CulturePulp 041: The Not-So-Secret History of 'Aeon Flux'


Slightly expanded, single-page version of a comic that appeared in the Boston Globe and Sunday Oregonian last weekend...
Words & pix by Mike Russell; colors by Chad Essley
"Aeon Flux" created by Peter Chung; DVD stills © and courtesy MTV Networks
High-rez PDF: AeonFlux.GLOBE.pdf













Endnotes and Digressions:

1. All snark aside, the author has absolutely no idea how the live-action movie turned out. (It’s apparently not even being screened for critics where I reside.) Directed by the woman who helmed “Girlfight” and the men who helped write “The Tuxedo,” “Aeon” ’05 is apparently a fairly linear enterprise -- with Flux and Goodchild double-crossing each other in one of those pseudo-Utopian postapocalyptic “last human cities” 400 years hence.

One wonders how this crew could capture the pure imagination explosion of Chung’s elaborately perverse cartoons -- much less in a film that’s rated PG-13. But a few early images are promising. There are killer blades of grass. Whistle-controlled ball-bearing bombs. Drugs that allow you to meet people on higher planes of existence. Interchangeable eyeballs. And a female assassin with hands for feet. Whether the story, action and ideas match those concepts is unknown at this writing.

That said, don’t get me started on Frances McDormand’s hilariously wrong Buckwheat hairdo, as seen in the trailer:




Oddly, the companion video game -- in which Aeon will, presumably, die a thousand different deaths -- might end up being closer in spirit to the original cartoon than the film.

2. Anyway. Regardless of how the movie turned out, the really good news is that it inspired MTV Home Entertainment to release “Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection” -- a three-disc DVD set containing all the cartoons, remastered, with commentaries and documentaries. This is an utterly unique, deeply personal and occasionally aggravating animation achievement -- reveling in narrative and visual puzzles, circular structures, archetypes, icons, metaphors, philosophy, bizarre tangents and drug references -- and I seriously doubt we’ll ever see its like on mainstream television (much less MTV) ever again.

3. For those who care, here's a link to that Ain't It Cool News story (about the "Aeon Flux" San Diego panel) that I quoted in the comic.

4. Fun fact: Charlize Theron told FilmStew.com about her "Aeon" prep: “For three and a half months, I worked out six days a week, for four and a half to five hours a day… I was working with a trainer from Cirque du Soleil to learn gymnastics, and some really intense stretching.” Not-so-fun fact: She then had to take eight weeks off during the production after injuring her neck during a stunt.

5. It should go without saying that Ms. Flux et al are the copyrighted creations and/or property of Mr. Peter Chung, MTV, Paramount Pictures and God knows who else.

6. Oh, and here's some bonus art -- teaser images I sent to the Globe and Oregonian: 





And, because Chad was apparently bored: Manga-style!




Type too small? You can download a high-rez PDF of "The Not-So-Secret History of 'Aeon Flux'" right here: AeonFlux.GLOBE.pdf

Posted: Tue - November 29, 2005 at 12:00 AM        

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