Sunday, October 27, 2013

"The Edge of Sanity"


The Edge of Sanity
A movie, play and even television shows have a beginning which will usually show what the conflict is, then toward the middle, how the conflict will be taken care of and at the end, the conflict gets resolved and everything is fine. This beings me to the topic of the movie, “The Edge of Sanity”. This film would be classified in the genres of action, romance, with some horror elements stuck in at times. The film will set out to prove that Scotland has heroes that the country and it's people can count on to feel safe and that they can count on. It also goes to prove that vampires can be heroes, not just the blood sucking villains they're usually portrayed as.. Finally, it also shows that there can be strong female roles in films without the main heroine being just a sex pot, a weakling or being killed off toward the end of a film.
In the beginning we meet the main protagonist his name is Daniel Christianson, and is portrayed by Marilyn Manson. Christianson who happens to be a very powerful, eight hundred year old, vampire and the secret weapon of a top secret organization only known as The Black Dragon. His job is to simply protect the Scottish people from the plague that is spreading throughout the country. The Black Dragon organization is lead by Vlad Michaels, played by John Goodman, he swore to help Scotland in the fight against the invasion of vampires and their ghouls of the Scottish mafia run by Iseabail Bruis, personated by Shirley Manson. Daniel Christianson would be considered a modern day James Bond. The only difference is that Christianson, was forced to work for Michaels against his will. Christianson, like Bond, is thought of as “..an imperial hero, who provided a way for Britishness to continue to be defined in opposition to the 'dark' people of the world.” (Baron 136). The darkness in this case being the Scottish mafia and the vampires and ghouls it controls. Through this, Scotland realizes it has at least one person it can count on, although he isn't completely trusted because of his vampire nature.
Part of the conflict Christianson faces is the death of his fiancee. As he storms into an apartment building after fending off the ghouls that surround the area, he finds his fiancee, and the heroine Charlotte McKain, acted by Kate Beckinsale, murdered by the hands of a rogue vampire. This leads to him killing the rogue vampire in a psychotic rage. After the threat has been taken care of, he takes McKain in the bathroom and begins bathing her in his blood. After approximately fifteen years, she awakens. She then goes in search of Chistainson. This moment, falls under the old romantic comedy guidelines. Boy meets girl, where McKain and Christianson meet, fall in love, and get engaged. Boy loses girl, this is the point where McKain dies and later on, boy gets girl back when they reunite with each other. While this isn't a romantic comedy, the previous situation could be taken in any romance plot line.
After awakening, she leaves the building, she beings taking out any perceived threat that stands in her way with her only possession, a bow, she picked up on her way out. At the moment that she fires an arrow into the ghoul standing in her way. It gives Scotland and it's people that they have yet another hero that they can count on in making sure they are safe. This also gives the audience the impression that McKain isn't just another pretty face. Before her death, many people would perceive McKain, and others like her as “small, weak underdogs who must transform themselves in important ways to overcome long odds to succeed.” (Allison and Goethals). That's because she got murdered because she couldn't protect herself in that instance. However, that isn't the case, before she died, she was a member of the police force, taking down men twice her size. She also has a passion for sword play and archery. Furthermore, because she “..receive(d) assistance from enchanted and unlikely source(s).” (Allison and Goethals) she became a vampire, therefore becoming more powerful and stronger than she was before.
The feminism arguments come into play here. Simone De Beauvoir quotes Aristotle, and states that, “'The female is a female by virtue, of a certain lack of qualities, we should regard the female nature as afflicted with a natural defectiveness.” (De Beauvoir). This puts all women in the same circle as weaklings no matter what the circumstance is. Charlotte McKain proves this wrong, for she can hold her own. She is not lacking in any qualities that would be a hindrance to anyone. De Beauvoir also argues that women have a master/slave relationship with men (De Beauvoir). In the case, when Daniel and Charlotte meet up again, there will be a master/slave relationship of sorts, but it is not because she is a woman and he a man. On the contrary, it is because she is his fledgeling and she will need to learn, not because she is less than he is.
On occasion Daniel will talk down to her, making it seem as though she is inferior to him, goading her on and verbally abusing her. Phrases like, “What do you know, you're a woman?”, or when he gets angry or enraged and doesn't want to be bothered, “Know your place little girl!”. This doesn't phase her at all though, because, as Fraser describes feminism in this case, “This must involve argument and contestation about which new descriptions will count and which women will be empowered.” (Barker 249). She knows she's a strong women and she won't let some over grown child make her feel like she isn't. McKain won't back down either, as she more often than not calls him out on what he's saying. The witty retorts catching him off guard, making him realize the reason he fell in love with her in the first place.
