NationStates Jolt Archive

Wicker Men and I both saw a movie and commented on it in a separate thread. So in order to not hijack that one, I've started my own. Be advised that we do discuss the ending of the movie, so if you haven't seen it, beware.

If you have seen the movie or don't care, by all means join the discussion.


Also, Wicker Men, is your name a reference to the movie, "The Wicker Man"?

Because I *hated* that movie. But whatever.



1. Yes.

2. What exactly did you hate about it? I'm curious, really.

2a. Yes, it's OT. But now I*must* know.

The plot just sort of really rubbed me the wrong way. A fine upstanding police officer, a Christian to boot, tries to uncover the whereabouts of a little girl and instead gets burned alive in a giant wicker man as a part of a pagan sacrificial ceremony.

I give the movie a little bit of props because I had such a reaction, and most movies appeal to the lowest common denominator and try not to offend anyone. But I really identified with the police officer, and then he dies a horrible death.

Maybe I didn't like it because I didn't understand its theme (or didn't buy it). I think it was aiming at the universal truth of all religions, something I find distasteful. I didn't think the point was that this police officer has a big tragic flaw in pushing his religion on others. I think it transcended tragic flaws to just kill a fine upstanding human being, making the audience go "Whoah". It certainly had that effect on me.





I know a lot of Pagans who watch that movie at parties the way other people watch Star Wars. It usually involves getting hammered and pointing and laughing at poor Sgt. Howie (since you gave away the ending :gundge: ) as he goes up in flames, screaming to Jesus the whole time.

Pagans put up with so much, and have little opportunity to get a little of their own back; so one treasures the little pleasures in life.

The Wicker Man isn't about "the universal truth in all religions" though. It's really about religious intolerance and how it blinds people to the obvious and ultimately strips them of their humanity.

Sgt. Howie is a close-minded zealot. His blinkered ignorance and refusal to even try to empathise with the islanders renders him incapable of recognising the blindingly obvious. The only person who doesn't see the ending of that movie coming 20 minutes ahead is him.

The islanders are inbred maniacs. Any reasonably knowlegable Pagan will tell you that there are other, more effective ways to ensure a good harvest. But did they bother to research anything past "Human Sacrifice?" Nooo... :eek:

So two scary, fundamentalist worlds collide, with results calculated to entertain disaffected teenagers for decades to come. Could this be the way that the Islamic world and the Christian West will play out?

But really, this is WAY off topic. If anyone's interested in pursuing this topic Let me know and I'll start a new thread.

I didn't think Sgt. Howie was closed minded. He wanted to save that little girl. It's hardly closed minded to be rather angry about a bunch of pagans kidnapping a little girl to sacrifice for crops to grow.

Like I said, I don't think he was supposed to have a tragic flaw the director was criticizing.

Meh ... it came out the same year as The Exorcist ... a time when the US was goin' ga-ga over demons, Satan, possession, and all things Occult and Wicker Man was the British answer.

Personally, I liked the film. No deep social commentary, just a genuinely good film for the genre.

(In response to the comments made in the first post.)

Pagans really watch a movie about cultists burning a Christian alive inside a big wicker man at parties? Excuse me for being close minded, but does that strike anyone as really sick and awful?

Sgt. Howie is a close-minded zealot. His blinkered ignorance and refusal to even try to empathise with the islanders renders him incapable of recognising the blindingly obvious. The only person who doesn't see the ending of that movie coming 20 minutes ahead is him.

Or alternatively, one can see that Sgt. Howie's initial suspicions and distrust of the islanders and their barbaric pagan ways are entirely justified. The man stands by what he believes throughout the whole, even in the face of temptation, humiliation and mockery. He is seen to be a committed (if somewhat uptight) man.

In the end it is more a film about the collision of two different sets of beliefs: you may label the Sargeant as a close-minded zealot, but the islanders are as equally set in their ways - even when the crops fail them after their earlier sacrifices they continue on in the old ways.

Pagans really watch a movie about cultists burning a Christian alive inside a big wicker man at parties? Excuse me for being close minded, but does that strike anyone as really sick and awful?

