I See Dead People: M. Night Shyamalan

Writer, director and sometime actor, M. Night Shyamalan shot to glamorous heights after the 1999 hit The Sixth Sense followed in 2002 by Signs and then began the great fall for what many people consider to be the dismal failure of The Village in 2004; it appears it's been a steady decline from there. Although not Catholic himself, his father enrolled him in Catholic schools so he grew up in the "Catholic atmosphere" and I think that's a reason his stories are so rich in complex symbols.

He has many talents, but perhaps the greatest is his understanding of the relationship between the "seen and unseen," the tangible world and the intangible, the world of the dead, the world of souls and the world of physical bodies. Each of these three films communicates to us about life and death, and what keeps us living and what causes us to die. It's fitting that a child can "see the dead" because children haven't learned the adult way of lying, the adult way of wearing a mask, of accepting things that are un-acceptable, of putting "things" above people in terms of love; children haven't learned how to kill themselves.

Haley Joel Osmet starring as Cole Sear. "Coal" refers to the fuel which Cole has, because his heart is willing to do what others would not or could not do for themselves; "Sear" is "see-er" because he can see when others can't.

"I see dead people" became one of those phrases that had its 15 minutes of fame but it's worth more: when we care about those we profess to love, we should see them when they are dead, when something has caused the life to go out of them. In essence, this is what a zombie is, and I will be dealing with zombies this month in both Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Carnival of Souls (1962). What is so surprising about the film, however, is zombies are usually altered in their appearance so we know they are zombies; in The Sixth Sense, we do not know, for example, that Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a "zombie," and this is the scathing social commentary the film provides: we all see "dead people," especially when we look into the mirror, but we don't see that we are "dead."

Bruce Willis as Dr. Malcolm Crowe and his wife Anna (Olivia Williams) when Vincent has broken into their home and is preparing to shoot Dr. Crowe and himself.

So the big question: what qualifies "dead?"
The reason Dr. Crowe wasn't able to help Vincent (Donnie Wahlberg) is because Dr. Crowe couldn't help himself; likewise, by helping others, Cole is learning how not to become dead like those he sees. What makes Dr. Crowe dead (and the reference to a "crow" is the opposite of the Dove of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life) is his devotion to his work, so his priorities are turned upside-down: instead of loving his wife, he loves his work (please see Se7en and the Eighth Deadly Sin for more on being a workaholic). Each of the ghosts appearing to Cole are the victims of someone's upside-down priorities which we ourselves could very easily have, because we love what we ought not to love and do not love what we ought. The source of life is love, and when there is no love, there is no life. That's the reason why it gets really cold when "the dead" are near: a corpse is cold because there is no warmth of life and there is no warmth of life because there is no love.

The hit film Signs re-enforces this concept.
First of all, why are "signs" made in the crops?

The crop is symbolic of our soul: "Pray the Lord of the harvest will send workers into the field," because the harvest is our virtues, our sacrifices and acts of love; sin is what destroys the crop. When the Lord tells us that He does not sow the crop, but He reaps the harvest, He refers to all the troubles in life the devil sows for us to break us down and draw us away from God; when the devil sows troubles for us, God is to reap the harvest of our praise and devotion to Him in spite of what the devil has done.
This isn't what happens in Signs.

Picture of the first alien sighted at the birthday party in Brazil and caught on camera. Why a birthday party? Because an alien is the exact opposite of a birthday: the day we are born is the day we are given life; an alien symbolizes that something has "become alien within us." In the trailer, the different dates and places when "crop signs" have appeared, suggests the slow development of how something becomes alien within us, but it's not particular to one generation or one culture, rather, it's universal.

The death of the wife/mother, Colleen, embitters Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) so much that he leaves his pastoring position and loses his faith in God; this is the reason why there are "crop signs" in his fields, because his soul is dying from not forgiving just as the crops are dying from being flattened. The vet who causes the car crash killing Colleen is played by M. Night himself (Ray Reddy: "ray" because he's going to shed an important "ray of light" in Grahame's darkness and "reddy" because it's a description used of King David as a young man, referring to his health and strength, but most importantly, that the "Spirit of the Lord" lives in him, and as an animal doctor, Ray Reddy is trying to help Grahame's "animal instincts" so Grahame can become a man of faith again).

Why do they wear the silver hats? It's not to protect their thoughts from the aliens (temptations from the devil) but the pointed tip is like a radar. The aluminum foil is "silver," and that's important (as we shall see in the upcoming posts on Werewolves) because the word for "Silver" in Hebrew is very close to the word "Word," as in the Gospel, meaning, they are focusing their minds on the Gospels and not on what the aliens (the devil) is trying to get them to believe, which is exactly what Grahame has done in denying his faith.

What is the "ray of light" he sheds?
"They seem to stay away from water," and that's because water is the symbol for Grace (the Life of God Himself) and our souls need Grace as crops need water. When Ray leaves, blood covering his shirt, he tells Grahame he has captured one of the aliens in his pantry and is headed for the lake. Investigating, Grahame uses a knife to try to catch a glimpse of the alien on the blade, and a clawed hand reaches out for him; Grahame cuts off two of the fingers of the alien and then goes home. Later, it's this same alien who captures his son, Morgan.

As in The Sixth Sense, it takes a child to show us what we are missing.

This is a deeply, rich symbolic scene. First of all, Grahame can only come face-to-face with this alien because he has finally come face-to-face with Ray who caused the accident (which Ray fell asleep at the wheel, because he had been working late and caused the crash; Ray, like Dr. Crowe in The Sixth Sense, was working too much). The alien is in the pantry because the alien is "eating off of" both Ray and Grahame (who doesn't have a "gram" of faith anymore) and that's how this alien survives (metaphorically). The door of the pantry is the door of his heart. The knife is Grahame finally ready to "severe" the connection with the alien which he can do because catching the "reflection" of the alien means that Grahame himself is "reflecting" or opening up to God again and how he has become "alien" to himself over his wife's death. When this same alien later catches Morgan, it's a "sign" of how Grahame's demons have tried to hold his children hostage, but as Grahame accepts God's Providential care in all things, Morgan is saved by his asthma protecting him from inhaling the alien's poison.

The "sign" of the struggle in Ray's kitchen where the alien is trapped.

This allows Grahame the strength to defend himself (when we give into temptations, we have stopped defending ourselves) and the cutting off of two of the alien's fingers symbolizes that the alien is one, loosing his "grip" on Grahame and two, Grahame is no longer "united" to the alien in agreeing that God is a bad God because He allowed Grahame's wife to die. This is the beginning of Grahame's healing, and it's because Ray finally said he was sorry for the accident and saying he was sorry was what Grahame needed to start the process of forgiving. Ray is able to "go to the lake" to receive the grace of healing, and Grahame and his family can defend themselves from the aliens.

The Village of 2004 offers a synthesis of The Sixth Sense and Signs and provides the culmination of what love is and a very graphic illustration of what our "animal passions" look like, instead of "dead people" or aliens:

Noah Percy (Adrien Brody) is the key symbol to the film. Like Noah who gathered his family to avoid the flood waters, the people live in "the village" to escape the sin of the outside world that brought them so much pain and suffering. Just as in the Bible Noah still had sin within him and his family (the episode of the "drunkenness of Noah" as it is known) so sin still exists within the villagers: just because they have "received" pain, doesn't mean that they are immune from dishing it out and that's exactly what happens.

