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Friday, 21 September 2012

Re-visted - 2001:ASO - Working Girl - Bladerunner - Alien




I've noticed that Mike Nichols' film  Working Girl seems to either pay homage to 2001:ASO or directly reference to Kubrick's film...I shall explain.


Whilst watching 2001:ASO have you ever noticed how many times the term 'Happy Birthday' or 'Happiest Birthday' is utilised...it's quite a few, considering that the movie is very light on dialogue.

In the movie "Working Girl", the words "happy" and "birthday" are said a total of  13 and 10 times each respectively...whereas in 2001:ASO the words 'happy/happiest' are said 10 times & the word 'birthday' 13 times.  This seems to be a form of mirroring 13-10 and 10-13, a type of symmetry.  In fact, the very first word uttered in the film Working Girl....is 'birthday' and then a small cake (ben-ben) is presented, as can be seen in the picture (we only get an implied 'happy' as that part is not audible).

I mentioned this 10-13 motif before and it relates to Friday 13th...Kubrick was offered the Spartacus gig after Mann was fired on Friday 13th and Douglas called Kubrick on that same night and accepted the job, he was on set by the following Monday. (confirmed by Stranglove documentary).




One of the characters who is seen exclaiming Happy Birthday is in his first major movie and that is David Duchovny...which resonates with the X Files phenomena and all the UFO flavour that goes with it.  Note the resonant 10-13 motif.  I could bring up Kevin Spacey (geddit?) who also stars, but that would be labouring the point, as would the fact that he played an Alien in K-Pax.





Ok a tenuous start...I'll admit, but there's more.

Arguably one of the most well known aspects of 2001 is the transition phase from 'the dawn of man' into 'space'...the edit cut of the 'bone' being transformed into the 'space weapon'.

I think that Nichols deliberately references that in the following...




In fact the term 'bones' 'boney' are used quite often throughout the script.


Ok...but there's more.

How about a reference to the obligatory 'bathroom/toilet' shot that Stanley utilised so often?



The 'renaissance' (re-birth) room 2001 vs The 'renaissance' bathroom Working Girl.

With me so far....'cos there's more.

OK....Working Girl opening scenes... when Tess reaches her office the first call she receives is for a 'Mr Turkel'....this seems to be a wink of sorts from Nichols... Joe Turkel is one of only 2 actors who has worked with Kubrick 3 times in his movies' the other being Philip Stone...Joe Turkel, you may remember he played Lloyd the 'bar tender' in The Shining.




                                                                        The Turkel Twins



Eldon Tyrell - Bladerunner...Turkel in his own role as an 'overlord' of A.I. (that resonate with the themes herein).



Anyway...The 'Turkel' above in Working Girl gets this call from a character called 'Mr Alagash' who is in a hurry to talk to Turkel.  Well after doing a little digging I found an 'Allagash' referenced in respect of UFO abduction, in fact literally the first documented case of multiple abduction!

I shouldn't need to remind you of how that relates to 2001:ASO, lets just say that I'm sure we're familiar with the ET tampering idea that surrounds the later part of 2001:ASO and the fact that we're dealing with an 'alien' atrefact to begin with the 'monolith'.

the Allagash case achieved notoriety as perhaps the first well-documented multiple-witness UFO abduction event...in 1976, 12 years before Working Girl. In fact 2 of the men of 4 were 'twin' brothers....and it gets even weirder!!!




About 12 years after (1988, same year as Working Girl) the incident, twins Jim and Jack suddenly began to have similar nightmares of being in a "medical examination room". (umm 2001 end scene anyone!) They also dreamt of strange creatures with large heads and large black eyes. (maybe it was Kubrick & Nichols lol!) The twins told Chuck Rak and Charlie Foltz of their dreams, and were surprised to learn the other men were having similar nightmares.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allagash_Abductions]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allagash_Abductions


Digest all that for a little while.

But wait...there's more.

Nichols referencing 2001 & Kubrick (Cubed brick) again...why am I not suprised to find this?





The name 'Dewey Stone' evokes 'Moon Stone' and the precipitation known has 'dew' which allegorically still connects to the moon as its source...and with reference to the 'philosophers stone'. 

                                        "The allegory of dew coming from the moon is still present"




http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/%7Ealchemy/moon.html]http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/%7Ealchemy/moon.html



Outside of this 'Dew-ey' reference...


JOHN DEWEY

"Someone remarked that the best way to unite all the nations on this globe would be an attack from some other planet. In the face of such an alien enemy, people would respond with a sense of their unity of interest and purpose."

John Dewey, Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, 1917, excerpted from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Publication No. 15," p. 105.


