The influence of J.G. Ballard on 'Mechanical Anmals'

[The Overman]

The following excerpt comes from Ballard's short story "The Voices Of Time":

He moved down the line of tanks, beckoning Coma with him. "We'll start at the beginning,." He lifted the glass lid off one of the tanks, and Coma peered down into a shallow bath of water, where a small round organism with slender tendrils was nestling in a rockery of shells and pebbles.

"Sea anemone. Or was. Simple coelenterate with an open-ended body cavity." He pointed down to a thickened ridge of tissue around the base. "It's sealed up the cavity, converted the channel into a rudimentary notochord. It's the first plant ever to develop a nervous system. Later the tendrils will knot themselves together into a ganglion, but already they're sensitive to color. Look." He borrowed the violet handkerchief in Coma's breast pocket and spread it across the tank. The tendrils flexed and stiffened and then began to weave slowly, as if they were trying to focus.

"The strange thing is they're completely insensitive to white light. Normally the tendrils register shifting pressure gradients, like the tympanic diaphragms in your ears. Now it's almost as if they can hear primary colors. That suggests it's readapting itself for a nonaquatic existence in a static world of violet color contrasts."

Coma shook her head. "Why, though?"

"Hold on a moment. Let me put you in the picture first." They moved along the bench to a series of drum-shaped cages made of wire mosquito netting. Above the first was a large white cardboard screen bearing a blown-up microphoto of a tall pagodalike chain, topped by the legend: DROSOPHILA 15 ROENTGENS/MIN.

Powers tapped a small perspex window in the drum. "Fruit fly. Its huge chromosomes make it useful as a test vehicle." He bent down, pointed to a gray V-shaped honeycomb suspended from the roof. A few flies emerged from entrances, moving about busily. "Usually it's solitary, a nomadic scavenger. Now it forms itself into well-knit social groups, has begun to secrete a thin sweet lymph something of honey."

This story consists largely of this geneticist, Dr. Powers, giving Coma a tour of his laboratory, which is full of animals in which he's activated the 'secret genes' that hold the key to accelerating their evolutionary process. It's quite similar to some of the medical-technological imagery and rhetoric surrounding the Mechanical Animals album. The reference to "hearing primary colors" may be taken as an analogy to synesthesia in humans - an important element of Mansonism circa 2005-06 - and that album was 'about' Manson developing a nervous system himself in some sense. And there's the obligatory '15' in this short story.


Another, more overt, influence on the record comes from the short piece "Plan For The Assassination Of Jacqueline Kennedy", published as part of The Atrocity Exhibition:

In his dream of Zapruder frame 235

Motion picture studies of four female subjects who have achieved worldwide celebrity (Bridgette Bardot, Jacqueline Kennedy, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Princess Margaret reveal common patterns of posture, facial tonus, pupil and respiratory responses. Leg stance was taken as a significant indicator of sexual arousal. The intrapatellar distance (estimated) varied from a maximum 24.9 cm. (Jacqueline Kennedy) to a minimum 2.2 cm. (Madame Chiang). Infrared studies reveal conspicuous heat emission from the axillary fossae at rates which tallies with general psychomotor acceleration.

Tallis was increasingly preoccupied

Assassination fantasies in tabes dorsalis (general paralysis of the insane). The choice of victims in these fantasies was taken as the most significant yardstick. All considerations of motive and responsibility were eliminated from the questionnaire. The patients were deliberately restricted in their choice to female victims. Results (percentile of 272 patients): Jacqueline Kennedy 62 percent, Madame Chiang 14 percent, Jeanne Moreau 13 percent, Princess Margaret 11 percent. A montage photograph was constructed on the basis of these replies which showed an "optimum" victim. (Left orbit and zygomatic arch of Mrs. Kennedy, exposed nasal sepum of Miss Moreau, etc.) This photograph was subsequently shown to disturbed children with positive results. Choice of assassination site varied from Dealey Plaza 49 percent to Isle du Levant 2 percent. The weapon of preference was the Mannlicher-Carcano. A motorcade was selected in the overwhelming majority of cases as the ideal target mode with the Lincoln Continental as the vehicle of preference. On the basis of these studies a model of the most effective assassination-complex was devised. The presence of Madame Chiang in Dealey Plaza was an unresolved element.