William Hurt as Edward Walker, the elder and founder of the village, and Sigourney Weaver as Alice Hunt at the wedding of Walker's oldest daughter. This is the most important moment in the film and without understanding what happens in this moment the rest of the film doesn't make sense. The little "star" pattern on her dress represents the "stars in her eyes" when she decides that Lucius is right, Walker does have feelings for her. Both of them have reddish hair, like Ivy, and Alice (as in Alice in Wonderland, the foolish girl) is slowly letting her thoughts of Edward Walker dominate her, Edward Walker is being dominated by a higher love for the vows of marriage he took to his wife and family.

The blind Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard) tells Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) that she knows he wanted to help her when they were young but he was afraid that, if he did, everyone would know that he cared for her; Lucius then tells his mother, Alice, that Mr. Walker never touches her because Mr. Walker has feelings for her. Lucius doesn't mean anything sinister to happen as a result. "Lucius" is the Latin word for "light," and that is what Lucius "hunts" for himself and everyone else, but that doesn't mean that is what everyone else "hunts" for, especially his mother. At the wedding, Alice attempts to shake hands with Edward Walker (who doesn't shake her hand) and she's satisfied that Walker does have feelings for her even though he is all ready married. It's at this time that those of whom we do not speak come, skin the animals and leave warnings that frighten the villagers.

This moment is the exact opposite of the one above between Alice and Edward Walker. Lucius Hunt and Ivy Walker have the "purity" and innocence of love that will last and endure, and we know they do because of what Lucius' color is: red. When Noah stabs Lucius and Ivy finds him on the floor, she tells her father that she can't see his color anymore: his blood has drained from him and is all over her white shirt now. Red is the bad color in the film, because it's the color of blood that has been spilled, but red is also the color of love for the same reason: we lay down our lives for those we love. That's why Ivy is a "red-head," her thinking (the head) is ruled by her love for Lucius, and so she's capable of going on this journey to save him (and his blood all over her is symbolic of him giving her his own strength so she can make the journey).

When they find the dead animals and Walker and Alice go to the barn, Walker is looking at the opened barn door while Alice has her back to him; they discuss how all the animals have been skinned and the chickens plucked. Noah is the one who has done this, but symbolically, this is a result of Alice wanting Walker to have feelings for her: the open barn door, like Pandora's box, has let loose all the "animal passions" and instincts, and the skinned animals means "they are exposed," i.e., naked. This is a brilliant way of showing how our most private sins effect everyone and everything. But if that's true, Shyamalan is also quick to point out how our strength and victories effect everyone, too.

Gold is "the safe color" because gold invokes royalty and that royalty is being a child of God, hence, wearing the gold color means that you are reminding those who might harm you of your inherent dignity as a child of God. In the woods, when Ivy falls into the pit of mud, that's symbolically demonstrating that she is in a state of despair: the mud symbolizes how she's forgetting her own dignity and gifts and is "being pulled down into the mire" of her dark thoughts. Climbing out, she tries to get the mud off to show the gold color so she'll be safe. When the creature (Noah) attacks her, the strength she gains from having passed through the fire of despair and survives makes her stronger and "able to see more than Noah" so she is saved from the pit as Noah is lost in the pit. When Ivy comes to the wall she has to climb, it is, literally, covered with ivy, so her climbing that wall is symbolic of her fulfilling her destiny in being the one who reaches the towns and obtains the medicine. 

Are the stories of those of whom we do not speak lies?
No.
The costume of those of whom we do not speak perfectly illustrates--just like "dead people" in The Sixth Sense and aliens in Signs--what is wrong with us: the face of those of whom we do not speak are the faces of pigs, symbolizing our animal appetites (and they are covered in fur); they have tusks for digging, i.e., like Alice Hunt, they are "digging for something they crave" (Edward Walker's feelings for her); they have the spiked back with bones coming out, meaning that they are "exposed" but also that there is no backbone, they are cowards. Those of whom we do not speak also wear the "bad color" because it symbolizes a willingness to spill blood, but also "red with anger," they tend to react to their passions and emotions; are "those of whom we do not speak" merely lies? Absolutely not. It could be anyone of else at any time of the day.

Lastly, there is an important difference between "innocence" and "ignorance." Lucius is innocent in that he believes well of everyone and does everything he can to help others; Noah is ignorant because he doesn't control himself. In The Village, everyone's hair is orderly and neat, except Noah's, his is always too long and flat on one side and wild on the other, and because it's on his head and attention is drawn to it, it symbolizes how his mind is: disorderly. When Noah enters into the blacksmith shop (below) and stabs Lucius, the knife blade enters into Lucius' body like a stick of warm butter, because it's easy for Noah to stab Lucius, Noah has no bad feelings about killing Lucius. Noah starts to leave but then goes back and repeatedly stabs Lucius again. Noah isn't sorry for trying to kill Lucius, Noah is only sorry that he's in trouble for it.

Just as a knife blade was a "sign"of reflection for Grahame in Signs, the knife is for The Village, too. Noah Percy will "pierce" Lucius to "see" what the village is made of and whether or not it can survive the crime that has been committed. Blacksmithing is a good occupation for Lucius because to be stronger, the metal had to be tempered by fire and water, trial and grace, and that's why Lucius is not only strong himself, but able to help others be strong.

There is much to be said about each of these films, but I hope I have started you thinking about your own experience with the works of M. Night Shyamalan and what he has contributed to film and culture. There is never just one interpretation of a work of art but many interpretations are possible and correct at the same time, but what is important is knowing how that work has spoken to us and helped us to see ourselves or circumstances in a much clearer way.
Please leave your comments, questions and suggestions!

I Am Legend: Psychoanalytic Doubles

Like Contagion, Black Death, Outbreak, 12 Monkeys, The Help, Rise of the Planets of the Apes and any number of other films, the 2007 hit I Am Legend involves the spread of disease. In I Am Legend, it's a man-made disease which results in the effort to eradicate cancer and our natural desire for control is what unleashes all of the monsters.

Robert Neville being baited by the infected when one of his "mannequins" has been moved. This happens to each of us, every single day. When we ourselves are "infected," we can't treat other people as other people because we are not in touch with our own humanity, that is what "being sick" means spiritually; so when we are sick, we treat everyone as if they are sick, too, i.e., as mindless, emotionless mannequins, who can do no more for us than they can for Robert in I Am Legend. When Robert makes that desperate appeal to the female mannequin in the video shop, that's like anyone one of us making an appeal to another person but being unable to "connect with them" because of the wounds of our self and their self both getting in the way. In the above shot, when "Fred" has been taken out of the zone where Robert has placed him, Robert is upset and "his demons come out to get him," because when we lose a little bit of control in our lives, (the sicker we are) the less we can deal with it and we "lose it" and we become weaker and our demons become stronger.

One of the two most important moments of the film is as Robert Neville (Will Smith) puts his wife and daughter aboard a helicopter so they can be evacuated as he stays behind to research (since he's immune from the disease). As he watches, the helicopter crashes, killing them both. The rage, anger, sadness, loneliness and despair which comes into his soul as a result is the psychoanalytic double of the “alpha male” of the “infected” who lives in the darkness and shadows, the shadows of Robert's own soul. The second most important part is Robert's healing: the part at the end where the alpha male (as he's described in the script) and Robert "crash into each other," is Robert's letting go of his anger and sadness so it's not threatening him anymore; in other words, like a caterpillar and butterfly, the two come back together into one, unified whole.

