Dangerous minds, continued

Hulk Leader, one of the few bad guys to get an outfit that has primary colors....

Dangerous minds - late edition

The Head, from Quark

Dangerous minds - part 2

In the first post on Dangerous Minds, I think I was too general when I moved away from exaggerated emblems for intelligence (big brains) to scientists...so here's a new attempt to get to the point.

First, a disclaimer. Most of these images were suggested by Fernando Vidal's essay Ectobrains in the Movies in the Getty's The Fragment: An Incomplete History. The above image comes from a 1953 film called Donovan's Brain (a trailer is on YouTube). In a nut shell, the brain of a deadman goes looking for a body to rule. Good times.

I've not yet seen the Brain that Wouldn't Die, but it sounds like a winner in this genre. Part of what I think creeps us out about brains is tied up in mortality. And if your decapitated girlfriend's brain must be kept alive at all costs, well there's a potent symbol for you...

 I'm sooo into this image from The Fiend without a Face (Science gone wild!). Too bad it seems the brains tend to go invisible when they hunt.

...one could only wish the brain in The Brain were a little less visible. I can see a few Spanish dub versions of the film have made it online, but it may be time for some Netflicks research...

Finally, when Vidal mentions Steve Martin in The Man With Two Brains, all I can think of this this more recent analog....



I have a few more up my sleeve, but they will require some video rentals. Meanwhile I hope you enjoyed this installation of Dangerous Minds....

Dangerous minds

For some time, I've been wanting to gather images of intellectual threats. My kids are very into superhero cartoons these days, and it's hard to ignore the number of arch villains whose identity is bound to intellect. This might be a sequel to last year's Lincolnpalooza...or maybe not. As someone who spends a lot of time in school, I'm curious about this whole smart and dangerous thing. Please suggest intelligent enemies in the comments, and enjoy....

Brainiac, from Justice League, wants to know about all things in the universe. His curiosity is consuming... planets.

The Brain, from Teen Titans - don't know what's up with him.

Who can forget Vincent Price, as Batman's nemesis - Egghead? "The World's Smartest Criminal", who seems to have fallen from between the lines of Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

I'm fairly sure this evil scientist is supposed to be Peter Lorre...a Frankenstein reference?

Syndrome wanted to use his brilliance to confer superpowers on everyone (after making himself rich and destroying Mr. Incredible)

Dr. Frankenstein is probably the archetypal evil genius - one whose pursuit of knowledge leads him beyond the pale of conventional ethics. Is that what people are afraid of?