Brainfilms

https://en.aup.nl/en/book/9789462989146/performing-brains-on-screen BRAINFILMS https://www.academia.edu/49648716/Brainfilms Illustrations for Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2022) For technical reasons, the images that follow could not be included in Performing Brains on Screen, where they are referred to as “Brainfilms,” followed by the illustration number. Full references to publications are given in the book’s Bibliography. Every effort was made to contact copyright holders and obtain explicit permissions. The images are provided exclusively as illustrations to Performing Brains on Screen. They must not be reproduced, forwarded, posted, or otherwise displayed or distributed. The notion of “fair use” may apply to the use of an individual image for purposes of scholarship, teaching, criticism or commentary. If an image is employed in such a context, credit and full reference to the book must be given. Quotations in the captions refer to what the images show, and are taken from the text or the dialogues of the referenced stories and movies; quotations for pulp covers come from the descriptions provided, generally next to the Table of Contents, in the corresponding magazine issue. This document may be subject to occasional modifications. Please address comments, observations and queries to: Fernando Vidal, fernando.vidal@icrea.cat Research Professor, ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) https://icrea.academia.edu/FVidal March 2022 Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 2 Chapter 2 – Brains in the Pulps 2.1. Filmmaking and spectatorship as pulp motifs. Covers of Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1939 and August 1940. 2.2. Displaying the contents of the mind. “‘You will note,’ he said, ‘these sponge electrodes that press against the temples of the wearer. They are to catch the thought waves leaving the brain.’” Title-page illustration of “Into the Subconscious,” Science Wonder Stories, October 1929 (Myers 1929, 426). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 3 2.3. Displaying the contents of the mind. “Here we have a graphic as well as vivid picturization . . . of what happens when scientists of the future will make it possible for us to get a sort of television picturization of our sub-conscious memories.” Cover of Science Wonder Stories, October 1929, illustrating “Into the Subconscious” (Myers 1929). 2.4. Headpiece of “The Brain in the Jar,” published in Weird Tales (Hammerstrom and Searight 1924). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 4 2.5. The Talking Brain. “Here we see the rash, famous scientist at his wits’ end listening to the live brain, contained in the skull, by means of the Morse code.” Cover of Amazing Stories, August 1926, illustrating “The Talking Brain” (Hasta 1926). 2.6. The Talking Brain. “He lived near to madness with his grisly guest. . . . with the staring, indifferent eyes behind which his victim and his judge spoke out in endless alternate prayer and invective – the face without feeling, hiding hell.” Title-page illustration of “The Talking Brain” (Hasta 1926, 440). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 5 2.7. Asking for death. “The head heard of all the different aspects of the wrangle. Its eyes held a mute appeal for death, an appeal that no one, now . . . dared to grant.” Illustration from “The Head,” Amazing Stories (Kleier 1928, 419). 2.8. Title-page illustration of “The Time Conqueror,” published in Wonder Stories (Eshbach 1932, 126). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 6 2.9. “I could see the crowd and Karet floating above them. . . .” Title-page illustration of “In 20,000 A.D.,” published in Wonder Stories (Schachner and Zagat 1930, 310). 2.10. The future of humanity. “. . . the fearless scientist evolved by cosmic power a hundred million years beyond the level of the race. Bodily development has yielded to that of the brain, and the frail form can barely support the tremendous brain.” Cover of Wonder Stories, April 1931, illustrating “The Man Who Evolved” (Hamilton 1931). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 7 2.11. The future of humanity. “It was a great brain. It lay in the chamber, its surface ridged and wrinkled by innumerable fine convolutions.” Title-page illustration of “The Man Who Evolved” (Hamilton, 1931, 1266). 