PAPER GORILLA
2017
Starring: Stanley Miles
Camera Operators: Beatrice Vorster, Louis Judkins
Boom Operator: Dan Rowan-Smith
Writter, Director, Editor, Costumes: Louis Judkins
Paper gorilla is a work of many contrasts, made clear in the title:
A gorilla is one of the strongest animals in the world, paired with paper, a weak material. This contrast of power and vulnerability provides the key to unlock the works theme of abject nihilism.
Captain America and Superman are widely known for their incredible strength, ultra-confidence, and rock-solid masculinity.
But here, these universally recognized characters behave apathetically and indulge in unexpected, existential conversations about the nature of mortality, grief, and heartbreak.
Their stoicism is compromised, as their genuine emotions are laid bare. Their usually sophisticated appearances are distorted by shiny costumes (painted with household gloss paint and spray paint, still wet at the time of filming – see Captain America's hands), which appear to be melting, evoking a submissive helplessness.
Title cards with the names of anti-depressants designed in a style of bold, goofy bubble letters on top of colourful backgrounds replicating 'Ben-Day dots' divide the scenes. The contrast of bright colours and melancholy subject matter is accompanied by a bubbling underwater sound, referencing Superman's comment in the final scene of feeling "… trapped. Submerged. As if something is holding me underwater, and I can't reach the surface for air."
As they travel slowly on their walk (Captain America shuffles, Superman levitates), their surroundings spin erratically, representing a lack of stability, the feeling of unease, and the dizzying sensation of medication withdrawal symptoms.
There's a dramatic irony: The viewer can see their figures superimposed onto the background via ultra key, but the characters don't notice, furthering their feelings of a disconnection from reality.
