El hombre que mató a don Quijote de Terry Gilliam (2018) desde la transversalidad de la recreación

In this study, I undertake an analysis of Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), a cinematographic recreation of Cervantes’s Don Quixote. I will scrutinise its themes, formal resources, and characterization in relation to other ways of recreation (primarily, the literary and musical ones), while paying special attention to the identity of the protagonists, the metafictional procedures, and the strategies employed in order to reword some of the main episodes of the original novel. In this sense, this study allows for an understanding of the Cervantine text from a transversal perspective.

O kilku związkach Chrisa Markera z kulturą popularną

In the French avant-garde artist’s and new technology experimentalist’s rich output, one may find interesting references to popular culture, though the latter is not usually commensurate with niche, experimental works. Marker was not always an active author of such pop cultural experiences but even his famous photo-novel created in the 1960s — Jetty was adapted into a science-fiction film 12 Monkeys (1995) by Terry Gilliam. Moreover, Marker — an artist constantly searching for new forms of expression — was often inspired by technical novelties and new media were used in his works — evolving from documentaries-essays, through experimental short videos (Zapping Zone, 1985–1994) to an interactive CD Rom, Immemory (1997), which attracted new audiences. Being fascinated with technological possibilities, Marker effectively made use of new technologies while adapting a video game (Level 5, 1996) or entering virtual reality (Guillaume’s blog from Egypt, starting from 2007) and, at the same time, entering the sphere of pop-cultural practices.

Terry Gilliam

With a directorial career spanning over forty years, Terry Gilliam (b. 1940) remains rooted in the sensibilities of his early work in animation. Born in Minnesota and raised in the Los Angeles area, Gilliam, sometimes classified as a British filmmaker, has lived in England since the 1960s, renouncing his US citizenship in 2006. As the resident animator of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969–1974), Gilliam created surreal and absurd vignettes from cutout images that complemented the live sketches. After partnering with fellow Python Terry Jones in directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Gilliam struck off on his own with Jabberwocky (1977). Many films followed in which one or more members of Monty Python appeared as actors under his direction. Though Gilliam’s works ostensibly cover diverse subjects—bureaucracy, virus outbreaks, and the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, to name only a few—all engage with questions of the power and problems of the imagination in the face of an often-grim or oppressive reality. The overall look of a Gilliam film is unmistakable as well, with off-kilter shots meant to disorient the viewer and crowded mises-en-scène. His use of wide-angle lenses is so extensive that the 14-millimeter lens has been nicknamed “the Gilliam.” Deeply involved not only in camerawork but in many other aspects of production such as costuming, set design, and scriptwriting, Gilliam would seem to fit the definition of an auteur. However, in numerous interviews, Gilliam resists that label, stressing his collaborative approach and openness to suggestions. Indeed, the process of making and distributing his films has sometimes garnered as much, if not more, attention than the films themselves. Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2014) all faced disruptions and setbacks of various kinds. No production was bedeviled so long and in so many ways as The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), taking nearly thirty years to reach the screen. Frequently identifying with the main characters of his films in progress, Gilliam perhaps most resembles Don Quixote in his unstinting commitment to his vision, whether commercially successful or not, whether brilliant or baffling to critics or audiences.

Editorial

Escribimos esta editorial ad portas de una tercera oleada mundial de la pandemia. Hace ya más de un año, cuando comenzaron los primeros brotes identificados en Wuhan, nadie alcanzaba a prever el alcance de este fenómeno biosocial. A pesar de un esfuerzo científico sin precedentes para desarrollar vacunas capaces de gestionar la pandemia, nuestra arquitectura política mundial no ha estado a la misma altura. Las brechas de desigualdad y la polarización política parecen estar pasando factura, y como resultado vivimos un presente cercano a la distopía. Una vez más, la profética tesis del historiador Marc Ferro tiende a confirmarse en la medida que nuestra realidad ha iniciado una peligrosa carrera para alcanzar el futuro imaginado por el cine: ¿Nos acercamos con inusitada rapidez a un mundo como el que describiera Terry Gilliam en su película 12 Monos? Bajo el anterior contexto, lanzamos la convocatoria de la presente edición de Controversia buscando responder —quizás aún en borrador dada la actualidad del fenómeno— a la siguiente pregunta: ¿Cómo la desigualdad social ha incidido en el despliegue de la pandemia en nuestro contexto latinoamericano, qué respuestas oficiales ha suscitado y qué resistencias sociales ha generado?