2.12. Brain leeches. “Soon a giant worker came in carrying the body of Smithson. The worker laid the body on the sandy floor, its head near the Thing. Now, as his body lay inert, Susanne closed her eyes and started to pray.” Title-page illustration of “The Human Termites,” Science Wonder Stories, September-November 1929 (Keller 1929, 410). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 8 2.13. Brain leeches. A human is parasitized. Title-page illustration of “Brain Leeches,” Astounding Stories, July 1935 (Mund 1935, 109). 2.14. Brains in robots. “It paused, seeming to regard them with malevolent eyes.” Detail from the title-page illustration of “The Pygmy Planet,” Astounding Stories, February 1932 (Williamson 1932, 151). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 9 2.15. Brains in robots. “. . . the crouching, shackled scientists are surprised and horrified by the entrance of the leader of the visitors from the comet . . . . It seemed to be of a high order of intelligence.” The cubic Cover of Amazing Stories, January 1928, illustrating “The Comet Doom” (Hamilton 1928). 2.16. Brains in robots. “It came suddenly, rushing with awful swiftness on the town. . . .” Title-page illustration of “The Infinite Brain,” published in Science Wonder Stories, May 1930 (Campbell 1930, 1076). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 10 2.17. A brain library. “Now I am all ready I have asked my machine for what I want. I swing this lever and start the delivery of the information . . . .” Title-page illustration of “The Cerebral Library,” Amazing Stories, May 1931 (Keller 1931b, 116). 2.18. Dan Williams to the rescue of her sister Helen’s brain. Title illustration of “Enslaved Brains,” Wonder Stories, July-September 1934 (Binder 1934, 320). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 11 2.19. Enhancement by connecting to ten great scientists’ live ectobrains. “With a fearful cry she pulled out the wires . . . .” Title-page illustration of “Spawn of Eternal Thought,” Astounding Stories, May 1936 (Binder 1936, 126). 2.20. Observed by Captain Ulysses Paxton, the Martian Ras Thavas surgically performs a brain swap. Cover of Amazing Stories Annual illustrating Edgar Rice Burroughs’s “The Master Mind of Mars” (Burroughs 1927). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 12 2.21. Interspecies brain transplant. Illustration of “Manape the Mighty,” Astounding Stories, June 1931 (Burks 1931a, 309). 2.22. Interspecies brain transplant. It looks like a scene from Tarzan of the Apes, but Manape is Lee Bentley’s brain in a gorilla’s body. Cover of Astounding Stories, June 1931, illustrating “Manape the Mighty” (Burks 1931a). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 13 2.23. Interspecies brain transplant. The ape (not King Kong, but a “manape”) is on a remote-controlled mission to Wall Street, aimed at catching the next forced purveyor of a brilliant brain. Cover of Astounding Stories, January 1932, illustrating Arthur J. Burks’s “The Mind Master” (Burks 1932). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 14 Chapter 3 – Naked Brains and Living Heads 3.1. Brain in a vat. Left: In Dr. Cory’s laboratory, with (l. to r.) by Pat Cory, his colleague Frank and his wife Jan. Right: Growing and pulsating in its vat. Donovan’s Brain, dir. Felix E. Feist, USA, 1953. 3.2. Brain localizationism. The Black Sleep, dir. Reginald LeBorg, USA, 1956. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 15 3.3. Open skull brain surgery. The Black Sleep, dir. Reginald LeBorg, USA, 1956. 3.4. Localizing paranoia. Brain Dead, dir. Adam Simon, USA, 1990. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 16 3.5. Treating the paranoid. Brain Dead, dir. Adam Simon, USA, 1990. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 17 3.6. Mapping the “facial muscle control agents.” Brain Dead, dir. Adam Simon, USA, 1990. 3.7. Brains in jars. Dr. Rex Martin’s collection. Brain Dead, dir. Adam Simon, USA, 1990. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 18 3.8. Brain parasites. Doctor Spock attacked by what he describes as “a one-cell creature, resembling more than anything else a huge individual brain cell.” Operation – Annihilate!, Star Trek episode of 13 April 1967. 3.9. Brain parasites. Entering a victim’s brain. The Puppet Masters, dir. Stuart Orme, USA, 1994. