Reaction Paper on The Fly

Monica Tricia L. Rivera

2013-14349

The Fly (1958) is a film about the consequences of taking experimentation to the extreme. A lot of my classmates didn’t like the film. They thought it was disgusting. However, I don’t think anyone would disagree with me when I say that it was very entertaining and interesting. The concept was so weird. Of course it wouldn’t bore anyone. But beyond that, it was very intriguing and thought provoking. Sure, the film was quite icky at times, but it creatively and effectively portrayed the themes: intellectual pursuit and romantic tragedy.

The protagonist was Andre, a very dedicated scientist. He was often shown working in his basement. He was so dedicated that he even attempted to experiment on himself.  Through Andre, the film was able to illustrate scientists as extremely dedicated–or even obsessed–with the pursuit of knowledge. Because of such dedication or obsession, they sometimes do things that are already unsafe and too risky. The film can somehow be considered a morality play because it teaches us to not be too obsessive over anything, even if we have good intentions. Such an obsession can lead to harming others and ourselves.

Given the storyline, I think that people from the 1950s probably viewed working in Science as something dangerous. They view it as something that people end up losing their lives too because they forget about other important things. It is so dangerous that one can literally die because of it.

To conclude, The Fly was very disturbing, and rightfully so. It was creepy just watching a half human/half fly, but the underlying themes and messages were even more unsettling. The film teaches us to not to enslave ourselves by obsessing over a specific thing.