Figura mitologicznej Kasandry w filmach science fiction

The article reflects on how characters with the features of the mythological Cassandra function in science fiction films. Such references are part of the rich tradition of building fictional depictions of the near or distant future on the foundation of mythical stories. The study aimed to examine the considerable and complex meaning which Cassandra conveys through the ages and to determine its usefulness in constructing pop culture ideas about the current condition of humanity. In contemporary fiction, Cassandra is brought to the fore more often than in ancient sources, and her fullest portrait is drawn in those films that both consider her a figure of the powerlessness of the prophets and take into account her personal drama. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) by James Cameron, 12 Monkeys (1995) by Terry Gilliam, Minority Report (2002) by Steven Spielberg, and Arrival (2016) by Denis Villeneuve, the figure of Cassandra is examined through her prophetic gift, the alleged madness of the seer and the fearfulness of the prophetism itself.

Built as Rain. Film Analysis of Unbuildable Architectural Speculations – a Case Study of „Instant City” (dir. Peter Cook and Ron Herron, 1968) and „The Zero Theorem” (dir. Terry Gilliam, 2013)

The introduction of time-based media into the design stage opened up a new understanding of architectural and represented space as a dematerialized, dynamic, and user-dependent concept. Unbuildable architectural projects always relied on specific techniques and media. Their radical nature usually channelled innovative artistic currents and visualization tools, like collage and pop art aesthetics in the works of Archigram. Cinema is yet another ground for such deliberations. With Instant City (Archigram’s Peter Cook and Ron Herron) and The Zero Theorem (Terry Gilliam) the problem of dematerialization is being channelled by architectural/spatial proposals that involve a range of literary tropes, cultural texts, and filmic intertexts, in order to create a rich embroidery of references that forward a new look upon architectural production as a practice of creating protocols for dynamic and all the more elusive imagery. This article’s central objective lies in the task of reframing a discussion on iconicity, media facades, and mutative building skins, so as to include modes of cinematic portrayal that are not just contents of architectural “messages”, but also their “media”.

La trilogia distopica di Terry Gilliam: il presente e il futuribile

The article focuses on Terry Gilliam’s so-called ‘Orwellian triptych’, a science fiction trilogy in which the director uses dystopia as a way to highlight some of the major concerns of the Western World. While Brazil (1984) reflects the fear of an all-pervading Capitalism through its Kafkaesque, overbureaucratized universe and The Zero Theorem (2013) aims to describe “the perils of our digitised existence” (Andrew Pulver), Twelve Monkeys (1995) pictures an apocalyptic future in which the human race has been wiped out by a deadly virus mirroring the threat of HIV, and the survivors have been turned into guinea pigs by the members of a grotesque medical oligarchy.

‘A Spectacular Mess’: Synopsis

This chapter talks about the film 12 Monkeys from 1995, which was written by the co-author of Blade Runner in 1982 and author of Unforgiven in 1992, David Peoples, and his wife and collaborator Janet Peoples. It mentions Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, who directed 12 Monkeys. It also discusses how 12 Monkeys was made on an extremely modest budget of slightly under $30 million, resulting in the film's stars working for far less than their usual fee. The chapter recounts how 12 Monkeys defied expectations by raking in $170 million worldwide and receiving a number of nominations and awards. It describes the critics' response to 12 Monkeys, calling it a spectacular mess, a convoluted film with too many ideas for its own good, and a film with an involving, occasionally baffling storyline.