WIZARDS
US, 1977, 81 minutes, Colour.
Voices: Bob Holt, Jesse Wells, Richard Romanus.
Directed by Ralph Bakshi.
Ralph Bakshi directed the 'R' certificate savage satires on modern U.S. urban life (in which he constantly found parallels with Hitler and Nazi violent oppression), Fritz the Cat; Heavy Traffic and Coon Skin. Back to PG style, he ventures into fairytale fantasy of the future, out in the atmosphere of Star Wars, and the mythic confrontation of the personifications of good and evil. (Evil is once again Hitlerian. A projector and Nazi propaganda have survived nuclear holocaust). Heroes, heroines, quests, battles, endurance: the ingredients are there - not original, nor profound - but lightly done in attractive animation. Bakshi became a more optimistic and animated Lord of the Rings.
1. The entertainment value of this film, moralizing? The purpose in the mind of the film-makers? For what audience was it destined? An American audience, wider audience? The significance of the captions at the beginning and the book and its pages of history?
2. The quality of the animation, the nature of the skills required and exercised? The contribution of colour, shapes, the human beings, the caricatures, the mutants, landscapes? What atmosphere did this visual impact make?
3. The importance of the musical accompaniment combining with the animation? For entertainment, for parable purposes?
4. The use of comic-strip style, stills at various points?
5. How much insight into the world of the present? How much insight is given by journeys of the imagination into the future, science fiction and fantasy? The future as built on the past? The inter-relationship of past, present and future?
6. The portrait of the world? The comment on the 20th century with the references to fascism? The visualizing of Hitler and Nazi oppression? The contrast with the final optimism in which this kind of fascism can be destroyed? The fact of nuclear destruction and yet human beings emerging from mutants with purpose?
7. Comment on the presentation of this future world: what had happened to the world that we know (audience reaction to this?), explosions, bombs the world that we know (audience reaction to this?), explosions, bombs, the world of the mutants and the fear that this can engender? The human beings who would survive?
8. The atmosphere of the galaxies and the cosmic significance of this story? The atmosphere of Star Wars and the future being greater than our world? A parable for enterprise in the present?
9. How well did the film use the language and characters and ethos of fairytales? The reliance on the tradition of the past for moralizing purposes? wizards, elves, princesses, ogres within this framework?
10. The placing of the situation of the future: the dominance of evil, good needing to emerge - leading to the birth of the two children?
11. The presentation of good and evil in the future world? The generalizations about the cosmic clash between good and evil, moral good and moral evil?
12. How convincing was the portrait of evil: Black wolf and his appearance, his birth, his dominance over his brother, his kingdom, the assassins? The discovery of Hitler and the Nazi film and the projector? The projector and the irony of film as a promoter of evil? The behaviour of the assassins?
13. The contrast with Avatar and his goodness? The benign wizard? His creative magic? His living on the ruins of the United States? The genial nature of good and the challenge of evil?
14. The contribution of Weehawk, Eleanor? The assassin who was converted and became Peace? The influence of these three on Avatar? The characterizations, their backgrounds? The threat of Black Wolf controlling their minds and turning them evil, e.g. Peace, Eleanor?
15. The significance of the structure of the journey, a mission and quest? Good going to destroy evil? The dangers on the way, the goals? The power of evil? Creative imagination and its destruction?
16. The importance of the incidents and visits on the way - the Lilliputian episode and the people and their support?
17. The desert and the Arabs of the future?
18. The importance of the battle sequences - the use of so much of 20th century war and battle footage? The stylization in the photography and the animation and yet the underlying reality of this fighting?
19. The importance of the final confrontation between good and evil, Avatar and Black Wolf? The ability of good to triumph over evil? The destruction of the projector and the films? The liberation of those held in servitude by evil?
20. How justified was the happy ending? An optimistic treatment of a future world?
