Spielberg's 70th

This week a great director and storyteller turned 70. Steven Spielberg's work and life have left an indelible mark on mine. Happy birthday and thank you, sir.

The Definitive "Nautilus": The Genius of Harper Goff

Shedding Light on the Horrors of Hearth and Home: "The VVitch" 2015

"To me, 'jump scare' horror movies aren't scary, because if you shine a flashlight on the darkness and run away giggling, that's not scary."   - Robert Eggers, Writer/Director

The "Horror" genre has inspired a new post after a long hiatus from visual storytelling analysis. The last few years have been spent fully immersed in a new adventure as an Asst. Professor at Montserrat College of Art. During the past few years there has been a renaissance in lower budget Horror movies. It has culminated in the transformation of a genre and business that typically has traded on "jump scares". While it is possibly the result of that old economic chestnut "the law of diminishing return", it is equally likely the result of auteurs seizing the opportunities that this special genre has always had to offer.

This genre has both my respect and my gratitude.

We are in a time when "social" and "news" media are fostering intense piousness, judgment, division, alienation and horror. Both are capable of promoting addictive and intoxicating cognitive distortions without offering any insight regarding how adhering to these distortions might facilitate living a life of vitality and purpose. What makes "The VVitch" so timely is the commoditization of hearsay, paranoia and alienation by both "social media" and "news media". The largest for profit "social media" corporation, Facebook, Inc., added a feature called "Trending" in 2014. This feature may not be removed, and, in adding this feature, Facebook, Inc. went from a forum for the news of 'hearth and home' to a forum for the aforementioned commodities.

One of the most disturbing trends this has led to is the rise of what I would call 'social piousness'. "Social media" as a judge or be judged world and one where "trending topics" allow for us to embrace this form piousness by keeping us moving from 'witch-hunt' to 'witch-hunt'. The pay off being that we can bolster our self-concept by fixating on the mistakes of others that we would never make (or the faults of others that we could never have) and then reveling in self-righteousness.

From Merriam-Webster:

Full Definition of WITCH-HUNT

1: a searching out for persecution of persons accused of witchcraft

2: the searching out and deliberate harassment of those (as political opponents) with unpopular views

"The VVitch" has some insight to offer regarding the perils of piousness and it is clear that writer/director Robert Eggers appreciates that "insight" is the purview of the artist.

So what makes "The VVitch" so special? It discards one of the great, narrative "hooks" that many period witch movies leave a mystery or matter of conjecture before we've barely had a chance to wonder. When tragedy strikes an unsuspecting 17th century family living on a secluded farm they on the edge of a large forest, the film wastes no time in informing the audience of the fact that a witch is responsible because the witches of folklore are real in this story. Before the film is over, we will have equally conclusive evidence regarding the existence of the "Devil" and by proxy, "God".

Auteur Louis C.K., in the interview film "Talking Funny" (2011), espoused a fondness for starting his comedy stand-up sets with his strongest "bit", thus putting himself in the unenviable position of having to work without having his strongest material as a backstop. That is what parable-laden ghost or witch stories do when they maintain ambiguity regarding what is "real" and what is not. The historical critical bias being that ambiguity is the highest virtue of "high art". Movies that declare 'There are ghosts!' or 'There are witches!' tend to rely on "jump scares" or the elaborate sound and fury of CG "world building" (often deemed "low art").

"The VVitch" is something better than both, and as such it is great art.

In a dramatic movie where religiously pious parents and their progeny are confronted by the presence of an actual devil and real witches, what narrative "hook" do we hang the "horror" on? "The VVitch" addresses this issue by drawing its horror from the rich well of the dynamic of a "dysfunctional family". The horror is not in whether or not there are witches or how convincing the special effects are (though the special effects by Intelligent Creatures are fantastic), but in the knowledge that this family are doomed by how utterly inept its parental leadership is. When faced with the ultimate test and, ironically, validation of their faith, they resort to blaming and alienating their daughter and they respond to the escalating crisis with decisions that cost the lives of almost all of their children. Their only surviving child, their eldest daughter, is driven by her parents religious piety away from "the light" and into the arms of Satan. It's as damning an indictment of a severely "dysfunctional family" as one can imagine.

