Episode 40: On Jonathan Glazer's 'Under the Skin'

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2019

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Jonathan Glazer's loose screen adaptation of Michel Faber's novel Under the Skin, a creature of mysterious origin drives around Scotland in a white van, collecting lonely men and spiriting them away to an otherworld where they are turned into food.... or something. Drawing on a deep well of literary, visual, and musical tradition, Glazer (with help from his score composer Mica Levi) create a vivid work of tragedy and horror, masterfully executed for maximal weirdness and unwaveringly true to the auteur's intent to reveal our world from an "alien perspective." In this episode, Phil and JF discuss some themes and ideas they've pried from this exquisite tangle of image and sound. Along the way, they discuss the role that serendipity, coincidence, and fate play in both art-making and scholarship. REFERENCES Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013) Other films by Glazer: Sexy Beast (2000), Birth (2004) Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer Twin Peaks: The Return (David Lynch, 2017) Ligeti, Atmosphères Stranger Things (The Duffer Brothers, 2016) Screen shot of "Space Invader" Easter egg in Under the Skin Weird Studies Episode 37: Entities, with Stuart Davis John August, American screenwriter Phil Ford, "The Devil's On Your Side: A Meditation on the Perennially Disreputable Business of Hermeneutics" (unpublished) Room 237 (Rodney Ascher, 2013) William Irwin Thompson, Imaginary Landscape: Making Worlds of Myth and Science Interview with Mica Levi, who composed the score for Under the Skin Atar Arad, American violist David Caspar Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Specter Vision Radio.
0:03.3	Welcome to Weird Studies, an art and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:21.9	For more episodes and to support the podcast, go to Weird Studies.com. Hi, this is Phil.
0:50.7	This week on Weird Studies, we're talking about one of J.F.'s favorite films, Jonathan Glazer's 2013
0:57.2	under the skin. It's a movie about an otherworldly being, an alien perhaps, that assumes
1:03.8	the form of an attractive human, played by Starlett Johansson, and lures men to an ambiguous
1:09.0	but nightmarish end. In the course of the film, we see this being start to yearn, Pinocchio-like, for a real human existence,
1:17.6	with consequences that are touching, terrifying, and tragic.
1:21.6	This film is sometimes challenging to watch, it was for me at any rate. But it is also beautiful and totally original
1:29.1	and boasts an extraordinary soundtrack by composer Michael Levy, which we discuss at the end of the
1:34.2	episode. I was pissed at JF when I got to the part about the baby, but in the end, I was really glad
1:40.0	we talked about this remarkable film. I hope you enjoy the conversation we had about it.
1:45.9	Now, on to other matters. I have an announcement to make. Weird Studies is independent, ad-free,
1:54.6	and would like to stay that way. We were recently approached by an advertising firm that offered to
2:00.2	fix us up with some advertisers.
2:01.6	They mentioned some sort of remarkable pillow as an example of the kind of thing we might use our show to promote.
2:07.6	Now, it was a fine suggestion, and I was flattered and pleased they got in touch with us.
2:12.6	But when JF and I discussed it, we just couldn't imagine ourselves having an intense session
2:18.3	of improvised word jazz and suddenly stopping to say, hey, you know what else is weird?
2:22.9	Is how this pillow molds to my head and neck for a comfortable night's sleep? Or whatever.
2:28.0	I mean, I love money. Don't get me wrong. But if we're going to sell something, we want to sell
2:32.9	our stuff. So we're launching a Patreon campaign this week.
	...

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