Posted January 18 2008
Cloverfield: The Modern Day Yetzer Harah
If the government ever issues a special dispensation permitting me to shiv one Hollywood personality, it would unquestionably be JJ Abrams because of what he has done to entertainment (Joel Schumacher would be a close second). Ever since his success with Alias, Hollywood has allowed JJ Abrams to run unchecked through television and film, cutting a giant, jagged swath through the world of entertainment. Abrams has created a formula that, though successful, is so fist-clenchingly frustrating that every time a promo for Lost comes on screen I start sharpening the handle of a soup spoon just in case the government decides to give me their blessing.
The formula he uses is beautiful in its simplicity. Create the allusion to a grand revelation. Something so awesome and powerful the audience can’t help but be pulled into the story. Then you make them wait…….and wait……..and wait. Give them three or four seasons with nothing but conjecture and speculation. Every now and then throw them a curve ball to derail the theories that are being discussed en mass in chat rooms and blogs. Always make sure to give the audience just enough to keep them involved but never enough to make them feel satisfied. This is the JJ Abrams model.
This brings us to Cloverfield. Cloverfield is the story of a group of New Yorkers trying to survive while a monster of unknown origin attacks Manhattan. For the past nine months I have been bombarded by trailers and blogs and articles and commercials, all building up the questions; what is the monster? What does it look like? Where does it come from? What does it want? These questions are presented as short video clips and viral marketing, all the while blurring the line between what’s real and what’s fictional. I had no desire to see this movie, none, zero, nada, zilch, but then the marketing kicked in. I want to see the monster; no, I need to see the monster. I don’t know how I have gone so long without having seen the monster. I know I don’t want to see this movie and I won’t enjoy it and when I walk away from the theater with 85 minutes of my life and $10.75 of my dollars gone I will wonder why I ever needed to see the monster in the first place.
To me this is the Yetzer Harah. When the snake went to Chava, she didn’t want the apple. But then the marketing hit her and she didn’t just want it, she needed it. And when it was over, she rued the decision she had made. It has always seemed to me that with the Yetzer Harah we always know when a decision is poor but we are so overcome by curiosity that we can’t help but want what we know we shouldn’t have. And we never see the outcome as being positive. We know that it won’t be worth it and that we will look back and regret what we have done, but that knowledge does nothing to slake our curiosity. Our only savior is willpower, the ability to step back from the situation and tell ourselves that we don’t really want what we think we need so badly.
So I take deep breaths and say to myself, “I will not go see Cloverfield,” over and over again until my curiosity succumbs to reason. I still want to see the monster, but I know that I do not NEED to see the monster, and so I know that this theatrical version of the Yetzer Harah will not lead me into temptation. Besides, someone will probably post a bootleg copy of it online anyway.
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2 Comments currently posted. 
Benji Rosenzweig says:
Zechariah Mehler says:
TIVO I have, patience not so much.
Zee,
two things,
First of all I feel the same compulsion to go see Phish (aleihem hasholem) in concert. Except I always left amazing coming out of those. But if you’re going to use biblical analogies, It felt like buying a bowl of lentils from my twin brother and pouring it down my throat over and over again.
Second, I have a simple solution to you TV problem. TIVO, My wife and I wait until the season is over and then watch the entire season at our leisure, commercial free, without waiting a week between episodes.