If you are unfamiliar with how a "dysfunctional family" is defined, take a moment to read the definition available here.

There are only two non-infant healthy individuals in the family portrayed in the movie, the eldest daughter Thomasin and the eldest son Caleb. The other non-infant children are their younger fraternal boy/girl twins and they are portrayed in the film as unlikeable for a reason that is specific and important to appreciate. The twins play the role of the dysfunctional family's "mastermind".

From the Wikipedia page:
The Mastermind: the opportunist who capitalizes on the other family members' faults to get whatever he or she wants; often the object of appeasement by grown-ups

Thomasin is the "scapegoat" child and Caleb is the "caretaker" child.

The witches and devil in this story are, in the end, almost incidental. The children are killed and 'damned' as a result of their parents' decisions and piety, and a core feature of the self-righteously pious is illustrated brilliantly in the opening minutes of the film. The father places his family in harms way because he believes that he knows better than the leaders of the Puritan plantation in which they are living. In his mind he is superior in his relationship to god. The only way he can maintain his self-concept is to create his own little utopia that is populated by the only people who are not in a position to question his assertion of moral superiority. If there had been no devil or witches on the farm he would have failed in his role as the leader of his self-made social order. His crops did not yield and his family's emotional wellbeing was neglected.

Thomasin is becoming an adult and reaching sexual maturity and, of her own accord, kneels before god and asks for his forgiveness and for him to show her the way to the light. The movie explicitly shows that the burden of persuasion is clearly on the shoulders of the devil. This is important because her desire to commit herself to the ideals her parents claim to serve is ruthlessly squandered by their toxicity as authority figures.

A feature of the story that is of particular note is that Thomasin's sexuality is not used as a device and the absence of this particular trope is welcome. It is her brother Caleb's sexual awakening that the film uses as a device, but this too is handled in a sensitive fashion. Caleb does not understand these feelings and he is troubled by his awareness of his sister's attractiveness. He has no one to go to and at the same time he is plagued with concerns over whether his infant brother's soul has been damned and whether his will be. When he seeks reassurance from his father he receives none. When he finds himself lost in the woods trying to fill the role that his father is too inept to perform, he is met by a fully matured and sexualized witch whose advances he receives as a frightened child.

Caleb and Thomasin are both depicted as unclothed in two scenes that are mirrors of one another. Caleb returns home from the forest unclothed, likely following a sexual experience with the witch. He suffers from a mysterious illness and appears to have been bewitched. He convulses and seizes until his life ends with what appears to be his spiritual salvation. Two aspects of Caleb's salvation are compelling. When Caleb begins to seize he is portrayed as being locked in a battle between good and evil (a battle that involves him expelling an explicit symbol for Judeo-Christian temptation), this continues until his parents and Thomasin join hands around him and pray over him. The family harmony that Caleb valued so much in life is manifest briefly as he achieves salvation. The second compelling aspect of Caleb's salvation is the fact that his salvation and forgiveness by what it is reasonable to assume is god, comes following a sexual experience with a witch in league with the devil. This is powerful context to the, supposed, disciples of the same god who offer neither salvation nor forgiveness to their children.

It is very important that, as soon as life has left Caleb's body, his parents shift their attention to their obsession with needing to find someone in the family to blame to avoid making themselves responsible.

This is why the audience's understanding that there are in fact witches is so important. The audience knows that Caleb's death is the result of his encounter with a witch in the forest, but even claiming to believe in the devil and witches does not seem to stop the parents' need to blame their children for the death of their sibling. With so much real horror going on around them, audiences are forced to question how much faith they have in the existence of either, if their response to Caleb's death is to board up their three remaining children in the barn outside the house. This decision leads to the deaths of the twins while their mother has a fevered vision of communing with her deceased son Caleb and nursing her deceased infant son Samuel.

