We’ve never done this before. Do you really want to do this ?
Looking somewhat unsure just what “the cure” will do, if anything, Dr. Silver wants to be sure this is absolutely what Scott wants. Nothing in medical science ever has a guarantee on it. Scott asks how long it will take before the shot is effective. Dr. Silver responds that he wants Scott to stay at the clinic while he monitors Scott and the drugs effects. Before we have a chance to complain Dr. Silver pinches some skin,and is just about to insert the hypodermic. After two weeks Scott is 36.5 inches tall (three feet or 93 centimetres tall) and weighs a grand total of 52 pounds or 24 kilograms. And he’s been that way for two weeks according to his records. It would appear that any shrinking has been arrested. Scott blurts out the question he’s been waiting to ask “will I grow again ?”. Dr. Silver is at his his most honest here when he responds he simply doesn’t know. He suspects Scott will remain his present height and weight till he gets older, but that’s only a guess. He simply doesn’t know the answer.
Just relax…..this won’t hurt a bit
Finally released, Scott relaxes at home. Those are his doctors orders. But he’s depressed again. There’s absolutely no sign that he’s growing. He’s stopped shrinking, but there isn’t any sign he’s growing back to his “normal” size. Without realizing it he tortures himself by looking at a photo album where everybody’s of normal size. Louise is fed up with the press constantly calling, and requests an unlisted phone number. With each day Scott grows more and more frustrated. He suggests to Louise they move to a place where nobody knows them. Louise points out that thanks to the media there isn’t a place on this planet that hasn’t heard of Scott, or his plight. Unable to contain himself any longer he goes out for the first time in months.
When I first watched this sequence I couldn’t help but notice the adults who pass Scott take little if any notice of him. Scott also doesn’t cast any shadow –Tom
Scott walks with no particular destination in mind. He walks past a carnival, which has a freak show consisting mostly of people of great stature, or midgets -or to be politically correct little people. He keeps on walking, and wanders into a coffee shop. There he gets a coffee, and with a little difficulty slides into a booth. There he is joined by Clarice, a midget who works at the carnival. Initially she has no idea who Scott is. That changes when formal introductions are made. After Scott introduces himself Clarice realizes just who Scott is, and starts to get out of the booth, saying he probably wants to be alone. Scott asks her to stay, and the two strike up a conversation.
At the coffee shop. I love the oversize cup/saucer, and the sugar container
Clarice, the voice of hope and reason
With Clarice’s help Scott learns that most of the obstacles are the ones he puts in front of himself. And he can do almost everything a so called “normally sized” person can do. Clarice goes out her way to assure Scott that he can still live a full life. He can do most of things he planned on before he started shrinking. (The scenes Scott and Clarice share are frequently cut when the film is on TV. In the book Scott has an affair with Clarice, while in the film their relationship is purely platonic – Tom) Scott is catapulted out of his depression by his friendship with Clarice. His creative juices are stirred, and he begins working on an autobiography. After a few days of furious writing he presents what he has to Clarice. After she reads it she tells Scott she loves it. Then Scott notices something. When they first met they were the same height. Now he’s looking up into her eyes. Horrified, disappointed, and enraged that he has begun to shrink again, he runs away from her.
Clarice reads the autobiography
Scott discovers he’s shrinking again
Within weeks he’s shrunk to just a few inches tall. He can’t handle the house anymore – everything’s too big for him. So he swallows his pride and moves into a doll house that’s kept in the living room. He has given up on his autobiography. And he’s more susceptible to loud noises. When Louise comes down the stairs the noise is almost deafening. Scott has become more short tempered, and will not tolerate his wife making anything more than the normal amount of noise on the stairs. He’s coming more tyrannical and mean with each passing day. The only time Louise gets to herself is when she goes out on errands. But the standing rule around the Carey household is to always lock the front door.
Complains about the noise
As Louise is preparing to go out she accidentally leaves the door open. This provides Butch the perfect opportunity to enter the house. It’s at this time that Scott considers suicide. He does not say the word though. He says “ending it all”. He knows he’s becoming more and more of a burden to Louise. But he doesn’t know what to do, so he tries to relax on the couch inside the dollhouse. As he lies on the couch, thinking about what he’s doing to Louise he hears Butch sniffing around. At first Scott is very cautious, but as he’s become prey he starts making some serious mistakes. He starts checking windows, and things like that. Then Scott opens the front door.
Butch goes in search of a new chew toy
It’s lunch time, and guess what….you’re it !
36.5 inches and weight 52 pounds--but Matheson forgot the square-cube law. When height is doubled, weight is cubed, 2 x 2 x 2. Similarly if someone shrank to half their previous height they would be one eighth the previous weight. I doubt Scott at 6 ft weighed 400 pounds. It was said he was about 180 pounds, so maybe more like 22.5 pounds.
ReplyDeleteKids can be a bit chunkier than adults, but here we should remember his weight was about 180 and thus he should only be about 22.5 pounds. (Recently the "world's smallest bodybuilder"
died--a proportional dwarf who was 33 inches tall and weighed
just 20 pounds. So you see I may not be too far off...)