Repoman and the search for Enlightenment

Behind the opening credits of Repoman is a moving radiation green American highway map that seems to follow Route 66 and the first scene is of a highway.  But this is not just a road movie.  In true postmodern form Repoman (dir. Alex Cox, 1984) is moreso of the sci-fi genre with a healthy dose of black comedy and a great punk soundtrack.  The story follows two main characters, Otto Maddox, a disaffected punk who falls in with the repo crowd and Frank Parnell.  Parnell is the lobotomized inventor of the neutron bomb who drives the ’64 Malibu Chevy that is perhaps the protagonist.  From government agents to UFO fanatics and Christian evangelists, everyone is after this car, but it is Otto who will become… the Repoman.

Much has been written about Repoman and there are a variety of ways by which to interpret the film.  One way is to view Repoman as a metaphor for religion or as a religious text.  The characters, particularly Otto, guide our attention through the film and offer stability against a somewhat broken and disjointed narrative.  We will demonstrate the aspect of spirituality through character analysis and by discussing the scenes in chronological order.

At the beginning of the film we see Otto’s disdain for authority when he quits his job at the supermarket.  Next we see him as part to the punk scene which was said to represent anarchist and nihilist tendencies in the early 80s, but what kind of punk carefully folds his pants as Otto does.  Otto is pretty bland, without emotions, a blank slate without beliefs.  Things seem to happen around him, although he seems aware of what is happening.  As he sits by the railway track and walks through the suburbs he seems to be searching, eventually he will be searching for the Malibu.  But Otto’s character does evolve throughout the film.  This is shown half way through the film when he says about the Circle Jerks who he happily moshes to in the third scene, ‘I can't belief I used to like these guys’ he obviously moves on from the punk ethos.

Otto’s ex-hippy parents stare like zombies into the TV from where Reverend Larry’s brand of Christianity is being preached, their hooked, they've (literally) bought their spirituality, hook, line and sinker.  There are three seperate scenes of Otto's parents in the movie and an extra scene in the Television version provided for viewing elsewhere on this web site.  This other scene gives even extra significance to the way of life Otto's parents have fallen into.  Invoking Aristotle's allegory of The Cave, Otto's parents are truely prevented from reaching Enlightenment.

After being tricked into repossessing his first car, Otto returns to the repo trade under the tutelage of Bud, the main repo man.  Bud is a capitalist who hates Christians, he takes speed and follows his own Repo Code – the code having been compared to Asimov’s Law of Robotics and the Ten Commandments.  When Bud describes seeing a UFO once, he describes lights and sounds that he found weird.  Yet by the end of the movie he is more open minded and willing to drive the Malibu even though it is glowing in an alien light.

Lite the second most prominent Repoman has his own set of rules, like not driving with someone who doesn't wear a seat belt, although he never wears one himself.  He is a pretty laid back dope smoker, and it is Lite that lends Otto the book Dioretix: Science of Matter Over Mind which of course represents Ron L Hubbard’s 1950, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the foundational book of the Church of Scientology.

Oly is a more minor Repoman character and it seems that he doesn't really have any belief system, only that he is really into beer, he even wears one of the generic beer brand T-shirts.

Finally there is Miller, who seems to be the handyman and care-taker of the lot at the Helping hand acceptance cooperation.  Compared to Bud and Lite with their codes and rules, Miller has a more open belief system and this could be because he is not a Repoman.  Miller sees life as a cosmic unconsciousness and as a lattice of coincidence.  Coincidence is demonstrated often in the film, where the punks turn up especially, but also Edge City on the bus as the name of the production company, and the advertised plate o’ shrimp when the Rodregues brothers stop off to get a drink.  Otto asks Miller if he has eaten a lot of acid.  Comparing Bud, Lite and Miller, who are each named after beers, we find that each sees life in his own unique way and each is associated with a drug that reflects his personality.  Otto, although he respects the authority of Bud (by buying the cheesy detectives suit on Bud's advice) does not respect his Repo Code.  We also see Otto burn the book that Lite gives him.  Essentially Otto is searching for the fulfillment in life that these Repomen have found but what they have to offer him, he rejects.  When Otto hangs out with each of them it could be a metaphor for him experiencing those drugs respectively, following the idea that drugs can act as a spiritual catalyst.