In the end, the last two family members alive are the mother and her eldest daughter Thomasin. The mother's last act before she dies is an attempt to choke her daughter to death before being killed in an act of self-preservation by Thomasin.

It is Thomasin who now brings this story of parental failure to its conclusion. Alone and bereft of any hope that her mother ever saw any good in her, the light within her has been snuffed out. By the time that she finds herself in conversation with the devil, signing the devil's book, disrobing and following the devil into the forest, it is merely the formalization of her life as tragedy. She lacks the ability to even sign her own name and, in a twisted act of "parenting", the devil assists her. Even upon removing her clothes (as per the devils instruction), she is much like Caleb was, at the time he was kissed in the forest by the witch. She is still a child being sacrificed on the altar of her parents' self-righteousness.

This is not what Thomasin wanted, nor is it what the character deserved. She is left unclothed by the end of the film because every shred of dignity that she had was stripped away by her parents' refusal to see her as a young adult rich with possibilities and a desire to walk in the light. If one were to speculate as to why she alone was spared by the forces of darkness, it might be reasonable to speculate that her inner light was too powerful to be destroyed by anyone other than her parents. She walks into her meeting with the devil as one who is dead. In the end, she does not find acceptance so much as she accepts the identity her parents assigned to her and a life of everlasting horror. When Thomasin goes to the "Witches' Sabbath", she does so as a sacrifice on the altar of her parents' piety.

"The VVitch" is a rich work of cinema steeped in metaphor, animal symbolism and visual poetry. It eschews narrative clichés and achieves greatness.

Monolith of Myth: Paradigms, Paradox, and Joseph Campbell

In many of the courses I teach, I utilize the work of late mythologist and academic Joseph Campbell. For some time, I have planned to talk about the storytelling paradigms his ideas have contributed to, the paradoxes they present, and the rich world of myth that his output continues to inspire audiences to investigate. At the same time, I have been reluctant to do so without providing some type of primer on Joseph Campbell the popular culture figure. A "cult of personality" seems to have come into being that centers the study of mythology and heroes on Joseph Campbell's life and his work. This places disproportionate emphasis on one scholar's perspective and is the source of undue idolization and criticism of his person.

Let me begin my primer on Joseph Campbell with this:

Mythology is not centered on the life and work of Joseph Campbell, the life and work of Joseph Campbell was centered on a particular characterization of mythology.

Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book titled “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” and 1988 series of television interviews titled “The Power of Myth” have become monolithic touchstones for storytellers around the world. With these two works, Campbell presented an accessible introduction to myth centered on a popular paradigm that has become deeply ingrained in our collective consciousness. In hundreds of hours of lectures, numerous written volumes, and video interviews, Campbell espoused the value of myth and his belief in an underlying universal structure in its stories and heroes. The universal structure he presented in his work has contributed to the adoption of a storytelling paradigm in the late twentieth century. This paradigm continues to influence storytellers at the dawn of the twenty-first.

The manner in which Joseph Campbell and his two most popular works have been distilled in popular culture, however, undermines an understanding of both. Campbell’s arrival on the stage of popular culture has led to the twisting of his concept of “the hero with a thousand faces” into popular storytelling practices that seem to espouse ‘heroes… they're all the same’. The former issue makes an intelligent discussion of Campbell's work arduous. Joseph Campbell (the man) has been mythologized to such an extent that his persona has overshadowed his work and the study of mythology. The latter issue has resulted in a complete misunderstanding of his work and its misapplication. Examining the myths and legends of the world with a belief in their sameness, misses a great deal of what makes the myths so engaging and rich as a subject.

