One Shall Stand; One Shall Fall
I saw the new Transformers movie, and it predictably failed to live up to the 80s version. Sure, the effects were great, but the script was written by one of those folded-paper things that elementary school kids use to tell fortunes. The poverty of the script led me to rethink some of the things that made the original movie so classic:
The 80s Transformers is a meditation on power and leadership of Shakespearean dimensions: two comparable societies, the Autobots and the Decepticons, are left leaderless and adrift, precipitating a struggle for stability that exposes the fundamental principles of each.
When Megatron is jettisoned from Astrotrain, the Decepticons must find a new leader. Several methods are proposed, but the method chosen is "survival of the fittest." This choice showcases the Decepticons' inability to respect any ideal beyond brute force. In the vacuum left by their departed Leviathan, the Decepticons re-enact the Hobbesian account of the origin of the state: they pass through a period of "war of all against all," until they agree to submit to an absolute ruler whose only merit is his ability to suppress internecine strife.
Megatron's transformation into Galvatron at the hands of Unicron makes him more powerful than ever, and qualifies him to reclaim the Decepticon throne from Starscream. The fact that his newfound power comes from Unicron is telling. Unicron, the planet-devouring monster robot, represents a limit case of the self-centered power-worship that, in a weaker way, characterizes the Decepticons. Unicron wants to assimilate the whole universe into his own body, to fold all manner of otherness into self, in an egomaniacal fantasy that also undergirds the Decepticon mentality.
The one thing that Unicron fears, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, stands for principles that run exactly counter to Unicron's. The Autobots revere the Matrix, despite not knowing how to use it, and in this way the Matrix stands for their respect for ideals beyond brute force; the presence of the Matrix removes violent struggle from the transitional period in Autobot society following the death of Optimus Prime, and in this way it stands for the principled avoidance of unnecessary violence; the Matrix responds only to a chosen user, but the identity of this user is for a long time unknown, and in this way it stands for a respect for the inner nature of things beneath their visible surface. The Autobots run their society based on an object representing a set of abstractions which they do not fully understand, but which they are always striving to comprehend better, much as American society claims to base itself on ideals of liberty that even the most learned jurists do not claim to know fully.
Also, the Autobots deeply respect otherness, a respect which makes their society healthy. This respect is best illustrated by Hotrod's fascination with the fish he catches in the beginning of the film, as compared to his relative disinterest in robots just like himself. Another good example is the execution of the hapless Kranyx, the last of his species, which Kup and Hotrod feelingly, in their laconic way, lament. Optimus Prime, when he tells Megatron that he "thought he was made of sterner stuff," also shows an interest in the nature of another being, whereas Megatron, who callously murders helpless Autobots in cold blood, couldn't care less about such things.
When the Autobot's base on Earth is overrun, they are split into two camps, each of which undergoes a separate trial. Ultramagnus and his group are stranded on the planet of Junk, without a really qualified leader and in a state of disarray. On this planet, they encounter Wreck-Gar and his Junkions, who live off of detritus and "talk TV" in borrowed snippets. Their society thrives on the disorganized disjecta membra of other societies, which they playfully use for their own ends. Indeed, without a leader to unify them, these stranded Autobots do well to sympathize with this undirected playfulness, which they do in the scene in which they dance with the Junkions to a Weird Al Yankovich song. Ultramagnus and his group may have no real leader, but they at least learn to embrace the incoherence of their collective life at that moment.
Meanwhile, Hotrod, Kup, and the Dinobots crash on the planet of the Quintessons. Kup and Hotrod find themselves in a terrifying sea of omnivorous robotic fish, recalling Shakespeare's phrase about people in a leaderless society "preying on each other like monsters of the deep." From that sea, they are taken to the court of the Quintessons, where a sinister seven-faced robot presides over a series of "trials," in which, guilty or innocent, the defendant is fed to the Sharkticons. The subjects of the Quintessons, including the Sharkticons, have great physical strength but very little mental acuity, while the Quintessons have great, Machiavellian diplomatic skills and no physical strength of their own.
The Dinobots, meanwhile, themselves almost as dumb as the Sharkticons, have learned to put aside petty squabbling and make "friends" with the impish Wheelie. The Dinobots, Kup, and Hotrod stage a coup d'etat, in which they, having failed to appeal to the reason of the Sharkticons, leave them leaderless and thus unmotivated. What this series of events illustrates is the tenuous line between a completely irredeemable society based on a combination of Machiavellianism and brute force, and a healthy society based on mutual acknowledgment: the society of the Quintessons and the Sharkticons is beyond hope, but the ability of the Dinobots to make friends makes them suitable members of a healthy society led by the charismatic Hotrod. Here Hotrod begins to learn how to lead, and he also discovers the conditions that make good leadership possible (and those which make it impossible).
When the Autobots are united under Hotrod's leadership, having passed through these various crucibles, they dedicate themselves to a world in which "all are one." This dedication, which ironically recalls Unicron's efforts to devour the universe into himself, reveals the Autobots' ability to transcend self-interest, to respect distant ideals, and to dissolve their own egoism into a broader world, all things of which the Decepticons are utterly incapable.