On the left is the "alpha male" and Robert Neville (Will Smith). This is literally a part of Robert's own soul, controlling him, feeding off of him and "infecting him." Another way in which we can understand Robert being "an alpha male" is when his wife is scanned for the virus and she comes up positive and Robert, a high-ranking military official, commands the officer to scan her again and he does. The "alpha male" role, then, almost suggests that if Robert hadn't used his authority and his wife hadn't been re-scanned, she would have had to have stayed and maybe would have survived with Robert; this "tension" is a part of Robert's intense psychological turmoil that he is to blame for her death.

The purpose of the film, then, as is always the case of the psychoanalytic double, is for the main character to achieve unity. As I am starting out the “monster month” in anticipation of the Feast of All the Hallowed, and the victories they won and inspire us to win in our own lives, I will be citing the psychoanalytic double constantly. We have all ready touched upon it briefly in The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow and the Battle For America, where I stated that the Headless Horseman is Ichabod Crane because Ichabod has “lost his head” to superstition; likewise, in Se7en and the Eighth Deadly Sin, I posited that John Doe (Kevin Spacey) is really a psychoanalytic double for Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman). Robert Neville in I Am Legend has the monster as his double because it's not really a deserted New York City that he's living in: he's living in the deserted space of his soul.

The desertion that is Robert's soul.

How can I state that this vampiresque creature is a part of Robert?
First, Robert does to the alpha male what was done to him. In trying to find a cure, Robert baits a trap for one of the infected; the alpha female, the mate of the alpha male, takes the trap and she's lifted into the air and taken away from the alpha male. This is exactly what happened to Robert, his wife was "baited" with security and she was taken up into the air and away from him. The rage which consumes the alpha male is actually the rage within Robert that his family was taken from him. When Anna and Robert retreat into the basement lab to runaway from the infected, the alpha female is now responding to one of the treatments. This symbolizes Robert's wife, Zoe (Salli Richardson), who is revived because of the cure of Anna bringing friendship and compassion back into Robert's life. As the alpha female revives, the alpha male dies, because it's Robert's soul mysteriously being healed and gaining strength against his demons.

The death of his wife and child just at the moment that he thought they were going to be safe from the certain death of the disease is an inherent inner-struggle for humans: in trying to eradicate cancer, the film reveals, a worse disease was created that killed more people; in trying to get his family to safety, an accident happened that killed them anyway. In our human attempts to control events, preserve our lives and alleviate our sufferings, we often do more harm than good.

Krippin (Emma Thompson) explaining how she "cured cancer" (to view the cure for cancer video clip here): "The premise is quite simple. Take something, designed by nature and reprogram it to make it work for the body rather than against it... The best way to describe it is, if you can imagine your body as a highway and you picture the virus as a very fast car being driven by a very bad man, imagine the damage that car can cause. Then if you replace that man with a cop the picture changes and that's essentially what we've done," and nearly three years later, everything is wiped out. This is important dialogue because this is the exact visual imagery the film provides for us: Robert driving his red mustang very fast down the deserted roads of New York (you can see this in the trailer clip above).

Robert and the German Shepherd Sam(antha) in Robert's red Mustang. When Sam becomes infected and Robert has to strangle her to death, it symbolizes how Robert has gotten closer to the infection within his own soul and he can no longer just use his reason (which the intelligent dog symbolizes) to continue his soul's journey; he needs greater spiritual guidance, and that is the love of friendship Anna provides and forcing the "infected" out of the shadows of his soul, but his reason is no longer enough.

So if the film presents us with this image, is Robert actually the bad guy, the virus?
We have to deduce that he is because the other person in a speeding car is Anna (Alice Braga) with her son Ethan (so in this aspect, she's Robert's exact opposite: female, has a son, no husband, not stationary, looking for a haven with other humans). Anna in the speeding car trying to save Robert is the "cop" who is policing the situation Robert is in. Robert, by holding onto his anger and sadness over his wife's death, is damaging his own soul (a spiritual cancer) because he won't let go; Anna, however, can see the damage he is doing and tries to help him, so in this way, the "theory" of Dr. Krippin is correct in spiritual terms and is what the entire film is about.

Anna fixes Robert eggs and bacon for breakfast: the eggs symbolize new life and the bacon is his appetites (which are usually a bad thing, until you have become so ascetic like Robert that you forget how to be human, so he needs to learn how to enjoy life again). Robert can't even recognize a special occasion anymore (finding other people). In this shot of her, Anna wears a blue shirt, symbolic of wisdom and, I believe, she has a butterfly tattoo(?) which symbolizes "rebirth," for her, Robert and humanity.

A really good argument against this interpretation is that Anna accidentally leads the infected back to Robert's house and they attack, so how could she be doing something useful? In the spiritual progression of the soul, however, we have to face the monsters, we have to face the sins, the wounds, the demons, because if we don't know what it is we are fighting, then we aren't fighting at all, but when we face it, that "sheds light on it" and, as we know, the infected can't stand the light because it burns their skin (incinerates them like vampires). Just as in Black Death, someone who thinks they are not infected actually is infected with a far worse (spiritual) disease than physical ailment.

In this shot above, Robert, in the bathtub, knows where to go to find grace (the tub symbolizes the cleansing of the soul, but as it's empty, there is no grace to heal the wounds of the soul). Robert, like most of us, is making his "infection" worse by clinging to his reason (which Sam symbolizes because German Shepherds are known for both loyalty and intellect) and his weapon; the weapon symbolizes his fear of his enemy (hence Robert's weakness), he fears the damage he thinks the "infected" can do to him, but in focusing on them, he doesn't realize the strength which he has within to heal himself and that's why he needs Anna.

That's correct, Robert's not alone. It seems like the "infected" are the ones not making him alone, however, the infection within him is what's keeping him from everyone else. What makes him "not be alone," is that Anna is there and helping him. The kind of prophecy of his little girl, Marley, talking about the butterfly just before she dies, is symbolic of the strength and healing powers of the child-like faith that is a part of Robert, and a part of us all.

In conclusion, Robert Neville is able to "discover a cure," because he himself is healed, and his ability to interiorly overcome his monsters is the greatest battle that each and everyone of us must engage in every moment of our lives, whatever our particular war (the loss of a loved one, frustrated dreams, abuse, depression, health problems, whatever our cross is) we have to face our monsters within and have the courage to know that we cannot be defeated when our strength comes from love.

The Ides of March: Assassinating the Democratic Party

"Beware the Ides of March," a soothsayer tells Roman dictator Julius Cesar, who ignores the warning, and the warning of his wife's dream, and still goes to the meeting in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar where he is assassinated in the Roman Senate, uttering the famous phrase, "Et tu, Brutu?" ("You, too, Brutus?") and now, the Democratic party can be saying the same (as the slain Cesar to) long-time supporters George Clooney (director, writer and actor) and Leonardo Di Caprio (executive producer) in The Ides of March.