This point in the film, she follows his aura until she stops in front of The Black Dragon headquarters and reunites with Daniel. As I pointed out earlier this is the last part of the romantic equation, and they are both happy to be in each others company again. McKain gets introduced to Michaels, and after a quick briefing to the situation at hand, McKain and Christianson start training. He is surprised at how strong she is, and he knows he doesn't have to worry about her safety. He realized that, while she was for the brief moment, she will not be the damsel in distress anymore. The situation of the damsel in distress is “a classic example of a passive character defined by the actions of another, and this is precisely the fate that waits in store for many supposedly-strong female characters: despite all their muscle, their stubborn temperament, their bow, and their bravery, they end up incapacitated or jailed by some guy, and then just wait around until they're rescued by another.” (Legomenon).
This is what typically happens to a strong female character, so that when it is shown that she's about to do something heroic, she gets knocked down a peg and gets captured. However, in McKain's case, this will never be a problem. For every mission they go on, she holds her own like any man, and in some cases. She proves to be better than men, and in this instance, unlike other strong female characters in the media and pop culture, such as Vasquez from “Aliens”, and Sarah Conner in “Terminator 2”, and the tough female character from “Resident Evil” she won't be so easy to just kill off.
Coming back from their training, Michaels gives them the news that a new threat is imminent and that Iseabail Bruis is planning another attack. This time however, it's different, they are informed that the attack is on the Vatican. Daniel is sent to take care of the vampires and ghouls that she has generically modified to spread an infection turning everyone into ghouls in Rome. Michaels was going to send Charlotte to Rome with him, but Daniel comes to her defense, and tells him to let her go take care of Bruis herself. Michaels agrees and sends them their separate ways, after several days of dispatching the threat in Scotland, and destroying Iseabail. Charlotte is sent to help Daniel in Rome, when she arrives, the place is in shambles.
She tracks down Christianson and gives him the update that Bruis has been exterminated, he is pleased with this news and they begin fighting together. Several hours pass, and the threat is generally wiped out there too. She only to notice several minutes too late that he has lost a lot of blood during the battle. In his weakened state, he can't seem to go on much longer. She does the only thing she can thing of to do to help him in the situation at hand. In one last grand romantic gesture, without crying, without any emotion but caring, she lets him drink from her, and that gives him enough strength to carry on, at least for that moment. In the situation at hand, this is the complete opposite of what usually happens in media and pop culture with strong female roles. Usually it is the man saving the woman because the writers of films always, no matter how physically or mentally strong they are. They have to break down in some way to be down graded into this weak shell that their gender always has to fall into.
After the battle has been won, and there is no other threat Daniel's wounds don't heal like they used to. He explained to her that it took a majority of his power to take care of most of the hoards before she got there, he is weaker, from the loss of blood and his vamperic powers, closer to death now and he starts slipping away before he is gone. He disappears for several years after this incident happened, finally reappearing after forty years, to see Charlotte heading The Black Dragons now.
This is the first time in movies that the strong female character doesn't die because of some motherly instinct that wasn't there before, manifested itself up at some random moment, causing the heroin's death. This is also the first time that the strong female protagonist tries to save or saves the male protagonist from demise or death making the man look weak for once.
This also goes to show that vampires can be the heroes as well, not just psychotic blood sucking monsters that do not possess the ability of being on the side of good. Whether or not they are fighting their own kind, or another threat, vampires are heroes that can protect their country. Furthermore, females can be strong willed women, who do not have to get captured all the time and always be the ones to die and that even the most powerful vampires are capable of love.














Works Cited

Allison, Scott T. and Goethals, George R. Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them”. The Heroic Leadership Dynamic - Part 1. 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. http://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/

Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies Theory and Practice. London: Sage. 2012. Print.

Baron, Cynthia. Dr No: Bonding Britishness to racial sovereignty. PDF file.

De Beauvoir, Simone. “Introduction” to The Second Sex. 1949. Print.

Legomenon, Hapaxius. “Stars, Beetles, and Fools”. Writing Strong Women, Part II: Independence in Action. 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. http://starsbeetlesandfools.blogspot.com/2013/08/writing-strong-women-part-ii.html

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