Introduction
The evolution of any community has always been followed by the development of other phenomena that helped it to survive and promoted the appearance of new tools needed to provide the basis for this very growth. Art could obviously be related to the issues of this sort as going along with society it conditions the appearance of new opportunities for self-realization. This process has a great impact on the whole progress and is considered one of the most important elements of the human world.
Additionally, art also helped to introduce significant changes to the structure of various communities by highlighting the most nagging problems and emphasizing the necessity of the shift of priorities. In these regards, one should realize the fact that art and society are closely interrelated, and the evolution of one aspect impacts the further development of another greatly introducing significant alterations and promoting the appearance of new perspectives on a certain issue or problem.
Analysis
When speaking about the current stage of the evolution of society, it is crucial to admit an outstanding impact art has on numerous processes. It obviously impacts all spheres of human activity and very often serves as a certain determinant of the value, necessity, and practical use of a certain issue. Moreover, the last dramatic changes in science and blistering growth of technologies provided numerous opportunities for the creation of the new and improvement of the old kinds of art.
For these reasons, modern artists give rise to numerous concerns related to the further development of our society and reconsideration of the outdated approaches. Furthermore, the increased complexity of technologies impacted such arts as photography, cinema, etc. greatly and conditioned their extension. Nowadays, cinema is one of the most popular forms of art which attracts millions of spectators all over the world. That is why it could be used by film directors and producers as a platform to manifest their feelings, emotions, and points of view.
Besides, the modern stage of the evolution of cinema could be considered as logic as it meets the most important viewers requirements. Its great visual appeal conditions the rise of the popularity while the simplicity of the manner to present the message and its focus on mass audience contributes to the blistering development of the given kind of art. There are many film directors who realize numerous opportunities introduced by cinema and tend to promote the development of cinema (Buckland 45).
If to speak about this phenomenon in terms of its ability to impact the peoples mentality, one should acknowledge a number of movies that became revolutionary as they presented the unusual perspective of a certain point of view and highlighted the problems ignored by society because of their controversial nature. These facts could be evidenced by numerous movies and which tend to make people think about some important concerns.
Yet, the film Tetsuo The Iron Man by Shinya Tsukamoto could be considered one of the above-mentioned films which impact the people’s conscience and result in the reconsideration of certain issues. In general, Shinya Tsukamoto is famous for his unusual vision of certain problems and the unique manner of their presentation. Being a Japanese film director, he obviously has a unique approach to the majority of controversial issues.
The Western viewers might find them even unclear (Miura 3); however, further analysis of the movie proves its great value and reveals the hidden motifs and ideas used by the author. His works contribute to the creation of his image, and now he is one of the iconic film directors (Buckland 56). It is also obvious that the movie Tetsuo The Iron Man also suggests the unusual presentation of several important problems and phenomena of modern society.
The movie is often characterized as a cyberpunk horror film; however, this definition is rather vague as the artwork bundles peculiarities of various genres. The story centers around the opposition of the Metal Fetishist and a Japanese businessman who accidentally hits the first one by the car. The banal plot is emphasized by the unusual setting and the development of the action. The Metal Fetishist has not died and chases the man trying to take revenge.
He transforms people who surround the main character, and they try to kill him. Moreover, the man also could not avoid changes, and he becomes more and more similar to Metal Fetishist with the parts of his body covered with metal. The given unusual development of the action is obviously chosen to attract the viewers attention to the movie and make them follow it trying to discover the main author’s idea.
There are several important themes presented in the given movie. First, the director chooses revenge as the background for the development of the whole action. Being hit by the businessman, the Metal Fetishist tries to destroy him and uses various remedies. However, it is not the main motif of the story. The usage of grotesque, cruel scenes and even sexual allusions contributes to a better understanding of the main problem of the given artwork (Sone 346).
The author tends to present the complexity and cruelty of human relations in terms of the modern age and the dominance of technologies. Being deprived of their faces figuratively and literally, the main characters could not but kill each other and people who are close to them. Moreover, the unrealistic image of the surrounding reality and the unusual plot contribute to the creation of the unique atmosphere needed to engage a viewer into action and make him/her follow the plot.
Shinya Tsukamoto obviously tends to demonstrate viewers the pernicious impact of civilization and tools and devices introduced by it. The movie was shot in 1989 which could be taken as the time of the blistering rise of technologies, industrialization. These aspects of human society were promoted by various means of media and became an integral part of everyday life. However, Tsukamoto wants to show that this very propaganda might destroy the basis of human relations and result in the reconsideration of the existing approach to technologies and their role in the modern world.
Cinema has always been one of the most powerful tools used to create a positive image of a certain phenomenon and attract peoples attention to it. Being a significant propaganda tool, made an impact mentality of numerous people. However, Tsukamoto also uses it but to demonstrate the result of the blind adherence to the main trends presented by various means of media (Galt and Schoonover 45).
