The Man Who Fell to Earth as a Science Genre by Nicolas Roeg - Movie Review Example

The Man Who Fell to Earth as a Science Genre Roll No: Teacher: 5th December 2008 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 The Man Who Fell to Earth as a Science Genre 2 Introduction 3 The Man Who Fell to Earth as a Science Genre 4 Conclusion 9 Works Cited 10 The Man Who Fell to Earth as a Science Genre Introduction The Man Who Fell to Earth is a movie based on the science fiction genre but the director, Nicolas Roeg used the science fiction genre not as the typical format according to which, all the movies that used that genre appear to be but in a format that was innovative and that employed the features of society, tragedy and science fiction, all together. To what extent does Nicolas Roegs film The Man Who Fell to Earth reinvent, transcend, or subvert the genre of science fiction? Nicolas Roeg reinvented the genre of science fiction with his visual techniques and styles that he employed in the movie making. Nicolas Roeg really transformed the science fiction genre by introducing the mostly employed and well-known narrative of epic tragedy in which, the hero sets an aim, gets tempted, forgets his ambition and reaches towards a tragic ending. The protagonist of the movie, Newton reaches earth in form of a spacecraft crash. He is quite unaware of all the aspects and features of the earthly life. He has knowledge about society and life on earth. He gets accompanied with a girl, who is an extreme drunker due to which, the alien moves towards corruption and destruction. He facilitates the people of earth with many discoveries and technological developments and forms a company known as World Enterprises. Later on, he gets caught by government and is imprisoned. He gets out of prison and shows no interest towards returning to his planet. He also forgets his ambition and is not ready to support the members of his planet any more. Newton leads a life on earth that is aimless and empty. He is a dire drunker and gets badly habitual of drinking due to which, he is dragged towards corruption and destruction. He remains young throughout the movie and all his companions get old with one killed. The movie as a science fiction takes an alien from another planet that is hopeful to get his people out of their problem of drought by taking the earth’s water on his own planet but he fails in his mission because he leaves his passion because of his continued and bored life. Nicolas Roeg mixes the theme of science genre and tragedy and by employing the technique of character development of the protagonist moves towards a tragic ending of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth. This essay takes into consideration the reinvention of the theme of science genre by Nicolas Roeg in which, he redefines the theme and amalgamates it into the tragic theme of narratives. This essay focuses on the features of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, that deal with the employability of The Man Who Fell to Earth as a science genre and also considers certain features that are employed for reinventing the theme of science fiction genre. The whole essay considers the description of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth by Nicolas Roeg in terms of its being a science fiction and the style of the director and also describes that Nicolas Roeg has taken a familiar and clinched theme along with the theme of science fiction genre. The movie employs the theme of science fiction genre in a transformed manner. The Man Who Fell to Earth as a Science Genre The Man Who Fell to Earth is a movie that is called a science fiction because of the adoption of science fiction theme by the director Nicolas Roeg. The plot of the movie revolves around the issue that a man comes to earth because of a crash landing. The reason of his landing on earth is to find a suitable way of shipping the water from the earth to his own planet (Edwards 1976). He wants to take the water from earth to his own planet because his planet is facing a severe problem of drought that needs to be resolved in order to secure the lives of the people of the planet (Brown 2006). From the storyline, it is quite evident that Nicolas Roeg adopted a theme of science fiction as he has introduction a man from another planet and also with transference of the water from earth to another planet. Through the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, the director Nicolas Roeg reinvented the science fiction to a great extent. He introduced not only a simple science fiction theme but one which also contains socialistic factors that the alienated people do not know (Eder 1976). In a new society, the new people face some problems in terms of understanding and comprehension their role in that society. Newton, the lead character of the film, The Man Who Fell to Earth, was able to do many discoveries and developments on earth on the basis of his knowledge and skill that he had being from another planet but he was unable to control the persuasions of corruption because of his lack of knowledge about earthly life and society (Lain 1981). Nicolas Roeg changed the science fiction to a certain extent. He named the alien after Newton, a great scientist and accommodated the character of the protagonist with technological knowledge due to which, he was able to get name along with fame. When he landed on earth, there was a shadow that was seeing him during his crash landing which is a notification that someone was there who was aware of his being an alien but that person never came in the forefront (Cocks 1976). May be that person belonged to the governmental institutions but why there was a wait for his being captured? The wait was there to see his activities being positive or negative. The wait can also predict to the notion that governmental institutions of America were looking forward to his developments as a gift from other planet. The alien was not successful in his ambition and objective but was made a corrupt person of American society because of his lack of knowledge about the earthly society. The lady whom he likes was a person who is involved in drinking to a great extent and she introduces the protagonist with certain features of American society but those features are not helpful for the alien in order to get near to his aimed mission but to drag him away from his set ambitions (Brown 2006). The title of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, suggests that the alien that has come to a strange society to get some support for existence of his people gets corrupted because of being a fallen man (Lain 1981). The director Nicolas Roeg does not take the old science fiction notion and set it in a new scenario but he reinvents the genre of science fiction by attaching technology development to the social environment of American society. The man from another planet comes with pure and true motives but ends up being extensively drunk and corrupted (Eder 1976). The movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, looks more like a tragedy. Previously the movies that were developed with science fiction theme attracted audience towards a set up that was innovative and technologically rich but this