Abstract
The acclaimed Thai film, Tropical Malady (2004), represents the tropics as a surreal place where conscious and unconscious are as inextricably entwined. Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tropical Malady presents two interconnected stories: one a quirky gay love story; the other a strange disconnected narrative about a shape-shifting shaman, a man-beast and a ghostly tiger. This paper will argue that from it beginnings in the silent period, the cinema has created an uncanny zone of tropicality where human andanimal merge.
Highlights
The acclaimed Thai film, Tropical Malady (2004), represents the tropics as a surreal place where conscious and unconscious are as inextricably entwined
The cinema’s major themes of tropicality involve fantasies of a sexual sublime in which human passion is given free rein (Siren of the Tropics, 1927; Rain, 1932; Blonde Venus, 1933; From Here to Eternity, 1953; The Beach, 2000) and evolutionary fantasies of degeneration in which the fragile line dividing between civilization and nature, human and animal is ruptured (Island of Lost Souls, 1932; I Walked with the Zombie, 1943; King Kong 1933, 2005; Apocalypse 1979)
The revolutionary theories of Charles Darwin may seem remote from the interests of early cinema, and tropicality, there is an unexpected connection
Summary
The acclaimed Thai film, Tropical Malady (2004), represents the tropics as a surreal place where conscious and unconscious are as inextricably entwined. This paper will explore the uncanny nature of the cinematic tropical zone, in relation to the theme of the merging of human and animal.
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