Nevertheless, the surrealism of the given film also helps the author to achieve a certain goal and make people think about the most important modern problems (Apple para. 5). The strangle of mechanisms and tools combined with the increased tempos of industrialization result in significant changes in the values appreciated by society. The author obviously uses mechanisms as symbols that imply all negative aspects of the modern age.
The lack of spirituality results in the decrease of human lifes importance and contributes to the formation of the new spiritless society. For these reasons, the Metal Fetishist could be taken as the symbol which incorporates the majority of social diseases and problems. Having entered into the relationship with this corrupted man, the main character also takes ill and is not able to get rid of this corruption being doomed to become the victim of the Metal Fetishist. The great symbolic meaning of this process is emphasized by the overwhelming dominance of these technologies and their impact on the life of a common person.
As stated above, the movie includes numerous surrealistic and violent scenes used by the author to achieve a certain purpose. First, Tsukamoto wants viewers to understand the grotesque and the unusual character of the whole epoch. He delves into the human relations to emphasize the great pernicious impact the shifts of the mentality might have on the behavior and values appreciated in society. The scene of the struggle between the transformed woman and the businessman demonstrates to us how a person might suffer from the interference of technologies (Tetsuo The Iron Man).
The woman does not even know the main character; however, she is not able to resist the pressure of technologies that control her. Analyzing the movie, it is impossible not to mention numerous sex scenes created by Tsukamoto. The director highlights the fact that modern people are driven by their instincts, and they are not able to resist them. However, the inability to control passion and desire often results in serious circumstances. For this reason, all sex scenes are used to demonstrate the pernicious impact of the propaganda of sex and the corruption of the social moral triggered by the blind adherence to the promoted lifestyle.
Nevertheless, Tsukamoto is a well-known master of the episode who is able to make a certain scene significant enough to change the attitude to a certain issue or phenomena. In this regard, the movie Tetsuo The Iron Man should also be considered a sort of art that makes people apply critical thinking to some important aspects of their functioning. The fact is that very often society is not able to analyze itself and prefers to ignore some nagging problems being not able to find the needed solution (Standish 23). However, the given movie provides the basis for the further cogitations related to the future of our society and perspectives which await it. Tsukamoto uses the well-known motifs of revenge, sex, and love in the movie not accidentally as he wants to attract viewers and make them think.
Tetsuo The Iron Man could also be considered as the bright example of the political modernist art which became extremely popular in the previous century. Modernism has always followed politics, responding to the changes which appear due to the functioning of a certain state of government (Kovacs, 23). It tried to create an image or concept that revealed the main peculiarities of a certain decision or process to provide people with all the needed information. Additionally, very often the given form of art triggers the reconsideration of a certain approach because of the growth of peoples dissatisfaction. Tsukamotos movie could also be considered the form of political modernist art as it tends to reveal the important information related to the functioning of our society and the dominant processes peculiar to it.
Tetsuo The Iron Man condemns the modern policy which might result in the appearance of situations of this sort. The director wants to show that the further development of industry and promotion of the blind adherence to the popular trends might result in a significant reconsideration of the society and alteration of its image. People will not be able to control their desires. Combined with the strangle of technologies, it might result in the collapse of humanism and the existing model according to which the world functions.
Conclusion
Altogether, the movie Tetsuo The Iron Man, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto is a good example of the usage of this sort of art as the platform to manifest certain ideas, emotions, and thoughts. The film is full of surrealistic, violent, and sexual scenes that are introduced to convey the authors message and impact the viewers conscience.
Tsukamoto tends to prove the idea that the further development of technologies might deprive human beings of the traditional values and contribute to the creation of the new society which will suffer from the lack of spirituality. For these reasons, the movie could be considered a great contributor to the development of modern art and the creation of a special genre focused on the condemnation of certain phenomena and reconsideration of their image.
Works Cited
Apple, Mandi. Tetsuo The Iron Man. 2004. Web.
Buckland, Warren. Film Theory: Rational Reconstructions, London: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Galt, Rosalind and Karl Schoonover. Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories, Oxford: University Press, 2010. Print.
Kovacs, Andras. Screening Modernism: European Art Cinema, 1950-1980 (Cinema and Modernity), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. Print.
Miura, Shogo. A comparative analysis of a Japanese film and its American remake. 2008. Web.
Sone, Yuji. “Realism of the unreal: the Japanese robot and the performance of representation.” Visual Communication. 7.3 (2008): 345-362. Web.
Standish, Isolde. A New History of Japanese Cinema, New York: Continuum, 2006. Print.
Tetsuo The Iron Man. Dir. Shinya Tsukamoto. Perf. Tomorowo Taguchi , Kei Fujiwara. Shinya Tsukamoto. Kaijyu Theatres, 1989. DVD.