movie showed innovation and technological development with an old form of epic tragedy. The hero of the movie is not a character from earth but from another planet and he has come to earth with a certain motive, he covers a distance to get closer to his ambition (Cocks 1976). Initially his heart was true and uncorrupted and he was sincerely looking for a solution of the problem of his fellow people of the planet and with time extension and development, he converts to a selfish drunken person who shows no more interest towards his fellow people of the planet (Lain 1981). He has no intention to return back, he remains young and all the other characters of the movie get old (Peary 1983). He is captured by governmental officials on his being an alien but later on, they show no interest towards him and he gets out of the prison to lead his life. He is not happy with his life and he is also not willing to leave earth (Brown 2006). He lives in a state of emptiness and hollowness. He has no more ambitions and objectives and he leads a life that is not thought of. Nicolas took a story in his movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, which is very familiar, clinched and already known. A man starting his life with some mission gets some temptations in his life and gets ensnared by those temptations and forgets about his set ambitions due to which, he fails to get what he wanted earlier on (Eder 1976). The storyline of the movie seems typically like a tragic story in which, the protagonist is left on the hands of fortune and he has no control over his fortune. The storyline of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, is just like mediaeval novels and poetry that wrote about tragedies (Edwards 1976). The title of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, can also be matched with the original sin, in which Adam and Eve were tempted by the Satan and they were thrown to earth on the basis of their not obeying the command of their Ruler (Cocks 1976). Here the story is somehow transformed as the man comes to earth not being fallen initially but reaches to fallen state because of his lack of knowledge and information about earthly society. The director, Nicolas Roeg makes use of science but links the movie to the tragedy genre due to which, a new form of science fiction genre is formed. The movie is not about the destruction and obliteration caused by scientific development but with lack of knowledge and awareness. The movie in form of only a novel appeared attractive but it’s being presented in form of movie was far much better and convincing (Eder 1976). With characters performing all the events in actuality and speaking all the dialogues attracted a huge audience towards a story that was well-known but presented the use of science by a foreigner to earth (Lain 1981). The leading character, Newton was not a man from earth but that, which was fallen to earth. He had a heart and mind that was not human related but he was transformed to accept the negative values of human existence on earth . (Rozen 1976). He helped the earthly people with some inventions and with scientific technology but he, himself was deprived of his own self. He was not what he was before (Peary 1983). The arrival of the protagonist, Newton, through a space craft, his scientific discoveries and developments and his being an alien, all the aspects indicate towards the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, being a movie made on the theme of science fiction genre but its attachment to the tragedy of narrative form is there to reinvent the science fiction genre. The scenes that are portrayed by the director in the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, indicate towards wholly visual aspects. The alien, Newton is shown in actuality going from one aspect of corruption to other. It is also shown in detail what are his experiences while going through various situations (Brown 2006). After being indulged in bad habits, he forgets his own self as a part of another planet and considers him as a part of the earth. He is no more ready to support his people. He rejects the notion of helping his people by taking the earth’s water to them. Newton develops a company with the name, World Enterprises in which, he hires certain people for his support and when he notices that his friend and companion, Oliver Farnsworth is handling the firm, he backs off from the business and proceeds towards the indulgences (Brown 2006). The visualization of the movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, indicates towards the mysterious aspect of an alien entering in a new world about which, he knows nothing. Nicolas Roeg has not only employed the word alien but has also shown how a person is alien in terms of his being in a new place (Lain 1981). The aspect that Newton is an alien connects him to the lack of knowledge and awareness prevalent in the world but other aspects of the movie, categorize Newton not as an alien but as a human. He is corrupted by the society and becomes a drunken man like many others living on earth (Cocks 1976). He shows scientific skills by developing certain technological developments and all his aspects other than his being an alien because he came from a different planet and also that he does not get aged, link him to a foreign world. Otherwise, he contains all the features and aspects of a common human being, who is put in troubles because of his temptations that are a gift of society (Rozen 1976). Conclusion It is quite evident that Nicolas Roeg has employed the theme of science fiction in directing his movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth but his style and description are not that of a typical science fiction but Nicolas Roeg has employed a familiar and clinched narrative of tragedy into this science fiction theme. The storyline of the movie is very typical and matches to the tragic stories of medieval age but uses it with the science fiction genre. The protagonist of the movie is not a human but an alien, who is on earth on the basis of a spacecraft crash. After reaching earth, he learns to be corrupted and his original mission that is to accommodate his planet members with water gets neglected. Near the end, he shows no interest towards helping his people and prefers his life on earth that is corrupted and aimless. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a science fiction movie but in it, the director, Nicolas Roeg reinvents the science fiction genre by amalgamating the theme of tragic narrative in the story. Works Cited Brown, Royal S. The Man Who Fell to Earth. New York: Cineaste, 2006. Cocks, Jay. "Heavenly Body", TIME Magazine 14 Jun. 1976. Eder, Richard. "Man Who Fell to Earth Is Beautiful Science Fiction", The New York Times 6 Jun. 1976. Edwards, Henry. "Bowies Back But the Glitters Gone". The New York Times 21 Mar. 1976.   Lain, Douglas. From Tevis to Dick: The Man Who Fell to Earth. Slapshot: A Cinema Journal, 1981. Also Available at: http://www.douglaslain.f2s.com/from-tevis-to-dick.html Peary, Danny. The Man Who Fell to Earth: Cult Movies 2. New York: Delta/Dell Publishing, 1983. Rozen, Leah. "Man who Fell baffling". Daily Collegian [Penn State University] 1 Oct. 1976  Read More