OK seriously guys...Teen Wolf?
02-04-03, 12:30 PM
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OK seriously guys...Teen Wolf?
I rewatched a childhood favorite recently (gotta love those $8 MGM double features), and I've got to say, What the heck is going on in this movie? Michael J. Fox turns into a Werewolf and everybody loves him for it. Why?
What is the subtext of this film (you know sub-text, the uderlying theme that is just below the surface). In Lon Chaney Jr.'s The Wolf Man the subtext that screenwriter Curt Siodmak put into the film was that of mankind's duality. His potential for humanity and monstrosity. This was an exploration of fascism, Hitler, etc, etc.
So what is Teen Wolf "about". What does the Werewolf-ism represent. Is it about puberty? Is it about being rebelious? Is it about being gay? However it's read it boils down to a story about a teenager not feeling comfortable in his own skin.
The hitch comes in when he is revealed to the highschool as being what he is (he "wolfs out" at the basketball game) and everyone loves it. In the old Lon Chaney Jr. days the villagers would have chased him with pitchforks and torches, yet Fox becomes the most popular kid in school because of his difference. That certainly isn't the case in most high schools where you are usually ridiculed for being different.
Is Teen Wolf simply an escapist fantasy for people who are different, where they can envision themselves triumphing despite their difference? I think that's too simple considering the conclusion of the film, where Fox has to supress his true Wolf nature to prove that he is worthy of "winning the game and getting the girl"? By doing it as himself and not as the Wolf isn't he supressing his true nature?
In short: What is up with Teen Wolf?
What is the subtext of this film (you know sub-text, the uderlying theme that is just below the surface). In Lon Chaney Jr.'s The Wolf Man the subtext that screenwriter Curt Siodmak put into the film was that of mankind's duality. His potential for humanity and monstrosity. This was an exploration of fascism, Hitler, etc, etc.
So what is Teen Wolf "about". What does the Werewolf-ism represent. Is it about puberty? Is it about being rebelious? Is it about being gay? However it's read it boils down to a story about a teenager not feeling comfortable in his own skin.
The hitch comes in when he is revealed to the highschool as being what he is (he "wolfs out" at the basketball game) and everyone loves it. In the old Lon Chaney Jr. days the villagers would have chased him with pitchforks and torches, yet Fox becomes the most popular kid in school because of his difference. That certainly isn't the case in most high schools where you are usually ridiculed for being different.
Is Teen Wolf simply an escapist fantasy for people who are different, where they can envision themselves triumphing despite their difference? I think that's too simple considering the conclusion of the film, where Fox has to supress his true Wolf nature to prove that he is worthy of "winning the game and getting the girl"? By doing it as himself and not as the Wolf isn't he supressing his true nature?
In short: What is up with Teen Wolf?
Last edited by Pants; 02-05-03 at 01:35 PM.
02-04-03, 02:09 PM
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Allz I know is this film rocks!
The werewolf thing is just genes. His dad was a werewolf and he inhertis the gene from his father.
Simple as that.
There really is nothing deep behind the film. No deep themes at all. Just a funny film, that I don't know why I haven't picked up on dvd yet.
The werewolf thing is just genes. His dad was a werewolf and he inhertis the gene from his father.
Simple as that.
There really is nothing deep behind the film. No deep themes at all. Just a funny film, that I don't know why I haven't picked up on dvd yet.
02-04-03, 02:42 PM
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Wow, I was watching this last week on TV. So bad, but a blast anyway.
But subtext, I don't know. This movie is just ruled by typical 80s teen film conventions and archetypes. There's a superficial hot chick and her stupefyingly bastard of a boyfriend (also Teen Wolf's extra-evil nemesis). We've got zany sidekick/best friend and the frumpy, but sexy in her own right, girl-friend (what's up with her name? Boof? is that where she likes it?). Everything is just so exaggerated and, here's the thing, it's all in earnest. Let's throw in a big game at the end just so the movie can end. Otherwise all these people would still be residing in their teen-movie purgatory.
But subtext, I don't know. This movie is just ruled by typical 80s teen film conventions and archetypes. There's a superficial hot chick and her stupefyingly bastard of a boyfriend (also Teen Wolf's extra-evil nemesis). We've got zany sidekick/best friend and the frumpy, but sexy in her own right, girl-friend (what's up with her name? Boof? is that where she likes it?). Everything is just so exaggerated and, here's the thing, it's all in earnest. Let's throw in a big game at the end just so the movie can end. Otherwise all these people would still be residing in their teen-movie purgatory.
02-04-03, 02:48 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho
The message is that it's okay to be different in high school as long as you are also awesome in sports.
The message is that it's okay to be different in high school as long as you are also awesome in sports.
You should have bracketed that with [Cordelia Chase voice][/Cordelia Chase voice].
