The Incredible Shrinking Man: Genre Vs Iconography in Classic Film

The film The Incredible Shrinking Man can be described as a science fiction film which makes it a genre picture. The genre of the science fiction film can be interpreted strictly on the basis of key elements of the genre or on the basis of key, iconographic images that are commonly associated with science fiction. In Judith Hess Wright's article, "Genre Films and the Status Quo," she writes about the impact of genre films in modern society based on the fact that they allow the audience an escape from the normality of everyday life. Vivian Sobchack's article, "Images of Wonder: The Look of Science Fiction," gives a detailed analysis of some of the typical iconographic images associated with the genre of science fiction, and describes how these visual elements are rarely interpreted in great enough detail. While both articles make a good case for methods of analysis, I believe that Sobchack's method is the much more effective of the two.

Judith Wright writes; that "genre films serve the interests of the ruling class by assisting in the maintenance of the status quo (Wright 1)." She is arguing that genre films allow people to confront the complexities of society and dominate them. Films allow characters to defeat conflicts in very simple ways based on their own nature. Wright addresses different genres such as the Western, the horror film, the gangster film and science fiction films and addresses the ways in which each different genre works towards this goal of maintaining the status quo. She mentions that science fiction films,
in particular, have a way of putting their characters in a very simplistic, ideal society only to have that society disturbed by some complex being. In the end, it is the character's natural instincts to overcome this being, whatever it may be, in order for the society to return to its simplistic, peaceful nature. Her overall argument ends with a statement about how genre films work to maintain the current political structure (Wright 5).

This author's point of view can be applied to the film, The Incredible Shrinking Man. The film takes place in a fairly simplistic, working-class 1950's society. The main character, Scott Carey, works a steady job and lives with a wife who takes care of the home. He is vacationing on a boat with his wife when he suddenly comes in contact with some strange, glittery substance floating through the air. Weeks after the incident, he gradually begins to shrink to very small sizes. The very premise of the film involves an ordinary man who is met with a very complex problem to which he must learn to adapt.

Wright's notion that the characters in genre films use very basic, primitive survival instincts to overcome their foes is very obvious in The Incredible Shrinking Man. As Scott Carey shrinks to a very small size, he ends up trapped in the basement of his house. He has to use the limited resources he has to attempt to survive in his small, basement world. He uses an old matchbox as a shelter. He finds an old pin cushion on the floor and takes two pins, one of which he uses as a grappling hook and the other he uses as a sword-like weapon. Because of his size, he finds new uses for these basic household items in order to survive. Although his small size has separated him from society, he has to find a new status quo for himself, in which he is still the dominant being in his universe. He is a male and he feels that although he is an outcast he is still in control of his world. He decides to go to war with a large spider living in his basement as a matter of survival. He uses the hook made from a pin, and thread to climb up to the location of the spider's web and uses his other pin to eventually stab and kill the spider. Killing the spider is his way of re-establishing dominance over his world.

The Incredible Shrinking Man is very unique in its representation of the status quo. Scott Carey is outcast from one world due to his encounter with the complex, but redefines his own status quo in his new atmosphere. The film thus goes along with Wright's argument that "the social order that exists previous to the coming of an alien [in this case the strange, glittery mist in the ocean] is a good one"(Wright 4). Wright's idea that the characters in genre films such as science fiction must "rise up and assert themselves against whatever kind of complexity or injustice they encounter" (Wright 4) is very poignant in comparison to Scott Carey's situation in The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Vivian Sobchack's "Images of Wonder: The Look of Science Fiction," the author goes into great detail about typical iconography in the genre of science fiction. Iconography is defined in the article as "characters, situations and images that give something emblematic power."(Sobchack 9) She uses the Western as a prime example of iconography, stating that films of the Western genre rarely take place outside of historical, Old-West type settings. (Sobchack 9) Sobchack writes that iconographic images in the science fiction genre are often described but rarely interpreted. She focuses on a few, key, iconographic images throughout the history of science fiction films such as the spaceship, the alien and the robot. The spaceship, for example, is a technological marvel and often a safe haven for the characters in a film. The ship supplies characters with shelter, technical needs, tools and weapons. Later on in the article, the author describes how science fiction often deals with "the dehumanization of humans." (Sobchack, 37)

