MovieChat Forums > Crack in the World (1965) Discussion > The Crack as Sexual Metaphor? (spoilers)

The Crack as Sexual Metaphor? (spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by Invariable Self
17 replies | jump to latest

The whole dual-story about the two men in love with the same woman, while the world is splitting apart, could be about human relationships. But could one dare to venture that the "crack" that is being mentioned is really a metaphor for the woman's vagina? Is it her sexual power that is threating to destroy the men around her? Furthermore could not the whole missile into the lava be not another sexual metaphor?

I don't have time to get into a detailed analysis but there definitely seems to be something Freudian about this film.

I.S. Oxford

"The books have nothing to say!"
-- Fahrenheit 451

[–] danzeisen 12 years ago

If we look hard enough we can find what we are looking for- but this has too many coincidental sexual references for there not to have been an awareness at some level. OObserve when the young Dr Rampiandelivers the bomb into the crater in an attempt to stop the "Crack" from spreading he spends too ,uch time in the volcano hole and passes out. When they haul him up the shaft he is visibly limp. Somebody who wrote this likely spent WAY too much time on the freudian couch! I guess humping not only makes the world go round, but keeps it relatively intact!

[–] Naldoman 12 years ago

That's a good point, Danz. The other guys should have tied boards to their backs.

This woman spends the whole movie waiting for one of these men to ask her how to stop a crack from bleeding hot goo. But no self-respecting scientist will ask the governments of the world for a 5000 mile-long tampon.

I was only disappointed that she didn't say "I told you so!" at the end.

Of course, they stick in that tired-old gag of a train going into a hole. I'm sure there's much more that we have failed to note.

[–] Kammurabi 11 years ago

Many seem to disagree with that level of thought but I actually did sense something a little odd about this love triangle.

There is definitely some undefined freakiness underlying the relationships in this film. It is like the type of guy who enjoys being cuckoded. The Dana Andrews character seemes to try way too hard to put his wife in the bed of the Kieron Moore character. It gets more detailed but to the point where I have difficulty putting words to.
It is a slight distraction to a surprisingly great sci-disaster flick.

.

[–] cold_sky 9 years ago

Great thread!

"There are two fissures now. Or rather, two ends of the same crack..."
"If they were extended, where would they intersect?"
"At the bore hole. Where it all started."


and toward the end, when there are millions of little people wriggling through the scene...
"They're headed toward the crack. They've got to be stopped!"