I saw Forbidden Planet a while back, and I absolutely loved it: I may have a new favourite SciFi film. I do have a question regarding the originality of the plot.
In the film, as you may know, a special device is introduced that ‘creates’ a person’s wishes and desires, both conscious and subconscious. As it turns out, the dark subconscious side of the man who operates the machine produces a giant “Id-monster” that terrorizes everyone. Now, I know a lot of stories and movies center around some (magical or technological) device that makes the characters’ subconscious “real” and, more often than not, deadly. “Sphere” and “Event Horizon” come to mind, but there are of course lots more, all of which, to my knowledge, were made after “Forbidden Planet”.
My question: are there any books/stories/films that touch on this subject which pre-date Forbidden Planet? I’m just curious as to how “original” this idea was at the time.
The plot is not highly original in the first place: It’s Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” (Morbius = Propero, Robbie = Ariel, Altira = Miranda, Monster from the Id = Caliban).
As far as the “subconscious monster” being original, Alfred Bester used it in “Oddy and Id” in 1950, six years before the movie. I don’t know if “Forbidden Planet’s” writers were aware of the story, but the concept had been used before and was a common extrapolation of Freudian psychology of the time.
I knew about the “Tempest” thing: I was more concerned with the subconscious becoming “real” through some alien device. But thanks for the reference, Realitychuck: that’s the sort of thing I was looking for.
Well, there’s that whole God/Satan thing…
God/Satan thing? What do you mean, Ethilrist??
I still don’t think there’s THAT much of a resemblance. I’m aware the relationship exists, but to me, it’s a very loose adaptation in some really important ways (most importantly, Prospero doesn’t pay for his actions the way Morbius does, in fact, Prospero isn’t even wrong).
ANYway, perhaps Ethilrist means that in the bible, god creates everything, so satan comes from that. Or perhaps that there’s the whole original sin thing.
Agreed, the adaptation is loose, but the situation quite clearly parallels Shakespeare, and the characters on the planet are quite clearly modeled on the Shakespeare play.
I got a kick several years ago when they did an adaptation of “The Templest” in New York and set it on an alien planet. The critics seemed to think the idea was a new one. :rolleyes:
A good argument could be made that this theme is explored in the classic Frankenstein (1931). The monster is Frankenstein’s doppelganger, his supernatural double, and a psychic projection of his id. The neurotic Frankenstein, cloistered away from his family and fiancée in his remote laboratory (in a phallic tower, no less), creates a monster whose total lack of inhibition frees him to act violently upon every crisis point in Frankenstein’s life. In an Oedipal moment, the monster kills Frankentein’s disapproving mentor, Dr. Waldman (who had expelled Frankenstein from university), as the latter is attempting to dissect the monster (metaphor for castration?). The monster then escapes and, cornering Frankenstein’s fiancée in her bedroom on the morning of her wedding, symbolically rapes her (she’s lying prone on her bed, semi-conscious and moaning when they find her). In the climatic chase, when Frankenstein alone confronts his monster face to face, director James Whale uses parallel closeups on the mountain and in the windmill to suggest their duality. With the death of Frankenstein’s monster, his id, in the windmill fire, Frankenstein is once again able to be reunited with his family and his fiancée as he heals, physically and psychically.
Very interesting interpretation there, Walloon. While I personally feel that Freud is being dragged into far too many interpretations, this one at least seems very plausible.
umm… you are kidding, right? God created Satan, who turned evil and came to encompass and represent everything that is evil everywhere.
The Bible, in 20 seconds. W00t!
I know that similar themes were explored in science fiction stories in the 1940’s; movies are usually a couple of decades behind written science fiction. (E.g. The Matrix.)