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 19 3.10. Brain implants. X-ray of Harold Finley’s skull showing the location of the device, implanted in his frontal lobe, which allows him to manipulate objects through brainpower. The Man with the Power, dir. Laslo Benedek, USA, 1963 (The Outer Limits [1963-1965], TV series, Season 1, Episode 4. 96. 3.11. Brain in a vat. Alec Barham as ectobrain. The Brain of Colonel Barham, dir. Charles Haas, USA, 1965 (The Outer Limits [1963-1965],TV series, Season 2, Episode 15). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 20 3.12. Neuroimaging. As Dr. Valerian leads Karl, an intellectually disabled man, to the brain-contents transfer machine, they walk past a computer displaying a PET-scan-like brain image. Second Thoughts, dir. Mario Azzopardi. Canada/USA, 1997 (The Outer Limits [1995-2002], TV series, Season 3, Episode 2). 3.13. Neuroimaging. Images of the intellectually disabled Jobe Smith prove that the procedure to enhance his mental powers by means of psychoactive drugs and virtual reality works. Lawnmower Man, dir. Brett Leonard, US/UK/Japan, 1992. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 21 3.14. Neuroimaging. Brainmind transfer between a human and an android (they sit in the cabins and their brains show on computer screens). Identity Crisis, dir. Brad Turner. Canada/ USA, 1998 (The Outer Limits [1995-2002], TV series, Season 4, Episode 10). 3.15. Helmets. An “artificial brain component” is implanted into the skull of the brain-wounded Vietnam soldier Joe Corey in order to “take over the functions of the damaged area.” The Fiend With the Electronic Brain (a.k.a. on TV, The Man With the Synthetic Brain, dir. Al Adamson, USA, 1969. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 22 3.16. Living heads. Hitler’s braininside the Führer’s head. They Saved Hitler’s Brain, dir. David Bradley, USA, 1963. 3.17. Living heads. Fatally ill millionaire Karl Brussard and doctors around Nostradamus’ revived head, which he wants for himself. The Man Without a Body, dir. Charles Saunders and W. Lee Wilder. UK/USA, 1957. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 23 3.18. Living heads. Jan. The Brain That Wouldn't Die, dir. Joseph Green, USA, 1962. 3.19. Living heads. Futurama, created by Matt Groening. Animated TV series. USA, 1999–2013. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 24 3.20. Living heads. Dr. Abel. Die Nackte und der Satan (The Head), dir. Victor Trivas, Germany, 1959. 3.21. Living heads. Twentieth-century writer Daniel Feeld’s cryogenically preserved head as it looks in 2358. Cold Lazarus, dir Renny Rye, TV miniseries, UK, 1996. 3.22. Evil media mogul Daniel Siltz watching Daniel Feeld’s memories. Cold Lazarus, dir Renny Rye, TV miniseries, UK, 1996. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 25 3.23. Living heads. Top left: Dr. Manfred Kern and Prof. Dowell’s head (drawing by Alexander Dovhal from a 1957 Ukrainian edition of Alexander Belyaev’s Professor Dowell’s Head, 1925). Other: Prof. Dowell’s head. Professor Dowell’s Testament, dir. Leonid Menaker, USSR, 1984. Source of drawing: Source: http://en.uartlib.org/ exclusive/professor-dowells-head/. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 26 3.24. Waiting for transplantation. Amir’s brain about to be place inside the skull of a monstruous freak. Brain of Blood, dir. Al Adamson, USA, 1972. 3.25. Giving the brain a better body. Magdalena’s Brain, dir. Warren Amerman, USA, 2006. [Here should have come an image of Ann’s brain in a jar – “The most complete woman I’ve ever known” – from The Man with Two Brains, dir. Carl Reiner, USA, 1983. Warner Bros. denied permission. But see for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT0CScFzp1o.] Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 27 3.25. An elite brain. Apolônio’s brain and a cheerful visiting friend. Apolônio Brasil, Campeão da Alegría (A.B., Champion of Happiness), dir. Hugo Carvana, Brazil, 2003. 3.26. Evil brains. Gor. The Brain From Planet Arous, dir. Nathan Juran, USA, 1957. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 28 3.27. Evil brains. Fiend Without a Face, dir. Arthur Crabtree, UK, 1958. 3.28. Oversize brains. Though bred to carry out menial work, Metaluna mutants have giant brains. This Island Earth, dir. Joseph M. Newman and Jack Arnold, USA, 1955. