Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Hello All,

For Friday's blog, choose a film you would like to analyze for our second essay, and brainstorm the ways in which it uses the ideas Eliade details in The Myth of the Eternal Return:

Celestial Archetypes

Symbolism of the Center

Road to the Center

Profane/Sacred Time and Space

Abolition of Past Time

Restoration of Primordial Chaos (Invasion of the Dead, Sexual Excess/Chaos, Abolition of Norms/Overturning of Values, Indeterminate Unity)

Repetition of the Cosmogonic Act (Motifs of Renewal: fire, ritual combat, erotic elements)

Monday, May 14, 2012

Hello All,

For this blog, explain how the film The Fountain uses one of the concepts from Eliade's Myth of the Eternal Return.


Celestial Archetypes: Shibalba, the tree of life, the ring, the dagger (with its holes/map), the blood

Symbolism of the Center: the tree, Shibalba, the queen, Spain, the lab, the temple, the book

Road to the Center: the lab (with Donovan and the tests and finding the cure), the funeral (the road to death), the voyage in the bubble to Shibalba, the book (finish it!) 

Profane/Sacred Time and Space: Sacred: the tree, the temple, outer space; Profane: the daily routine (the lab?, the scenes in the home?), walking on the street, the field/gravesite

Abolition of Past Time: the book (makes him experience its actions when he's asleep); the scenes at the temple; the scenes with the queen, the scenes in outer space

Restoration of Primordial Chaos: Drinking the tree's sap, he became a plant; the tree was his wife; the flying/floating in outer space; the plots (and times) of the film collapse and blend (and confuse);

Repetition of the Cosmogonic Act: Donovan's cure, the final scenes with Shibalba, the tree coming back to life, the seed being planted, the conquistador's death/life: Death becomes life.