The first letter asks about reviewing other works on Primer. I will do a few over the next couple of posts.
Review of Jonathon Goodwin's report on Primer: "Sports, Repetition, and Control"
Jonathon's explanation and analysis of Primer falls woefully short. Credit him with a well-intentioned effort. His direction focuses on sports(?) as well as a mentally created reality(?) where each character rules the world as a god. This is probably the last thing any Primer fan may expect. Many will no doubt pass on this account without reading its 16 pages in any depth.
Jonathon claims that Carruth uses sports within the film as a metaphor for control. (Shouldn't the time machine itself represent a metaphor for control?) He continually returns to the subject of sports as if this was a central theme of the film.
He claims that Aaron built the first box. (Perhaps this is from misunderstanding how Aaron got control of the fail-safe from Abe.) Also, he refers to Rachel as "Abe's current girlfriend" rather than his former girlfriend. Rachel has a boyfriend at the party (the one in March). Jonathon also feels that Granger somehow created his own box. Another error is his misunderstanding of the scene where Abe2 gases Abe1. This error is common and is due to the restraints of the film's budget. This scene was filmed with David Sullivan and Shane Carruth standing in as Abe's double, so a discerning eye often sees Aaron in this shot. Carruth's commentary clarifies this situation. Finally, before returning to sports, Jonathon expresses that Aaron builds a large box to take "an army back in time". An army? Why not a football team? Where did this thought leap out from?
In his return to the 'main theme' of sports; he sees sports as "an instrument of social control." Then, in an apparent attempt to cover his bases, he adds that their interests in sports is a "simple realistic detail". What happened to the vital sports metaphor? In the next paragraph, he returns to the"greater meaning" of sports in Primer. It sheds light on "the nature of their previous friendship." Really? Apparently, Aaron is poor at sports because he not only misses one of the shots with the basketball, but also misses the wastebasket with one of his paper balls.( Oh, you may have missed this 'significant event'.) What does this tell the audience according to Jonathon? It shows that Aaron has less "material success" and "a lack of courting success." (It may appear he at times confuses Abe and Aaron)
Next, he relates that their competition in sports, including Scrabble, shows that there was an earlier struggle between the two for "Kara's favors." Another metaphor arises from their struggle with time. This metaphor represents 'unexpressed emotion'. So, to explain the "psychological conflict", the paper asserts that the use of Argon in the time machine represents the word agon.
More confusion arises from the allusion to Abe and Aaron being the same person, with Aaron being an avatar of Abe who is having an agon with himself. The plot has certainly thickened here, perhaps it has coagulated and has become unpalatable. This leads to the film's conclusion where Aaron "has hired Foreign Legion mercenaries in Africa to extend to the dawn of human evolution." Wow. I must have missed something.
Jonathon alludes to 'All the President's Men', mentioned several times by Carruth in interviews, but does little to show any link between the two films. Jonathon returns to speaking about Primer as having an unambiguous answer, but admits it lies beyond his grasp. He then misidentifies the company as "Amoeba" (sic), instead of Emiba. Also, he claims that the name Abram is significant.(He does not list its meaning which many people misquote, as Abram is a word that means 'one's father is elevated' (or his status is elevated through the birth of his firstborn, a son.). He describes Abram from the Bible as "an embodied paradox", apparently thinking that the name has meaning of self-elevating or in his words "priority". (Research , research, research: the three most important things in editorial review)
Again, we are told of the similarities of Abe and Aaron, with the exception that Aaron impregnated his girlfriend and was forced into marriage (this is stated without any basis.) After rambling off topic for a few paragraphs, we return to the film once again. There is a "metaphor" in the expression of different 'hemispheres'. This represents, in his opinion, "the emotional effect that the discovery (of time travel) has on their friendship." Was a metaphor needed for this? What evidence is there for this connection? What about the expression of Aaron's job at 'Cortex-Semi'? Shouldn't that represent something as well?
Primer leads to Abe and Aaron needing to decide if they should become the two closest friends or complete agonists. They have become gods in a self-created "private reality". Maybe he was watching the Matrix. Somehow, there is another "allusion.". This time referring to Rudyard Kipling's 'Conrad and the Heart of Darkness". The proof is that it shows that Aaron wants to fade the alternate time lines into a white sepulcher. Maybe, this draft by Jonathon should be entombed. It doesn't deserve the effort to review it. I hope you have been spared.
