Opening This Weekend: Paranorman, The Expendables 2 & Timothy Green

I usually post immediately after seeing a film and having seen it only once, so it helps after some time to contemplate aspects of a film and re-visit it, especially after having seen some other films employing similar imagery. These are three films which I have added substantial observations in case one of these was a film you particularly liked and was interested in additional commentary; just click the link to go to the post and scroll down to the bottom in the comments section where I have just tacked on the ideas:
War & Revolution: The Dark Knight Rises & the Great Socialist Lie
Magic Mike & the Three Faces Of Capitalism
Moonrise Kingdom & Communications Technology

I'm very curious to see this. Timothy "comes to life" on a stormy night, just like all the other storms which have been so prevalent in films lately, and a couple not being able to have a child may be a symbol of America and the new economy of "socialist structures" not "bearing fruit." As always, I am only speculating without having yet seen the film; so why do I do it? It helps me to get my thoughts straight going in and keep track of various devices the story uses, as well as--I hope--help you as you watch and engage the film.

Well, fans of The Avengers, the third highest grossing film of all time, will have to wait for the sequel, which has been given the green light and an opening date of May 2015,... director Joss Whedon will be returning, and I am sure the long delay has quite a bit to do with the releases of Iron Man 3, Captain America 2 (Captain America the Winter Soldier) and Thor 2 (Thor The Dark World), which will assuredly be woven into The Avengers 2 story line,...
Opening this weekend is Paranorman which I am highly concerned about.

The premise of the story is that there is a witch who is going to raise the dead and take over the world and Norman has to stop her; on the grave stone where she is buried, is the date 1712 when the Protestant Reformation was going on against the Catholic Church and Christendom was breaking apart. What's  "unusual" about this witch is that she was "hung," not burned at the stake: usually, witches were burned for two reasons, first to give them a taste of the hell fire that were about to experience eternally if they didn't repent (even as they were burning they could still repent in their hearts) and secondly because fire burns away anomalies and impurities, so the heat and pain of the fire would "aid" the accused to repent of their mortal sins. Not this witch. 

Signs, Signs, everywhere there are signs,... this sign reads, "The Blithe Hollow Witch Hanged 1712." The sign invokes two things: first, what was happening in 1712 (discussed above and below) and The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow because of the name of the place "Hollow."  As I articulate in my post The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow and the Battle For America, the purpose of the story is to steer the future America (symbolized by Katrina) away from the superstitious past culminating in the Salem Witch Trials (symbolized by Ichabod Crane) and towards a healthy, balanced future symbolized by Brom Bones ("Brom" is a nickname for "Abraham," which means father of the people).  

This witch was hanged The head symbolizes the governing function, so for a noose to separate the head from body illustrates how the "head of the Church" was separated from the flock of Christ (I realize that, technically, the neck breaks, when the hanging goes correctly and I am only guessing about the film at this point). Nevertheless, this is an important aspect of the film to consider as we watch; as usual, this may be totally out in left field, however, it appears that this is the case the film makers seek to build. This line of thought, then, makes Catholics "the dead" that are being raised and terrorizing civilization. Substantiating this is when, in the above trailer (at the very end), Norman is in a pilgrim's costume, and he announces that the dead are coming. The pilgrims, of course, fled Europe to have religious freedom, so it's possible, that it's religious freedom--to groups such as Catholics, of which I myself am a devout one--are the reason why society is in such a wreck (the HMS mandate in Obamacare).

Who is the famous "Norman" that Paranorman invokes? Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Once again, we haven't covered Hitchcock as of yet, however, it's clear that Psycho is about matricide, the killing of the "mother," and it's possible that it was Holy Mother Church (Hitchcock was a devout Catholic) because Vatican II was going on at the same time as well as dramatic social change.

What film does this immediately call to mind? The Sixth Sense, the "I see dead people" film. M. Night Shymalan's film was essentially about a child who could see how the "adult world" was killing adults because of their bad values and self-destructive choices, and it could only be seen through the eyes of a child because children haven't become calloused to the un-truths and non-commendable behavior patterns adults accustom themselves to in order to "get by" in the world. Is this what Paranorman is trying to do? Probably not. Here's a clip of a car crash that takes place; how many "crashes" have we seen the last year, symbolic of the Wall Street Crash in 2008?:

I hope you have a great weekend for film watching; I am diligently working on the Hollywood scorecard post to help us organize everything that has taken place so we can get a grip on where we're going (I'll post a third one in November just before elections because Skyfall is being released November 9 and I'll want to get that in!).  I will be posting throughout the weekend, enjoy the beautiful weather!

Eat Your Art Out,

The Fine Art Diner