Arc Iris picks 4 movies to pair with ‘iTMRW’
In Pairings, artists and creators pick the movies that complement their latest work.
2001: A Space Odyssey
The scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where HAL 9000 denies the astronaut Dave Bowman re-entry to Discovery One after killing the rest of the crew is one of the most chilling moments in cinema history. “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that,” HAL says calmly as Dave pleads from outside the ship to be let back in. The calmness is the kicker. HAL speaks with a cold, measured tone, a trusted assistant merely carrying out protocol. I always imagined Mother Silver, the AI therapist in iTMRW, with a similar voice and demeanor. Both HAL and Mother Silver aren’t violent or conventionally oppressive, but exert dominance of humans through zen-like composure.
THX 1138
Both Zach and Ray are huge Star Wars fans (original trilogy or go home), so it’s surprising that it took them so long to see George Lucas’ first film, THX 1138. Or, maybe not—it’s pretty weird, and it also used to be hard to track down!
Seeing this film for the first time after the completion of iTMRW was a bit uncanny because there’s so much overlap between the two worlds. In THX 1138, society is kept docile by medicated mind-control; iTMRW updates this idea with government-rationed virtual reality sessions. The film’s Catholic-inspired automated confession booth feels like an incarnation of Mother Silver, iTMRW’s AI therapist. In both, humans are alienated and consumed by consumerism. Even visually, the aesthetic of THX 1138 feels very close to the world imagined for iTMRW in its full-blown multi-media live performance.
Blade Runner
Another classic, and another with very clear parallels to iTMRW. iTMRW is the megacorporation to end all megacorporations, similar to Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner. You can say both corporations “manufacture humanity.” iTMRW produces companion bots designed to simulate human intimacy, brain implants that covertly generate urges to buy stuff, and the Reflect, a mirror that manipulates perception of one’s own appearance by projecting an idealized version of what its user could look like. In Blade Runner, Tyrell Corporation manufactures replicants, literally replacements to human beings.
Star Wars
Okay, not really, but it does have robots and comic relief. iTMRW is not all doom and gloom—humor plays a big role in the satirical world depicted by the album. (Though in retrospect, maybe we should have included a highly choreographed, highly uncalled-for lightsaber fight scene a la Attack of the Clones.)