http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104254/
Fern Gully: The Last Rain Forest is about a race of fairies and sprites in a rainforest who fight to keep humans from cutting down all of the trees. The massive tree cutting machine is occupied by an evil oil-like creature, which thrives off of t
he pollution coming out of the machine in order to gain strength. The movie portrays Man as the ultimate enemy of nature.
The forest is naturally illustrated as a picturesque Eden being destroyed by big business. During a few shots in the film, the audience sees the area which has already been eliminated of trees, giving the viewer a very ominous feeling of what could come if Man isn't stopped.
I felt this film exemplifies aspects of all of 4 of Buell's Toxic Topoi. Hexxus, who is an ever present threat in the film, represents the inescapability of the toxin. The idea that Man is facing off against the rainforest, and for most of the film, is winning the battle, represents the David and Goliath myth. Eden (the forest) is betrayed by man, in that a fairly large expanse has already been chopped down and burned to char. Once it is all burned and the whole screen shot is just charred, black land where once stood an Eden-like rainforest, represents Buell's Virgilian/gothicized squalor.
Ich lieeeeebe Fern Gully. Batty FTW!
ReplyDeleteAnd of course this is a Toxic Text.
But what I think is interesting about Fern Gully, is that I was never mad at the humans. They were just kind of dopey hicks who liked coffee and sandwiches, I could relate. I was always aware that Hexxus was the one I should fear. Hexxus was the problem. Even though humans created Hexxus, Hexxus has the power (Tim Curry FTW, too! We have the same birthday. Anyway). The makers of Fern Gully have remarkably shifted the blame away from the humans and onto this unstoppable force in itself of pollution, and only one tiny seed and fairies can help us. Of course I don't support this avoidance of blame, I just think it is very interesting.
Also, it's the girls that are "more connected to nature". Krista and that old lady fairy are the wisest, and most productive of their kind. Also, the humans are only men and they are the ones destroying everything. Hexxus is male too. So it goes back to that stereotype of femininity and Mother Nature.
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/4191-ferngully
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