An American Werewolf in London
1981
(clips from Cat People)
If we were to make a kind of taxonomy of monsters we might first distinguish earthly from unearthly the way one distinguishes plants from animals. In the earthly crew we might distinguish those that are humanoid (like humans) from those that are not. Those that are not would be the creatures like the beast from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms which is simply a large animal Perhaps prehistoric and prehistoric-like beasts (the latter are often mythological as well) as those that occur in films like
The qustion here is would such a categorization be useful in terms of understanding the metaphor involved with the monster?
Strictly speaking transformations of humans into bats presents several problems given the laws of physics which does not allow for a change in shape without mass remaining constant. Hence a 180 pound Dracula would have to turn into a 180 15 inch bat which would give him enormous density and he would sure plummet directly to the ground.
The Werewolf as we have pointed out is a humanoid creature, like vampires, zombies. The werewolf “mythology” is also largely a Hollywood creation right from the poem that appears in the Lon Chaney, Jr. film The Wolf Man
Even a man who is pure in heart
It is also said that the werewolf always kills the one he loves most.
WEREWOLVES
The werewolf is a kind of shape shifter like vampires. Like the Mummy and its close cousins the zombies, the werewolf is someone who was once fully human but has been altered.
The werewolf or lycanthrope is a human who is able to transform (shapeshift) into a wolf or wolf like creature. The werewolf generally results from having been bitten by another werewolf, but the origin of the first werewolf remains unknown!
Werewolves are of long standing history going back to Greek and Roman times. Some of the stories indicate that people became werewolves by eating human flesh – that is people who behaved like wolves became wolves. The bulk of the Hollywood mythology is missing from these early stories,.
One African man thought it was silly that people believed that vampires could turn into bats, but where he came from there was a belief (which he held) that people could turn into hyenas. It would make an interesting study to learn why different people choose the animals they do as the alternate form off the person, in the same way that the characters who are tricksters in stories seem to share some common attributes. I am not familiar with any were-chickens, for example.
Classical Literature
There are several stories dealing with people turning onto or being turned into wolves.
Zeus turns Lycaon into a wolf as a result of eating human flesh.
Herodotus relates that the Neuri were transformed for a few days each year. Virgil seems familiar with stories about human beings into wolves.
Ovid, the Roman poet In his Metamorphoses, tells tales of men who roamed the woods of Arcadia in the form of wolves.
Pliny the Elder, writs about two tales of werewolvery. One mentions a man who hung his clothes on an ash tree and swam across an Arcadian lake, and was transformed him into a wolf. If he attacked no humans for 9 years he would be able to swim back across the lake and resume human form. Pliny also tells a tale about a man who was turned into a wolf after tasting the entrails of a human child.
In The Satyricon, by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, a character named Niceros, relates a story about a friend who turned into a wolf describing the change as follows: "When I looked for my friend I saw he'd stripped and piled his clothes by the roadside...He urinated in a circle round his clothes and then, just like that, turned into a wolf!...after he turned into a wolf he started howling and then ran off into the woods."
There is strong evidence that the idea of associating the werewolf with the full moon begins in the Middle Ages but there is evidence it may go back to the Greeks as well (remember lunatic is a word based on associating the full moon with insanity).
Werewolves are related to those other humanoid like creatures who were once normal humans, but now have some supernatural connection in which generally they lose some aspect of the humanity becoming cannibalistic etc.
Some people have argued that it is possible to trace the idea of werewolvery back to rabies, and the idea of an illness transmitted by animal (including human) bite then parallels the vampire, although the sexuality of the vampire (who arrives in bedrooms etc. seems far more sexual in its orientation).
FILMS
Werewolf and similar critters occur in The Wolfman, The Werewolf, American Werewolf in London, American Werewolf in Paris, The Werewolf of London, Wolfen and Wolf to name a few,
One of the classic set pieces in films with transformations is going to be the actual transformation itself. While it is true that the Universal films of the 30s and 40s tried to show the transformation in all its horrific glory, Val Lewton who was stuck with small budgets chose rather creatively to leave the transformation very often to the viewer’s imagination. (SEE the three transformation sequences in CAT PEOPLE – one at the transverse, one at the pool and one end in the apartment with the doctor.)
