Kubrick Is As Kubrick Does

For about five months spanning the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, I woke up every morning thinking about Kubrick. Lately, here in 2009, I’ve also woken up many mornings thinking about Kubrick. The difference is that ten years ago, it happened because I was in film school, taking a masters-level class on Kubrick at USC. These days, I work in web development, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with Kubrick, the default WordPress theme on which so many others are based.

Both periods during which I’ve studied Kubrick have turned out to be transitionary periods for Kubrick.

Kubrick the film director died in 1999, toward the end of the semester, shortly before the release of his final film, Eyes Wide Shut. The professor, Dana Polan, came to class the next day dressed all in black, and delivered a eulogy to the class.

Kubrick the WordPress theme may be on its way out as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Predictions: The Long-Term Dollhouse Story Arc

Dollhouse‘s “anybody could be a doll” motif reached a new level this week with the suggestion that Adelle Dewitt, mistress of the institution that imprints hot young things with alternate personalities, may be a doll herself. What does it all mean? If the show lasts long enough, how far could the solipsism possibly go? Here are some options.

1. Everyone – or almost everyone – is a doll. The doctor, Topher, the handlers, etc. After all, the house is just one arm of a huge organization. Why wouldn’t the parent organization put dolls in charge of the Dollhouses, to make sure that they run correctly?
2. The dolls, much like the slayers at the end of Buffy Season Seven, will all suddenly become fully integrated super-beings, remembering all their pasts, retaining all their accumulated skills. In this sense, they’ll be like Duncan Idaho in the novel God Emperor Of Dune. Speaking of the Dune series, Read the rest of this entry »