The Martian

The Martian, 2015, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie and Chiwetel Ejiofor

I walk into the dank meeting room below the community centre, the florescent strip lights highlighting the faded patch work carpet under my feet. I nervously clutch my Costa latte – it’s too damn late to be drinking it at this hour, but alcohol isn’t allowed at these meetings and my nerves need something stronger than tea. I glance toward my peers as I take a seat in a hard plastic chair, sat in a circle across from the one friendly face in the room. Brian, our community outreach officer, nods and smiles in acknowledgement of my arrival, but I can’t find the words to say hello, and instead grimace and nod in return. 

As the final few people shuffle through the plywood door and take their seats, Brian claps his hands together. I just know he’ll start with me – I was warned outside by an anonymous smoking companion that he always begins with the newest member. “Some rubbish about ‘drawing you out’ or something,” he’d said, as he dragged on his Marlboro. Brian looks everyone square in the eye and I catch my smoker friend roll his eyes. He’s already utterly jaded to this; some people just can’t be changed, no matter how often they talk about their feelings.

“So welcome back everyone, and since we’re a little late, let’s just jump in with introducing our newest friend. So,” he says, gesturing to me, “Tell us a little about yourself, why are you here?” He looks at me, pleasantly and expectantly; he’s the only one who does. I lick my lips, take a deep breath – and begin.

“So, er… hi everyone, I’m Elspeth-”

“Hello, Elspeth,” they drone in response.

“Right, yeah, hi. Well, I’m Elspeth and I hate Ridley Scott films,” I breathe a sigh of relief as Brian smiles encouragingly. I look to the slightly askew banner above his head – Ridley Scott Haters Anonymous it reads in Comic Sans. I suppress a sneer as I note the faux jauntiness of the font.

“Tell us more, Elspeth,” Brian says, soothingly.

“Well, I guess it started when I saw Alien for the first time – I’d been told it was this masterwork of sci-fi and horror, but it did absolutely nothing for me. Same with Blade Runner; I knew I was supposed to be a cornerstone of dystopian cinema, but I couldn’t help myself comparing it to the book, and it bugged me that, if humanity was on the brink of extinction, how come they could fill out a cityscape of that size? It seems like a nitpick, but it stopped me from enjoying Harrison Ford, and that’s old school Ford up on the screen – it made me think I’d lost my mind, but I couldn’t get behind him or the story.” I take a swig of my now freezing cold coffee and carry on, finding that getting this off my chest at long last was empowering.

“I tried one last time with Gladiator – I thought that surely this’d be the one I understood the hype for. It had such a pedigree, but still, there was something missing. Maximus is such a noble character, he becomes impossible to relate too. I found him lacking in any faults and though I get that’s probably the point, it’s about a good man in an impossible situation, I get that, it still doesn’t make him particularly knowable or even likable. So yeah, I sort of gave up on Ridley Scott with that.”

Brian, who had been nodding like a wobble dog the entire time I had been talking, looks at me with friendly concern. “So why have you come tonight then? I’ve been asking you for a while to head down to these sessions, why now?”

“Because… I saw The Martian this week.” My smoker friend groans, and a woman to my left scoffs. Brian’s eyes widen in suppressed shock.

“You paid money for a Scott film? That’s against step one of our twelve step programme, did you not read the pamphlet I sent you?”

“I know that, but it looked fun and like Gravity, but on Mars and with Matt Damon - and I love Gravity and Matt Damon!” The woman to my left tosses her hands up in despair as the rest of the group shift uncomfortably. Brian holds his hand up and they settle again, but this time they each throw me a filthy look.

“So you had a relapse, that’s fine, that’s what this support group is for, right guys? That’s when we need each other the most!” He says, cheerfully. He snaps back to concern as he looks again to me. “Do you want to talk about it? Was it a very terrible experience?”

I wish I had more coffee. “Well, it was about twenty minutes too long and there were probably too many characters; there’s one romantic subplot that could have had more time or maybe even jettisoned entirely.” My smoker friend mutters ‘Typical Scott…’ under his breath. I steal myself for what I say next.

“But apart from that, it’s probably the finest science fiction film I’ve seen in a long time.” The room stills. I have their attention.

“Matt Damon is at the height of his charm in it – when the film is on Mars and focuses on the problems he faces, you really get behind him and what’s more, you like the crew who leave him for dead when they have to abort their mission. And this makes sense; they all have to be smart because they’re astronauts on the debut NASA Mars mission, and they have to be likable and light-hearted because they’re spending nearly two years together; it makes sense for them to be making light of their situation and ribbing each other, and what’s more the screenwriter Drew Goddard takes full advantage of this and there are some truly enjoyable interactions within this group.

