Sunshine

Eliade's archetype of the Eternal Return manifests through three stages:

1. Abolition of Past Time
2. Restoration of Primordial Chaos
3. Repetition of the Cosmogonic Act

1. In terms of Danny Boyle's Sunshine, Abolition of Past Time occurs through the flight itself. Because the Icarus is flying toward the sun, there is no night; there is only a constant day. Time, as such, has stopped; there is only this day, this now. This can be overwhelming, a frustration Mace expresses in his session with Dr. Searle: "It's the time."

3. Repetition of the Cosmogonic Act occurs when Capa triggers the payload and reignites the sun (or, as Eliade describes, "rekindles the fire"). In this case, Capa literally restores the center of all life, of the universe as we live it.

2. Your assignment is to describe moments that would relate to Restoration of Primordial Chaos. In other words, what symbolizes Chaos, Invasion of the Dead, Abolition of Norms/Overturning of Values, or Indeterminate Unity (Eliade has another category of Primordial Chaos--sexual excess--but that does not apply to our film).

Sunshine (for May 6)

Hello All,

Going back to the idea of celestial models, provide a brief description and analysis of one of the following names from Sunshine:

Icarus (the name of the ship)
Corazon (Cori)
Cassandra (Cassi)
Capa/Kappa
Mace
Pinbacker

Where does the name originate? What does it mean? Why does this character have this name?

This is the exception to one of my earlier rules: you may use Wikipedia to help you with this etymology (word history).

Post for May 4

Hello All,

One of the key components of Eliade's analysis is the idea of chaos and indeterminate unity: forms being broken and combined.

For this post, describe one costume you have worn--either for Halloween, a pageant, or for another important day-- in which you became two people.

For example, the last time I dressed up for Halloween, I painted my face to look like a skull. Apparently, because I am fairly tall and was dressed in black, it looked like a skull floating down the street, and I scared a couple of people by accident . . . I was both the living and the dead.

Celestial Models

Hello All,

For this entry, describe the history of your name. Why did you parents give you this name? What does your name signify/mean?

For example, my last name, "Woodman," means that sometime in the past, an ancestor of mine was named for his occupation: he was a logger or wood distributor.

My first name, "Matthew" is Biblical and in Hebrew means "gift of God." However, the family story is that my father chose the name because of a character on the television show Gunsmoke: Marshall Matt Dillon.

In this case, my name has a number of competing "celestial models."