Flickering Images

By Clarence Major

This cinematic animal acted human.

There was something else going on.

It was not solely about the natives

handing over a human sacrificial figure —

appeasing their giant ruler, the animal,

although a bit of that was implied.

It was not solely about a film crew

going to an island in the Indian Ocean

to make a jungle movie

about an actress and a director.

The scholars analyzed it and got it right.

The black and white images flickered.

Long live the scholars!