“But where the film really works is where you get to see smart people work out impossible problems, and what’s more, it’s not effortless for them. A huge part of the gentle humour that runs throughout the film comes from the long suffering Development team as they stare in horror at their encroaching deadline, and from how Jeff Daniels and Kristen Wiig work out a way to keep the press at bay, whilst still courting all the good PR they can. Sean Bean and Chiwetel Ejiofor only have their astronauts’ safety in mind and the dynamic this creates is fascinating and very fun to watch. They make mistakes on Mars and Earth and the film builds to a truly gripping climax as the margin for error gapes like a canyon before them and you do wonder if they’ll actually get their spaceman back in one piece.

“I guess it’s got all the human reality of a workplace drama, but it has all the scope and excitement of a massive sci-fi epic. Some shots are just a wonder to behold and the editing gives a beautiful flow to the entire piece. But more important than any of this, and what can sometimes be missing from other Ridley Scott films, is that it has a sense of humour about itself. Though Matt Damon isn’t quite as full on as Chris Pratt, the disco soundtrack keeps the tone light, which is probably a lesson well learned from Guardians of the Galaxy. It really is remarkably good.”

Brian stares at me, all friendliness abandoned, his face a blank mask. “You… you actually like it? Really like it?” I stand and pick up my bag; I feel ten feet tall.

“Sorry Brian, you’ve been asking me to come for ages and I really did mean what I said before – I don’t like Ridley Scott. But the thing is, not every Scott project is the same, and the problems I found in his other big works are just not present in The Martian. You should all check it out, even if you do hate Ridley Scott like I did.” I turn and, throwing my coffee cup in the bin, leave them to their support meeting. No, I think, I will probably never get on with Alien, Blade Runner or Gladiator, but I think, if Scott carries on making films like The Martian, even I may call myself a fan one day.

Maybe.

 

The R Word - Women and Game of Thrones

Spoiler/Trigger Warning: 

This blog will analyse the use of rape and sexual assault in Game of Thrones, so if you’re not caught up, or have serious problems with the issues discussed, here’s your fair warning.

Sooo.... Who watched Game of Thrones this week?

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken is a fairly standard episode (the weak Dorne plotline was compensated by a blistering performance by Dame Diana Rigg, returning as Lady Olenna Tyrell) but it was utterly overshadowed by its final scenes, where Sansa Stark was raped by her new husband Ramsay Bolton, who forced Reek/Theon to watch. To say the internet has lost its hivemind over this is an understatement; it’s got to the point where an actual senator has weighed in, announcing she’s now ‘done’ with the show. But what was it about Sansa’s rape that caused this much controversy?

As a scene, Sansa’s wedding night was lit, framed and staged like a horror film and was as tense as a bow string. Director Alex Graves showed restraint with the visuals and heightened the psychological trauma for both Sansa and Theon. It was very well executed and Alfie Allen nailed his performance as he looked in abject misery as the rape unfolded before him. But however well played and carefully this scene was handled, it was ultimately just another example of sexual assault used as a plot device. 

Though he did perfectly capture the audience's reaction

It’s not the first time that rape has been used like this in film and television, not by a long shot. Often, rape in fictional media reduces the woman to being a passive object who must be saved by the protagonist. By focusing on Theon’s face whilst Sansa was raped, the scene ceases to be about Sansa. It instead becomes the start of a new character arc for Theon, Sansa’s rape the motivation for Theon to claim back his identity. If Ramsay had destroyed a childhood toy, the result for Theon would have been the same; Ramsay crossed a line and now he must pay. Which is great for Theon, less so for Sansa, who for the past eight episodes had been growing out of her victim status and into a character with agency and plots of her own.

It’s also not the first time women have been used as foil for male characters; take the sad tale of Tysha Lannister. In season one, Tyrion tells of the horrific treatment of his first wife Tysha, who was gang raped by order of Tywin Lannister. You don’t pity Tysha (who seems to disappear after this ordeal) but Tyrion, who retreated to wine and prostitutes after this ordeal. Again, if Tywin had destroyed Tyrion’s favourite toy the result could have been pretty much the same if the story demanded it to be so. When Talisa Stark is stabbed in the baby, you don’t mourn her or feel her pain, but linger with Robb Stark, who’s lost his wife and unborn child. You are not expected to empathise with either of these women, but the received pain felt by their husbands.

And of course there were the mutineers at Craster’s Keep. Karl Tanner, when asked what to do with Craster’s daughters, tells his men to “Rape them until they die”.

He also drinks from a skull, in case you didn't get that he was evil.

Sigh.