By the trailer, the film looks like it's going to be about Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) being politically assassinated by Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling); that's not what happens. Gov. Morris and Stephen have both been sleeping with the intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachal Wood) who gets pregnant from her affair with the Gov. and tells Stephen about it. Stephen meets with Molly in the stairwell and he's literally "above her" on the stairs and tells her what she's going to do--not just with her body--but with the rest of her life. In wanting to "protect" the Gov., Stephen gets $500 from the petty cash fund and withdraws money from his own account, takes her to the abortion clinic, gets her "started" and says he'll pick her up and then give her a plane ticket home. Molly complains that she doesn't want to go home, but Stephen tells her, "You've messed up big and when you make a mistake this big, you forfeit the right to play this game anymore." In the next scenes, the same will be told to Stephen for his mistakes in meeting with the other campaign organizer Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti).

Molly, director George Clooney who also plays presidential hopeful Gov. Morris, and Stephen Myers, the campaign assistant manager. Clooney directs Molly and Stephen on the scene where they are having their first date before "borrowing" the campaign bus to go back to Stephen's hotel room for the night. Molly is 20 and Stephen is 30, which seems to be the only (momentary) obstacle in their relationship at this point.

Tom Duffy knows that Stephen is the best on the Morris campaign, so he calls Stephen and just wants to make Stephen an offer; this is treason in the political world, and while Stephen calls his boss Paul before, he doesn't bother asking Paul if he should or should not. Tom has already won, because Paul ends up firing Stephen just for meeting with Tom. Paul decides to punish Stephen by leaking that Stephen met, so it will make it easier for him to fire Stephen. After being blackmailed by Ida the news reporter (Marissa Tomei), Stephen then turns around and uses Molly's death from the medicine given to her by the abortion clinic to blackmail Gov. Morris into firing Paul and giving Stephen the top position on his campaign team; what does Stephen use for the blackmail? Molly's cell phone that he stole from her room while looking at her dead body on the floor. Morris, after a deal with a senator that he vowed he wouldn't make, is now in position to win the Democratic nomination for president.

George Clooney as Gov. Mike Morris with Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright, also in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) and Morris' wife and daughter. The affair with the intern has been kept quiet and Morris has the delegates he needs to get to the White House.

What is amazing about this film is the showing of Democratic "values" and how the actual actions of the campaigners use those loose values and morals for their own ends. I was shocked as the credits were rolling and I finally realized that Clooney himself had directed it; he has learned--not only all the best directors' tricks--but most importantly, when and how to use those tricks, and it's to great advantage in The Ides of March. The entire campaign, Gov. Morris has avoided talking about his religious background; as Stephen is talking, we can hear Morris, literally in the background, saying, "I was raised Roman Catholic but I am not practicing," and we also hear him defending same-sex marriage on the basis that we would, otherwise, be discriminating (a young woman questions him about it in a meeting with students and people are making fun of her, but clearly she has a point about defending marriage because the Gov. himself abuses his own marriage); adamantly, he tells an interviewer, "I am not going to tell a woman what she has to do with her body," and, remarkably, all these consequences are shown explicitly in the film because Molly's abortion only empowers and protects men, it doesn't do anything for Molly but cost her life and the life of her child (just a day after Pelosi accuses Republicans of wanting women to "die on the floor" of abortion clinics because of funding disputes).

Gov Morris being briefed by his campaign manager and assistant manager when they realize the endorsement of Senator Thompson isn't going to be given to them. The opposition is getting Thompson's endorsement (and delegates) because they are offering him the Secretary of State position; Morris refuses to make Thompson a sweet deal because he vowed he wouldn't make those kinds of deals; by the end of the film, Stephen brokers "the deal" and Morris has Thompson.

Because he has such a loose definition of "marriage," when the chance of sleeping with the intern comes up, he takes it. Because Molly isn't practicing her own Catholic faith, she aggressively seeks out men to sleep with, then can't go to her father when she's pregnant. Depending on Stephen to pick her up after the abortion, she literally ends up being abandoned because Stephen is being fired and trying to take care of himself (Stephen is being "aborted" from the campaign team just as Molly's baby is being aborted), but what's most important is, Molly is being told by men exactly what to do with her body and then she looses her own life the same day of the abortion when she takes the medicine given to her by the abortion clinic. I have never seen abortion so explicitly exposed in a film, especially a film where the main creators are all Democrats. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the assassination of the Democratic Party and its platform by its own members, and yes, the analogy they themselves make to the assassination of Julius Cesar is timely and apt.

Stephen meeting with the opposition Tom Duffy. In explaining his strategy to Stephen later, Duffy tells Stephen that if Paul found out they met, Paul would fire him and he wouldn't be an asset for Morris anymore; Duffy withdraws his offer for Stephen to come because Stephen wants to use the abortion/affair of Molly and Morris to get revenge and Duffy tells Stephen that he's unstable and needs to get out of politics. Stephen then goes and blackmails Morris, just as Ida the reporter had tried to blackmail Stephen earlier. Morris caves into the blackmail, fires Paul and puts Stephen in control of the campaign.

Almost towards the end, a new intern is seen doing what Molly (now dead) has done as an intern. "Jill" reports to one of the older members of the campaign to get a phone and says her name is "Jill Morris, no relationship to the Governor," but we know from the way it's "being framed," that her fate will follow Molly's because there will be a relationship with Gov Morris because "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water; Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after" which symbolizes that, once a man has had sex, he loses his head ((lost his crown) and Jill "comes tumbling after symbolizes a "fall from grace."
Nobody has learned anything. Molly and her dead baby, in very real terms, symbolize the future of the Democrat party because what "leaders" in the party are doing now are undermining the future leaders (and, literally, killing them because of their pro-choice stance) and aborting them. The theme of Gov. Morris' campaign is "Believe," but by the end of the film, there is nothing to believe in except that this man should not be a leader anywhere in this country.

 

Stephen taking Molly to the abortion clinic. Stephen takes her, goes in with her, but doesn't want to wait with her; he promises to be there to pick her up "when it's over," but he never shows up and forgets about her completely because, while he's being fired from the team, it's clearly a reference that he is being aborted just as Molly's baby is, and the campaign is forgetting about him as he forgets about Molly. Another aspect of Molly and her agenda is her father is head of the Democratic National Convention Jack Stearns, who she calls an asshole, and Stephen agrees with her. At Molly's funeral, he gives a moving speech about his love for his daughter and how much of a better place the world had been with her and all the lives that she had touched... it's doubtful that he knew anything about how his daughter really was because as the poor father is talking, all the audience could think about is what "a slut" she called herself.

After Gov. Morris has won the Democratic nomination (or is confident of doing so), Stephen is being interviewed at Catholic (Jesuit) Xavier University (named after St. Francis Xavier) and is asked to summarize how the dramatic turn of events in the last week of the Morris campaign had won the nomination and that close-up Stephen is the last shot of the film. This moment could have happened anywhere in Ohio, but instead, they choose the sixth-oldest Catholic school in the country to "frame" Stephen in the light of what he has done to get where he is (for example, Gov. Morris is at Kent State University which is probably one of the most liberal schools in the country). So we have an intentional "framing of the events in the Catholic perspective" that I wouldn't have believed was going to happen if someone had told me.

Director Clooney preparing Ryan Gosling for what will be the last shot of the film in Xavier University when the audience will be reminded of all his offenses and backstabbing as the reporter asks him to explain how things have happened in the last couple of weeks in the Morris campaign and how he got to where he is.