The 80s Transformers, then, presents a sustained meditation on the foundations of a decent society and its proper organization and leadership, as well as its conditions of possibility.
The 80s Transformers is a meditation on power and leadership of Shakespearean dimensions: two comparable societies, the Autobots and the Decepticons, are left leaderless and adrift, precipitating a struggle for stability that exposes the fundamental principles of each.
When Megatron is jettisoned from Astrotrain, the Decepticons must find a new leader. Several methods are proposed, but the method chosen is "survival of the fittest." This choice showcases the Decepticons' inability to respect any ideal beyond brute force. In the vacuum left by their departed Leviathan, the Decepticons re-enact the Hobbesian account of the origin of the state: they pass through a period of "war of all against all," until they agree to submit to an absolute ruler whose only merit is his ability to suppress internecine strife.
Megatron's transformation into Galvatron at the hands of Unicron makes him more powerful than ever, and qualifies him to reclaim the Decepticon throne from Starscream. The fact that his newfound power comes from Unicron is telling. Unicron, the planet-devouring monster robot, represents a limit case of the self-centered power-worship that, in a weaker way, characterizes the Decepticons. Unicron wants to assimilate the whole universe into his own body, to fold all manner of otherness into self, in an egomaniacal fantasy that also undergirds the Decepticon mentality.
The one thing that Unicron fears, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, stands for principles that run exactly counter to Unicron's. The Autobots revere the Matrix, despite not knowing how to use it, and in this way the Matrix stands for their respect for ideals beyond brute force; the presence of the Matrix removes violent struggle from the transitional period in Autobot society following the death of Optimus Prime, and in this way it stands for the principled avoidance of unnecessary violence; the Matrix responds only to a chosen user, but the identity of this user is for a long time unknown, and in this way it stands for a respect for the inner nature of things beneath their visible surface. The Autobots run their society based on an object representing a set of abstractions which they do not fully understand, but which they are always striving to comprehend better, much as American society claims to base itself on ideals of liberty that even the most learned jurists do not claim to know fully.
Also, the Autobots deeply respect otherness, a respect which makes their society healthy. This respect is best illustrated by Hotrod's fascination with the fish he catches in the beginning of the film, as compared to his relative disinterest in robots just like himself. Another good example is the execution of the hapless Kranyx, the last of his species, which Kup and Hotrod feelingly, in their laconic way, lament. Optimus Prime, when he tells Megatron that he "thought he was made of sterner stuff," also shows an interest in the nature of another being, whereas Megatron, who callously murders helpless Autobots in cold blood, couldn't care less about such things.
When the Autobot's base on Earth is overrun, they are split into two camps, each of which undergoes a separate trial. Ultramagnus and his group are stranded on the planet of Junk, without a really qualified leader and in a state of disarray. On this planet, they encounter Wreck-Gar and his Junkions, who live off of detritus and "talk TV" in borrowed snippets. Their society thrives on the disorganized disjecta membra of other societies, which they playfully use for their own ends. Indeed, without a leader to unify them, these stranded Autobots do well to sympathize with this undirected playfulness, which they do in the scene in which they dance with the Junkions to a Weird Al Yankovich song. Ultramagnus and his group may have no real leader, but they at least learn to embrace the incoherence of their collective life at that moment.
Meanwhile, Hotrod, Kup, and the Dinobots crash on the planet of the Quintessons. Kup and Hotrod find themselves in a terrifying sea of omnivorous robotic fish, recalling Shakespeare's phrase about people in a leaderless society "preying on each other like monsters of the deep." From that sea, they are taken to the court of the Quintessons, where a sinister seven-faced robot presides over a series of "trials," in which, guilty or innocent, the defendant is fed to the Sharkticons. The subjects of the Quintessons, including the Sharkticons, have great physical strength but very little mental acuity, while the Quintessons have great, Machiavellian diplomatic skills and no physical strength of their own.
The Dinobots, meanwhile, themselves almost as dumb as the Sharkticons, have learned to put aside petty squabbling and make "friends" with the impish Wheelie. The Dinobots, Kup, and Hotrod stage a coup d'etat, in which they, having failed to appeal to the reason of the Sharkticons, leave them leaderless and thus unmotivated. What this series of events illustrates is the tenuous line between a completely irredeemable society based on a combination of Machiavellianism and brute force, and a healthy society based on mutual acknowledgment: the society of the Quintessons and the Sharkticons is beyond hope, but the ability of the Dinobots to make friends makes them suitable members of a healthy society led by the charismatic Hotrod. Here Hotrod begins to learn how to lead, and he also discovers the conditions that make good leadership possible (and those which make it impossible).
When the Autobots are united under Hotrod's leadership, having passed through these various crucibles, they dedicate themselves to a world in which "all are one." This dedication, which ironically recalls Unicron's efforts to devour the universe into himself, reveals the Autobots' ability to transcend self-interest, to respect distant ideals, and to dissolve their own egoism into a broader world, all things of which the Decepticons are utterly incapable.
The 80s Transformers, then, presents a sustained meditation on the foundations of a decent society and its proper organization and leadership, as well as its conditions of possibility.