Joseph Campbell's fascination with the common thread he believed existed throughout all mythology informed his approach to the subject, and this concept was a pronounced element of his output as a scholar. However, in only emphasizing this view of mythology, the storytelling opportunities that geographic region, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and zeitgeist may offer have been neglected in many modern storytelling methodologies. In addition, such methodologies fail to be informed by the decades of research that Campbell utilized in his approach to mythology, and seek to infuse narratives with "the power of myth" by using elementary story beats via weak induction. The resulting work can be soulless at its best and cynical and paternalistic at its worst.

If the above elements are de-emphasized as a result of Joseph Campbell's popular approach to mythology, the popular mythology surrounding Joseph Campbell himself seems to support their dismissal. In popular culture, Campbell has been portrayed as either a transcendent mystical sage or a charlatan. That there is a need for him to be either is perhaps the result of the unhealthy relationship society has with figures that rise to prominence in popular culture. Neither unsophisticated portrayal appears to be supported by an abundance of evidence, and both are utterly incompatible with an informed understanding of the scholarship and point of view Campbell brought to his study of mythology.  

There is sufficient enough information in his biography to both develop a healthy view of Campbell and avoid the potential limitations of the view of mythology he presents.

The biography "Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind" presents Joseph Campbell as a man gifted with intellectual and physical capacity and whose parents privileged him with opportunity, financial stability, and travel. This is not to say that Campbell was untouched by instances of loss or doubt, however, Campbell's life was one with ample stability and resources. This may explain Joseph Campbell's (and many other westerners in the late twentieth century) affinity for the story of Prince Siddhārtha, whose confrontation with human suffering is one he has the power to initiate by choice.

If the powerful role that geographic region, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and zeitgeist are not particularly pronounced in Campbell's approach to myth, it may be the result of their not having played a detrimental role in his life and the common tendency to believe that any positive effects they have are solely the result of personal agency.

The mythologist who said that he was transfixed by Native American culture as a boy, and who longed to have a relationship to what would have been an alien culture, could only have found such a relationship in the role of an academic. The extravagant vision of Native American culture paraded in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show or categorized and presented in the American Museum of Natural History, and not the realities of life on a reservation, were the spark that ignited his affinity.

Native American war shield sketch by Joseph Campbell age 13

Native Americans killing buffalo sketch by Joseph Campbell age 14

Joseph Campbell had both the opportunity and the confidence to study the subjects that interested him, and he possessed enough intellectual ability to make contributions to those subjects with his work. Inspired by the portrait of Native Americans that was displayed in the popular culture of the early 1900s, he chose to investigate the mythologies of the world. The resulting work of his investigation has inspired millions to do the same, and his ideas have shaped the popular perception of mythology for the last few decades.

Joseph Campbell was not, however, a "maverick" (as he called himself in "The Power of Myth") or a "hero" (as some have chosen to see and portray him).

Joseph Campbell was a northeastern American man gifted with intellectual and physical capacity, and whose parents were invested in providing him with the best education and experiences they were able to afford. What Charles and Josephine Campbell were able to afford their son was ample. He traveled the world, went skiing, went surfing, played the saxophone in a jazz band, and found success on his college track team. Campbell attended Dartmouth College and then transferred to Columbia University when he decided to pursue the humanities. After returning from a trip to Europe, and after not receiving support from faculty regarding the direction of his graduate studies, Campbell retired to a cabin in the woods to read books on the subjects that interested him (as "The Great Depression" began), at age twenty-five. Five years later, at the age of thirty, he left his independent study when, through the efforts of a former Columbia adviser, he was offered a faculty position at Sarah Lawrence College where he remained for 38 years.

