I've always had a soft spot for Gizmo. Aside from being a lot of fun to watch, it was also one of the inspirations for Tales of Future Past. It's one of those goodhearted documentaries where it's clear that the filmmaker loved his subject, or at least had tremendous empathy for it. Like The Atomic Cafe, released five years later, uses a collection of stock footage to make its point, However, unlike The Atomic Cafe, which derives its humour from sneering at its subject, Gizmo positively celebrates these incredible eccentrics of the past and finds its humour by not just looking at the silliness and shortcomings of the various inventors, showmen, exhibitionists, and stuntmen, but also their dreams and ambitions that turns what could have been a collection of mockery into tribute to human ambition. In many ways, these are people we have a better chance of identifying with than an Edison or Bell. I certainly expect that if I built an aeroplane it would look more like the ones in Gizmo than something that rolled out of the Wright brothers' shop–and fly just about as well.
Thursday 17 September 2009
Gizmo!
I've always had a soft spot for Gizmo. Aside from being a lot of fun to watch, it was also one of the inspirations for Tales of Future Past. It's one of those goodhearted documentaries where it's clear that the filmmaker loved his subject, or at least had tremendous empathy for it. Like The Atomic Cafe, released five years later, uses a collection of stock footage to make its point, However, unlike The Atomic Cafe, which derives its humour from sneering at its subject, Gizmo positively celebrates these incredible eccentrics of the past and finds its humour by not just looking at the silliness and shortcomings of the various inventors, showmen, exhibitionists, and stuntmen, but also their dreams and ambitions that turns what could have been a collection of mockery into tribute to human ambition. In many ways, these are people we have a better chance of identifying with than an Edison or Bell. I certainly expect that if I built an aeroplane it would look more like the ones in Gizmo than something that rolled out of the Wright brothers' shop–and fly just about as well.
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What a difference 30 years makes. When I saw this in the 70s I just loved it for the wacky footage, now I see it as a representation and a promotion of human individuality.
Certainly a more upbeat message than that Atomic Cafe tripe.
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