In conclusion, anyone who says that this is a Democrat film, is a Democrat doing damage control; members of the Democratic Party seem to be at an end, like the assassins of Cesar, with the party's ways, methods and platform. This is an expose from George Clooney that I wouldn't have thought possible, but there are no punches pulled in demonstrating what happens to the world when people don't practice their Catholic faith, what happens to the world when there is a vacuum of morals and what will happen to the world if the Democrats are left in the power. A final note on Mr. Clooney's directing: he uses light, he uses shadow, he uses profile shots, he uses height shots, he uses noise and silence to perfection. I am thoroughly impressed with the education he has taken upon himself to exercise in film making and it has demonstrated itself in all its brilliance in The Ides of March. I know that I haven't had the typical review of the film: here is a link to the type of reviews of it that I have read: Ides of March review. I think his review, and all the ones like it, are totally off, but they have the majority, not I.  I think the greatest compliment I could give to Mr. Clooney is: Aunt Rosemary would be proud.
Et tu, George Clooney?

James Bond: Beyond Boundaries

The viewer is in an interesting position: in this clip we see the "birth" of James Bond (Daniel Craig) as special agent 007, so we are asked to willingly suspend our disbelief that we know anything about the Bond canon (Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, and a list of "other" Bonds), then we see the traditional "entrance" theme for Bond with him pulling a gun and shooting as we are watching him through a gun barrel and blood drips down from the top. The birth of Bond in Martin Campbell's 2006 hit Casino Royale gives us a new Bond in many ways and Marc Forster's 2008 follow-up Quantum of Solace continues the good thing.

In the important opening scene of Casino Royale (above but not including this part I am discussing), we see Dryden (Malcolm Sinclair) get out of his car and into the elevator to the 6th floor. Traditionally, the number "6" reflects the number of days of creation but is an imperfect number because the total fulfillment hasn't happened. Dryden tells Bond he's not a "double-0 yet," and the "00" (symbolically the "meditative nothingness" of asceticism) refers to the self awareness and knowing who to trust that M. (Judi Dench) will instruct Bond upon later. In order to get double-0 status, Bond has to have "2" kills. The number "2" represents unity, because you cannot have "unification" unless there have been at least two separate things to bring into unity. In this instance, it's Bond's will on two different occasions, two different lives, that he unites his will to doing the will of the MI6 (British Intelligence). When these factions have all come into place, then he is the legendary 007 but the conversion will be an ongoing one.

When characters are "going up" it symbolizes the "higher faculties" or a higher moral ground; when they descend, it signifies the mental digression or a lower moral ground, literally, they are falling from grace. The intense chase scene at the beginning of Casino Royale begins just after a fight between a cobra and a ferret, and that symbolically signals Bond and the scarred bomber and the showdown they will have. That the bomber is so agile in jumping (and it seems at times even of floating over obstacles and through the air) signals the "strength" of the evil Bond is after. When the bomber jumps through a small window and seconds later Bond crashes through the wall just below it, it displays that Bond's ability to "keep up with evil" isn't as strong as the evil itself, however, Bond is gaining strength with every second by virtue of merely staying on the trail and keeping in the fight.

Continuing with the opening sequence of Casino Royale, when Bond's flashing back on that first kill, note that it's still in black and white (but reversed from the black and white in Dryden's office: the bathroom is a white base whereas Dryden's office is the opposite, black base). The bathroom symbolizes the "waste functions," and removal of it, but there is also a janitor's cart in the room, invoking the "cleaning" which Bond has to do for MI6. Knocking the gun out of the contact's hand and shattering the glass of the mirror symbolizes Bond's own ability to reflect that is being shattered in killing this man, because, hard as it is to imagine, this is the very first time Bond has ever killed anyone. Lastly, the man dies by drowning (it could be argued that Bond still has to shoot him, but the drowning in a sink is what receives the attention) and the reason is to juxtapose to Vesper's drowning (Eva Green) and how the two are connected.

 Heroes are defined by the villains they fight; in Casino Royale, that's Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson, who also appears in the upcoming The Three Muskateers). In French, "le Chiffre" means "the figure," and in this case, a figure who is half-blind, has a defective tear-duct causing the weeping of blood, and he has asthma coupled with being a chess and math prodigy who shows it in high-stakes poker games. How--if at all--does this reflect Bond? The villain in any work of art will always reflect qualities of the hero that have been turned to evil that the hero has to overcome in order to gain greater self-unity so he can go on and fight the next battle. If, since Bond himself has "just been born" we can consider Bond to be a "figure" and only a "figure," needing to be filled in with his other qualities, then we also can see how Vesper accusing Bond of being a "cold-hearted bastard" reflects the defective tear duct of Le Chiffre: Bond can't cry, he can only spill blood.

When M. (Judi Dench) realizes Bond has (not only found out but) broken into her home, she tells him, "You've got bloody cheek," and she's wrong. If Vesper is correct and Bond is an orphan, than he literally attempts to "form a bond" to someone because of his human nature. But because of his "learned" nature (from experience) his name "James" means to "supplant" so anything he forms a bond with he's going to supplant, hence he will always be in internal conflict.

Similarly, Bond has difficulty breathing (symbolically) because breathing signifies the Holy Spirit (in the form of wind/air). Having such a big ego, Bond has difficulty being humble and sometimes he has to "suck it in" and he can't, like when he lost the hand of cards to Le Chiffre and Vesper won't put up the money for the buy-back (supplied by the American CIA). Lastly, Le Chiffre is half-blind, and at this point in the game, so, too is James: blind to Mathais' betrayal and Vesper's betrayal. But just seeing imminent betrayal isn't all of his blindness: he also doesn't know who he can trust, and once Le Chiffre is dead, it's Mr. White who kills him, and tells Le Chiffre, "It's not so much the money as knowing who we can trust," and that creates the "inner-struggle" of Bond for Quantum of Solace, knowing who he can (hence, must) trust. 

"Mathis" comes from the name of the Apostle who was voted to replace Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ, ironically, it's Mathis who betrays Bond, in Casino Royale and again in Quantum of Solace.

Incredible math skills and being a prodigy at chess and poker are wonderful skills, until you use them for deviant purposes. Le Chiffre, as a private banker using his clients' money to play the stock market, then using terrorists to sabotage the markets so he can make millions, is a genius of darkness; if Bond isn't careful, his own gifts could be "turned to the dark side" and that is the moral ground for each of us in the audience and our own gifts. When M. calls and wants to know where the bank funds are, this is exactly what she's worried about, but not too obviously, yet it's in the background. Bond overcomes this temptation when he's tortured by Le Chiffre and would, literally, rather die than give him the password because his torture and being "naked" is like him being "reborn as 007" all over again from the beginning of the film, and again at the end of Quantum of Solace.

Valenka (Ivana Milicevic) presents an interesting dimension: while Ugandan rebels are about to cut off her arm for Le Chiffre's loss of their money, she later uses that same "saved arm" to slip Bond a drug to trigger cardiac arrest, then gets shot by Mr. White when he comes to "clean house."  In this photo of her, just as the waitress takes Bond his drugged potion, her hair covers half her face, suggesting that her identity is "masked" (by her bleached hair) and she can't "see" what it is she's doing (morally speaking). Her very revealing clothes actually keeps us from seeing who she really is because we see her only as a body and never as a person, probably because we're not meant to.

