I was reading an essay this morning about Revolutionary Road. Well, I suppose it was an interview. It didn't give me a heads up and ended up spoiling the film that Sam Mendes directed as well as the Richard Yates book.
My wife saw the film, but I did not, yet it resonated with us because my wife said that "the message" was that having a third child was a bad idea. We were talking about this a little bit. What fascinated me was Kate and Leo back together.
I saw Titanic perhaps five times in the theater. I know. It is a poor Say Anything on a big fucking boat. But it was the big fucking boat that captured my imagination. It was so big, and so solid, and it just disappeared in the end. I've been wanting to watch this again. It is bad, and painful, but maybe it can redeem itself?
The idea that my mind was trying to understand happened again to all of us. The day was September 11 2001. Where did those buildings go? How did they just disappear? The were so big, and so solid.
This idea is actually an archetype. It is represented by The Tower in the tarot, which I've come to believe is the language of life. The entire journey is encapsulated in the major arcana of the deck, that is the first 22 cards. These 22 cards illustrate our story, our journey, all the roles we play and can play in life. It is a basic pictorial representation of "The" myth.
So what's interesting about The Tower is that it is the only material structure built in the cards. It is the only "thing" that has "substance" in those 22 cards. I know The Chariot, but that is not a literal chariot, it represents the hero actively pursuing his adventure. The Wheel is a figurative wheel too. So, maybe the tower doesn't have to be a literal tower either. It could be our ego which we build and then destroy. It could also be our life, our spine, which we build and grow until it collapses, crumbles, and disappears with death. Maybe. I'm sure both are true--that the god struck tower is our mortal self that must metaphorically and literally die. But, it also likely represents the so-called material that we believe in, um, like money. The value of objects require the mutual faith from all of us to agree that yes, this stuff is valuable. Gold, yes value. Oil, yes value. Diamonds, drugs, yes this is G.O.D. and we all have faith!
But what does it do to us when we witness the dissolution of substance? Does this cause a joy division which requires a new order? We must have "true faith" indeed to believe so firmly in the stability of our towers, but they do fall. . . And it's almost like a "ceremony" as this archetype repeats itself over and over. Anytime our faith in material becomes unwavering, The Tower is struck.
--Think of past tragedies and how it was inconceivable prior to the tragedy to even think of the event as a possibility. I'm talking a failure of imagination. We are witnessing one right now. Will the dollar make it? Have we killed the monster in the heart of the financial center?
So back to Jack and Rose. April and Frank. Kate is April is Iris (is Isis). Anyway, I'm following.
I know how it ends. And so what am I'm doing here. Specifically here in the blogspace today. Maybe The Tower is also the "one flesh" of an initiated couple. Marriage. Hum. And is it ego that strikes that tower?
Let's reconsider. Rev Road-idea of perfect 50's symbolized w/ a marriage and then the idea is revealed as fake and destroyed. Cloverfield-monster destroys NY symbolized w/ a couple dealing w/ selfishness. Titanic-iceberg splits love and boat into separate parts and sinks. The heart of the film is a gem? Disorder Peculiar to The Country-divorce and 911 happen simultaneously.
So what am I saying? Are these stories about love or material. Slum Dog had it's head in the right place.
-yesterday was the anniversary of Ian Curtis' death. May 18, 1980.
Listen and contemplate what is really tearing us apart.
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