02-04-03, 03:06 PM
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Originally posted by sundog
(what's up with her name? Boof? is that where she likes it?)
(what's up with her name? Boof? is that where she likes it?)
02-04-03, 04:52 PM
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It's obviously about the Holocaust. Teen Wolf, with his "different" look, is an idealistic metaphor for the Jewish experience in the 20th century. The fact that he is supported when he "comes out" is a play on the Jew trying to assimilate within society; yet at the movie's end, he has to be true to his own heritage in order to truly become himself. Ah, if only Philip Roth had used werewolves in his own explorations of Judaism.... 
02-04-03, 05:04 PM
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Originally posted by Sierra Disc
It's obviously about the Holocaust. Teen Wolf, with his "different" look, is an idealistic metaphor for the Jewish experience in the 20th century. The fact that he is supported when he "comes out" is a play on the Jew trying to assimilate within society; yet at the movie's end, he has to be true to his own heritage in order to truly become himself. Ah, if only Philip Roth had used werewolves in his own explorations of Judaism....
It's obviously about the Holocaust. Teen Wolf, with his "different" look, is an idealistic metaphor for the Jewish experience in the 20th century. The fact that he is supported when he "comes out" is a play on the Jew trying to assimilate within society; yet at the movie's end, he has to be true to his own heritage in order to truly become himself. Ah, if only Philip Roth had used werewolves in his own explorations of Judaism....
02-04-03, 07:33 PM
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Originally posted by rfduncan
You should have bracketed that with [Cordelia Chase voice][/Cordelia Chase voice].
You should have bracketed that with [Cordelia Chase voice][/Cordelia Chase voice].
So true.
02-04-03, 07:45 PM
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I saw it as a discourse on trying to be something you're not, Scott didn't fit in, and wasn't part of the "cool" crowd until he wolfed out. He was trying to use that wolf to gain the acceptance that he couldn't get as himself. This is similar to the way the boys in Weird Science suddenly became "cool" because they were hanging out with Lisa.
02-04-03, 08:41 PM
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Oh yeah, what were they again? It's been so long...
1. Never get less than 14 hours of sleep.
2. Never play cards with a guy whose first name is a city.
3. Never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.
Or something...
Man, I should really see this flick again. I like Michael J. Fox and his "6-dollar haircut."
1. Never get less than 14 hours of sleep.
2. Never play cards with a guy whose first name is a city.
3. Never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.
Or something...
Man, I should really see this flick again. I like Michael J. Fox and his "6-dollar haircut."
02-05-03, 12:41 AM
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Originally posted by Amadeus
Say.Whatever happened to this jerk?
Say.Whatever happened to this jerk?
He was recently in "The Sweetest Thing".
So...um....
Did anyone actually see this movie?
02-05-03, 09:45 AM
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Originally posted by UAIOE
He was recently in "The Sweetest Thing".
So...um....
Did anyone actually see this movie?
He was recently in "The Sweetest Thing".
So...um....
Did anyone actually see this movie?
Christina Applegate RULES!
02-05-03, 10:08 AM
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Interesting message in this film - When Fox tries to tell Styles that he's been going through some changes, Styles fears that Fox has "turned ***." Then Styles is relieved when he finds out that Fox is a werewolf. Better lycanthrope than gay. Check.
"First my clothes catch on fire/
Then my car hits a tree/
You might think it's a big catastrophe/
It just comes natural to me"
These lyrics from the film's theme song, "Way to Go," tell you all you need to know about what the film means. Really. I mean it.
"First my clothes catch on fire/
Then my car hits a tree/
You might think it's a big catastrophe/
It just comes natural to me"
These lyrics from the film's theme song, "Way to Go," tell you all you need to know about what the film means. Really. I mean it.
02-05-03, 01:30 PM
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The message for women is once you've been with a werewolf, you can never go back baby.
In the where are they now file, what became of that hot chick in the movie that leeches onto Fox as soon as he becomes popular?
In the where are they now file, what became of that hot chick in the movie that leeches onto Fox as soon as he becomes popular?
02-05-03, 01:34 PM
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Originally posted by Hannibal
The message for women is once you've been with a werewolf, you can never go back baby.
The message for women is once you've been with a werewolf, you can never go back baby.
02-06-03, 09:17 AM
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Teen Wolf is an obvious comment on race/discrimination in intermural atheletics. Teen Wolf is shunned and an outcast in school until he becomes a great basketball player. As a basketball player, all is forgiven and he even rises to the top of the social food chain, dispite his ethnic background. He is even allowed to fraternize with white women. Where before, he was riduculed when attempting to date outside of his race.
Teen Wolf,Too(sic) , further explores this theme in the guise of boxing and summer camp.
D
Teen Wolf,Too(sic) , further explores this theme in the guise of boxing and summer camp.
D