Found this hilarious video via YouTube surfing. It’s just over a minute long, but over 30 feet tall!
This comes from a 1965 B-movie called The Village of Giants, featuring Ron Howard in a starring role as a character named “Genius”. Planted square in the sixties, this strikes me as a very obvious allegory to the psychedelic revolution sweeping the country at the time. The IMDB plot summary describes it as: “Delinquent teens ingest a substance and grow to 30 ft tall, then proceed to take over a small town.”
It’s actually based on an H.G. Wells novel apparently, “The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth.” Which is oddly close to the name of a (not very good) Terence McKenna book on drugs in culture and history: “Food of the Gods“.
In any event, my reading of this short clip is that these people are on some level meant to be taking drugs which then expand their consciousness to huge proportions. That their clothes rip off would be a reference to a return to the Garden of Eden, primal innocence but also at once afflicted with the knowledge of their own nudity. They cover themselves up in shame. Would be interesting to see the rest of this movie and if these themes really hold on throughout.
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4 Comments
I saw this film when I was very young and impressionable. I have not seen it since but what struck me the hardest when I saw it was the food. It seemed so good, powerful and nourishing. I really wanted to try it. I also remember being titallated with the near nudity of the women. Finally, I also remember empathizing with both the awkardness the “giants” felt and how the “regular” people were the enemy.
I agree with all of your metaphorical interpretations (as far as I can remeber, anyway, since it has been at least a 1/4 of century since I saw the film). They seem fitting.
The forces that be despise, prohibit and villainize psychedilics because the can help set you free and that is almost certainly the last thing anyone in charge wants - a free and aware citizenry.
I’m starting to disagree with that interpretation of drugs within society, but I will post about that later!
The best part is where the giant goose bursts in on the teen dance and the teens all start doing a dance called “the goose”
love that film!
Darn, the video was removed from YouTube due to “terms of use violation.” I really wanted to check it out, it sounded funny!