Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control
Directed by Errol Morris, “Fast Cheap, & Out of Control” was released in 1997. The premise of the documentary is to reveal how the line between genius and madness exist balanced on a thin ledge, easily swayed either way. The four “geniuses” include: Dave Hoover a lion tamer, George Mendonça a topiary gardener, Ray Mendez a mole-rat expert, and Rodney Brooks a robot scientist. Although each of their jobs deal with different expertise, “Fact, Cheap, & Out of Control” exposes how they are all connected through their passion for their work. The following paragraphs apply semiotic and discourse analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of the images and dialogue utilized throughout the documentary.
The design of the documentary intersperses each interviewed genius’ voices over images of circuses, topiary gardens, mole-rats, and robots. As these images are displayed, each man introduces himself and the audience uses these images to connect with the geniuses. For example, as the animal tamer Dave Hoover describes his life in the circus, footage of his work with the lions plays on the screen. Not only does this allow the audience to hear the animal tamer explain his experiences in the cage, but the images of the lions roaring and growling evoke a sense of fear so the audience understands what he goes through while in the cage. By both hearing and seeing the danger invoked in his career Morris re-enforces the madness involved in the lion tamer’s job. Throughout the documentary, the geniuses words are also used to voiced over the other men’s’ work. By overlapping in this way, the audience sees a surprising similarity between their passions. One would not usually believe that a mole-rat expert and a robot scientist would have anything in common, but as Rodney Brooks explains the behavior of robots over footage of mole-rats, the correlation is unexpectedly obvious.
The appearances of the geniuses are all stereotypical. Morris uses these stereotypes to help perpetuate the viewers’ inclinations to believe that these geniuses are walking a thin line between brilliance and insanity. Ray Mendez, the mole-rat expert, wears a plaid button up shirt and a bowtie with yellow and blue tie-dye. The stereotypical image of a misfit geek is exemplified with Mendez’s attire. Rodney Brooks with his long frizzy hair is a stereotypical indication to the audience that this man cares more about his robots then his personal life. The appearance of the lion tamer is also the classical image- chair and all. He wears elephant pants and a simple cargo shirt in his interview. As for the topiary gardener, he wears heavy-duty work overalls. Combined with his age, the older man embodies the American ideal of one who lives for his job.
Errol Morris’ use of framing in “Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control,” strengthens the premise of the documentary. When the mole-rat expert discusses his love for his study, Morris frames only Mendez’s eyes as they bulge out. In today’s society this usually indicates someone who is loosing control, and over zealous in their pursuits. Morris’ emphasis on Mendez’s eyes forces the audience to re-evaluate their judgment on the sanity of the genesis. The topiary gardener, George Mendonça, tells tales of his time in his garden and how much love and devotion he places in each of his animals. His sole excitement is creating these beautiful bushes and caring for them. In one particular shot Morris frames Mendonça with his shears in front rhythmically cutting his garden, with a content look on his face. The director does this to reveal to the audience the peaceful life that Mendonça leads. Not only does the audience now hear of his love for his work, but also they can see the look on his face and deduct for themselves passion he holds for his topiary garden.
Older films are used by Morris to validate his claims that the geniuses are on the verge of being “Out of Control.” He uses reels of a murderous robot, an adventurous lion tamer, and chaotic circus to generate the feeling of uncontrollable disarray. Dave Hoover depicts a story of rampaging lions, while images of the robot attacking a girl and a man coming to defend her- using a chair like a lion tamer does- are displayed on the screen. While Brooks is discussing his latest study of how machines react to each other when they are not programmed to know what the other machines are doing. but set with a common task, images of mole-rats interacting with each other like the description of the robots plays. And finally when all of these stories are at their peak and George Mendonça describes how a storm took off the head of his giraffe in his garden, and Brooks images a time when robots are doing every little thing that humans can imagine, Morris uses images of a chaotic circus to intensify the geniuses stories.
By overlapping the interviews, using stereotypes to his advantage, framing the scenes to skewed perceptions, and using old films to dramatize the events, Errol Morris’s documentary is very convincing. “Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control” expertly uses all aspects of the documentary to persuade the audience into believing all four geniuses are passionate about their work, and yet may at any moment, cross the line into madness.