Good stuff from Jennifer Sodini and Jay's Analysis. The larger point here is that almost all movies have some symbolic message or messages they are designed to convey at a deeper level. The more we learn about how to look and what to look for, the more these movies reveal.
Essence of 80s.
By:
Jennifer Sodini and Jay Dyer
Collective Evolution
Nostalgia is
defined as the “sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past,
typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” The
feeling can sometimes be evoked from music, a pleasant memory of the
past, or any sensory perception that was crystallized in time by
a fondly experienced moment. An extremely powerful medium for evoking
nostalgia is film, because it has the ability to touch our consciousness
on multiple levels, as well as on a deeper, subconscious level we are
not even aware of until we intentionally take a look back and analyze.
Fantasy and sci/fi films in particular tend to evoke the affectionate
feeling of nostalgia, as well as whimsy, because of the fantastical
dreamscapes and imagery they contain. Analyzing the deeper subliminal
messages encoded within these films, we find there may be a “hidden
hand” at work that intentionally orchestrated esoteric subplots whose
roots can be found in ancient hermetic teaching/mystery school
tradition.
Below I’ve compiled a list, along with Jay Dyer of
Jay’s Analysis, which explains the subtext and symbolism of some of our favorite films.
Theosophy is a system of
esoteric philosophy concerning the mysteries of being and nature, particularly concerning the nature of divinity. “The Secret Doctrine” by HP Blavatsky, published in 1888, is viewed by many as the text responsible for the New Age movement. The sister of Theosophy, Anthroposophy, developed by Rudolf Steiner, shares a similar ethos, yet can be more related to Spirit Science as opposed to New Age.
So, how does
The Neverending Story relate to these concepts? Let’s explore…
In
The Neverending Story, the central symbolic image is the
ouroboros. Protagonaist Bastian encounters a magician in a bookstore and
attempts to read his occult wonderworking text,
The Neverending Story, replete with an
Ouroboros
on the cover. As it turns out, Bastian is himself written into, and
participates in, the process of creating this story. In literature
studies, this is known as metafiction, where the narrative is taken to
another level – an appropriate usage in this case, since the view of
alternate worlds and and all possible worlds comes into play. This is
significant because the film is working from a paradigm in which notions
of a multi-verse ends up necessitating that all possibilities are
eventually made actual. The Ouroboros symbolizes this concept in ancient
religions, as well as in gnosticism and hermeticism with the notion of
eternal return.
We discover that Bastian must ultimately must rename the Empress,
giving her the name of his dead mother, who we find out is called “Moon
Child.” Bastian screams “Moon Child!” when Fantasia is imploding, and
“Moonchild” has the occult association with a novel by
Aleister Crowley. Its usage also links the Empress with Bastian’s mother, or the feminine
sophia archetype.
Indeed, research into the scheme author Michael Ende drew up for
Fantasia reveals that the Empress is the feminine embodiment of the
spirit of Fantasia. She is then the “soul of the world,” or the
anima mundi,
in Platonic parlance. It is also interesting that she appears as a kind
of Venus or Aphrodite, as well as being associated with vaginal
imagery. She is the virgin queen sophia, who lacks the male principle – a
role Bastian must fill when Fantasia is re-created after the chaos of
the Nothing.
Like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.
is loaded with esoteric and conspiratorial clues and messages, but also
has its own unique emphasis, providing 80’s youths with a new approach
to the issue of other-worldly beings. That is also the theme of E.T., though with E.T. the imagery is intended to evoke the subconscious of the youth. Close Encounters is an adult’s story, while E.T.
is for kids. Both films focus heavily on communication, language, and
symbols, and involve complex usages of synchronicity, foreshadowing, and
occult symbology.
For example, moon imagery comes to the fore with E.T., and in the
iconic scenes we can derive a deeper meaning: it is significant that it
is under the moon that Elliot first encounters E.T. The moon has an
important role in mythology, regulating the female ovulatory cycle, and
is thus associated with femininity. In astrology, the moon has a direct
influence on human actions, and here, as a possible “moonchild,” Elliot
encounters what will be
his familiar.
My contention with E.T. is that he is more like a familiar spirit than
an “alien.” In classical descriptions of the familiar, the spirit can be
associated with an animal. Is Elliot a kind of “Moonchild,” referencing the Crowleyan mythology of a demonic insemination? Elliot is spoken of as chosen, and through E.T. will have magical powers.
Set in a mythical world like Fantasia
, The Dark Crystal is Jim
Henson’s mystical puppet masterpiece. Focusing on the notion of a 1,000
year cycle, this world is premised on a Hindu theme, similar to the
doctrine of Kali Yuga, where we are currently entering an age dominated
by chaos, the demonic, strife, and discord. This is also similar to the
notion espoused by other occultists that this is the
aeon of the
child, or of Horus, etc. Occultist Madame Blavatsky also formulated
theories of numerous other races and worlds that preceded our own, and
the Babylonian Talmud mentioned such ideas as well. It becomes evident
that Henson, like Lucas, borrowed heavily from the mythology of various
cultures in constructing this narrative.
Eastern dualist conceptions occupy a prominent role in the film,
where the Skekses represent the left hand path of severity and cruelty,
control and empire, while the “gentle mystics” represent the “gentle
ways of natural wizards.” The Skekses are harbingers of technology and
power, harnessing the Dark Crystal for the purpose of advanced control
mechanisms and even brainwashing, while the mystics are in tune with
nature and the forest. The Mystics chant the Buddhist “Om,” further
reinforcing the eastern religious conceptions, while the Skekses are
busy enacting the “Ceremony of the Sun” for the passing of the Emperor,
which brings to mind ancient imperial Egyptian theology and its
identification of Pharaoh as son of Ra.
Read the rest of this article at - https://jaysanalysis.com/2015/04/26/the-hidden-meaning-behind-these-10-classic-fantasy-films/