Just a last word about Vesper Lynd, the Bond girl of Casino Royale (and even Quantum of Solace, since Bond is seeking revenge for her death). "Vesper" probably refers to "Vespers" the evening prayer in the Catholic church since we know her family is "strict Roman Catholic." There is also the probability that her name refers to VSEPR theory, a model in chemistry which predicts repulsion, bonding and non-bonding; Vesper appears to be "repelled" by Bond, but she tries not to "bond" with him because of his ego.

The "Algerian Love Knot" necklace she wears is obviously symbolic of the "knot" her love for Yusef will not only tie her into, but Bond as well. The knot is the carry-over symbol from Casino Royale to Quantum of Solace, and the "untangling" of the knot is the solution to Bond's inner-struggles.

It's the prediction of non-bonding that's most important: because Vesper never really bonds with Bond, she carries through with the betrayal (instead of seeking help, because when Bond needed her help in the $5 million buy-back, she refused, so she assumes he would refuse to help her [as an accountant, she's a "book-keeper in their relationship and she doesn't have enough to "cover her expenses/deficit" with Bond]; that's obviously faulty logic, however, her last name tells us what her life is really about: Lynd. Pronounced "lend," Vesper only lends, she doesn't give; nothing is for keeps, and she's just "lending" herself to Bond. Overall, it's not that Bond isn't going to be allowed to find a woman to love, it's just the filmmakers' way of deducting through elimination what are the qualities in a woman that will be right for James Bond, 007?

"You are so blinded by inconsolable rage that you don't care who you hurt. When you can't tell your friends from your enemies, it's time to go," M. tells Bond. There are three important symbols in this film: the Tosca opera, the desert and Mathis.

The moral state of Bond: upside-down and caught by a rope.

If you know opera, you know Tosca, the opera being staged during Quantum of Solace. What's so ingenius about Quantum of Solace is it's borrowing from the storyline of the opera and its reference to it (if you watch the sequence being acted out, they seriously condense the suicide, execution and torture scenes so those are the ones being acted out, although in real time, it would take much longer). If you note in the photo, there is a large eye in the stage props, and that symbolizes the "informed viewer" who knows what Tosca is about and can apply the storyline to the narrative of Bond; the purpose of that is to incorporate all ready established art into a "new" film, validating that issues and themes it discusses, but also condensing the amount of time Quantum of Solace has to spend on those issues instead of leaving it to Tosca. Including a "story within a story" was a favorite device of director Alfred Hitchcock: for example, in Torn Curtain, Paul Newman's character creates a stampede out of a theater. The audience is so intent on the drama on the stage they are oblivious to the real drama taking place in the theater off the stage, and Quantum of Solace utilizes the same tools.

There is another "eye" piece in front of another one on the left side, center, of the photo, suggesting two things which are hidden, but you should see: one is the cross off-center, to the right, which is the invoking of Christian symbols and the third "eye" is the lighting, the blue invoking wisdom which is found through the ordeals in both the opera and film.

The second important symbol of Quantum of Solace is the desert. It will always invoke that necessary spiritual cleansing (from the Exodus of the Jews into the Wilderness before entering the land of Canaan) before we can enter that "better state" where we are supposed to be. Being shot down, Bond forces an airplane as high as it will go, then parachutes out with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and they fall through a sinkhole, where Bond then discovers that water and Dominic's (Mathieu Almaric) plan to control it.
Spiritually, once we have made it through the desert, we can plan on "living rivers of water" to quench our thirst.

It seems that I am always randomly assigning symbols to the Third Person of the Trinity, but actually, I think it's because of the great Power and Love of the Spirit that there are so many symbols representing the ways in which He provides that comfort and guidance to us. In this situation, the plane which Bond forces upwards is a sign of the Holy Spirit as He guides Bond in the circumstances he finds himself in, Bond pushing and pushing until he can't go any further (spiritually) except down, and that's where he goes. The sinkhole they fall into is a sign of Bond's spiritual state: a big empty hole in his heart and soul, but then he finds the water.

Jesper Christensen as Mr. White in both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace; he also appears as the Nazi doctor in The Debt, my personal vote for movie of 2011. In terms of Bond, the name "white" doesn't refer to the symbolic color of virtue, faith and purity, rather, a corpse, so dead (in faith and purity) it has turned white from decay, and he represents the greatest threat to Bond in both Quantum of Solace and whatever Bond's upcoming venture will be.

Bond finding the water, when he's at the lowest point he's going to be in (spiritually) throughout the film, is symbolic of the "grace" he finds to heal, but the catch is, it's dammed in, and that damn has to be taken down, so that when the super-hero James Bond, special agent 007 is "healed and unified," he can protect the people and fight evil again. The damn needing to be broken isn't the death of Dominic Green, or revenge for Vesper's death, rather, it leads us to the third symbol, Mathis, and Bond's evaluation of their relationship.

General Medrano is fairly obvious in his symbolism, especially when he tries to rape that poor woman, as he intends to rape the country of Bolivia. But what's impressive about the 2008 Quantum of Solace is the understanding of how distant, poor countries and their unstable governments not only hurt their people, but the whole world. Someone says, "Can you imagine this place without Coke and communism?" and that's the world which has created the world of Bolivia, and we all have a duty to save it. Dominic Green is the villain who uses the earth to make money.  The name "Dominic" means "lord," and so he's trying to be "lord of the earth" by controlling the water, hence, his punishment of dying in the desert.

MI6 had questioned Mathis and decided he wasn't a double, so Bond goes back to Mathis and asks for his help tracking Quantum. Mathis agrees and wastes no time in betraying Bond once more, only to be killed himself (and Mathis' body is treated the same as the Ugandan freedom fighters from Casino Royale).  When Mathis dies, Bond holds him in his arms and respects his humanity. Granted, he dumps Mathis' body in the trash, but that symbolizes (not that Mathis himself was trash) but that Bond is trashing that part of Mathis that wasn't worthy of Mathis himself (our earthly, physical bodies are only temporary homes for our souls, which is the infinitely greater part, and it's the body Bond trashes, but cherishes Mathis' soul). To prove this, when Bond is storming the desert hotel, the first kill is the chief of police, and, aiming his gun at him, tells him, "You and I had a friend in common," and shoots him for his killing of Mathis. Bond didn't have to use the word "friend" to describe someone who had twice betrayed him, but this is the damn (his internal defense mechanism, his wall) that had to come down through forgiveness and the superior wisdom that Mathis wasn't a bad man, just a bad agent; the "flood waters of grace" can be released and--not only restore him--but strengthen him to fight the battles ahead.

In conclusion, Bond has successfully overcome the spiritual obstacles that are necessary for fulfilling his destiny, internally and in the world. As he grows stronger, so too do his enemies, but his strength grows in proportion to the demands at hand. Why does he have a gun? It's the symbol of justice, and only those who themselves have been exposed to the fire of justice (the desert) have the strength to enforce it.

Sherlock Holmes: Watson's Gambling Habit, the Banking Crisis of 1890 & London Bridge

"Look at those towering structures. It's the first combination of bascule and suspension bridge ever attempted. Most innovative. What an industrious Empire. Hm? Oh, I have your winnings from last night." So goes a key dialogue between Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) in Guy Ritchie's 2009 Sherlock Holmes. The film is exceedingly rich in complex symbols which I will explore closer to the December 16 release of Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows.

As they are in the carriage going to Lord Blackwood's execution (Mark Strong), Holmes and Watson fight over a waistcoat too small for Watson which he accuses Holmes of "stealing"; Watson wins the tug-o-war and throws the waistcoat out the window where an anonymous man picks it up from the street. The clothing symbolizes "putting on the new man," our clothes say a lot about us, who we are and what we value.

