1 00:00:00,366 --> 00:00:01,133 Blade Runner 2 00:00:01,133 --> 00:00:01,966 Contagion 3 00:00:01,966 --> 00:00:02,766 The Fog 4 00:00:02,766 --> 00:00:04,100 L.A. Confidential 5 00:00:04,100 --> 00:00:06,466 Smog has been used to highlight 6 00:00:06,733 --> 00:00:11,900 multiple emotions, but definitely, is connected 7 00:00:11,900 --> 00:00:14,066 with different types of anxiety. 8 00:00:14,066 --> 00:00:17,066 In the New American Experience documentary, Clearing the Air 9 00:00:17,500 --> 00:00:18,900 The War on Smog. 10 00:00:18,900 --> 00:00:22,100 We're transported back to a hazy Los Angeles, confronting 11 00:00:22,100 --> 00:00:23,966 air pollution for the first time. 12 00:00:23,966 --> 00:00:25,633 And some of the images look like 13 00:00:25,633 --> 00:00:27,333 they're straight out of a horror movie. 14 00:00:27,733 --> 00:00:30,066 So it's no wonder that this real life threat 15 00:00:30,066 --> 00:00:31,500 crept into Hollywood films. 16 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,966 We asked Robin Murray and Joseph authors of Monstrous Nature: 17 00:00:35,966 --> 00:00:38,333 Environment and Horror on the Big Screen, 18 00:00:38,333 --> 00:00:40,733 to walk us through the smog filled scenes 19 00:00:40,733 --> 00:00:44,766 where environmental anxiety took a terrifying turn. 20 00:00:44,766 --> 00:00:47,733 We might recommend that they start with Blade Runner 21 00:00:47,733 --> 00:00:50,566 and Blade Runner 2049. 22 00:00:50,566 --> 00:00:53,300 Endless smog filled streets and skies. 23 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:57,333 Rains that will never stop and not cut the smog away. 24 00:00:57,333 --> 00:00:59,633 Those kinds of films are, 25 00:01:00,700 --> 00:01:02,566 really emblematic of what 26 00:01:02,566 --> 00:01:06,700 people think Los Angeles will look like in the future. 27 00:01:06,700 --> 00:01:10,466 There's actually a film called Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster 28 00:01:10,466 --> 00:01:14,700 that really, explicitly makes that connection between, 29 00:01:15,066 --> 00:01:17,966 our polluting of the land, of the air 30 00:01:17,966 --> 00:01:20,133 and making of monsters. 31 00:01:20,133 --> 00:01:20,966 Feeding. 32 00:01:20,966 --> 00:01:23,700 Growing evermore deadly on smog. 33 00:01:23,700 --> 00:01:27,833 Only one force dares stand up to its overpowering evil. 34 00:01:28,533 --> 00:01:30,166 Smog is so nebulous. 35 00:01:30,166 --> 00:01:32,866 I mean, it's not like Godzilla. 36 00:01:33,633 --> 00:01:38,333 A big monster that we kind of think we know how to attack. 37 00:01:38,333 --> 00:01:41,566 When you have something that's like smog, 38 00:01:41,566 --> 00:01:44,200 like a virus too, like in Contagion. 39 00:01:45,033 --> 00:01:49,133 The horror, the danger, is happening so slowly. 40 00:01:52,633 --> 00:01:55,733 Some other films that deal with this issue of 41 00:01:55,733 --> 00:01:59,866 slow moving horror would be films like The Fog. 42 00:01:59,866 --> 00:02:01,633 You're living in a small town 43 00:02:01,633 --> 00:02:04,400 near the ocean and suddenly you're engulfed in 44 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,400 something that you can't understand. 45 00:02:07,633 --> 00:02:10,866 It's almost impossible to describe, but there it is. 46 00:02:10,866 --> 00:02:15,700 It's clearly an environmental and horrific disaster. 47 00:02:15,700 --> 00:02:16,966 The Fog 48 00:02:16,966 --> 00:02:18,966 What you cant see wont hurt you. 49 00:02:18,966 --> 00:02:20,400 It will kill you. 50 00:02:22,066 --> 00:02:24,100 One of the things that really stood out for me 51 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:27,366 in relation to the 1940s and smog, 52 00:02:27,366 --> 00:02:30,066 because theyre so connected with WWII. 53 00:02:30,066 --> 00:02:33,466 Are the Los Angeles based film noir. 54 00:02:33,866 --> 00:02:37,600 I really like the powerful scenes in Double Indemnity, 55 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:41,366 for example, where you have Fred Macmurray's character, 56 00:02:41,366 --> 00:02:42,266 Walter Neff 57 00:02:42,566 --> 00:02:46,433 coming out of the smog on his crutches. 58 00:02:46,433 --> 00:02:50,466 You know, these shadowy figures coming out of the smog then 59 00:02:50,466 --> 00:02:54,433 so the smog itself becomes emblematic of the corruption, 60 00:02:54,433 --> 00:02:56,233 the the danger. 61 00:02:58,033 --> 00:03:00,366 But for LA, if you watch L.A. Confidential, 62 00:03:00,366 --> 00:03:02,833 The Long Goodbye or To Live and Die In L.A. 63 00:03:02,833 --> 00:03:04,033 All the neo-noir. 64 00:03:04,033 --> 00:03:05,200 They're on the highways. 65 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,000 They're above in the hills or looking down at the city. 66 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 The city is smog infested. 67 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,600 and you see it in these films as backgrounds. 68 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,300 And and when you finally get to films, about lower income 69 00:03:16,300 --> 00:03:17,866 areas in Los Angeles, 70 00:03:17,866 --> 00:03:21,033 like Killer of Sheep and, Boyz n the Hood 71 00:03:21,033 --> 00:03:22,833 It's just ever present. 72 00:03:22,833 --> 00:03:24,433 There's no escape. 73 00:03:24,433 --> 00:03:28,133 The idea is that because of, your lack of income, 74 00:03:28,333 --> 00:03:30,800 you don't have an ability, to get beyond 75 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:32,533 the area in which you live. 76 00:03:32,533 --> 00:03:35,000 It's not just income, it's race. 77 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,800 The polluted areas in the marginalized parts of big cities 78 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:40,833 like Los Angeles and 79 00:03:40,833 --> 00:03:42,533 And in a film like Killer of Sheep, 80 00:03:42,533 --> 00:03:45,100 it's very matter of factly revealing 81 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:48,000 what the world looks like in that part of the world, 82 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:49,300 which is essentially Watts 83 00:03:49,700 --> 00:03:52,166 in the 1970s. 84 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,800 In the 1970s, there actually were environmental disaster 85 00:03:57,800 --> 00:03:59,766 films that were eco horror. 86 00:03:59,766 --> 00:04:02,600 Like Soylent Green, for example, or Omega Man. 87 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:07,266 So you're looking at the city, as exploitative and definitely 88 00:04:07,266 --> 00:04:12,100 a product of our horrific behaviors of whatever kind. 89 00:04:12,933 --> 00:04:15,266 There's endless details, 90 00:04:15,266 --> 00:04:18,666 in relationship to environmental issues around the world 91 00:04:18,666 --> 00:04:19,500 that we've been able 92 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,433 to look at by using films, because filmmakers around 93 00:04:23,433 --> 00:04:26,433 the world are confronting these issues on a daily basis. 94 00:04:26,733 --> 00:04:29,500 To learn more about L.A'.s decades long battle 95 00:04:29,500 --> 00:04:31,866 clean air, watch Clearing the Air: 96 00:04:31,866 --> 00:04:34,433 The War on Smog, from American Experience.