This is extreme, even for Game of Thrones. The women in Craster’s Keep were props for the mutineers to be nasty to and for Jon Snow’s band of merry men to save. If you replaced each woman with a piece of furniture, the result would have been the same – their sole purpose was to be abused for the sake of melodrama, so as they were not fully developed characters with agency. They had no say in the events before or after the death of the mutineers and chances are they won’t pop up in episodes to follow.

From books to video games, the use of rape can feel sinister. This is because it's used as a way to sneak in nudity under the pretext of drama and yes, that is indeed messed up and gross, it’s not just you. But Game of Thrones doesn’t need a reason for nudity (which is questionable in and of itself, but beside the point of this blog), so rape can be mean more than an opportunity for perverse titillation. For the whole of season one, Daenerys’s naked body is frequently shown, to the point where Emilia Clarke put her foot down and demanded she be fully clothed from then on. But on Daenerys and Drogo’s wedding night, all that’s shown is her face and bare back. It’s not titillating; it’s disturbing and melancholic and begins her arc of gaining sexual agency and power. Daenerys’s rape advances her character, not Drogo’s. No, it wasn't necessary, but at least it had a purpose beyond how it made the men in her life feel.

Game of Thrones is walking a fine line with Sansa. Either she will follow Daenerys’s path to grow into a character who will conquer the Boltons and become the Lady of Winterfell, or she will become a prop to be saved by Stannis, Theon or Brienne. The third option, that it was actually consensual and accidentally edited to look like rape, thankfully doesn't seem to be on the table. As an audience, we can’t tell yet which way the show will fall, but hopefully it will continue to treat Sansa as a three dimensional character, not a destroyed toy or smashed up chair.

Despite this quagmire they've found themselves in, there’s still much to celebrate about Game of Thrones, especially when it comes to its women.  Right now, the main power struggle in Westeros is  between Cersei and Olenna and it’s not a ‘behind the scenes’ puppet show, using men to make their gains – they are literally the most powerful people on the continent. Women like Melisandre, Brienne, Arya and Margaery all have power, character and purpose aside from their men, carrying their own stories within this densely packed saga.   

There’s a dissertation’s worth of analysis when it comes to women and Game of Thrones, but ultimately it’s an adult show discussing serious matters against a backdrop of dragons and ice zombies. It’s frank, brutal and true to the environment created by George RR Martin. He included rape and women-as-props in his books, so the adaptation has to do what it can and so far it’s  made for (on the whole) magnificently epic television. The criticisms thrown into sharp relief by this episode are valid and need to be addressed by future episodes, but making excuses for Sophie Turner (who ‘loved the scene’ but is too naive to get it) isn't right, nor is dismissing every analytical thought because it’s ‘just a TV show’. Game of Thrones has carved itself a substantial chunk of the pop culture landscape and whether it still deserves this depends on how they move on from Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken. But it would be rash to write it off this far into the game. 

Here’s hoping, anyway.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015, Marvel Studios. Directed by Joss Wheadon. Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and James Spader.

Let’s talk about Marvel’s streak; it’s incredible. In the past three years they’ve not put a foot wrong, learning from previous mistakes to polish the superhero formula until it shines - and the best thing is no film is alike. Since Avengers Assemble, we’ve had: a one man army action movie, an end of the world epic, a global conspiracy thriller and a space western comedy and they all rock so incredibly, uniquely hard (my previous low opinion on Winter Soldier changed dramatically from ‘Meh’ to ‘Wow...’ on a second viewing). Can they keep it up? If Age of Ultron is any indication, yes, yes they can. 

Avengers Assemble had Earth’s Mightiest Heroes basically snipping at each other in an airborne office and then punching their way through Lower Manhattan because one guy in a silly hat was in a sulk. In Age of Ultron, Tony Stark unwittingly creates an unstoppable monster robot hell bent on destroying the Avengers, humanity and the world to create peace in our time. The stakes are higher and the canvas is broader, encompassing Hong Kong, Royal Holloway and ‘The African Coast’ (the one thuddingly bum note in the film comes from this bizarrely vague caption). It’s a welcome expansion as the Avengers taking their place as world’s protectors, not just the USA’s.

More impressive than the map are the characters, who are also massively improved from Assemble. No longer does Iron Man hog all the good lines – now, everyone gets in on the act, the opening fight scene allowing our protagonists to strike a flippant, pumped up tone for the film to follow, including a running joke at Captain America’s expense that lands every time. Joss Wheadon, clearly unsure of what to do with Hawkeye before, has him behave more like the snarky, charmingly exhausted agent of the comics, making him someone to actually care about and (more importantly) enjoy having on screen. Thor is louder and happier than ever before, Chris ‘Touched by Angels’ Hemsworth providing the gratuitous male toplessness now expected of every Marvel movie. Black Widow, no longer carrying the only major female role in this series, is allowed to show some heartbreaking vulnerability (as far as Black Widow can) and Bruce Banner... well, Bruce Banner still doesn’t really do much. The Hulk has the best action scenes though, so it’s a fair enough trade. 

