The Films That I Have Taught: Cloverfield

In addition to books, the other big text that I teach as a teacher is films. Much like the book series, The Films That I Have Taught, is a personal reflection on the films I have taught in my classes. Their experiences often revealed interesting truths, not about the themes necessarily, but more about the outcomes and interactions I had with my students and how it influenced my writing.

This film, Cloverfield by Matt Reeves, is the film I did a cross analysis with Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu. I chose this film to compare with Lovecraftian Horror because of two key reasons. The first is that they both feature large unknown creatures of terror and destruction, so there is an immediate connection, but the second and most important reason is how they approach that creature. Lovecraftian Horror is all about your general insignificance in the world, about madness and that being what kills you, where Cloverfield takes the very literal approach of being squashed by the uncaring foot of a monster.

I think it worked as a comparison and while the movie had mixed reactions from the students (and the teacher to be honest), it still functioned as an effective text. I will note that everyone loved one particular seen of a character exploding behind a sheet. The students certainly did not fail to understand the intent of the movie, (though they did struggle with The Call of Cthulhu), and it limits itself from being too grotesque and does waste time with any provocative.

When I think of the film, I think of the mythos around the creature. Very little is known about it and the film doesn’t reveal much, even at the end. Despite this, there is intrigue, and I wasn’t let feeling like parts of the movie were missing. Obviously Reeves was able to create a creature, of which we know little about, reveal very little throughout the movie, and still have us holding onto the intrigue. I know that there were sequels, and I have not watched them, but I believe that the intrigue into the creature is what opened the opportunity for more.

In my own writing, there will be opportunity for this intrigue to be built and developed, where I will have to balance between building suspense and interest and feeding that interest with just enough information to keep the audience hooked.