by the figure of the President's wife

Involuntary orgasms during the cleaning of automobiles. Studies reveal an increasing incidence of sexual climaxes among persons cleaning automobiles. In many cases the subject remained unaware of the discharge of semen across the polished paintwork and complained to his spouse about birds. One isolated case reported to a psychiatric after-care unit involved the first definitive sexual congress with a rear exhaust assembly. It is believed that the act was conscious. Consultations with manufacturers have led to modifications of rear trim and styling, in order to neutralize these erogenous zones, or if possible transfer them to more socially acceptable areas within the passenger compartment. The steering assembly has been selected as a suitable focus for sexual arousal.

The planes of her face, like the

The arousal potential of automobile styling has been widely examined for several decades by the automotive industry. However, in the study under consideration involving 152 subjects, all known to have experienced more than three involuntary orgasms with their automobiles, the car of preference was found to be (1) Buick Riviera, (2) Chrysler Imperial, (3) Chevrolet Impala. However, a small minority (2 subjects) expressed a significant preference for the Lincoln Continental, if possible in the adapted Presidential version (q.v. conspiracy theories). Both subjects had purchased cars of this make and experienced continuing erotic fantasies in connection with the trunk moldings. Both preferred the automobile inclined on a downward ramp.

cars of the abandoned motorcade

Cine films as group therapy. Patients were encouraged to form a film production unit, and were given full freedom as to choice of subject matter, cast and technique. In all cases explicitly pornographic films were made. Two films in particular were examined: (1) A montage sequence using portions of the faces of (a) Madame Ky, (b) Jeanne Moreau, (c) Jacqueline Kennedy (Johnson oath-taking). The use of a concealed stroboscopic device produced a major optical flutter in the audience, culminating in psychomotor disturbances and aggressive attacks directed against the still photographs of the subjects hung from the walls of the theater. (2) A film of automobile accidents devised as a cinematic version of Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed. By chance it was found that slow-motion sequences of this film had a marked sedative effect, reducing blood pressure, respiration, and pulse rates. Hypnagogic images were produced freely by patients. The film was also found to have a marked erotic content.

mediated to him the complete silence

Mouth-parts. In the first study, portions were removed from photographs of three well-known figures: Madame Chiang, Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy. Patients were asked to fill in the missing areas. Mouth-parts provided a particular focus for aggression, sexual fantasies, and retributive fears. In a subsequent test the original portion containing the mouth was replaced and the remainder of the face removed. Again particular attention was focused on the mouth-parts. Kennedy had a notable hypotensive role. An optimum mouth-image of Madame Chiang and Mrs. Kennedy was constructed.

of the plaza, the geometry of a murder.

Sexual behavior of the witnesses in Dealey Plaza. Detailed studies were conducted of the 552 witnesses in Dealey Plaza on November 22 (Warren Report). Data indicate a significant upswing in (a) frequency of sexual intercourse, (b) incidence of poly-perverse behavior. These results accord with earlier studies of the sexual behavior of spectators at major automobile accident (=minimum of one death). Correspondences between the two groups studied indicate that for the majority of the spectators the events in Dealey Plaza were unconsciously perceived as those of a massive multiple-sex auto disaster, with consequent liberation of aggressive and polymorphously perverse drives. The role of Mrs. Kennedy, and of her stained clothing, requires no further analysis.

"But I won't cry till it's all over."

So do any of you get aggressively horny watching the "Coma White" music video?

[Hazekiah]

http://www.providermodule.com/forum/...hlight=ballard

[The Overman]

http://www.providermodule.com/forum/...hlight=ballard

Well, shit. I thought it was an original insight at the time. >.>