the creature from the black lagoon is beautiful

i watched the creature from the black lagoon last night & simply have to say... the creature from the black lagoon is beautiful. striking, even!!! from the right angle, she holds all the glistening grace available in this world. from the wrong angle she is menace. but this element is ever-imposed, a camera's insertion & insistence. & what is the camera if not another member of the boat's crew, ready to pilfer every last morsel of data from her world. hours after leaving the theater, i still feel her piercing jewel-ish eyes in my soul. i am haunted by her mouth gently prodding the water's surface. u tell me this isn't one BEAUTIFUL woman. don't lie to me when ur reading my blog!!!

she's beauty, she's grace

i guess the creature from the black lagoon being beautiful is kind of the conceit of the film the shape of water, which i watched about 25 minutes of once, desperate to understand why it had become the romance of the century. but it all makes sense--here is the most elegant of essences, the graceful swimmer who gently probes for understanding & ends all that she deems dangerous to the ebb and flow of her world. bring this bitch to an Amazon.com board meeting and let her loose!!! the shape of water checks out. i would date the creature from the black lagoon in a second; she lives a life of 0 to 100 integrity--all action, no talk.

the mask of the fish costume was created by a woman named milicent patrick who had spent a few years working in walt disney's ink & paint Sweatshops for Women before being hired by universal. she is often called the first women to work in special effects makeup, having assisted on several films prior to designing the creature's head. the studio sent her on a press tour to promote the film as a marvel hottie working in the man-dominated special effects world and the megalomaniacal boss of universal's makeup department got jealous and fired her. within this we find a story on par with that of the black lagoon--the total destruction of a minorly threatening presence mostly bolstered by ego & excess. get hollywood on the horn, we've got a story that'll really keep u up at night.

milicent works her magic

patrick's work on the costume was erased by her boss who eventually took credit but over the years a group of creature-gaga historians have resuscitated her legacy. in adapting what was once a book into this movie, someone made the creative decision for the creature to be human-sized instead of her novelized 30ft long, ship-sized state. she also became gendered (u cannot convince me this creature is a man, i simply won't have it) from having been hermaphroditic. in summoning a very human presence, patrick gives her the quiet and sweet mouth of a fish, which provokes some of the most beautiful scenes in the film. when she is held captive underwater after being tranquilized, she comes to in her cage with a still moment of quiet breaths. her lips come up for air as much as launch a line of inquiry. the growls imposed over her moments of attack seem not to belong to her--they're a part of something else that doesn't concern her. the world responding to itself, maybe.

for all the violent roars, the creature is much more likely to reach out with a relatively chaste hand. we rarely see her hands as destructive, only curious. in contrast to the harpoon-toting scientist gang, she is the most respectful examiner. there's something innocent about the way she's always tenderly reaching into a scene, grasping at whatever sensory knowledge lies before her fingertips. we almost always see the creature first as hand. i am imagining the opening bars of "come to my window" as she pulls herself up into my second-floor bedroom to await my return from work. is this the shape of water 2??? once again get hollywood on the horn.

don't u dare tell me this doesn't move u

one of the most iconic scenes in the film is when the creature mirrors the free and wild swimming of scientist kay from the depths below. kay is the sole woman trapped aboard this colonial pissing contest; she's an object bounced between her employer and her boyfriend. the creature sees a parallel in their operations. kay is able to enjoy the lagoon without taking something from it, without harvesting its soul. two gentle hands admiring what is novel. i watched this movie w/ the conviction that the creature was always showing up to save kay from the real horror--a ship full of 10 sweaty guys. if u watch it in its original form, the 3d element of this film gives a heightened importance to the dirt and grime plastered over each of these stinky duds. chest hair launches from the screen. aaaah!!!

the creature has a kind of perfect post-swim hair look. when she's forced on shore, she loses her total elegance but keeps this reminder of where she is meant to be. the swimming suit was inhabited by ricou browning whose work prior included choreographing synchronized underwater performances for pre-movie newsreels and working at tourist trap "mermaid shows" in weeki wachi, florida. he gave the creature her necessary poise, a real knowledge of her world and some sense of authority in the lagoon. i'm obsessed with her faraway eyes. rather than having a fish's comprehensive eyes-on-the-side-of-head (what is this term?) field of vision, the creature's stare is human--head on, confrontational! but with a softness in how her eyes never seem to pin u down. the actual creature suit held capacity to move the mouth and gills but not the eyes. for all the hell that breaks loose she still seems a little distant, removed. she would rather be anywhere else than on this ship or carrying this woman. she stares somewhere beyond the camera, a different reality on the horizon.

i watched the creature from the black lagoon in celebration of my friend andrew's birthday last night. he hooked it up with 3d glasses which always make things a little more fun and a little more nauseating. i couldn't have imagined watching this film any other way & am tremendously grateful to have spent some time w/ this belle of the swamp. happy birthday to andrew, who has never shot at me with a harpoon, only gently extended an olive branch hand thru the porthole of life's misery.