No. But then, I have watched the Wickerman at parties. Remember, it is the Christian that gets the best lines at the end of the movie. I don't know what films you watch at parties, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have a death toll greater than the Wickerman (1).

Meh ... it came out the same year as The Exorcist ... a time when the US was goin' ga-ga over demons, Satan, possession, and all things Occult and Wicker Man was the British answer.

Nah, I would argue that it was influenced much more by the hippy movement and their exploration of ecology and alternative spirituality. Hammer had been cranking out horror movies for years prior to the Wicker Man, and so it is not as if the UK didn't have a tradition of horror films prior to then.

Pagans really watch a movie about cultists burning a Christian alive inside a big wicker man at parties? Excuse me for being close minded, but does that strike anyone as really sick and awful?

Nah ... no more so than my semi-annual Rocky Horror Picture Show parties.

Nah, I would argue that it was influenced much more by the hippy movement and their exploration of ecology and alternative spirituality. Hammer had been cranking out horror movies for years prior to the Wicker Man, and so it is not as if the UK didn't have a tradition of horror films prior to then.

Well, I meant in the US. If "The Exorcist" hadn't been such an overwhelming success, I doubt "Wicker Man" would have been more than a cult obscurity as far as US audiences are concerned.

Well, I meant in the US. If "The Exorcist" hadn't been such an overwhelming success, I doubt "Wicker Man" would have been more than a cult obscurity as far as US audiences are concerned.

OK, I understand you now.

Nah ... no more so than my semi-annual Rocky Horror Picture Show parties.

HAHAHAHAHA
Now THAT is one sick movie
I LOVE IT

So who on the mainland tipped off Summerisle that Howie fit their requirements for ritual sacrifice? Summerisle said at the end of the film that they'd had their eye on Howie for a long time. Willow and the others then went on to describe him as 'representing the king' (because he was a policeman), a virgin, and a fool. Now the police bit is obvious; the fool- well, they sure had him running in circles, that's for sure. That he was a virgin would, I think, have been less apparent to the islanders- unless they had inside information.

I think Howie's fiancee back on the mainland might have been a deeply-planted mole of Summerisle's. Who else would know something that personal?


My favourite bit in the flick is when the islanders have to pass under the interlocked blades of the six swordsmen, all to the tune of the 'Chef Boyardee' song (played on bagpipes, no less). It's...yeah, the Rocky Horror comparison works for me. Or maybe Logan's Run.

Renew! Renew! Renew!

Or maybe Logan's Run.

Renew! Renew! Renew!

Logan's Run. Trippy movie, but good. With the sandmen and stuff. Whooeeeaazzz.

But maybe I just resented WM because it sort of used its moment to scare you artificially, like The Ring. In The Ring, it wasn't a very scary movie at all. But it would play quiet music and then BLAMOGUAHAHAHA they'd play a loud noise and show some blood and people would jump. It wasn't really scary, it just made you jump involuntarily. I could accomplish the same by sneaking up behind someone and belting a note on a tuba, but I'm not scary.

So you want to thrill me by burning Sgt. Howie in a giant wicker man? Ok, but sort of the same idea.

BTW, I always wondered what a degree in basketweaving could get you. That wicker man was huge, and it had to be built by somebody.

Well, it wasn't a 'horror' movie in the conventional sense, that's for sure. I guess the viewer was supposed to feel a...creeping sense of unease as Howie's investigation keeps taking him out into increasingly unfamiliar territory. I thought it did that fairly capably. All of Howie's preconceived notions were turned on their head in the course of the film, and maybe the 'horror' was supposed to stem from that.

I'd be curious to hear from any policemen, particularly Scots policemen, to hear their take on the storyline. How would they proceed in real-life to the situation Howie faced- that of investigating the case of a missing girl on a private island, where the locals seem to contradict themselves at every turn.

Sexy snails, eh?

How can anyone not whole-heartedly love a film that contains the immortal line 'Protected by the ejaculation of serpents'?