For Watson, that new man would be his marriage, and for Holmes it would be as a detective without his only friend in the world at his side. The carriage symbolizes their wills in life and the "force of direction" their destinies are taking them; the carriage window is their ability to "reflect" upon themselves and their circumstances and what it is they want out of life which is in conflict with what the other is wanting. The window symbolizes their meditations on the situation of their friendship, which throwing the waistcoat out the window is a "temporary fix" to the conflict between them, and, whereas the situation is too strenuous for these great men, the commoner finds it much easier to pick up and make it part of his own life, his own self. 

"Watson, what have you done?" Holmes asks Watson as a ship is released into the water and sinks, very similar to London Bridge, the ship is "incomplete" and foreshadows the finale on the still-being-constructed Bridge.The ship symbolizes England and the "ship of state" meaning that Watson's good intentions (trying to save Holmes) causes unforeseen destruction. Watson isn't Holmes. It's not that Watson is a bad character/person, but in the pecking order of super-heroes, he's a doctor, not a detective, which explains the opening when Watson nearly set off the explosion via the tripwire that Holmes "knew to look for" and which Watson does set off at the dock and the fire breaks out, resulting in Watson symbolically "getting burned" because he hadn't learned from Holmes as he should have.

The underlying reason Watson is upset with Holmes is because Watson is marrying Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly) and Holmes refuses to be happy about it; but Holmes is already married (and no, it's not to Rachel McAdams' Irene Adler), he's married to the woman whose initials he shoots into the wall of his apartment as he attempts to "develop a device to suppress the sound of a gunshot": "V.R." Victoria Regina," Queen Victoria. Holmes has sacrificed his life for the Empire, just as Watson sacrificed his in the service (where apparently he received his wound to the leg, translating, that his time in the service impaired his will, i.e., he is easily dominated by others, first by Holmes and now by Mary, and that's the nature of Holmes' dislike of her, he wants to maintain his "hold" over Watson). But Holmes' marriage to the Empire invigorates him so that he can fight the evil which must be defeated to preserve God and country, Queen and people.

Holmes enters "the fighting pit" after his failed dinner with Watson because he knows he needs to be punished for his behavior, yet he also knows that he was right about everything. Putting himself in the fighting pit is like the BBC's Cracker (Robbi Coltrane) going gambling (he's so good at what he does, only God alone can punish his ego with losing at the gambling table). Holmes fights against someone else so he doesn't turn his wrath against himself, but he's careful to fight a battle he still has a chance of winning.

We know that it's Friday, November 13, 1890 from the title page of the London newspaper Holmes examines (actually, that's a fictitious date, because in 1890, November 13 fell on Thursday that year).Why is that important? Because there was a depression that month: Barings Bank faced bankruptcy in the panic of 1890, so instead of a satanist's execution on the front page, it would have been the risk of insolvency because of "excessive risk taking on poor investments in Argentina."
Or is that the headline?

There's an interesting connection made between the sacred Scripture of the Bible and the Stock Market: reading the Book of Revelations and trying to decipher its meanings is like looking at the ticker tape of the stock prices and finding a good deal; we have Darren Aronofsky's Pi to thank for pitting God against math.

As we shall see in my next posting on James Bond: Beyond Boundaries, Casino Royale of 2006 is about Bond chasing the villains who played the stock market against everyone else and causes others to lose a lot of money; this is basically what happens in November 1890, so much so, that Natty Rothschild said if other banks hadn't come to Barings' rescue, it could have been the collapse of the private banking sector in London. The point is, it's a small group of investors potentially bringing about the collapse of the heart of the Empire, London, for personal gain by betting on investments; Watson does the same thing.

Is this satanic ritual designed to give them power and everything they want really any different than the meetings at five-star restaurants of stock brokers performing their rituals of checking who is doing what and "reading the numbers" as if they were consulting the oracle of Delphi?

"I made your customary bet," Holmes tells Watson in the carriage heading towards the London jail to see Blackwood, and he tells Mary that previous night, that Watson has a betting stub in his jacket because he's a betting man and to keep an eye on her dowry, because Watson had cost them the rent more than once; when Watson finds Mary's ring and still has some change, Holmes warns him against losing it to the street gamblers nearby. When Holmes is listening to Watson read letters about potential clients, Holmes characterizes one as "being an insurance swindle," because someone likes fast women "and slow ponies." Is this what Sherlock Holmes is really about? Is this the "evil religion" that men of finance have made of stocks and risk-taking, their own private gain being more important than the loss of all their neighbors?

Do we actually see London on the unholy altar of financial slaughter?

In the opening of the film, Lord Blackwood performs a satanic ceremony which Holmes stops. Is the girl symbolic of London, and the knife she nearly stabs herself with the banking crisis caused by zealous risk-taking in South American markets? Is London (the Hedge fund capital of the world today) being sacrificed on the "ungodly altars" of market speculation and greed? There is the secret society Lord Blackwood tries to gain control of and "secret societies in England" is also part of the newly released Killer Elite; similarly, James Bond battles Quantum in Quantum of Solace, a group trying to overtake the world's water supply. Remember in 2008, Ritchie directed the hit Rock N Rolla about the real estate markets in London, and Sherlock Holmes isn't that different.

This photo was taken September 1892, so the film's timeline is moved 2 years. In Sherlock Holmes, the Tower Bridge represents London and the Empire and, most importantly, the hand of justice.

What we have is a diametrical opposition, between the pursuits of individuals designed only to benefit themselves--Lord Blackwood wants power over the whole world and hence has the remote control invented--versus the collective unity pursuing  the greatest good together for the greatest number, like the risk of combining the bascule and suspension bridges for Tower Bridge (I think we're going to see these same conflicts in Margin Call, Ides of March and Tower Heist). The finale of Sherlock Holmes is on the un-completed London Bridge, which as Holmes says, is the sign of an industrious Empire, and innovative,... and Holmes is a part of that.

The symbolic reason the first hanging doesn't kill Blackwood is because he's not being hanged for the "real" crime he has committed against the Empire, but Holmes--who can discern what Blackwood really did--is able to carry out exact justice.

The death of Lord Blackwood--and the unmasking of all his "conjuring tricks"--validates that the collective of Empire is stronger than the strength and ambition of the individual, yet there is a darker side to it as well. Lord Blackwood is hanged, like the Judas he is because he not only killed his father (Sir Thomas) but attempted to destroy the Empire by taking over Parliament. Dante reserved the lowest circle of the Divine Comedy's Inferno for those who betrayed their masters, and that's Blackwood's fate.

Heads of enemies of the state displayed on London Bridge.

Another graphic reason why Blackwood dies on London Bridge is because it's a tradition: the decapitated heads of England's enemies have been spiked for show along Tower Bridge to demonstrate the power and might and justice of the Empire in putting down its enemies; England is worthy of the loyalty of her subjects because she protects them with her Justice. Whereas in his first "execution" Blackwood was hanged with mere rope, in the execution on London Bridge, it's with chains, symbolizing the "strength" of this stronger sentence against him and the chains of slavery to his sins which he will wear eternally.

Ambassador Standish from America engulfed in flames in the background.

