Pop Mythology Pop Mythology: Movie, Book, Comic reviews & commentary
Take Shelter reminds me of some of the best films from what I consider to be the golden age of horror cinema, the 70s (roughly) in which the emphasis on character, story, plot development and subtlety always superseded shock and gore, so much so that viewers accustomed to the pacing of today’s horror may find the masterworks of that era to be exceedingly slow.
While not a horror movie per se, there’s no question that Take Shelter borrows liberally from the horror genre’s bag of tricks. And like The Road, another technically non-horror film, there is an underlying sense of dread and foreboding here that’s far more sophisticated and true-to-life than most of what passes for horror these days. It strums the chord of anxiety that drones under our veneer of first-world prosperity.
Though it could be taken literally as a tale of apocalyptic doom, Take Shelter works best as an allegory. The storm that our protagonist, Curtis (Michael Shannon), seeks to take shelter from is an amalgam of various fears both personal and collective. At the personal level it represents the fear of severe mental illness and of the emotional turmoil and separation that occurs as a result of it. At the collective level it represents impending economic or environmental collapse, both of which are alluded to in various ways throughout the film.
It’s also a portrait of the intense loneliness and ostracization that comes with both mental illness and also with being the only one in your community to see the warning signs of approaching financial or ecological disaster while everyone else remains oblivious.
“There’s a storm coming like you’ve never seen,” Curtis shrieks hysterically at a roomful of people, “and not one of you is prepared for it!”
They clearly think he’s crazy, and what’s at once so unnerving and tragic about his character is that for most of the film, we’re not sure if he is or not either.
[subscribe2]
I’ve been meaning to watch this one for about a year but been hesitant. Thanks for the reminder.
I’ve been meaning to watch this one for about a year but been hesitant. Thanks for the reminder.
For some reason it posted as Pop Mythology and not as Jess Kroll. Stupid iphone.
That’s ok, Jess. I think this is a general bug that Facebook needs to fix. I’ve noticed it too where if you’re looking at a page that you’re an admin member of, and then you like something or comment on it, it seems to do so as the page not your personal profile. Weird.
For some reason it posted as Pop Mythology and not as Jess Kroll. Stupid iphone.
The hard to watch psychology of the movie made me anxious enough to leave the theater, but I’m glad I was able to make it to the end. I was reminded of this last night talking to my father that he couldn’t make it through the Shining.
Thanks for your comment, Lee. Yeah, I think that yours would probably be the best compliment to the writer/director! Curtis is just a regular, working-class guy with a family that he loves and wants to protect. In that way, he's a kind of stand-in for many of us. It's hard not to vicariously share the anxiety that he feels.
Your father's experience with the 'The Shining' (one of my favorite movies) is interesting. I think maybe that it also struck a deep chord in a lot of people at the time, especially adult males who were fathers, in that it's about this man who basically really loves his family but is possessed into hurting them. There's also the alcoholism theme (a very personal one for King and for my family as well). One of my own interpretations is that it's also about the space that we feel we need when working on a creative project, even from our own families, and how frustrated we can become when we don't get it. I think that's another reason it made people uncomfortable. They recognized a part of themselves in Jack Torrance.
That’s ok, Jess. I think this is a general bug that Facebook needs to fix. I’ve noticed it too where if you’re looking at a page that you’re an admin member of, and then you like something or comment on it, it seems to do so as the page not your personal profile. Weird.