mookraker![media-1]
Kyle Reese is interesting to me.
The opening scenes of The Terminator introduce a few very important themes. One: The future is a dreadful place full of death and destruction, and where humanity's sole goal of survival has a common opposition in the form of murderous machines. Two: Kyle Reese and The Terminator are both out of their element in the world of 1980s Los Angeles, both reasonably desperate, and both dangerous. Three: The Terminator looks a lot less uncomfortable than Reese. Reese is suffering physically and mentally; The Terminator is not. Reese is merely human.
There's a lot to be said for Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, and a lot that should be said for and about her. Her acting is excellent, her character arc interesting, and I like how she portrays a figured who rises to meet a challenge. Sometimes the most unexpected people will prove worthy of a position of importance. The story ultimately is about her, and I love that. She broke so many eggs just by being amazing.
But this is about Kyle Reese.
I showed my support worker this film, with very little prior context, continuing an informal project to fill out their missing cultural knowledge from a somewhat abusive and paradoxically sheltered childhood. (They really liked Casablanca and Network.) One thing that was interesting was their initial certainty that Kyle Reese was a villain, just like the Terminator was. Different, obviously, but similar in methods, and surely similar in intentions.
Kyle Reese is like a traumatized, cornered rat throughout the movie. Resourceful, tenacious, never cruel but always in fight or flight. He is plagued by flashbacks and nightmares very frequently.
Never cruel. Never vindictive. Sometimes even almost gentle, especially with dogs.
Always desperate, often a danger to others both out of a need to defend himself and a need to complete a mission of far more importance than any life except one.
He doesn't know nobody will listen to him. He does know he is not safe; he doesn't know how to become safe except by hiding, fighting and stealing for the few scraps of clothing, information and equipment he can get.
He doesn't know how to talk to a normal human being. He does know how to make a pipebomb.
He reminds me of myself.
Which is why I'm slowly lowering him into a boiling vat of estrogen to see what happens.
#terminator-1984 #the-terminator-1984 #the-terminator #terminator #michael-biehn #horror #blorbo
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