And that's your next reference to Alien scenarios and abduction.


Mike Nichols first feature was 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?' 1966

His first major work in the medium of film began with a shot of the moon...






Working Girl has actress Sigourney Weaver as a main character and this brings in another Alien connection too, also Harrison Ford (Har-ford, EWS) has a main role, which brings in his 'stargating' from Star Wars etc.  Apparently 'star-gater' & 'bladerunner' Ford was considered for the role of Jack in Kubrick's The Shining.  He does play a 'Jack' in Working Girl.




                                         Harford (as in Dr) is a composite of Harrison & Ford.




                 Alien Weaver....who also played an A.I. ship's computer in Wall-E, just like Hal.




                                                  A.I. run amok....and turns on the crew.



                                      Star-gater Ford...who also plays Deckard in Bladerunner.




                                               Eye over the pyramid...Sirius/All seeing eye.



                                                        The eye of (tv) Set. (Bladerunner)


Turkel (in both The Shining & Bladerunner) lives in an uncompleted pyramid or a pyramid minus the capstone.  The incomplete 'pyramid' seen as a symbol of the unfinished 'great work'.






                                                  Brother Spielberg...So Mote It Be.


Jurassic Park visitor centre....barely hides the masonic apron (you have to turn it upside down), the power of Sirius (all seeing eye) radiates, death (t-rex) is now in the right place.





 


'Star-gater' Indy Ford...is cast as Hiram Abiff/the sun/Osiris and raised just like the 3rd degree story and into the light....hence the convoluted scene (fridge nuke), that left some cinema goers perplexed!
Jurassic Park & The Cystal Skull....both directed by 'Hiram Helper' Brother Spielberg.


And to bring it all full circle, I bring you...




                                              I even left something for all you bear enthusiasts!

Haley Joel Oz-ment...in Spielberg's A.I...which as you probably know, was something that Stanley initiated and worked on for years.


OK...how about I provide another sly reference into the mix re: Working Girl?  Having covered several 'winks' to 2001, can I relate it to another in the Kubrick canon and find further evidence of Nichols' intent?

               Well let's see...below, shots of Harrison Ford in Working Girl & The Colorado Lounge.



        There's Jack Torrance, oops I mean Jack Trainer in his Colorado inspired outfit, navajo design.




There's Jack just coming through the door and what is that strange random thing just over his shoulder, just a second that says Massacre...who would have that in their apartment, what massacre? And what are those figures underneath?



Closer up...they look very similar to those Navajo females that Jack throws the ball at in the Colorado Lounge...the Navajo Rainbow painting.  The 'Color-ado' Lounge...gedditt?
(Sorry this is the clearest picture I can find of the figures from Working Girl)

                                                               I've made it bigger here...




Jack, check...Navajo outfit, check...Massacre, check...Navajo Rainbow Indians, check.
Well it's certainly a contender.


               Danny's rainbows...Snoopy covered by a rainbow & Woodstock with his rainbow ball.




                                                               Where the rainbow ends?




Rainbow Fashions : Under The Rainbow...and the Lolita that is Milich's daughter, resides Over The Rainbow...synchronistically she (Sobieski) shares her birthday with Judy 'somewhere over the rainbow' Garland (June 10th).





                                     Happy Birthday  'rainbow girls' June 10th (1983 & 1922)






And just to wrap it up nicely...

Remember the scene I previously mentioned from Working Girl...where you see Jack in his Navajo outfit...when he returns from answering the door he starts to whistle..."If I Only Had a Brain (a Heart, the Nerve)" from the Wizard Of Oz, sung by the scarecrow, tin man & lion.





                                                                    And we finish on...






                              Alan Cumming aka Tin Man....Hotel Receptionist in Eyes Wide Shut.

Full Metal Jacket & SE7EN






 I've noticed something of a relationship between FMJ and Fincher's movie SE7EN...not least the fact that R Lee Ermey acts in both movies and that both films contain a good deal of 'suffering' oriented entertainment, references to 'hell' are plentiful in both.  John Doe is dispatched by a pistol bullet at the climax, virtually begging to be shot and 'the sniper' is ultimately dispatched by a pistol bullet and is begging to be shot.  John Doe even spends a little while playing a 'sniper' when he encounters Pitt & Freeman at his apartment...it certainly plays as a 'sniper' scene.


Wrath & Judgement...rolled into one.


During the first murder in SE7EN 'gluttony' (which is appropriate in respect of Pyle.)


    "Somebody had a problem with the 'fat boy' and tortured him to death. Simple"




Somebody (Hartman) had a problem with the 'fat boy' (Pyle) and tortured him to his death - suicide.Simple.

