Hello All,
In class, we discussed different "centers" in the film Sunshine.
For this blog, explain how one of these centers is relevant to one of the following quotes from Mircea Eliade's The Myth of the Eternal Return:
"The object [or place] appears as the receptacle of an exterior force that differentiates it from its milieu and gives it meaning and value" (4);
"Being an axis mundi, the sacred city or temple [or place] is regarded as the meeting point of heaven, earth, and hell" (12);
"Attaining the center is equivalent to a consecration, an initiation; yesterday's profane and illusory existence gives place to a new, to a life that is real, enduring, and effective" (18).
In the second quote, it talks about a "meeting point of heaven, earth, and hell." During the movie "Sunshine," one of the crew is put into an Earth Room after a fight about the use of the Communications Room, to help him calm down. In the Earth Room, you can simulate parts of the Earth, such as the rushing waves of the ocean. The person chose these waves specifically to help him calm down. In this room, he was able to view Earth's waters, even in space.
ReplyDeleteThe third quote "Attaining the center is equivalent to a consecration, an initiation; yestersay's profane and illusory existence gives place to a new, to a life that is real, enduring, and effective" relates directly to the symbolism of the center represented by the sun in the film "Sunshine". For the crew it is a type of initiation to reach the sun and complete their mission. "The illusory existence gives place to...a life that is real" is symbolic of the sun in it's dying form, and the new star that will hopefully be created in it's place will sustain the Earth and new life.
ReplyDeleteMircea Eliade mentions mentions in the quote that an "object appears as a receptacle of an exterior force" in that which it withholds importance. In the case of the spacecraft shields, the value they possessed was immensely immeasurable. The importance the shields withheld were even greater to risk a crew members life, it meant that if they could not protect and contain the mission's plan, then it was futile to protect the sun from dying.
ReplyDeleteIn the film, the sun is an example of the first quote. The plot of the film takes place in the future where the sun is dying, and group of individuals are attempting to revive it. It is important to consider this, because it may explain the nature of the characters' emotional response. The sun is dying, so the earth is probably experiencing solar winter. The characters may not seen bright sunlight for a long period of time which explains why the film puts so much emphasis on image of the sun and the character's emotional response to the sun. The sun is a container of different interpretations for the characters. For example, one of the character's facial expression showed fear, hope, amazement, and so forth. In a way, the sun is like a deity to them.
ReplyDeleteThe Oxygen Garden relates to the myth of Eternal Return because it has to do with life. In the film Sunshine, the Oxygen Garden holds the supplies that will help them live, & without this they would turn to "ashes". The Oxygen Garden brings life; it holds the food & water necessary to survive.
ReplyDeleteThe first quote, "The object [or place] appears as the receptacle of an exterior force that differentiates it from its milieu and gives it meaning and value"(4), is a good example of the observation room. This was the place where everyone met together to go over business. This is where they decided on if they would take risks or not to save themselves when something went wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe second quote by Mirecea Eliade "Being an axis mundi, the sacred city or temple [or place] is regarded as the meeting point of heaven, earth, and hell" (12) for me is the example of the sun. In the movie "Sunshine" the crew is trying to save the sun before it dies out. This is the meeting point between heaven, earth, and hell. Without a sun we don't have an earth. The sun is important because without the sun we don't have anything.
ReplyDeleteThe quote "The object [or place] appears as the recptacle of an exterior force that differentiates it from its milieu and give it meaning and value" (4) reflects the Icarus I and the crew memebers' emotions aboard the Icarus II. Icarus I symbollizes failure to the crew aboard the Icarus II and their fear is that they will fail like their predecessors. The Icarus I is the "exterior force" that gives the new crew a greater sense of "meaning and value" in the urgency of their mission.
ReplyDeleteThe sun is relevant to the first quote because in the movie “Sunshine” the meaning of the sun holds positive and negative connotation. In the movie, the sun at one point symbolizes energy and life. The sun symbolizes life because it gives life and continues life on earth. Having the individuals sent to space trying to save the sun, makes it extremely valuable and cherished. The negative meaning of the sun in the movie, which is death changes how the sun was once viewed, which was something that indicated the continue of life or a new day is ahead. The fact that the sun is dying in the movie symbolizes the earth coming to an end and a time of chaos.
ReplyDelete"Attaining the center is equivalent to a consecration, an initiation; yesterday's profane and illusory existence gives place to a new, to a life that is real, enduring, and effective" (18), is the third quote which relates to the symbolism of the oxygen garden in the movie “Sunshine”. The oxygen garden symbolizes new life to all the living things that were helpful to the crew’s existence in the space. The garden helps them to have food in their table even though they are million miles away from Earth. It gives the crew motives to prepare a dish that they miss back from home. The oxygen garden is part of their new place and new life creating the importance of all the living things that are there. It is very important that they take a good care of the oxygen garden because this is their only source of food.
ReplyDeleteChristina Blair said...
ReplyDeleteThe second quotation refers to the sun. The sun resembles another life and world, a distance between heaven, earth, and hell. Without the sun, mankind would not exist and therefore, there would not be any planets. The sun signified more to the group of explorers in the movie "Sunshine." It was their priority and goal to prolong the sun's existence, and then their life was considered complete even if they were at a great risk of dying.
The first quote says: "The object [or place] appears as the receptacle of an exterior force that differentiates it from its milieu and gives it meaning and value" I think that the sun can be applied to this quote because the sun is the object in the film, and in the film the sun means life and if the sun were to not exist anymore, people would cease to exist as well.
ReplyDeleteThe quote,"Attaining the center is equivalent to a consecration, an initiation;yesterday's profane and illusory existence gives place to a new, to a life that is real, enduring, and effective" refers to the "sacred center". In the movie "Sunshine" the oxygen garden would function as a symbolic center because it is crucial to the crew's survival. The garden represents life, it's their only source of oxygen as well as fruits and vegetables. Without it they would die.
ReplyDeleteMircea Eliade, in the quote;
ReplyDelete"Attaining the center is equivalent to a consecration, an initiation; yesterday's profane and illusory existence gives place to a new, to a life that is real,” refers to the fact that sometimes people experience places of sacredness in the creation of “manifest to nonmanifest.” The main center of consecration experienced by eight people in the sun, is the room of observation from they can see what happens with the engine bearing and would give life to the sun and therefore to humanity, however, losing contact to land these eight people in his ship, feel that everything started to fail, and if the objetive fails then realize that the sun is dying and mankind will die too soon. Then the sacred refuge in which they could be reflecting and manifesting their emotions of faith and hope for the eight people traveling on the ship was the room of observation.
Kathryn Snow writes:
ReplyDeleteThe third quote states "Attaining the center is equivalent to a consecration, an initiation; yesterday's profane and illusory existence gives place to a new, to a life that is real, enduring, and effective" (18).Eliades quote pertains to symbol of the Oxygen Garden used in the film Sunshine. The garden its self is a pofane reminder that these astronauts are human and need this garden for oxygen/life. With out this garden they will not make it very far and will not succeed in thier mission-or road to the sacred. They are on a mission to save humanity by placing a bomb on the sun and this road is fraught with chaos and is highly dangerous.The oxygen serves as a reminder of thier frailty and when they do succeed(through the chaos)they will no longer be archaic man; they become hero's, enduring in history, elavated to a new status.