Ray Harryhausen's Influence On The Human Body

Iubelt 2

Ray Harryhausen

By: James Iubelt

VERY rough draft of research paper

K. Neuendorf

OUTLINE

Intro: Introduces Harryhausen and his influence on Tim Burton

Body:

Ray?s accomplishments and beginnings

Will most likely develop second paragraph more for final paper

The character in Ray and Burton?s creatures

The beauty in their creatures

Their style and similar themes portrayed in characters

Came up with the ?off with you head theme? definitely want to expand on that more for second paper and organize better.

Conclusion:

Briefly discuss modern effects

Not sure if this is relevant to the paper or not. Any advice for fitting it into the paper more smoothly?

Say goodbye

Definitely needs more, not exactly done with

The film introduced a gigantic dinosaur-like creature that essentially jolted the massive monster theme in movies at the time. In reference to his film Beast from 20000 Fathoms, Harryhausen said that, ?Hollywood is known for glamorizing the actors, and I tried to glamorize the dinosaur as well,? (find interview). Steve Johnson, special effects creator of Spider-Man 2, discussed Harryhausen?s talent, ?Whereas I was learning to alter a human face and human head, Harryhausen could do anything?he could make dragons [or] an octopus. I couldn?t do that.? He did a few more movies that were very similar and jokingly mentioned ?I knocked over the Washington Monument long before Tim Burton did,? but after destroying numerous cities like New York with the Beast or Rome with the Ymir, it got rather tedious, which caused him to look for a new avenue in which to use stop motion animation (Penso). The avenue in which he turned to included projects such as Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans. Bill Coffin mentions that, ?His work on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts marked the high point of his career, and to this day, both films enjoy widespread critical and popular appeal,? (Coffin). In these films, rather than creating one figure that was seen through the majority of the story, Harryhausen was creating multiple figures that made momentary

The headless horseman sort of possesses the qualities of a terrifying antagonist, but with his smooth combat and ruthlessness, he seems to be an exciting character that the audience would enjoy seeing repeatedly. Harryhausen similarly gave a badass vibe to many of his creatures like the Kraken in Clash of the Titans, the ultimate monster in the film. The Kraken was more of a thrilling shock an awe type of creature that epically battled Perseus, feeding the audience an impressive action scene in its time. Another creature of that theme would be Talos from Jason and the Argonauts, which was a giant bronze statue that came to life. Through creating these characters, Burton and Harryhausen seem to share this ?off with your head? approach. The Jabberwocky, for example, is another creature that suffers decapitation in the film Alice in Wonderland, a film directed by Tim Burton. The Jabberwocky was also a creature that seemed to portray a Harryhausen influence in the manner that it acted, sort of reminiscent to the Hydra in Jason and Argonauts. Ken Ralston, the visual effects supervisor of the film, mentioned that, ?Tim Burton is obviously a big fan of Ray?s, and [in] the last sequence with the Jabberwocky, we wanted to touch a little bit on Ray?s work. So the Jabberwocky [conveys] a more Harryhauseny type of movement. Burton?s films introduce monsters that rather