Pynchon and Film: Shorts

Spermatikos Logos was contacted by film-maker Karl Bjornsson, who informed us that he had made a short film based on a surreal incident in Gravity’s Rainbow: “Some years ago, I made a no-budget film about Byron the Bulb.”

Title: Byron
Section: Dramatic
Film makers: Bjornsson, Karl
Specification: 18 min. Color.
Description: An eternal light bulb, endowed with human consciousness and considerable wisdom, becomes the source of political and religious uproar. The authorities want it destroyed, but they have to compete with other parties, which, for a variety of reasons, are also eager to get their hands on Byron, the immortal light bulb. Inspired by a story by Thomas Pynchon.

A short film inspired by the last chapter of Gravity’s Rainbow, Descent premiered on the Science Fiction Channel’s “Exposure,” a showcase for short, indie films of an experimental nature. Created by Kevin Souls, the film is a rush of images set to dramatic music with narration taken from Pynchon’s novel. Intended as a stream-of-consciousness meditation on Pynchon’s themes using Cold War imagery, the two-minute film is quite colorful and exciting, touching upon science fiction tropes from Fritz Lang to Stanley Kubrick: rockets blast off, projectors flare with apocalyptic fire, statistical formulae drift across the screen, a nude couple reach languidly for each other under a waning moon, German guns punctuate William Slothrop’s hymn, and the final mushroom clouds come orgasmically in red, white and blue. Lettrbox describes it as “an experimental tapestry of digital animation, using an excerpt from Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow to inspire a dazzling meditation on the flash point of nuclear annihilation.”

The following information was excerpted from the Sci-Fi Channel Web site:

Descent
Kevin describes Descent as a stream of consciousness, as if you were to plug into his head after reading the novel Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon and Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. Descent is essentially the final chapter of the novel, translated it into visuals, while maintatining its in your face and sometimes confusing nature.

Kevin Souls
Kevin Souls describes his youth growing up in New York City as a period of acting out. He learned to channel his mildly destructive behavior by expressing his feelings in stories and later by making films. Kevin did his graduate school work at The University of Southern California, and has since moved on to work on such projects as Godzilla, Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, and… Battlefield Earth.

Credits
Director/Producer — Kevin Souls
Camera — Michael Kreuzriegler
Sound — Ian Melchinger; Tim Nielson
Music — Robert J. Ramirez
Text: Narration taken from the sequence “Descent” in the novel Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Sampled Music: “I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire” by The Inkspots.

Cast
Narrator — James L. Campbell
Radio Space Kids — Anthony Armbruster; Andrew Armbuster; Vanessa Shih; Chris Warren
Nudes In Recline — Walter Malony; Jennifer Fabor
Angel of Death — Jamya Price
Soldier — Tim Provost