The Cremaster Cycle

Cremaster (films)

The series

Cremaster 1 (1996)

Barney uses many well-known places and people as characters. Cremaster 1 is set in the Bronco Stadium of Boise, Idaho and features two Goodyear blimps each inhabited by a character Barney calls "Goodyear", who directs a symbolic dance below on the AstroTurf.

Related Topics:
Bronco Stadium - Boise, Idaho - Goodyear - Blimp - AstroTurf

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cremaster 2 (1999)

This episode focuses on Gary Gilmore, his girlfriend Nicole, his parents' meeting with a fortune teller, his final homicide at a gas station, and his execution symbolized by a rodeo on the Bonneville Salt Flats. A phone call is made to Gary by the lead singer of Morbid Angel in a studio with Slayer drummer, Dave Lombardo, playing to the drone of bees, a scene said to refer to Gilmore's last phone call from Johnny Cash. The film also connects Gilmore to Harry Houdini (played by Norman Mailer, writer of Gilmore's story The Executioner's Song) and his meeting with Baby Faye Lafoe (represented as Gilmore's grandmother and supposed spiritual medium).

Related Topics:
Gary Gilmore - Bonneville Salt Flats - Dave Lombardo - Johnny Cash - Harry Houdini - Norman Mailer - Medium

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cremaster 3 (2002)

The third episode features Richard Serra as Hiram Abiff (supposed architect of the Temple of Solomon), Barney himself as a Masonic apprentice, and Gary Gilmore reappearing unearthed as an emaciated girl. This section begins in the Chrysler Building in New York, but shifts into the Guggenheim Museum (New York) for an allegory of the Masonic orders featuring a musical duel between Agnostic Front and Murphy's Law. Aimee Mullins, a paralympic sprinter seen previously in the Chrysler Tower cutting potato wedges with her shoe, reappears as a half-leopard opponent to Barney. This film concludes with the story of "Fionn versus Fingal the Giant", an old Celtic myth from the Isle of Man.

Related Topics:
Richard Serra - Temple of Solomon - Mason - Chrysler Building - New York - Guggenheim Museum - Agnostic Front - Murphy's Law - Aimee Mullins - Sprinter - Leopard - Fionn versus Fingal the Giant - Celtic myth - Isle of Man

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cremaster 4 (1995)

This episode is set on the Isle of Man and centers on the Tourist Trophy motorcycle race, re-interpreted as the formative process of gender determination. The racers are deemed Ascending Hack, and Descending Hack, and are followed by Faeries while a Satyr (also played by Barney) journeys to the finish line.

Related Topics:
Isle of Man - Tourist Trophy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cremaster 5 (1997)

This final episode is set in Budapest, Hungary, at the State Opera House, the Gellért fürd?, and the Lánchíd Bridge. Correspondingly Barney plays the Diva in the Opera House, the Giant in the baths, and the Magician on the Bridge (Houdini). All are watched by The Queen of Chain (played by Ursula Andress) while she sings.

Related Topics:
Budapest - Hungary - State Opera House - Gellért fürd? - Lánchíd Bridge - Houdini - Ursula Andress

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~