In conclusion, we see that the Empire taking the risk of combining a bascule and suspension bridge for the first time is a good risk to take, because it's a risk for the Empire and all its people, and if it fails, all share a part of the burden in love for country, and if it succeeds, then all share in the pride of innovation. The risks of people like Lord Blackwood is the risk for self-gain and is volatile for everyone potentially having to pay for sins and crimes not committed. The future is most stable when it's built upon tradition. It's a timely topic, fitting neatly into a group of films preceding it and, I anticipate, those soon to come. There is a great deal more to write on this wonderful film, and it will come in December. For tomorrow, the conclusion to British Imperialism in Film, James Bond: Beyond Boundaries and then Monster Month begins!

London, one of the most ancient cities in the world.

Muchness: Alice in Wonderland

What is most striking about Tim Burton's 2010 remake of Alice in Wonderland is the tree beside the hole which Alice (Mia Wasikowska) falls into; it's the exact same "Tree of the Dead" from Burton's Sleepy Hollow of 1999 from which Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane summons the Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken). Invoking the classic tale of Alice from 1865 also invokes the Victorian era which gave birth to her and suggests that something is similar today to what was back then.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

But it also means that the statements which Burton made about America in the great American classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are comparable to the statements being made in the English classic Alice in Wonderland (please see my post The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Battle For America). Or, what I really mean to say is (please don't let me confuse you) whatever Burton's purpose in making Sleepy Hollow about America, he's making the same statement in his Alice in Wonderland about Great Britain.

Tree of the Dead from Sleepy Hollow wherein the Headless Horseman lives and, wherein Alice falls in Alice in Wonderland.

What is so "upside-down" about Burton's story of Wonderland, is that Alice (as a symbol of Great Britain) wants freedom for herself, and, despite her active imagination, cannot understand how trading posts in Hong Kong infringes upon their freedom or that expanding trade into Rangoon will multiply problems. In Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice finds herself in a world where the benefits and assurances of being a British citizen are no longer applicable or protective of her rights and Burton holds true to this, but paints for us an Alice more concerned with figuring out things about herself than just getting back home. Another difference is the death of Alice's father, Charles (played by Marton Csokas who just appeared in the brilliant film The Debt) and that always symbolizes the death of "founding fathers," which, in this case, symbolizes the "pioneering spirit" of Imperialism and trade which caused the Empire to go forth and conquer with red tape. That spirit is the "muchness" which Alice has lost and must find to fulfill her duty to defeat the Jabberwocky.

The nearly tedious episode where Alice has landed after her fall and tries all the doors, then finds the key, but it opens a door too small for her, and then she has to drink the potion to make her small... is quite symbolic. Doors are symbolic of destiny, and when they are closed, it signifies what is not our destiny; when they are open, it "lightens the path" of self-fulfillment we are to make. Alice finds all the doors locked; when she finds the key, the only door it fits is "too small for her," and therein we find the predominant symbol and even "conflict" of the film: size matters. The British Empire is too large (today) to enter the door by which it must find it's destiny. But, if it be too small, it won't be strong enough to "hold onto the key" that will unlock the door.
Mad as a hatter, yet?

Why is the white rabbit symbolically important? A rabbit is a pest, eating everything and mating rapidly, so it's a symbol of the appetites that, like Alice, we chase after and which causes us to "fall." The waistcoat of the rabbit shows how we "dress up" our appetites in illusions "more suit-able" so whatever it is our appetite craves, it doesn't appear to be that at all. Why the watch? Time invokes history, and Burton is reminding Great Britain what the world was like in 1865 and how some things still haven't changed... but others have.

"Down with the bloody Big Head," the slogan of the "underground" movement to take back the throne from the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and restore it to the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) isn't different than the Red Queen's slogan to keep the White Queen's forces in order, "Off with his head!" What is most striking about the Red Queen? Her big head, just like The Elephant Man, her head is too large (please see my post The Ugly Face of British Imperialism: The Elephant Man). The head symbolizes the governing function, because it is the sign for the faculty of reason and the head "governs" the rest of the body.

When she says, "I need a pig here!" so she can place her feet on it, the pig, of course, symbolizes the appetites again (especially since she's resting her feet on its belly, the place where we feel hunger) but the feet symbolize our will, since the feet "take us where we want to go," our will is our self-determination of where we want to go. Her will is led by her appetites, which should translate to an all-too-large British government being led by its appetites just as in 1865.

In a sense, the "big head" of the Red Queen illustrates a British government which has become too big for it's own good; how? The Red Queen is "red": just like the dresses of the two little girls in Leisure Hours, red means the "appetites" and the government has been governed by its appetites instead of sound judgment (please see my post Leisure Hours and Victorian Consumption). But the appetites are an "effect" and not a "cause"; what "caused" the government to be governed by its appetites?

Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. In her reign, the world is in balance and is fruitful. The reason the trees in both Sleepy Hollow and Alice in Wonderland are important is because it symbolizes the wood of the Cross. In a world where faith is dead (like the trees) only our appetites will thrive and we will be ruled by the dragon (the devil) Jabberwocky. The White Queen symbolizes faith and purity, a government in which the wood of the Cross can live without withering and all will be able to find "balance and harmony" and size will be proportionate, not "too large, nor to small."

"Death" and "darkness" comes with the Red Queen because the forests have been destroyed. This isn't a "green" statement, it comes from the poem Jabberwocky. The destruction of the forest means the destruction of Christianity and its emphasis on restraining/disciplining the appetites and passions (please see my post Contagion: Bats and Pigs for the way Christianity has been removed from culture and the consequences). The Jabberwocky of the Red Queen symbolizes the ancient enemy, the devil (see the Book of Revelations, please). To slay the Jabberwocky, Alice must use the "vorpal sword," that is, the Sword of Truth which is locked up and can only be discovered "through the looking glass," which means "mirror," which means self-reflection, meditation and the acceptance of one's destiny.

An illustration of the Jabberwocky and Alice.

The Jabberwocky destroys all that is good in the world. Unless each one of us, in our turn, slays the Jabberwocky in our own life, we are unable to fulfill our destines. Alice tells the Mad Hatter (Johnney Deppy) that she couldn't slay the Jabberwocky "even if I wanted to," to which he says, "You were much muchier before. That's it. You've lost your muchness." If we place it in terms of the British Empire, then we are seeing a case of the Empire not willingly going forth and slaying the enemies as it should... we will examine this in the two upcoming (and final posts in the series of British Imperialism in film, Sherlock Holmes and the Completion of London Bridge and James Bond: Beyond Boundaries this week). What about America? Is Burton inviting Americans to see themselves in Alice in Wonderland? Absolutely, although Americans hate to think of an "American Empire," we have certainly spread our presence across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Do we fail to exhibit our "muchness?" Well, maybe like King George VI (Colin Firth) in The King's Speech, our stuttering signifies our self-willed holding back of power (please see The King's Speech: Self Censorship).

Having her own big head isn't enough, everyone has to be "over-sized," too.

Just as in the film Mary Poppins, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious covers up the truth of the arms race England was in during the Cold War, in Alice in Wonderland, "Um" (the name Alice tells the Red Queen when asked who she is) covers up the purpose and destiny of Alice: to slay the Jabberwocky (please see my post Mary Poppins: Frankenstein and Animal Farm). In this sense, too, "Um" covers up the real identity and destiny of Great Britain: to be a world leader and not just a sipper at a tea party.