Being a Repoman is in itself similar to belonging to a religious faith.  There are codes and rules and particular ways of doing things.  The Repomen band together, and when Otto gets bashed trying to repo a car, the Repomen all put on sheriff's caps to go off and fight the enemy collectively - someone they think is against their jobs, beliefs and way of life.  Repoman is talked about in the film in a very dogmatic way, as Otto says to Leila, "I'll make you Repo wife."  Repoman is portrayed a little like a religious martyr: Repoman does it alone, and the life of Repoman is always intense.  The film presents Repomen in a different way from how they are viewed in mainstream society.  Repoing is not just a job but a whole way of life, a set of ethics to live by.  Bud is the main Repoman and later in the film is set up as a Jesus figure who must sacrifice himself to protect his fellow Repomen.  The Repomen belong to their own faith and they welcome Otto to join them.  Yet Otto does not commit himself entirely, yet he also rejects the other religious doctrines he is introduced to.  So Otto continues to search, unsure if he will make the full commitment to being a Repoman.

But Otto is not the only one searching in this film.  From the beginning the government agency is searching for Frank Parnell and the Malibu.  And so are the United Fruitcake Outlet, with Leila telling Otto that the car has three dead aliens in the boot.  Later the Repomen and their competition the Rodregues Brothers hear about the $20,000 tag on repossessing the car, and they search for the car too.  Yet anyone who looks in the boot of this car is burnt up by radiation.  So what we have is a situation where everyone is searching for enlightenment, but those who see it raw and unfiltered are killed.  J Frank Parnell eventually dies from continued exposure to the Malibu.  Despite his craziness he knows that to open the trunk is to be exposed to such intense spiritual awareness that he knows not to go there because he would not be able to handle it.

But if everyone's searching for the Malibu, all the media is focused on is UFOs and weird things happening.  Miller even says, ‘You know the way everybody's into weirdness right now. Books in all the supermarkets about Bermuda triangles, UFO's, how the Mayans invented television.’  And of course the trunk of the Malibu has the bodies of three dead aliens.  As Jung predicted, the UFOs represent spirituality, and in this case spiritual enlightenment.

In the end even the Christians are searching for the Malibu.  Reverend Larry on the TV in Bud's hospital room says the Chevy Malibu is a little old lady's car that has just been stolen, and advises anyone who's seen it to dial a toll free number.  Searching for Bud and the Malibu, the government agents with Otto and the Rodregues Brothers, storm into is hospital room.  When they ask of Bud, ‘Where is he?’, Reverend Larry on the TV responds by saying ‘He has risen’, portraying Bud as some kind of quasi Jesus figure, who is protecting the car from getting into the wrong hands.

Back at the lot in the final scenes, Bud is in the glowing Malibu realizing that his way of life and pursuit of capitalism has got him nowhere.  As he gets shot from a helicopter overhead Bud says ‘I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees’ - he becomes a true religious martyr. Bud is like a high priest of the order of the Repoman.  As a Jesus figure he must die in order to save the other Repomen.

Despite everyone's desperate search for the Malibu and spiritual enlightenment, it is only the Repomen with their already established Repo faith, that can get near the car.  In the background of the lot in the final scenes we see a Rabbi and a Christian minister with a Bible that catches on fire, all who want to get close to the car.  However their religions have not prepared them well enough to do so.  It is only Miller who is not a Repoman but is attached to the Repomen, with his own open belief system who can get to the car.  Although Miller can't drive he knows he will be fine to drive the Malibu.  Otto is also ready for enlightenment.  He has developed beyond the nihlism of punk, has rejected the Christianity of his parents', and rejected Bud's code and Lite's book.  Otto can join Miller because he has the support of the Repomen but also has an open mind.  The film doesn't tell us what enlightenment is, rather it shows us the type of people who will find it.  Those who are receptive and don't buy into the first phony religious doctrine they find.


By Jessica Waye and JC Twinning.


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