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 29 3.29. Oversize brains. Saucer men. Invasion of the Saucer Men, dir. Edward J. Cahn, USA, 1957. 3.30. Oversize brains. Mars attacks! trading cards, 1962. 3.31. The ectobrain paradox. VHS cover detail. The Brain, dir. Ed Hunt, Canada/USA, 1988. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 30 3.32. Neuroimaging. Colter Steven’s brain piloted and monitored from the US Army’s control room. Source Code, dir. Duncan Jones, USA/France, 2011. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 31 Chapter 4 – Personal Survival 4.1. Pinky and the Brain, created by Tom Ruegger, animated TV series, USA, 1995–1998. 4.2. Dr. Caronte merges three scientists’ brains; the result speaks with him and the “atomic superman” Neutron, who eventually stops his plans. Los autómatas de la muerte (Neutron vs. the Death Robots, literally The Automatons of Death), dir. Federico Curiel, Mexico, 1962. 4.3. The most unreal brain transplantation in movie history, performed by pressing the organ through a hole in the patient’s forehead. Blue Demon contra cerebros infernales (Blue Demon versus the Infernal Brains), dir. Chano Urueta, Mexico, 1968. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 32 4.4. Top: Jeremy Spensser’s brain (wide shot to approaching close up). Bottom: Jeremy’s father William, the Frankenstein-monster-inspired robotic “colossus” with his son’s brain, and Jeremy’s brother Henry, an expert in automation who helps with the process. The Colossus of New York, dir. Eugène Lourié, USA, 1958. 4.5. A brain in a vat in Dr. Laurience’s lab (perhaps the first one in film history). The Man Who Changed His Mind, a.k.a. The Brainsnatcher and The Man Who Lived Again, dir. Robert Stevenson, UK, 1936. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 33 4.6. Dr. Laurience’s lab during a brainmind swap, with (l. to r) the doctor, Clare, Clayton, and the experimental subjects, plus close-up of one of the latter. The Man Who Changed His Mind, a.k.a. The Brainsnatcher and The Man Who Lived Again, dir. Robert Stevenson, UK, 1936. 4.7. Advertisement and and posters suggest a predominantly romantic plot. Change of Mind dir. Robert Stevens, USA, 1969. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 34 4.8. Mise en abîme. Displaying brains on small screens as a way of performing them on the large one. Self/less, dir. Tarsem Singh, USA, 2015. Compare with 3.12-14, 3.32, 3.25, 5.14, 6.2-4, 7.3. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 35 Chapter 5 – Frankenstein’s Brains 5.1. Stitches and scars as metonymical signs. A sample of brain transplantation traces on Frankenstein’s “monster.” Left to right and top to bottom: Boris Karloff in James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931); Lon Chaney in the TV series Tales of Tomorrow (1952); Christopher Lee in Terence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein (1957); David Prowse in Jimmy Sangster’s The Horror of Frankenstein (1970); Robert de Niro in Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994); Benedict Cumberbatch being made up as the monster in Danny Boyle’s play Frankenstein (2011). Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 36 5.2. DYSFUNCTIO CEREBRI. Prof. Waldman points to abnormalities in a criminal’s brain. Frankenstein, dir. James Whale, USA, 1931. 5.3. Dr. Bohmer wheels Ygor’s brain toward the operating table – and the spectators. The Ghost of Frankenstein, dir. Erle C. Kenton, USA, 1942. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 37 5.4. Left: Dr. Brandt’s brain waiting to be transplanted. Right: “My brain is in someone else’s body.” Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, dir. Terence Fisher, UK, 1969. 5.5. Skull sutures with metal staples instead of a forehead scar. The Horror of Frankenstein, dir. Jimmy Sangster, UK, 1970. 5.6. The organs required for the creature. The Horror of Frankenstein, dir. Jimmy Sangster, UK, 1970. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 38 5.7. Top: Dr. Frankenstein watches his assistant saw Professor Darundel’s skull; still brainless, the “monster” awaits in the background. Bottom: The skullcap removed, and Darundel’s brain in a vat. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, dir. Terence Fisher, UK, 1973. