Crossing the Line: A Reflection on The Fly by Nicah Santos

I’ve always wanted to dress like the girls I’ve seen in vintage pin-up posters and play the role of the dutiful housewife that those posters always portray. There’s just something about the 1950s era that is sweet, fun, and simple all at once. Yet somehow, after watching The Fly, I have to say that I now have mixed feelings about that once appealing age.

I was immediately interested in watching the film, and I’m pleased that it didn’t disappoint me. I was not able to catch it from the beginning until the end, but the parts of film that I was able to watch certainly entertained me. My interest in it comes, of course, from the setting. I’ve never seen a movie set in the 50s, and I was eager to finally watch one. I had no idea what the movie was about at first, so when I caught on to its plot which revolves around teleportation and science gone wrong, I found it exciting and unexpected.

The film, for me, spoke a lot about how science is for everybody and can be a domestic hobby. I think there is a notion that research and experimentation are only for the academe and those in the fields of science. We forget that some of humankind’s greatest discoveries, inventions, and innovations were made in ordinary people's backyards, garages, and basements. Science is for everyday people who live everyday lives, and The Fly is a reminder of that. I would also consider it a morality movie because of the lesson that the audience can draw from it: Science and technology can lead to great things, but they can also be abominations. The movie points out the fact that science is both an effective and potentially dangerous tool that must be applied with caution. There is a line that must not be crossed because what lies beyond that line can be frightening and lethal.

Before watching The Fly, all I knew about the 1950s was that it was a bad time for feminism and that people dressed sharply. Now I know that the 1950s was a time when people were deeply invested in and probably quite frightened of science and technology. Men and women of the 50s knew that amazing and seemingly impossible things could come from science and technology. They also knew that when a certain line was crossed, science and technology would be something to fear. In the end, mankind was not ready for teleportation and it's terrifying side-effects and The Fly ended with the destruction of what would have been the greatest invention of human history.

Nicole Catrina P. Santos

2012-63269