Industrial Light and Magic

The first time I came across the name "Industrial Light and Magic" -- George Lucas' premier visual effects company -- was at about the age of ten, in the dirty and tattered pages of a magazine, whose name I can't recall. The article was about how "ILM" had done the visual trickery in Robert Zemeckis' seminal 1985 film "Back To The Future". There were pages missing and I didn't know then that "Industrial Light and Magic" was the name of a company. As a result, at the tender age of ten, I surmised that the visual effects had been created with actual industrial lighting -- huge, immensely bright lights -- and magic. Magic as in, that mysterious art practiced by witches and wizards, in fairytales. I was ten! I sometimes cringe and chuckle to myself when I recall that gross misinterpretation.

The Autobot Sigil

It was delightful to see Sam (Shia LaBeouf) unsuspectingly and casually rub his thumb over the grimy Autobot sigil on the hub of Bumblebee's steering wheel in Michael Bay's 2007 film "Transformers". That image brought back fond memories of some of the toys I played with in my childhood. It hinted ever so nicely at the amazing "techno-magical" being, disguised as a yellow 1976 Chevrolet Camaro. It had wonder, mystery and excitement. Perhaps Joseph Campbell's theory of Collective Memory has something to do with it. "Transformers" is one of the best examples of what fantasy cinema should be -- magical, fun, epic and exciting.