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 39 5.8. Transplanting a white man’s brain into a black man’s body. Top to bottom: The operating room; The surgical tool kit; Skullcap removal. Get Out, dir. Jordan Peele, USA, 2017. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 40 5.9. The Creature. Penny Dreadful, dir. John Logan, TV series, USA/UK. 2014–2016. 5.10. Unnecessary stitches. Sparkie. Frankenweenie, dir. Tim Burton, USA, 2012. 5.11. Atomic corpses. Left: X-ray of the implant for remotely controlling the creatures. Right: A creature advancing toward the spectators. The Creature with the Atom Brain, dir. Edward L. Cahn, USA, 1955. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 41 5.12. Top: Dr. Frankenstein at work while his assistant discovers a damaged hypothalamus. Bottom: After Frankenstein’s death, his daughter takes over. Lady Frankenstein (La Figlia di Frankenstein), dir. Mel Welles, Italy, 1971. 5.13. Dr. Frankenstein cuddling his wife’s new brain. Mistress Frankenstein, dir. John Bacchus, USA, 2000. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 42 5.14. Top: Deleting Frank’s memory (red spot). Bottom: The microprocessor that will be implanted in Frank’s brain. Frankenstein 90, dir. Alain Jessua, France, 1984. 5.15. Stranger than fiction. Dr. Robert J. White’s laboratory. The First Head Transplant, Documentary, dir. Paul Copeland, UK, 2006. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 43 Chapter 6 – Memories, Lost and Regained 6.1. Two human victims of Zydereen, the evil witch of Neptune: “There is an eraser ray that follows the recorder ray as it passes over every inch of your brain.” Flash Gordon and the Brain Machine, dir. Gunther von Fritsch, USA, 1955 (Flash Gordon, TV series, Season 1, Episode 21). 6.2. Top: Johnny’s brain is hacked. Bottom: After implant contents are recovered and broadcast worldwide, childhood memories break through thanks to the freed brain space. Johnny Mnemonic, dir. Robert Longo, Canada/USA, 1995. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 44 6.3. Joel mentally reacts to objects relevant to the relationship he wants erased; this enables the “mapping” of object-related memories, whose brain locations appear as green spots on the scan. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, dir. Michel Gondry, USA, 2004. 6.4. A moment in the erasure procedure. Joel’s brain is reached via the helmet, but Dr. Mierzwiak loses a targeted memory. Joel is “hiding” with Clementine in a foam bath in the sink of his mother’s kitchen. Mierzwiak finds the memory (red spot on the brain image), and when he deletes it, the couple goes down the drain. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, dir. Michel Gondry, USA, 2004. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 45 6.5. Top: Dr. Schreber extracts cerebral memory fluid, and the Strangers sort out the memorative raw material on an assembly line. Bottom: Schreber mixes the memories in test tubes, and controls under a microscope the process, which is visually evocative of cell fusion. Dark City, dir. Alex Proyas, Australia/USA, 1998. 6.6. Flashbulb memory of Shell Beach. Dark City, dir. Alex Proyas, Australia/USA, 1998. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 46 6.7. Top (left, right): The “Mouse trap” maze for use in humans, and the experimental maze in Dr. Schreber’s laboratory. Middle and bottom: The Strangers prepare their “tuning” operations on the city plan. Source of “Mouse trap:” Fleming Allen Clay Perrin, “An Experimental and Introspective Study of the Human Learning Process in the Maze,” The Psychological Monographs, 16(4), no. 70, Fig. 4. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 47 Chapter 7 – “Imagine, They Are in the Human Mind” 7.1. “Imagine: they are in the human mind.” As the miniaturized submarine Proteus enters the brain, its position appears as a white spot on the body map. Fantastic Voyage, dir. Richard Fleischer, USA, 1966. 7.2. Irvin. La Cité des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children), dir. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France/Germany/Spain, 1995. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 48 7.3. Performing the upload of the dying Will Caster’s mind into a computer is visually supported by abundant brain imaging. Transcendence, dir. Wally Pfister, USA, 2014. Fernando Vidal, Performing Brains on Screen (Amsterdam UP, 2022) 49