Movies, Zombies, Death and Destruction (WHEEEE!!!!!)
After the dreaded Zombie Attacks, I keep thinking about the movie “Hardware” and why I love it:
1) It gives an unapologetic view of the death of humanity as bleak, dark, miserable. Yet still clinging to the technology that defeated it. It illustrates a society that has been constantly at war (and still is) and how everything else has been allowed to deteriorate as a sacrifice to the War Machine. There is a place that used to be a city or close to sand that is now called ‘Glass Flats’ (where the atomics caused everything to fuse).
2) Iggy Pop is the radio DJ. You never see him, but you can’t miss his voice and his over-the-top glee at everything: “…And the good news is, there is NO GOOD NEWS!!!” (images of industrial waste pouring into the environment)
“Look at that sky! Nature never knew colours like this!” (it’s a heavy, leaden-orange glare)
3) Lemmy from Motorhead as the ‘cab’ driver blaring Motorhead music from his player.
4) The casual acceptance of entropy and violence. Lemmy: “You know, this used to be a nice neighbourhood. Used to, you only had to carry a big wooden bat or mebbe a knife to walk down here. Now, you can’t come down here alone.”
5) The fact everything is SNAFU. The computers, the equipment, the society, the people. When a car crashes through a hotel lobby, the street people just move in.
6) The government passing laws to sterilise everyone for Zero Population Growth. I mean, ZERO.
7) The television commercials for “…Radiation-Free reindeer meat! Get them before they’re gone!” Most of the food in this is hysterical and makes a silent statement. The tea appears to be weeds in water. The milk is now “lactoplasm”. There isn’t any evidence of much else.
8) Radiation poisoning is also a casual thing. Visitors to one’s apartment are greeted with a geiger counter. Mega-rad doses are normal. The dwarf junk dealer makes jokes at Dylan McDermott about his time spent out in the “Zone”, which is the area(s) where all the atomic bombing has been going on and how HIS (the dwarf’s) future children will be geniuses compared to Mo’s once all that radiation plays havoc on their genes.
9) ART!!!! Art is all about Organics and Machine, which is the basis of the whole movie. Jill is an artist who mistakenly uses the Mark 13 pieces in her art, which begins all her personal chaos.
10) The Mark 13. It’s a governmentally-designed android created to fulfill a basic Biblical tenent: “…And no flesh shall be spared.” You get the impression that it was devised as a war machine in the beginning, but by the end of the movie it’s being released into the general population. It’s a killing machine, of course. It’s aware, it can repair itself, it’s nearly indestructible, and it can use whatever it has to hand to Kill! Kill! Kill!
11) The casual use of drugs to numb the population. Cigarettes are now either marijuana or they’re some other drug called “Good Vibes”, and another character uses a tab of what appears to be some kind of acid during meditation.
12) Finally, the creepy, ICKY Voyeur named Lincoln. He was originally a security installer in Jill’s apartment and he’s made his life all about peeping into her apartment and doing his thing to whatever she’s doing. He’s so very, VERY slimey…and I’ve experienced this. TWICE. I have no problem believing a security company would hire this guy. **
Hardware is a very clever commentary upon our times, plus it’s been artfully put together.
Nechtan
** In the first house I rented, after a break-in I had an alarm system installed. One of the installers was a HUGE, obese guy who only stood out to me because he had a voice like Minnie Mouse. He had to be almost 6’4” tall, extremely wide, and that little helium voice.
I also had an unlisted number and everyone at home, work, etc. called me Greyson. I immediately began getting obscene phone calls from a helium-voiced man USING MY LEGAL NAME and wanting to know what I was wearing. The alarm system had been installed under my legal name.
The calls stopped once his boss told me his name and I was able to tell the guy: “Look, BILLY, I not only know who you are, but your boss does, too. I’m calling the police next.”
In the NEXT house I lived in (the one I’m in now), I was more cautious and tried to limit the security installers’ access to areas of the house they did not need to be in. At one point, another (different) big-boy installer came up to me and said, “So, your husband’s a fireman. My brother’s a fireman.”
I know better than to say, “I don’t have a husband.” I looked at him, smiled, and asked, “How did you figure that out?”
His reply: “I saw your calendar was marked every three days in the kitchen, which is the schedule a firefighter is on.” My calendar was tucked BEHIND THE CHIMNEY in my kitchen. To see it, he had to have walked in and investigated, going over to the refrigerator and then peering at the calendar tucked into the nook. It was marked for the days I had to give my cat Dione half of an aspirin for her heart condition, but I was alarmed the creep had taken that much interest in me!
