Mythology is NOW

Movies, Music, TV Shows, Games

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE

These interpretations are NOT, repeat, NOT reviews of the material in question. I do not care if the piece is "good" or "bad". I do not care if you like it or hate it. My purpose in listing them here is to tell you that these pieces of art mean something beyond mere entertainment.

What you will find here are not full interpretations, just general overviews and themes. If you would like a longer interpretation of a particular piece, write to me and ask for it and it may, possibly, happen (I promise nothing - Monica is still waiting for me to record something for Mary Magdalene and it's been, well, years now).

Apex & Abyss

Metal albums by Unleash the Archers

Click this link for my telling and interpretation of The Tale of Immortal.

Frozen & Frozen 2

Yes, these popular "kids" movies have deep, significant meaning that extends far beyond mere entertainment.

Click this link for my analysis of Elsa as the Soul Diver and Anna as the World Weaver.

Honkai Star Rail

Bronya and Seele: the epitomes of the World Weaver and the Soul Diver as their journeys are infinitely entwined.

To begin, we have to look at the simple physical element of their hair - this is an excessively common theme in visual story-telling. A dark-haired character will tend to be Yin - in this case, Seele - while a light-haired character will tend to be Yang - Bronya in this example. This is not always the case as sometimes the hair-colours are switched (e.g. Tank Girl - Tank Girl is blonde, but is obviously Chaotic Yin, while Jet Girl has black hair and is clearly repressed and orderly Yang - then again, maybe that's because Tank Girl is actually more of a mentor figure and...ooh, I think I just figured out why the Chaos and Order are flipped...I guess I need to add this movie somewhere below).

Okay, so Seele is dark-haired Yin, much more emotionally reactive and chaotic. Bronya is light-haired Yang, much more controlled and orderly.

But we learn something very important as their story progresses: while Bronya grew up in Belebog's Overworld and Seele in the Underworld, both ladies came from the same orphanage in the Underworld. Bronya was so young and conditioned by the Architects that she had forgotten all about her early childhood.

My point is that both ladies came from The "Perfect" World of the orphanage and both have been conditioned by their environments. Bronya has fallen into the "Victim or Chosen One" loop because she has been chosen and conditioned to become the next Supreme Guardian, while Seele has embraced "The Neverending War" by becoming a high-ranking member of Wildfire - the Underworld's resistance fighters.

...more to come...

Io: Last on Earth

Click this link for my step-by-step break down of how Io is a fantastic film that shows us how to build a strong and appropriate ego.

Lodge 49

(This is was originally an answer to a question about enlightenment)

Question:

Is it necessary to be enlightened, awakened, or aware? Can one live a normal life without these things?

Answer:

Thomas Gray wasn’t wrong when he coined the phrase “Ignorance is Bliss” and enlightenment/awakening/awareness are pretty much the opposite of ignorance.

“Bliss’ is defined as “perfect happiness, great joy”.

So, if enlightenment, etc. are the opposite of ignorance and if ignorance is bliss…

...you see where I’m going with this, right?

The picture above is of Sean “Dud” Dudley (played by Wyatt Russell) in the series Lodge 49.

Dud and his father had a pool-cleaning business. To an outsider looking in, it may have seemed boring, but cleaning pools was Dud’s Bliss, but then Dud’s father died and Dud didn’t know how to run the business without him.

So, Dud (who was already Enlightened - we all are, we simply don’t know we are) is “awakened” by the death of his father and has to go on a series of adventures to come to understand that while he certainly had Bliss, his life needed more Depth.

A couple of phenomenal quotes by Dud (the Enlightened Fool):

All I can feel is the shadow. And I wish my dad were here to see where I am. See where I'm going. But I know that the only reason that I'm here is because Liz and I lost him. And sometimes I don't know how to square that. I don't know if I can handle paying that kind of price. Everything is all tangled, the good stuff and the bad stuff. It just seems unfair. And on some days, all of the beautiful things in my life break my heart. Will it always feel this way?

My life was perfect, but I didn’t realize it was perfect until later.

Enlightenment, awakening, awareness - none of these things are necessary to live a “normal” life. None of these things are necessary to live.

However, they are necessary to be aware of and understand all the nuances of living and that is the great dichotomy that they represent: to be aware of all of the good, one also has to be aware of all of the bad.

Enlightenment is the greatest cosmic joke ever because you could chase it your whole life only to catch it and realize that you already had it - maybe somewhere way back in your past or it was in your pocket the whole time.

We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. - Alan Watts

Man of Steel

Essentially a star seed film. Kal-El (Kryptonian name) or Clark (human name), the "perfect man", must learn to choose his own destiny and live on Earth as a human being.

Should Clark listen to his Earthly father, Jonathan Kent, and just survive, just "stay safe"? There is still honour in a "normal" life.

Should Kal-El listen to the Devil (Zod)? Does he owe his allegiance to his place of birth, to Krypton? Is it his duty to revive and restore that old, lost regime?

Or should Clark / Kal-El listen to himself and decide for himself the Path he will take?

Older Superman films were always about pulling off the clothing of the world to reveal the Superman underneath, but this movie is about putting on the accoutrements of daily living to hide the god-being within.

Just consider for one second how the line (spoken by Lois), "Welcome to the Planet" hits after viewing the movie in the manner suggested above. I swear it's the most indescribably beautiful film I've ever watched.