Joseph Campbell Sarah Lawrence College 1950

Joseph Campbell was not greatly affected by "The Great Depression" or WWII, the two most prominent touchstones of his generation. As documented in his biography he expressed opposition to U.S. involvement in WWII and espoused a detached moral relativism that Campbell believed was the result of some transcendent epiphany. This privileged viewpoint of the insulated spectator resulted in a rebuke from Thomas Mann (one of Campbell's heroes), when Campbell naively shared this perspective in a correspondence between the two men. Joseph Campbell's journal displays his increasing rancor at leading political figures and his terror at the approaching conflict's potential impact on his life and idealistic beliefs (he did not wish to serve in WWII and, though briefly eligible for the draft, was elated not to have been "called up"). In spite of his best efforts at maintaining the veneer of enlightened detachment from the politics of the time, he was certainly not apolitical or emotionally indifferent when his personal survival and security were threatened. This stands in stark contrast to his seeming ambivalence toward the Vietnam era draft during his interview in the Bill Moyers series "The Power of Myth".

Joseph Campbell's biography tells the story of a fortunate life spent on a truly worthy pursuit. The quality of this pursuit was shaped by an abundance of opportunities and support. It is not surprising that Joseph Campbell was able to achieve success with the considerable assets and advantages he possessed, however, it must be stated that Campbell's unorthodox decision to pursue mythology and the resulting success and influence on popular cultural he achieved is worthy of note, and indeed admirable. That would still make Campbell a figure that falls short of the definition of a "maverick" or "hero".

During his lifetime, Campbell had many encounters with leading minds in his and other fields of study. At the age of forty-five, the landmark book that distilled his investigation and perspective regarding mythology "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" was published. Joseph Campbell did not set foot in Asia until the age of fifty-one, six years after the book's publication. In his later life, he was embraced by important figures in popular culture that were attracted to his ideas and may have shared a similar cultural background. His knowledge, notoriety, and gifts as an orator led to his television appearance on "Bill Moyers Journal", and eventually, to the creation of the landmark series "The Power of Myth".



When "The Power of Myth" was finally broadcast, Joseph Campbell had already passed away. For much of the television audience, Campbell seemed to come out of nowhere. He was easy to project into, mythologize, and turn into a cult figure. Joseph Campbell's books, audio and video lectures, and interviews are there to be studied, however we are deprived of an equally significant record of Campbell having to defend his views on mythology let alone his characterization of himself as a "maverick".

There was also some criticism. However, contrary to a particularly vile accusation made by Brendan Gill in the wake of the series' broadcast, Joseph Campbell was not a crypto-Nazi charlatan. He was surely flawed as he was human, but not nearly as flawed as Gill's reckless portrayal of Campbell in the article "The Faces of Joseph Campbell" (September 1989). This article is at the epicenter of the popular smear leveled at Campbell. It is particularly troubling that, in addition to citing no concrete evidence to support his allegations, Gill's follow up article offers as "evidence" a letter from a reader who utterly misinterpreted a myth of India that Campbell often presented in his lectures.

From the November 1989 article "Joseph Campbell: An Exchange" (November 1989), in which Gill defends his September 1989 article:

The latest addition to this evidence is at hand. A correspondent, Carol Luther of San Anselmo, California, writes to say that she once attended a lecture in which Campbell recounted what he called a popular Indian fable (a favorite of Campbell’s in old age), the gist of which was that we are not all mere mild grass-eating goats but, instead, are blood-thirsty, carnivorous tigers, who do well to prey upon whatever lower species of animal makes up our natural diet. When she heard Campbell tell this story, my correspondent was so upset by its ethical implications that, she writes, “I rose shaking from my chair and shouted, ‘What about the six million who were gassed during World War II?’ In response, Mr. Campbell simply shrugged and said ‘That’s your problem.’”

-Brendan Gill

There are audio recordings of Campbell telling this very story (One recording was featured on an audio CD published in 1997 as a part of "The Joseph Campbell Audio Collection: The Eastern Way", Vol. 1 "Oriental Mythology" track 11 and is also available on iTunes as "Lecture I.3.1 - Interpreting Oriental Myth" Track 11) readily available, though not recorded on the day of the supposed incident. They would seem to illustrate that any response Campbell had was likely the result of a speaker who was interrupted by a shouting audience member asking something utterly unrelated to India, mythology, or the point of the story. Instead Brendan Gill seems to interpret this incident, that he was not a witness to, in order to bolster an incredible claim: that Joseph Campbell was using the "fable" to justify genocide! The myth in question is not espousing:

"we are not all mere mild grass-eating goats but, instead, are blood-thirsty, carnivorous tigers, who do well to prey upon whatever lower species of animal makes up our natural diet."  