Newcomers Wanda and Pietro Maximoff are convincingly corrupted by a juicy backstory and kickass powers, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson game for the silliness unfolding around them. Ultron himself is simply a masterstroke; following Loki can’t be fun for any Marvel villain, but Ultron is both entirely human and entirely robotic, with all of Tony Stark’s wit and occasionally some of his empathy. Wheadon has surrounded himself with fantastic actors, their skill in smaller moments giving as much depth to their characters as any grand standing speech could.

All this character development could make Age of Ultron fall into the dreaded ‘darker, grittier’ sequel trap, but instead it becomes more contemplative. It slows down in some places and lacks Assemble's breakneck pace, but it works. It feels more mature, more thoughtful, but never at the expense of fun. Turns out you can have it both ways. Take an early exchange where Thor and Tony Stark extol upon Pepper Potts and Jane Foster’s achievements in business and science. It’s a fun aside, but shows not only their awe at their smart, powerful girlfriends, but reminds us of their emotional centre at the heart of their one liners and rippling muscles.

Thor? More like 'Phwoar', ammi right ladies? Ahem.

 

You won’t find much in the way of po-faced navel gazing at the human psyche, nor any real query along the lines of ‘Who Watches the Watchmen?’; refreshingly Age of Ultron doesn’t try to ask any questions deeper than ‘How do you calm down a huge green rage monster?’. But by fleshing out the characters and giving them an emotional momentum gives the flash bang fireworks more meaning, more power. Avengers Assemble made you cheer because despite all the odds, it worked as a film. Avengers: Age of Ultron will make you cheer because you care about these characters. 

Gimme Shelter

Gimme Shelter, 1970, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Albert and David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin. Starring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts

Albert Maysles was a documentary pioneer, fact. He normalised the ‘fly on the wall’ and reactive style of documentary with his brother David and used it to devastating effect with the off kilter and menacing Gimme Shelter.

In 1969, the Rolling Stones launched a huge USA tour culminating in a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in San Francisco. Built up as the next Woodstock, the gruesome affair ended when a Hells Angel (hired as crowd control) stabs a spectator right in front of The Rolling Stones performing Under My Thumb. The Maysles don’t reveal this as a twist of tragic drama, but shows it as inevitable from the opening minutes of the documentary, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards reacting in stunned silence to a radio interview with one of the Hells Angels. These cuts to the Stones watching their own film acts as the interview segments of any other documentary and Jagger’s horror when he sees the frozen image of the Hells Angel with a knife gives more information than any interview ever could. 

And it all started so well, with the crowds in New York getting groovy as the Rolling Stones play on a three foot stage. Everyone is having a good time and Jagger feeds off the good vibrations, giving energetic and carefree performances. When asked at a press conference if staging a huge free concert would be a good idea, Jagger brushes it off; they’ve played massive gigs before and the crowds behaved themselves then, why should this be any different?

For a while, it seems that there’s a lot of fuss over nothing. The Stones play, the crowds have a good time and their lawyer Melvin Belli rings his hands over where the hell this concert will actually take place. But good grief, do things turn nasty when the attention turns to Altamont. For a start, amount of drugs on show is eye-watering, and it seems that every single one of the three hundred thousand attendees were completely off their heads. There're fights, screaming and an impressive amount of nudity, all shown with in non judgemental  silence from the filmmakers. By showing the effects of these drugs on the individuals, the glamour of the Sixties becomes a mess of mind alteration and confused terror, as one man's giggling stupor turns to horror as he stares at the long suffering sound recordist for the longest ten seconds put to film.

Literally everyone is naked and high in this photo

And it gets worse. The lead singer of Jefferson Airplane is cracked on the head by a Hells Angel. The Flying Burrito Brothers stop playing until everyone gets off the damn stage. A doctor is called for on three separate occasions. Jagger kills Sympathy for the Devil and ticks off the fighting crowd like an exasperated primary school teacher. He tells everyone to sit down until the final song and misses verses as he tries to find out from some people in the crowd why one guy was fighting. He stands at a complete loss when it’s clear that no amount of laid back charisma can control this mess of ugly violence.

A rare moment where Jagger could actually perform without naked people crushing the stage

By noninvasively documenting these events in a quiet, dignified style, Albert and David Maysles allow the shock of just how violent Altamont was to unfold without plodding, heavy voiceovers or pompous analysts talking about the end of hippy counterculture and whatnot. Albert Maysles died last weekend aged 88 and he left behind a legacy of astonishing documentaries, of which Gimme Shelter is his crowning jewel.