BFI Film Classics The Manchurian Candidate by Greil Marcus
I recently read David M. Stewart’s excellent Demme biography
There’s No Going Back, and Demme remade The Manchurian Candidate
in the early 2000s, post-9/11 in a world that had not quite yet realized the
full fever dream of online conspiracies. While there were conspiracies about 9/11,
the so-called weapons of mass destruction, and even the 2000 election, they
hadn’t yet spread wild over the internet, so it was interesting to see Demme
re-imagine this classic film for a new generation grappling with its own wars,
both physical and ideological. I was really excited to find this BFI Modern
Classics on the 1962 version of the Manchurian Candidate written by one
of my favorite critics, Greil Marcus. I always enjoy Marcus’s views and perspectives
on music, history, culture, and art, and this book presents an interesting take
on the history of the film in both its original context and a modern context.
What I also found interesting was Marcus’s own personal perspective on this
film.
Marcus presents a linear analysis of the film’s plot, but
seemingly moves between time, presenting the meaning of the film in the 50s and
its Cold War anti-communist ideologies, in the 1960s, released a year before
Kennedy’s assassination, and in the 2000 in a post-9/11 world. I found this
approach to be fascinating since the film is both preposterous, as Marcus
notes, but contains elements of real individuals and events like Senator
Iselin, who is modeled after Joseph McCarthy. Furthermore, Marcus notes how
similar the imagery of the film is to The Twilight Zone, a show that had
just become popular for its presentation of an uncanny simulacrum of our world.
In particular, he uses the dream sequences that are shared among different
members of Marco and Shaw’s platoon, where the envision a Ladies Garden Club
meeting in New Jersey, but really it is a meeting of communist leaders
discussing their plans for mind control and assassination. As Marcus notes, the
scene slips between the imagined and the real without any kind of clear
indication for viewers, something that is unique in its portrayal. It is a
rather disorienting scene, but one that is also shocking and innovative.
Like any Marcus deep dive into a work of art, this book
contains considerable reflection on the film’s relationship with real life
events, in particular assassinations that followed in the years after the film’s
release. I hadn’t realized how close in proximity this film was to Kennedy’s
assassination, which explains why it was not available for 25 years, until
1988. In Chapter 4, Marcus explores how the term Manchurian Candidate has
become a part of the political and conspiratorial vocabulary, especially with
all of the political and celebrity assassinations in the years following the
film’s release. Marcus is not indicating any kind of causation, but rather looking
at the film’s ideas about conspiracy and machinations, and how people have used
fiction to explain or make up the reality that is often unexplained or
mysterious. In particular, the book and film play on fears from the 50s of the Red
Scare, and I found this interesting in today’s climate, and how often people
will exploit fear, resentment, and anger, primal emotions, to gain followers or
votes. It’s interesting to reconsider this film now when the speed of
information is often too quick to verify or find out what is true.
Marcus is always a great critic whose keen insight and
ability to creatively contextualize a work both for its time period and modern
times enables readers to gain a unique perspective on films, music, and
literature. I really enjoyed this book, especially after watching The Manchurian
Candidate. It helped me understand the film better and find deeper meaning
in the symbols and shots throughout the film. Highly recommended.
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