Analog Visions, Digital Futures: The Sci-Fi Cinema of 1984 - Part 2: Iceman & Starman

Two 1984 films with different types of visitors. One a neanderthal man revived after being frozen in ice, sending him 40,000 years into the future. The other is an enlightened visitor from an advanced civilization visiting earth. Both movies situate the audience from the perspective of an outsider looking at modern humanity. Iceman asked audiences to reflect on human origins and the meaning of a technological civilization, while Starman takes a more hopeful view of humanity. Both films use outsiders as a window into the contradictions of modern civilization. 

Iceman (1984, Fred Schepisi)

Iceman is often grouped with films from the 1980s dealing with the origins of humanity including Quest for Fire, Caveman, Altered States, and Clan of the Cave Bear. Australian director Fred Schepisi brought an observational and humanistic approach to the material from a script by John Drimmer and Chip Proser. A group of scientists at a research station in the Arctic, you almost imagine the events of The Thing happening simultaneously, discover a neanderthal man frozen in the ice. When the team thaws the ice; they detect brain activity and manage to revive the man. 

Timothy Hutton stars as anthropologist Dr. Stanley Sheperd who, unlike the other military and scientific personnel, treats "Charlie" with compassion. John Lone, in a sublime performance in heavy makeup plays the neanderthal. They place him in an artificial habitat so he can hunt for food, but Charlie begins to grasp there's something off with his simulated environment. Shepherd's colleague Dr. Brady (Lindsay Crouse) views him as a specimen they can study to learn more about cryogenics and longer human life spans, even immortality. The military sees strategic potential to leverage the Soviets! 

Shepherd refuses to view Charlie as a test subject, but as a living being who deserves dignity and respect, an invaluable source of wisdom for the present. As a living example of the past, Charlie can provide insight on language development, early human culture, and spirituality. How do we see ourselves in the universe? 

Schepisi emphasizes the alienating effects of technology and how it disconnects us from nature. The film emphasizes people immersed in screens and reliant on computer data - this was 1984! The world stands on the nuclear brink; one wonders if early humans just as self-destructive? How did they adapt? Intelligence, strength, compassion - a combination of all? We learn Charlie was trying to save his family during the Ice Age by going on a "Dreamwalk", adding a poignancy to the theme of human survival in the film. 

Hutton's scientist is the humanist voice, an avatar for Carl Sagan. He sees Charlie as a miracle, a way for a lost humanity to rediscover itself. He believes modern humanity also owes him all the dignity of a fulfilling life, and not to live as a test subject. In a memorable scene they bond when Shepherd sings Neil Young's "Heart of Gold." I suspect many in 1984 (and now) would go into Iceman expecting something absurd that would either veer into horror or comedy. Instead, the film provides a solemn meditation on the mystery of humanity's origins, a subtle theme on how the modern world is dependent on technology, and most importantly a feel for the cosmic sweep of time. 

                                                    Starman (1984, John Carpenter)

John Carpenter's Starman marked a departure in his filmography. In contrast to the cosmic horror of The Thing, Starman offers s mature humanism. Often thought of as a more adult oriented version of Spielberg's E.T., the film also imagines a visitor from an advanced civilization who makes a deep connection with a human being. 

Karen Allen stars as grieving widow Jenny Hayden, the film begins with her watching home movies of her deceased husband played by Jeff Bridges. A spacecraft crashes near her home in northern Wisconsin, an orb leaves the craft and goes into her house, finds a trace of DNA and takes the form of her husband Scott. Shocked at first, Jenny must transport the visitor to Arizona where a craft will retrieve him 

Sagan also influences the film, maybe unconsciously. It's the Voyager craft the visitors first encounter which leads them to earth. They hear the music and read the greetings. Sagan was a part of Voyager and the public relations behind the mission. The Sagan avatar in the film is played by Charles Martin Smith, portraying a fictional astronomer who worked on Voyager and is now a consultant to the military. Smith's character surmises the visitor is on an exploratory mission and knows the military wants to capture the being for experimentation.  

Jenny learns the visitor comes from an advanced civilization that's managed to flourish as a high-tech society. It's another Sagan concept, his hope that that intelligent species exist in the universe who managed to survive with high technology. He confesses to envying humans for their ambition and zest for life. He admires how humans are at their best when things are worse.

Like Iceman, institutions serve as the antagonist. First, the military believes the craft to be a Soviet ploy to test their response time. Once it becomes clear the craft is extraterrestrial the military wants to exploit the incident for national security purposes. It's part of a major recurring theme through all of 1984 Sci-Fi cinema, institutions as working against humanist ends in the name of national security. 

Starman also provides a panorama of 1980s America. The scenery shifts from the Midwest to the deserts of the Southwest. It's the America of motels, diners, and roadside attractions. There's a sequence in Las Vegas as the crass embodiment of America. Carpenter used Winslow, Arizona as the location for the climax (Devil's Tower was taken!). The road movie approach takes the viewer on a journey. 

Jeff Bridges was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar; Karen Allen was equally as good. Bridges and Carpenter provided the commentary track for the Blu-Ray, sharing many anecdotes from the production and their approaches to the story. 

The message for 1984 audiences displayed a hint of 60's idealism and 1970s New Age even in the middle of the Reagan era. The militarism of Reagan is countered with an emphasis on empathy and understanding. Of all filmmakers, it was John Carpenter who made perhaps the most hopeful film of the year. If The Thing explored the worst of human behavior when facing an incomprehensible threat, Starman centers wonder, connection, and understanding.