This film, American Werewolf in London is directed by John Landis who was known largely for comedy films: Kentucky Fried Movie, Animal House, Blue Brothers, Spies Like Us ¡Three Amiogos! In American Werewolf in London he combines the horror and comedy genres. Later he would be known for his film Twilight Zone in which Vic Morrow and two children were killed during the filming in a helicopter accident. He also directed the most popular music video ever – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”
Watch for John Landis film’s trade mark – a film called See you Next Wednesday a poster of which or a “piece” of which appears in most of his films
As has been pointed out, monster movies often have sort of make-up put on an actor which is a long tedious process. The transformations are filmed in such a way that the transformation occurs “right before you eyes” in a bit of movie magic. These have been around for some time. A major change occurs at this time in the make up which used prosthetics and bladders under latex skins. Traditionally the transformations of the characters was done through a series of shots which showed change in the characters by adding make-up and aligning the actor properly in the frame the result is there could be little action in the character as the transformation happened. The one exception to the was the change of Dr. Jekyll into Hyde in which some of the make up was made to appear through the use of filters.
This film, along with The Howling (also Rick Baker) broke new ground with a more complex kind of “prosthetic make-up with used inflatable bladders under a kind of latex skin which allowed for pulses to show. In addition, there were some complex prosthetic devices which allowed the muzzle of the wolf to “grow” which you watched it. So the changes were not complex dissolves but rather moving bits of armatures that worked to bring about the change. (An early version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had the actor wear odd colored make-up and by shifting filters in front of the camera a more sudden realistic looking change could be accomplished..
Makeup Effects
The various prosthetics and fake, robotic body parts used during the film's painful, extended werewolf transformation scenes and on Griffin Dunne when his character returns as a bloody, mangled ghost impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences so much that they decided to create a new awards category at the Oscars specifically for the film - Outstanding Achievement in Makeup.[citation needed] Since the 1981 Academy Awards, this has been a regular category each year. During the body casting sessions, the crew danced around David Naughton singing, "I'm a werewolf, you're a werewolf,...wouldn't you like to be a werewolf, too" in reference to his days as a pitchman for Dr Pepper.
The make up was done by Rick Baker.
Another novel aspect in the film was the transformations were done without clothing. In part this was probably to show the lack of concealment of equipment.
AFTER THE FILM
Did you notice the company that made the film (Lycanthrope Productions)? Did you notice the anout any resemblance to person living dead or undead?
This film, like many horror films with animal transformations tends to emphasize the problem of human vs animal when we all know that humans are animals. The emergence of the “animal’ is almost a gimmick like the love potion in stories which serves to remove an outer social level and produce the release of a kind of wild emotional underside to the character – usually lust involved.
Politically there is little to say about the film. There is some question of a kind of “conspiracy theory” in the cover-up story of the werewolf. The failure of the government to act is hinted at briefly in the “bobby’s” unwillingness to arrest him.
Religiously one can raise some questions about the pentacle on the wall and the idea of the superstition being real but it seems a minor part of the film.
In terms of science and technology the film is rather negative. The medical treatment doesn’t really help the problem and the medical (and police) don’t really believe him.
Psychological sexual. This is the most likely interpretation from a number of viewpoints. The transformation into the wolf is normally the “eruption of the repressed” about which people speak when they talk about horror movies.
The idea of the transformation happening nude begins the interest in the sexual aspect of the film. His romantic involvement with the nurse occurs and then the transformations begin to take place. The transformations make him feel very healthy and he wants to run back home for a “quickie”.
Again the idea that emotions can be seen as somewhat instinct, primitive and therefore somewhat dangerous opposes the idea that people are rational and should be able to control their emotions. In effect the Superego has to control the id. In the transformation the superego in effect collapses. What “makes “ us human in effect disappears and simply
The film’s opening dialog involves Jack’s interest in having sex with a girl that David thinks is a drip. In the hospital one of the nurses holds that David is Jewish because she looked and so he was circumcised. Later after David returns from the zoo he is in a highly aroused state and is moving on Alex when returns from the zoo. He says on the street he feels good, his body is like an athlete and he wants to go back to the house for a quickie.
Near the films climax (how appropriate) the action moves to a theater showing a porn film called See You Next Wednesday for which we have seen a poster in the subway station when the werewolf attacks Bringsley.
This stress on sexuality leads to the idea that the film’s subtext lies in a sexual rather than political, scientific of religious area.
The transformation itself involved growing hair, increasing bone length and general changes which are painful and can easily be seen as changes involved in going through puberty. The enlarging of body parts (hand, feet, snout, etc.) can also be seen as metaphors for arousal.
The werewolf is a good candidate for sexual connotations even though that idea si normally associated with vampires. The term “wolf” itself refers to a woman chaser (see Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein where the word play is overt when Talbot says that when the moon is full he turns into a wolf, Abbott quips “You and 20,000,000 other guys”.
Similarly the moon is commonly found in songs about romance and is a standard rhyme for “spoon” “June” and “Honeymoon”.
The sub text would seem to be about the difficulties in adolescencce caused by the unexepected and uncontrolled changes in he body which include sexual impulses along with the need to keep them controlled.
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.