| To have sex to the fullest is to have it dangerously |
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| written by dante2023 |
January 18, 2004 - 10:12 PM PST |
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11 out of 12 members found this review helpful
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David Cronenberg's motif is the human flesh: "Death to Videodrome, long live the new flesh!". Crash shows us an imaginary world of intimacy of the flesh by the breakdown of comfort and normal flow.
Crash is a metaphor that uses technology and the flesh. The car with its normal flow of traffic symbolizes the mechanism of technology. The mechanism of technology distances us from our flesh and our animal appetites because technology results in civilization and civilization results in suppression of animal behaviours. When this mechanism--this flow of traffic--is suddenly interrupted and destroyed by a car crash, the result is an awakening and a celebration of the human flesh.
The human sex drive is driven by imagination. Crash is the symbol of this sex drive. Part of this sex drive is the need to be alive and creative--the car crash is the creativity. When this is somehow achieved by James Ballard (James Spader's character) after crashing with Holly Hunter's character, he seeks to relive it like the Vaughan character who also seeks to relive celebrity car crashes. The car crash is like this ultimate unforgettable sexual experience that we have experienced in our life at some point in time that we consciously or unconsciously seek to experience again with the same or new sexual partners. And this seeking to relive is a fetish. The scars represent the excitement of the past and the unpredictable consequence of the car crash--whether you are going to live or die--allows for the reliving of the past to feel like new; thus, resulting in a sexual arousement. The car crash, metaphorically, can create this excitement because of its closeness to death--a masochistic approach. (The Marquis De Sade can understand Crash more fully I think.) This is part of the sexual side of the human condition. Why do people do things that are out of the ordinary? The answer maybe is Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy: Live life dangerously in order to live life to the fullest. Maybe the same can be said about sex.
The DVD also allows you to choose between Rated NC-17 or the Rated R version. I would suggest the NC-17 because it is what Cronenberg fully intended. I definitely recommend Crash but it must be viewed and approached differently than any other film. If you think you are going to sit down, escape, and become involve with the characters, you mind as well forget about it. This is a thinking film and only for those who are open minded and have not been poisoned by too many recycled Hollywood movies.
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