Beware, Science! (The Fly Reaction Paper)

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Cadiz, Marianne T. M.

I thought the film was interesting, but I wasn’t entertained, although I did find the old special effects cool. I already knew the story beforehand, so that might have had something to do with it. I’m also very particular with my movie choices—to be honest, if I had the choice, I would have chosen to watch the remake by David Cronenberg starring Jeff Goldblum, but that movie is more of a horror than a thriller, which is what this movie is.

I found it interesting because of its stance on experimenting and euthanasia. I have no qualms about André’s experimentation on himself since he consented to it, so I think the bigger question is the fact that he killed himself, or that he asked his wife to kill himself. If an experiment left you crippled and out of your mind, would you turn to suicide? Especially considering that you’re slowly losing your humanity? Personally, I would, but I’m sure not everyone would respond that way.

            I wouldn’t consider this movie a morality play because there weren’t really any designated “good” or “evil” characters, just well meaning people in difficult situations. In the end, they’re all just really human characters. The brilliant scientist whose experiment goes wrong, the dedicated wife who tries to hold the home together, etc. However, I do believe the film was a cautionary tale for the scientific and technological advancements that were made in the 1950s, particularly in the West. If you think about it, the biggest mistake that lead to André’s death wasn’t because he was curious but because he was careless. Had he inspected his set-up, he would have found the fly and gotten rid of it, and he would have undergone no transformation at all. So the moral of the story isn’t really “don’t experiment,” but “be careful.”