When describing this humans, Sobchack explains about how science fiction films will often use a "visual subversion of the familiar" (Sobchack, 37), or extreme alterations of normal, human situations. While visual subversion of a normal world may not be as technically and visually spectacular as other kinds of science fiction films, it offers a basic psychological look at the real world. Sobchack argues that this form of science fiction is a very effective way of reaching an audience, as it allows us to view normal, common environments and beings that they we might see in everyday life, and alters them so drastically that the audience will be more affected on an emotional level. (Sobchack 37)

The Incredible Shrinking Man is directly referenced in Sobchack's article. She writes that "the film's entire visual movement is toward a transformation of the absolutely familiar into the absolutely alien." (Sobchack 43) Scott Carey's environment is a very familiar, middle-class suburban setting. He has a nice house, a job and a caring wife. There is nothing out of the ordinary in his environment. When he begins the shrinking process, the film uses art direction and mise-en-scene to illustrate how the world around him is completely transforming. Carey is placed on furniture that is abundantly larger than he so it looks like he is a very tiny man sitting on a large object. He is frequently positioned on camera in the background with the other "normal-sized" actors in the foreground to give the audience a sense of how these other people are towering over him.

Images early on in the film, such as the household cat and a dollhouse underneath a staircase, take on a completely different meaning once Scott Carey begins to shrink. The cat transforms from a lovable pet into a predator that is out to hurt Scott. The dollhouse was just a small item in the background, but now that John is an abnormally small person he actually begins to live in the dollhouse as if it were a regular home. Once Scott enters the basement of his house, as described earlier, he uses very small, everyday household items that we all have in our homes and depends on them for his very survival. The way that Scott adapts to this "alien" universe is a very effective way of making the audience empathize with the main character. Watching the film, you have to put yourself in his position and ask yourself what you would do in a similar situation. The way something that is ordinarily seen to be as friendly as a household cat transforms into something evil gives the audience a new perspective on how good things in their environments could turn on them if some kind of alien form were introduced into their lives.

Both Wright's and Sobchack's articles make a good case for different ways to interpret a film critically. Wright offers a very broad view of genre and how genre films generally work towards maintaining society's status quo. Sobchack uses detailed analysis of iconographic images in relation to science fiction films to give them more depth in meaning. Sobchack's method of interpretation is much more effective as it based on specific visual details in a film rather than the vague classification of genre. The Incredible Shrinking Man is a film that relies heavily on images and art direction to show the plight of its main character. While it might be classified as a science fiction film and it certainly fits in the framework of Wright's beliefs about the status quo, analyzing a film according to its genre is a much more vague method then analyzing it by use of specific visual images in a film. The parameters of genre are so wide that it is difficult to fit a film into one genre in particular.

Since film is a visual medium, the audience's main connection to film is the images they see onscreen. In The Incredible Shrinking Man the idea of a common man interacting with an alien environment is perfectly illustrated. Using the visual iconography described in the article by Sobchack, it is easy to show how Scott Carey's interaction with the new world around him makes for an effective way to reach the audience. Sobchack's article used a very specific and detailed approach to analyzing film. Wright makes a good point in her article, but she writes as if stating that every single genre film in existence deals with maintaining the status quo in some way or another. She offers no deviations in her theory and no examples of how this might not be true. A critical analysis of a film based on the visuals in the film is a more specific and detailed method for analysis.

Works Cited:
Wright, Judith Hess
"Genre Films and the Status Quo"
C335: Production as Criticism course packet

Sobchack, Vivian.
"Images of Wonder: The Look of Science Fiction."
C335: Production as Criticism course packet