The Wrath of Hartman.

Which is exactly what we see him do to Pyle...torture him to his own suicide death. He calls him 'fat boy' 'fat body' etc throughout, forces him to eat a donut and even chokes him at one point (which evokes Danny's choking from The Shining) Pyle even acts child-like later (thumb sucking etc) in this first part...in fact, Hartman stops Pyle choking himself with his own hands (which really resonates with Jack and 'I think he did it to himself' claim) and demands that he uses his (Hartman's) hand to do it... we actually see the abuser 'Hartman' do it, like 'Jack' probably does, even though instructed to choke himself!)  Certainly seems to be some deliberate  inter-play between the Danny & Pyle choking aspects.


The barracks at Parris Island are on a floor that is numbered SE7EN or 7.





Is there a film that Ermey has been in...where the 'number 7' doesn't get referenced....here's number 3?  The moment the edit visually cuts to him in the Huey...he says SE7EN.



Two Dead Chef's...

One Dead Chef


 Another Dead Chef


Take the SE7EN 'gluttony' murder scene and link it with Alex's coming suicide attempt in A Clockwork Orange...the link is 'spaghetti sauce' and the almost identical way some of the shots are played.


Viddy this my little droogies.


Only other thing I could find was this....'33' sigil in both films, SE7EN has the pyramid in the shot too.
The 'prostitute' touting for business, is she being greedy (too beaucoup)?  The 'Greed' murder scene at Eli Gould's apt.






This could be from a 'masonic' sense the special conferred 33rd degree and/or the 32 vertebrae of the spinal column that lead to the 'temple of wisdom' the skull, the 33rd.


 33 Cypher

Apocalypse Now...shouldn't be left out either...as we can see from the shot of Willard in his room before he gets given 'the mission'.  The 33 just to the left of the top of his head...which would be appropriate.

I realise that it is a Vietnamese Biere that was popular at the time..but it does make an excellent veiled reference, which is probably the point.



           
                A composite I did to highlight this 'spinal concept'....2001 Discovery & Eraserhead.
                The spinal cord & sperm cell.


SE7EN...'33' from the TV channel, there are 3 obelisks (phalli of Osiris) to the right of the pyramid and I think a bird-like statue in front (perhaps Horus the Hawk). The only book title that is clearly visible is called 'Ornament' and this seems like a nod & wink, to pay mind to those 'ornaments' in this shot.  The rectangular pics are interesting, but I'm not calling them monoliths.


FMJ...'33' from the beer commercial, the 'Hynos' wording is an advert for a 'toothpaste'...which we've seen noted in Kubrick works and possible fluoride references.  The prostitute/whore referenced in both works...SE7EN it's appropriately via lust.




                           "Me so horny...Me love you loong time....me sucky, sucky. "  FMJ





 Thanks to 'the mask of god' blog for that composite.


Born To Kill (llik, backwards)....Born To Llik...Born To Lick.
Sex (Born To Lick) & Death (Born To Kill)

Peace symbol = piece = slang for penis. "Born to llik peace"  
"Born to lick piece".
I didn't even bother with the 'helmet' allusion either!

Heartman?

Hartman : Do you suck dicks? (multiple times)

Hartman : Bullshit! I'll bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose!

8 Ball : Oh, shi-i-i-t! (laughs) This  baby-san looks like she could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch.

Donlon : Hey! Hey! Me want suckee.

X amount of 'sucks' in the script.




The phallus & gun connection...sex & death...death & re-birth.



Sex after death - Death & Re-birth


Sniper death precedes the following...it is saturated with sexual connortations.

DONLON : Hard core, man. Fucking hard core.


JOKER (narration) : We have nailed our names in the pages of history enough for today. We hump down to the Perfume River (possible euphemism) to set in for the night.
JOKER (narration) : My thoughts drift back to erect nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy.  I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece and short. I'm in a world of shit . . . yes.  But I am alive. And I am not afraid.  (echoed in the closing dialogue of EWS)

Note 'dreams' is referenced here, as is Pyles dialogue 'I'm in a world of shit'...an echo to the
incident when Pyle deflects Joker's quote and/or a recall reference within the 'dream sense', mentioned just prior.  I think Hartman uses the term first though, in an earlier rant.





                                  [Most of the above occurs with the Mickey Mouse Club theme.]

Freeman's monologue at the end of SE7EN..also has a philosophical similarity to Joker's imo.

"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."  (he thinks the world is shit too, but worth fighting for.)


End FMJ...

Fade to a musical monolith "a red door painted black" for the rebirth, synchtastically enough performed by the Stone(s).