It is troubling that this is the kind of ethical system and message that Gill and the reader believe is the essence of the story Campbell was telling. Gill's description of the reader's story as "the latest evidence" is irresponsible and inaccurate, but in describing his misinterpretation of the "popular Indian fable" as its "gist" he calls into question his ability to accurately interpret the character of both the story and Joseph Campbell. Brendan Gill lived a similar life of privilege and opportunity, and Gill's initial article seems to have more than a hint of envy and joy in what is essentially a postmortem airing of a fellow private club member's "dirty laundry in public". Ironically, the prejudice obsessed Gill was comfortable being a member of the Century Association, which did not admit women members until 1989 and was hardly an exemplar of diversity.

In addition to asserting that his recollections and secondhand accounts of Campbell's prejudice in social situations betrayed a core and insidious ideology, Brendan Gill's article betrays more than a little unsettling social jealousy. Why else would Gill feel the need to preface such criticisms and accusations with a description of Joseph Campbell's youthful attractiveness?

From Brendan Gill's article "The Faces of Joseph Campbell" (September 1989):

"If by the calendar he had reached his eighties, in person he was a good twenty years younger than that, or so any stranger would have assumed on meeting him. He was slender and quick-moving and because of his erect carriage gave the impression of being taller than he was. He had thick dark wavy hair, bright blue eyes, unwrinkled skin, and a pink complexion. He laughed readily, boyishly, and his laughter remained especially attractive in old age because, as far as one could tell, his teeth were his own, neither false nor capped. He was, in short, an invincibly youthful figure, so uncannily unaltered by time that I used to accuse him, to his delight, of practicing some hitherto unknown form of satanism."

Likely, Brendan Gill was setting up the cliché logical fallacy of the popular cynic: beauty and charisma are always masks for evil and ignorance.

If you are seeking a healthily disillusioned view of Joseph Campbell, neither the condemnation of Brendan Gill nor the deification of the "documentary" titled "Finding Joe" (2011), are the council you should seek. It would be irresponsible to assert that Joseph Campbell was incapable of prejudice or without ignorant beliefs. Any sensible academic would be foolish to assume that a popular culture figure's professional success and accomplishments preclude prejudice, ignorance, or action motivated by terror and self-doubt.

As Huston Smith stated in his response to Brendan Gill, from "Joseph Campbell: An Exchange" (November 1989):

"As Joseph Campbell never hid his politics and prejudices, I wonder why Brendan Gill befriended him in the first place, waiting until he died to target him as his enemy.

The reason he gives is that Campbell’s posthumous Power of Myth series was a siren song to selfishness. For evidence, he cites Campbell’s counsel to “Follow your bliss” and five short nondescript glosses appended thereto.

...

As Joe Campbell never tired of explaining, it is the human way of pouring the hodge-podge of life’s experiences into molds—ultimately a single mold—that renders it intelligible and meaningful. To overlook that as the program’s appeal—or to downplay it in favor of a doctrinaire political explanation—is to abet the “politicizing of the humanities” which last year’s NEH report cited as one of the problems the humanities now face.

This does not excuse the side of Joseph Campbell that I (with Gill) consider shadow. If Gill has light to shed on how we should balance our accounts on people like Wagner, Picasso, Heidegger, and now in ways Joseph Campbell, who bless us with their genius but disillusion us in other ways, it would be good to hear his views."

Huston Smith's more evenhanded perspective and its tempered approach are a pleasant respite from the more extreme characterizations (both pro and con) of Joseph Campbell.

