Line #32 Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/file_749749_jodo.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/TheHolyMountain "The fish thinks about his hunger, not about the fisherman."]]]]
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4	Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker, actor, composer, playwright, writer, mime, psychologist, {{sculptor\|s}}, poet, {{painter\|s}}, puppeteer, philosopher and magician/occultist born in Tocopilla, Chile. All in all, a RenaissanceMan. He is best known for his filmography in the 1970s and '80s, including ''Film/ElTopo'', ''Film/TheHolyMountain'' and ''Film/SantaSangre''.
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6	Jodorowsky's work is known for a distinctive mix of mysticism and brutality, which stems from his own interest in mysticism and the occult[[note]]He has been involved with a number of mystical and spiritual disciplines including Zen Buddhism and Mexican shamanism as well as inventing his own spiritual system which he calls "psychomagic"[[/note]]. His comics and films are often peppered with symbols and elements from various occult forms, which are usually deliberately placed to reflect deeper meanings behind the works. This means that his style has gained a reputation for its divisiveness, with his work being painfully avant-garde, inspired and/or totally batshit insane depending on who you ask.
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8	During his film career (mainly in the '70s and '80s), he deliberately set out to create films which would have the same impact on a viewer as a dose of psychedelic drugs. Not content with tripping his audience out, he would often set up the filmmaking process as a ritual magical act for himself as well. For example, he used his own real son as his on-screen son in ''Film/ElTopo'', and really put the boy through the manhood ritual depicted in the film. He has also used psychedelic drugs during filming, and occasionally dosed actors before shooting.
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10	Jodorowsky was originally slated to be the director for the first film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', though he had not read it before purportedly receiving a MissionFromGod in a dream to film it. Nevertheless, he was apparently enthusiastic enough to read ''Dune'' in one setting upon awakening. He had also contracted Creator/SalvadorDali to play Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV (for a fee of $100,000 per minute of screentime) and Creator/OrsonWelles (who only agreed to the film on the terms that his favorite chef prepare all his meals) as Baron Harkonnen, with ''[[Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon Dark Side of the Moon]]''-era Music/PinkFloyd providing some of the soundtrack. As he had already spent nearly a third of the budget without shooting a thing, the producer decided to replace him. A feature-length documentary, ''Film/JodorowskysDune'', goes more in depth about the plans for the film.
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12	Jodorowsky has also worked extensively as a writer for comics. He wrote a number of series set in his SpaceOpera "Jodoverse" as well as others. The Jodoverse contains a lot of ideas he had worked up for his version of ''Dune''. Jodorowky's comics contain many of the same mystical, surreal and brutal elements as his films.
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14	He's had four sons: actor Creator/{{Brontis\|Jodorowsky}} (who worked with his father in several films and a stage play), Teo (died of overdose in 1995 at age 24, played a role in ''Santa Sangre''), psychoshaman and actor Cristóbal (interpreter in ''Santa Sangre'' and the main character in ''Quantum Men'') and Adan, the youngest, a musician known as "Adanowsky". He also has a daughter, Eugenia.
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16	Compare Creator/DavidLynch, only possibly even weirder.
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18	!!Jodorowsky's most famous films are:
19	* ''Film/{{Fando y Lis}}''
20	* ''Film/ElTopo''
21	* ''Film/TheHolyMountain''
22	* ''Film/SantaSangre''
23	* ''Film/TheDanceOfReality''
24	* ''Film/EndlessPoetry''
25	!!Selected comics:
26	!!!The "[[ComicBook/MetabaronsUniverse Jodoverse]]":
27	* ''ComicBook/TheIncal''
28	** ''ComicBook/BeforeTheIncal''
29	* ''ComicBook/TheMetabarons''
30	* ''ComicBook/TheTechnopriests'' ([[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} no, different ones]]).
31	* ''ComicBook/{{Megalex}}''
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33	!!!Other comics:
34	* ''ComicBook/MadwomanOfTheSacredHeart''
35	* ''ComicBook/TheEyesOfTheCat''
36	* ''ComicBook/TheMagicalTwins''
37	* ''ComicBook/{{Pietrolino}}''
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39	!!Jodorowky's work contains examples of:
40	* AnArmAndALeg: A part of ''Santa Sangre'' and one of his additions to the source material of his planned ''Dune''. He seems to like this trope.
41	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:''La Danza de la Realidad'']].
42	* GainaxEnding
43	* InNameOnly: Jodorowsky holds no reverence for the source material when he approaches an adaptation. He's stated that he wants to "rape" the original work when making an adaptation. His version of ''Dune'' was largely based on dreams he'd had. He so resented being prevented from diverting from the original story in ''The Rainbow Thief'' that he disowned the film.
44	* LeFilmArtistique
45	* LighterAndSofter: ''Tusk'' and ''TheRainbowThief''.
46	* MindRape: One day, Albino the Technopope was facing three of his pupils, who disagreed with his policy and wanted to ventilate him. After he seized them, he wiped their minds clean of the disagreement (with a quasi-immaterial "needle" thingy going though their foreheads and lotsa pain) and replaced these memories with non-dissenting ones. [[GoodIsNotNice Good ain't nice here indeed]] and [[FromBadToWorse this is one of the more harmless cases of this trope in "The Technopriests"]].
47	* MindScrew: If it wasn't made obvious by now.
48	* NoExportForYou: Two of his films ''Tusk'' and ''TheRainbowThief'' hasn't been released on DVD yet.
49	* {{Nepotism}}: Cast his own son in lead roles in ''El Topo'', ''The Dance of Reality'' and his planned ''Dune''.
50	* PlayingAgainstType:''Tusk'' was a movie for kids about the friendship of a girl and one elephant, without any of the strange symbolisms present in his other movies.
51	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The credits for ''Film/ElTopo'' spell his name as Ale'''x'''andro.
52	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
53	** Jodorowsky and Music/MarilynManson planned sequel to ''El Topo'' called ''Abelcain'' but budget issues (along with a lawsuit with Allen Klein over the rights) canceled it.
54	** The whole story of his ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' adaptation project, as explored in ''Film/JodorowskysDune''. In fact, without the film and its collapse, the visual effects team that made ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' (especially Creator/HRGiger, Dan O'Bannon and Creator/{{Moebius}}) would likely never have assembled, and modern ScienceFiction on film would look ''a lot different''.
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Context Creator / AlejandroJodorowsky