Super 8 Release Party Review

The film Super 8 seems to be one of these interesting cases that hits everyone in the same way...
I call it the Caulfield Effect. Corny, I know, but it works. This takes place when someone experiences something which they feel is entirely individual, beyond the scope of anyone else and their reality, only to discover that they are amidst an ocean of like minds. I call it this because after anyone reads Catcher in the Rye, there comes a point where they slowly close the book after digesting whatever profound paragraph they’ve just completed and think to themselves, “oh my god. I am Holden Caulfield.” The truth is, everybody is Holden Caulfield. There are a few universal truths that every so often are gathered in a way glorious enough to have each viewer feel it as entirely their own. 

Writer and director J.J. Abrams has transformed a feature length film into a projection of our most personal memories. It was unquestionably necessary for it to be a period piece, having certain cinematically time-sensitive moments such as the inaccuracy of Dr. Woodward’s survival. This professor had not only been in a truck hit hard by a train traveling at full speed, but also suffered a major explosion resulting from the impact. Even if we allowed these details to slide, there would still be no defense for the piece of paper that he’s holding, which ends up being important evidence explaining his actions. At least the paper would have caught fire…right? An explosion that big would probably have made its way to a piece of perfectly dry paper. However, this movie is set in 1979. At least this is my assumption, based on the excitement over The Knack's song “My Sharona,” which was released early that year. If it hadn’t been for this time period, the “Hey, Wait a Minute!” rule would absolutely apply, but since we’re watching a science fiction movie set in the late 70’s, it would be ridiculous to ask for specificities that are much more oriented to the critical views of the modern movie-goer. The addition of Dr. Woodward, first appearing dead then proving otherwise, is an obvious tribute to the film that the children are in the process of creating for the Cleveland film festival. The movie they are making is a zombie-murder-mystery called “The Case,” dealing primarily with the living dead. This could be seen as a metaphor since the kids themselves are living in a world of adults who lack their childlike understanding. They could be interpreted as the living dead, having squandered their souls in exchange for the stresses that are expected to accompany growing up. This idea is directly personified through the parents of the two main protagonists, Joe and Alice.

They come from different sides of the tracks, Alice being from the rougher side of town and Joe living on the upper end, but both sharing one similarity- they both are stuck in a position where they must pick up the pieces of a broken home, and at very young ages. Both are around the age of 13, which is a strange time in a young persons life. This age is the beginning step into the teen years, and for these children represents a time of exorcising their own rights and defying the rules, for passions sake. It’s very much a tale of Innocence Vs. The World, only now they are becoming a part of its chaos due to their involvement with the mysteries taking place in their town. The train tracks and their separate sides no longer matter- all corners are effected by terror and confusion, while the space between strangers, enemies, family and friends alike rapidly begins to close.

The two families symbolizing a kind of Montague and Capulets ordeal are brought together and simultaneously torn apart by the death of Joe’s mother, who had died covering a shift for Alice’s drunken father. The two men, left alone with their young children, represent the two sides of carelessness. There is the kind that comes from duty, and over-attention to ones work, and there is the kind that sprouts from the complete lack thereof. These alternate sides come together to form the forces which, as we learn from a reel of secret footage discovered by the children, the creature had to endure as well.

And here lies the true parable of the movie. The kids are at the point in their lives when they begin making decisions that will shape who they become. If they are continually neglected, they will end up just as this creature has- alone, afraid, defensive, violent, and lost. But that’s just my inner mother talking.

Joe must allow himself to let go of the past, just as the alien must. This moment is gathered into a single statement in the film, when Joe looks into the eyes of the alien and without any panic states, “bad things happen. But you can still live.” This movie seems to be made specifically for anyone who has been through anything that has left a scar, whether the viewer is a kid on the verge of abandoning their innocence, or anyone who has yet to let go of irreversible moments that plague their minds. This movie manages to push several sensitive points on any given person, and at times it is unavoidable to admit that we all have parts of each character within us. Part of me wants to drink my sorrows away. Part of me wants to forget my problems and just make something cool. Part of me wants to blow up my friends train set. Part of me takes my life entirely too seriously at times, and part of me feels like an alien.

If this film included a group discussion involving everyone in the theater, I’m sure we would quickly discover that people who seem to have nothing to say to one another have much more in common than what meets the eye. Whether or not they talk about it is up to them. But thankfully, there are artistic ways to help people understand themselves a bit more. There are creative outlets that join strangers together, and this film is a brand new one. Someone was brave enough to forget their problems, and just make something cool.
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