Joseph Campbell was a well-read and inspiring teacher with feet of flesh. Campbell had a sharp mind and compelling ideas that came from the thorough study and influence of great thinkers (Jung, Joyce, Mann, Schopenhauer, Krishnamurti) and the myths of the world. Joseph Campbell's work might be best approached with an awareness that a framing or confirmation bias may have clouded it. This does not change the fact that Joseph Campbell's work on heroes, myth, metaphor, and symbol are worth considering, if only to understand modern storytelling paradigms. Joseph Campbell’s prodigious output is available for anyone interested in exploring mythology with an engaging, opinionated, and passionate tour guide who is not above using charisma or rhetorical tricks to make his points and who is more than qualified to benefit the education of an engaged student.

I am forever grateful to the college professor who introduced me to his work, because Joseph Campbell's introduction to mythology started me on a journey that has enriched my life and my career. That very same teacher had the wisdom to encourage students to use Campbell as a catalyst for the exploration of mythology, and not use Campbell as a lens for limiting that exploration.

Joseph Campbell’s two most popular works introduce broad areas of study in a manner that continues to inspire millions around the world to explore mythology and see the many traits that they share. These works are not the final word on, or the definitive resource for, mythology, and it would benefit a student to seek out other sources and viewpoints as a part of their education.

"Mythophorically" Speaking: 'Reading' Charlie Brown and Aang

The Vitality of Simplicity: Guillermo del Toro's "Angel of Death"

Guillermo del Toro is one of the finest ‘visual storytellers’ working in cinema today, in no small part as a result of his capacity to create imagery that seizes the mind and provokes a powerful emotional reaction. Del Toro’s design sensibilities are brilliantly personified by the creatures he creates, and into which he breaths life by utilizing metaphor and myth.

In this post, I would like to draw attention to an artistic collaboration Guillermo del Toro had with sculptor Norman Cabrera on “Hellboy II: The Golden Army".

When it came time for Del Toro’s interpretation of “Hellboy” to come face to face with his “Angel of Death”, Del Toro created a truly awe inspiring being that is simultaneously horrifying and breathtakingly beautiful in its design. Del Toro asserts, in the films audio commentary, that in this particular world every character has a specific “Angel of Death”. In order to create the "Angel of Death" for “Hellboy”, Guillermo del Toro began by sketching. Below is a Del Toro sketch of the character.

In the sketch, we can already see some of the essential visual notes having been roughed out. The two sets of wings, the eyes on the wings, and the nose and mouth of a cloaked skeleton-like face. In order to bring this concept to full fruition Del Toro collaborated with sculptor and artist Norman Cabrera, who brought a level of detail to the character that allows it to exist in a live action movie. Cabrera must extrapolate from the initial concept and flesh out the director’s vision, and we are fortunate that there is video record of a key series of interactions in that process, seen below.

Norman Cabrera’s first pass on the character clearly displays his mastery of the materials and technical brilliance, and it is hard not to fall in love with the sculpture he created. Guillermo del Toro’s belief in the power of simplicity drives him to do what many of us would find unnerving. Realizing that the head's design will be served with a visual statement that is more austere, he scrapes away the detail on the upper portion of the face and discusses with Cabrera the possibility of flattening it as well as bringing it forward. When the design is revised, the detail is scaled back again in order to create what amounts to the visual equivalent of a crescent moon-shaped empty plate, and that simplicity strengthens the design.

When the character finally made its way to the screen, it gained an asymmetrical crack as well, and the final design possesses a greater vitality as a result of having a visual rest at its focal point.

Mythophoric Character Design at ICON7

I will be giving a workshop on "Mythophoric Character Design" as a part of the illustration conference ICON7.  The workshop is titled: Myth, Archetype and Character Design and will take place from 10:00AM - 12:00PM in the RISD Design Center 30 N. Main St., Rm 208.  The workshop will only be open to ICON7 conference attendees who register.

See the ICON7 website for more details.