9 - released 28/09/2009
Since today is a day for facing demons, this evening I decided to face 9. I’ve been intending to see this film since it was released in 2009 but, after hearing many, many bad things about it, have been putting it off. And, having finally gotten around to it, my judgement is that it was entirely what I expected, and simultaneously, entirely what I didn’t.
Tim Burton’s films are normally quite kooky, with the same names headlining across the board of his repertoire. Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd, for example, are all Depp-fests. So, what I wasn’t expecting was to see Elijah Wood voicing the title role. His voice is perfect because it’s youthful yet still adult enough to be taken seriously as a credible force one way or the other in a character, but I didn’t expect it. Nor did I expect the film to be so grounded in conventional “reality”.
Of course, a dystopic, post-apocalyptic world isn’t exactly reality as we know it, but it’s a fairly commonly used perception of the future, particularly in times of cultural anxiety and conflict. Just look at the sort of stuff that was coming out of the turn of the 20th century and out of H.G. Wells in particular: War of the Worlds, The Time Machine and The Invisible Man, to name but a few. The first two in particular play on the same dystopic themes that combine in 9 - the humanless world of The Time Machine combined with the world in which “techology” (aliens) turns against humanity in War of the Worlds. I wasn’t expecting this of something associated with Burton. It somehow seems a bit too deep, like it’s asking you to read into it and think about it rather than take it for what it is and enjoy the superficial fun of the film.
For, 9 is anything other than superficial. I have already drawn distinctions between this and Wells’ novels, which are perhaps the most obvious, after the clear resemblance between the machines and dinosaurs. There is something Edward Scissorhands-ish in the construction of the machines’ pincers and things, but it is the dinosaur aspect which is most worth noting. The Scientist tells 9 that the machines are infused with his intellect, and the rag dolls with his soul. The fact that the machines and the rag dolls are at war suggests conflict between mind and soul, and then because the mind is represented by something so primitive and ancient as dinosaurs (even mechanical ones), this suggests that there is something outdated in intellect and that the future lies in the soul of humanity, whatever form it may take. One can’t help but wonder if Burton and the production/direction team intended for this moral, that the soul will conquer the mind, to be a message to modern society. I would like to think it is.
In a world standing on the brink of the apocalypse, a society perturbed by conflict and destruction from all angles, the moral of 9 offers hope. The soul of humanity will conquer. Of course, this moral relies on the soul of humanity being inherently good and not corrupted like the mind can, and in many cases these days, has, become. But I would like to think that at our basest level, humankind is not inherently bad. There are religious mumbo-jumbo-ists who would tell you otherwise, but religion is all work of the mind attempting to concern itself with the welfare of the soul, and 9 shows not only that the machines (the mind) are trying to destroy the rag dolls (the soul) and absorb them into themselves, but that the rag dolls (the soul) are perfectly capable of taking care of their own welfare and eventually destroy the forces that are combining against them. The message of this film is that, despite whatever evils humanity will face, its good soul will prevail, and our race will survive.
Which, in keeping with the season, is also a beautifully festive message. I feel uplifted and warmed after that. Don’t you?
