In the beginning, Eastman Kodak created film…
And soon after, film begat images recorded onto film, which, in turn, begat stories recorded by means of sequentially edited images onto film...
Which begat special effects to enhance the “unfilmable” components of the stories recorded onto film…
Which begat the legal demand for “safe” depictions of graphic mayhem within this cinematic spectacle...
Which begat… THE DESTRUCTIBLE MAN.
Being a dummy is no picnic. From it’s first moment on this earth, not unlike a living being, the dummy is destined to die. But that is where the similarities between dummy and other life forms on this planet end.
A dummy is created by man in his own image primarily to perform tasks that no other living creature would be physically able to perform...
Mannequins pose eternally motionless – displaying an ever changing variety of fashions…
Lawn jockeys remain forever perched – illuminating safe passage to hearth and home…
Crash test dummies undergo endless building and vehicle stress tests so as to provide human beings with a safer modern lifestyle…
Effigies provide cultures with a symbolic focal point to harness their strengths and vulnerabilities, hostilities and festivities…
But the toughest row the dummy has had to hoe in this last century has been in entertaining it’s look-alike living, breathing counterpart.
On stage and film, the dummy has been made to undergo some of the vilest, cruelest, most physically punishing forms of mayhem – all for the mere amusement of mankind. Why are dummy deaths in motion pictures so thrilling,
so exciting,
so hilarious?
What is it about that moment when the baton of existance is passed from human actor to inert facsimile? What is it about that moment when those two figures are supposedly indistinguishable? The answer is: dummies don’t do what they’re told.
Within tribal societies, dummies/effigies are intermediaries between the physical world and the spirit world. In cinema, they are intermediaries between credible verisimilitude and limp, limb-flailing delirium. For seemingly lifeless wads of plastic and cloth, they display a distinctly human tendency towards anarchy.
Cinematographers are often forced to violate a carefully planned and executed shooting blueprint in order to capture the unpredictable, uncontrolled frenzy of a dummy death. This moment is tantamount to an act of vandalism upon the very movie the dummy itself is appearing in.
One would think that technological advances in computer generated imagery would, by now, have rendered a good, solid dummy death obsolete. Not so! They continue to appear with pleasing regularity in some of Hollywood’s highest profile, even Oscar-winning movies.
Mistakenly, dummy deaths are often associated with low budget genre productions (horror, crime, war, etc) but sooner or later, every A-list director is going to have to throw a dummy, poorly disguised in their lead actor’s costume.
Lest not forget, in this very real, unreal realm, not even dummied animals are exempt from indignity;
horses, crocodiles, lions and snakes seem to suffer the most frequent abuse in the white knuckled grasp of a bronze-skinned muscleman or a pith helmeted celluloid adventurer.
And so, within these hallowed cyber-halls we will explore "Planet Dummy-Death": all the avenues of celluloid dummy-deaths and dummy-death culture and hopefully shape a stronger sympathy for this under-appreciated intrepid of the modern age -- the Dummy.
So, consider this site a celebration, if you will – a toast to a faithful and prolific breed of creature specifically designed to die and die again – figuratively – literally – cinematically -- exclusively -- for your benefit.
And soon after, film begat images recorded onto film, which, in turn, begat stories recorded by means of sequentially edited images onto film...
Which begat special effects to enhance the “unfilmable” components of the stories recorded onto film…
Which begat the legal demand for “safe” depictions of graphic mayhem within this cinematic spectacle...
Which begat… THE DESTRUCTIBLE MAN.
Being a dummy is no picnic. From it’s first moment on this earth, not unlike a living being, the dummy is destined to die. But that is where the similarities between dummy and other life forms on this planet end.
A dummy is created by man in his own image primarily to perform tasks that no other living creature would be physically able to perform...
Mannequins pose eternally motionless – displaying an ever changing variety of fashions…
Lawn jockeys remain forever perched – illuminating safe passage to hearth and home…
Crash test dummies undergo endless building and vehicle stress tests so as to provide human beings with a safer modern lifestyle…
Effigies provide cultures with a symbolic focal point to harness their strengths and vulnerabilities, hostilities and festivities…
But the toughest row the dummy has had to hoe in this last century has been in entertaining it’s look-alike living, breathing counterpart.
On stage and film, the dummy has been made to undergo some of the vilest, cruelest, most physically punishing forms of mayhem – all for the mere amusement of mankind. Why are dummy deaths in motion pictures so thrilling,
so exciting,
so hilarious?
What is it about that moment when the baton of existance is passed from human actor to inert facsimile? What is it about that moment when those two figures are supposedly indistinguishable? The answer is: dummies don’t do what they’re told.
Within tribal societies, dummies/effigies are intermediaries between the physical world and the spirit world. In cinema, they are intermediaries between credible verisimilitude and limp, limb-flailing delirium. For seemingly lifeless wads of plastic and cloth, they display a distinctly human tendency towards anarchy.
Cinematographers are often forced to violate a carefully planned and executed shooting blueprint in order to capture the unpredictable, uncontrolled frenzy of a dummy death. This moment is tantamount to an act of vandalism upon the very movie the dummy itself is appearing in.
One would think that technological advances in computer generated imagery would, by now, have rendered a good, solid dummy death obsolete. Not so! They continue to appear with pleasing regularity in some of Hollywood’s highest profile, even Oscar-winning movies.
Mistakenly, dummy deaths are often associated with low budget genre productions (horror, crime, war, etc) but sooner or later, every A-list director is going to have to throw a dummy, poorly disguised in their lead actor’s costume.
Lest not forget, in this very real, unreal realm, not even dummied animals are exempt from indignity;
horses, crocodiles, lions and snakes seem to suffer the most frequent abuse in the white knuckled grasp of a bronze-skinned muscleman or a pith helmeted celluloid adventurer.
And so, within these hallowed cyber-halls we will explore "Planet Dummy-Death": all the avenues of celluloid dummy-deaths and dummy-death culture and hopefully shape a stronger sympathy for this under-appreciated intrepid of the modern age -- the Dummy.
So, consider this site a celebration, if you will – a toast to a faithful and prolific breed of creature specifically designed to die and die again – figuratively – literally – cinematically -- exclusively -- for your benefit.
1 comment:
I just revisited your Man-ifesto, fucking aces!
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