I've also had a plumber tell me I could make a lot of money being an exotic dancer. I no longer trust much of any workman in my house.
1) It gives an unapologetic view of the death of humanity as bleak, dark, miserable. Yet still clinging to the technology that defeated it. It illustrates a society that has been constantly at war (and still is) and how everything else has been allowed to deteriorate as a sacrifice to the War Machine. There is a place that used to be a city or close to sand that is now called ‘Glass Flats’ (where the atomics caused everything to fuse).
2) Iggy Pop is the radio DJ. You never see him, but you can’t miss his voice and his over-the-top glee at everything: “…And the good news is, there is NO GOOD NEWS!!!” (images of industrial waste pouring into the environment)
“Look at that sky! Nature never knew colours like this!” (it’s a heavy, leaden-orange glare)
3) Lemmy from Motorhead as the ‘cab’ driver blaring Motorhead music from his player.
4) The casual acceptance of entropy and violence. Lemmy: “You know, this used to be a nice neighbourhood. Used to, you only had to carry a big wooden bat or mebbe a knife to walk down here. Now, you can’t come down here alone.”
5) The fact everything is SNAFU. The computers, the equipment, the society, the people. When a car crashes through a hotel lobby, the street people just move in.
6) The government passing laws to sterilise everyone for Zero Population Growth. I mean, ZERO.
7) The television commercials for “…Radiation-Free reindeer meat! Get them before they’re gone!” Most of the food in this is hysterical and makes a silent statement. The tea appears to be weeds in water. The milk is now “lactoplasm”. There isn’t any evidence of much else.
8) Radiation poisoning is also a casual thing. Visitors to one’s apartment are greeted with a geiger counter. Mega-rad doses are normal. The dwarf junk dealer makes jokes at Dylan McDermott about his time spent out in the “Zone”, which is the area(s) where all the atomic bombing has been going on and how HIS (the dwarf’s) future children will be geniuses compared to Mo’s once all that radiation plays havoc on their genes.
9) ART!!!! Art is all about Organics and Machine, which is the basis of the whole movie. Jill is an artist who mistakenly uses the Mark 13 pieces in her art, which begins all her personal chaos.
10) The Mark 13. It’s a governmentally-designed android created to fulfill a basic Biblical tenent: “…And no flesh shall be spared.” You get the impression that it was devised as a war machine in the beginning, but by the end of the movie it’s being released into the general population. It’s a killing machine, of course. It’s aware, it can repair itself, it’s nearly indestructible, and it can use whatever it has to hand to Kill! Kill! Kill!
11) The casual use of drugs to numb the population. Cigarettes are now either marijuana or they’re some other drug called “Good Vibes”, and another character uses a tab of what appears to be some kind of acid during meditation.
12) Finally, the creepy, ICKY Voyeur named Lincoln. He was originally a security installer in Jill’s apartment and he’s made his life all about peeping into her apartment and doing his thing to whatever she’s doing. He’s so very, VERY slimey…and I’ve experienced this. TWICE. I have no problem believing a security company would hire this guy. **
Hardware is a very clever commentary upon our times, plus it’s been artfully put together.
Nechtan
** In the first house I rented, after a break-in I had an alarm system installed. One of the installers was a HUGE, obese guy who only stood out to me because he had a voice like Minnie Mouse. He had to be almost 6’4” tall, extremely wide, and that little helium voice.
I also had an unlisted number and everyone at home, work, etc. called me Greyson. I immediately began getting obscene phone calls from a helium-voiced man USING MY LEGAL NAME and wanting to know what I was wearing. The alarm system had been installed under my legal name.
The calls stopped once his boss told me his name and I was able to tell the guy: “Look, BILLY, I not only know who you are, but your boss does, too. I’m calling the police next.”
In the NEXT house I lived in (the one I’m in now), I was more cautious and tried to limit the security installers’ access to areas of the house they did not need to be in. At one point, another (different) big-boy installer came up to me and said, “So, your husband’s a fireman. My brother’s a fireman.”
I know better than to say, “I don’t have a husband.” I looked at him, smiled, and asked, “How did you figure that out?”
His reply: “I saw your calendar was marked every three days in the kitchen, which is the schedule a firefighter is on.” My calendar was tucked BEHIND THE CHIMNEY in my kitchen. To see it, he had to have walked in and investigated, going over to the refrigerator and then peering at the calendar tucked into the nook. It was marked for the days I had to give my cat Dione half of an aspirin for her heart condition, but I was alarmed the creep had taken that much interest in me!
I've also had a plumber tell me I could make a lot of money being an exotic dancer. I no longer trust much of any workman in my house.