiators
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post #3 of 19
11/8/04 at 10:04am
Inspired by daughter Jennifer being born with a club foot.
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post #4 of 19
11/8/04 at 11:32am
Eraserhead is what happens when a director lives in the industrial section of Philadelphia across the street from a warehouse that hoses down body bags.

In heaven, everything is fine...
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post #5 of 19
11/8/04 at 1:06pm
Thread Starter 
So how do you feel about the movie? Do you think it's earned it's 100% status? Watching it was an experience for sure, but I'm not sure if it's one I'd like to revisit anytime soon.
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post #6 of 19
11/8/04 at 1:53pm
I've seen it once and that's enough. That's not to say it's a bad movie. It works. That's why I have such a hard time watching it. I have the same trouble with Lynch's Wild At Heart. Great movie, but it really gets under my skin and disturbs me.
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post #7 of 19
11/8/04 at 1:55pm
It's a classic



don't forget temtation


and is it really temtation when your lover doesn't love you??
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post #8 of 19
11/8/04 at 2:01pm
I'd say it's one of cinema's greatest achievements, not only for how absolutely unique and mesmerising it is (it feels like it was made by an alien), but also for the insane dedication it took to be made, and because Jack Nance had to keep that haircut for four years.

Wild at Heart is a very hit and miss affair, but Eraserhead is not only disturbing but also hilarious, that's quite a rare mix
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post #9 of 19
11/8/04 at 3:40pm

100% status?

Quote:
Originally Posted by YeLLoWsAmUeL
So how do you feel about the movie? Do you think it's earned it's 100% status? Watching it was an experience for sure, but I'm not sure if it's one I'd like to revisit anytime soon.
You only get the 100% Eraserhead if you're lucky enough to see it on film, in a theatre. Totally different experience than on video. That's true for most black-and-white films, by the way.
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post #10 of 19
11/8/04 at 6:01pm
Look at my knees!!...LOOK AT MY KNEES!!!
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post #11 of 19
11/8/04 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
All these theme seems present and correct, but I haven't seen anyone even attemt on either;

a) the chicken eating scene (at his girlfriend's parents house) with the apparently alive chickens
b) the actual 'Eraserhead' scene which was just crazy and came out of nowhere
c) the girl in the radiator's puffy cheeks, which I'm pretty sure are missing during the closing scene
d) whatever the hell happens after he cuts open the babies' cloth with the foam and the giant head

I assumed in the opening scenes the guy pulling the levers was a god-like figure, and the seed/sperm coming out of Jack Nance's mouth was Lynchs own crazy way of showing him impregnating his girlfriend.
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post #12 of 19
11/9/04 at 2:19am
Congratulations! You've all finally motivated me to rent it next time I'm out.
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post #13 of 19
11/9/04 at 1:42pm
Quote:
a) the chicken eating scene (at his girlfriend's parents house) with the apparently alive chickens
I think I got this one... basically, the chickens represent HIM, and the eating represents EATING you see, and so the whole scene kind of says a lot about that innate fear that we all have of being eaten alive at our girlfriend's parents house.
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post #14 of 19
11/9/04 at 2:01pm
"little damn things, smaller than your hand. they're new!"

that makes perfect sense, right? there are very few movies or works of art that i feel deserve to have the interpretation left up to the viewer... i think usually, no matter how much an artist says so, the works are usually created from a particular perspective with a particular thing in mind. with eraserhead, it really feels like a string of dream images that are meant to lead you in whatever direction works for you.
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post #15 of 19
11/9/04 at 7:06pm
"So, Henry....Whataya know?"

(embarassed silence...both from the charactors and audience)


I believe their's a bit of Henry/ Jack Nance in all of us...
Didn't even know the man was dead til 24 hours ago.

"...Hey, fellas!!...DON'T Drink that Coffee!!!....You'll NEVER Guess... There was a Fish IN the PERcolator!!....sorry..." my favourite line from his later Lynchian years.

God-speed, Jack.
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post #16 of 19
11/9/04 at 7:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72
I think I got this one... basically, the chickens represent HIM, and the eating represents EATING you see, and so the whole scene kind of says a lot about that innate fear that we all have of being eaten alive at our girlfriend's parents house.
Close, but a bit TOO surreal (can I say that for this film?).
The father offers Henry the carving rights on the chicken; symbolising the father passing on the torch of looking after his daughter...Henry is reluctant at first, then starts to carve....to have the chicken squirm and
squirt bile, which is reflected on what happens during the 'birth' (though never truely seen...)...So Henry has already fucked this up ...and continues to.

Anyone know if Lynch has EVER mentioned how the baby was done? Nowadays, it looks like a simple latex puppet, but Lynch's retiscence to speak about it makes me think of something much more sinister.
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post #17 of 19
11/9/04 at 11:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Straxboy - An Anthony Hickox Film
Inspired by daughter Jennifer being born with a club foot.
And in 1993 she made the godawful movie Boxing Helena.
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post #18 of 19
11/10/04 at 7:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham
Anyone know if Lynch has EVER mentioned how the baby was done? Nowadays, it looks like a simple latex puppet, but Lynch's retiscence to speak about it makes me think of something much more sinister.
Lynch has always refused to say how the baby was done, and to this day I think it's one of the greatest special effects of all time considering it was done with no money at all (Lynch had to actually live on the set at times) and it still looks more realistic than later way more expensive puppetry - there are close-ups where the eyes move that look like it's anything but a puppet. It's been suggested that it's a young calf at times, but over a period of four years!?



Yeah, in some ways Jack Nance is the coolest actor of all time, you only ever see him in Lynch stuff and he'll always be Eraserhead...

"My dog barks some. Mentally you picture my dog, but I have not told you the type of dog which I have. Perhaps you even picture Toto, from "The Wizard of Oz." But I warn you, my dog is always with me. WOOF!"

RIP Jack
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post #19 of 19
11/10/04 at 12:33pm
She's daid! Wrapped in plastic!
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