American Beauty, Fight Club and the Qabalah

[Blue Mage]

I've been studying the Qabalah, correspondences in the Tree of Life. I've noticed the associated imagery in some movies.

In American Beauty there is that iconic scene where the main character dreams of a beautiful naked girl lying on rose petals and he imagines the rose petals raining down on him. That is soooo the temple of Netzach. The magical image of Netzach is "beautiful naked woman" and the magical gift is roses. The book I have on pathworking says to get in touch with the energies of a Sephirah visualize the magical image associated with it giving you the magical gift. So for Netzach that would be imagine a beautiful naked women giving you roses. And at that point in the movie the main character is inspired to try to get out of the rut he's been living, that kind of sexual motivation and force is what Netzach is all about. I wonder if whoever wrote that scene had studied the Qabalah.

And in the movie "Fight Club", that story seemed to be all about "Death" and "The Devil" tarot cards, and "the Tower". There were lots of things about that movie, most obvious is it ending with the skyscraper towers collapsing. Do they do this stuff on purpose??

[ButterflyWoman]

Well, I can't speak specifically of those films, but it's absolutely true that a good director (or art director in some cases) will make use of archetypes (including occult or arcane ones) in order to evoke a certain kind of response. There's actually a whole "language" of the screen, involving colours, certain symbols, certain patterns, etc. We may not be consciously aware of the language, but because much of it is based in psychology (including the archetypes), we "read" it and it affects us.

Just as one of many, many possible examples, this is one of my favourites: celery and a stick of French bread, sticking out of bags, to indicate that the person has just been to the grocery store. Nobody has to even say "I went to grocery store". You just see the celery and/or bread, and you know, without having to waste screen time for anyone to explain it.

Screen language is a really interesting topic, by the way. It's got a great deal to do with visual cues and psychology. Very interesting stuff.

[CFTraveler]

On a vaguely related topic, it is interesting to know that a lot of writers and screenwriters are also fans of 'occult' mythology, and a lot of them incorporate such into their work. Just the other day I read a story in the "Year's top Science Fiction Stories" and recognized a lot of esoterica woven into the stories. In fact, some of them sounded like just the type of stuff we talk about from an experiential level, but with the authors' specific storyline twist and direction.

[Ouroboros]

Video games especially are chock full of occult references. Some are more subtle than others, but some are just outright blatant.

For instance, the games series Shadow Hearts had all sorts of references, especially in the second game. As a matter of fact, you collected "crests" of the 72 Goetic demons from the Lesser Key of Solomon (mentioned by name) and bound them to your characters to enable them to cast magic. Granted, a lot of the material is bastardized and altered to fit gameplay and story, but the references are certainly there.

[lightningbug]

years ago I read a manga that was made back in the early 80s, and conceived of in the 70's

I read it because I loved the characters, I didn't think much of the message portrayed in the ending. It was just 'fantastical' to me.

It wasn't until years later that I realized how much the writer was paying attention to everything science and spirituality was telling him at the time (the 70's). You see in the ending, he starts to talk about DNA. And how our dna has this history embedded in it. A history that would take you to, not only the beginning of organic life on earth, but the very beginning of the universe itself. In such a mere human could tap into the memory of the beginning of the universe. And unlock amazing creative powers.

it wasn't until last year that I heard a biologist explain our history. how we are made of the earth. and the earth is made of stars, and the stars from the beginning of the universe. it wasn't until recently that I heard scientists describe dna as the most sophisticated computer to store information. including memories. it wasn't until very recently that I learned that dna can't activate itself. it is activated upon by perception/belief. a revelation made by a biologist.

I gained a deeper respect for the manga.

and there's what....a thirty year difference from the manga and now?

[Blue Mage]

Video games... it strikes me all the time how occult-related they are. Besides those blatant references, the whole mechanics of a video game are exactly like qabalistic pathworking. You go around fantasy world with all different kinds of areas (the grassy area, the watery area, the desert, etc.) collecting magical items/gifts and developing new abilities in order to save the universe. I was playing Final Fantasy X the other day for the first time in a several years, wow, I always thought the game was great and moving, but now I appreciate it on whole other levels too now...

I don't have enough time to give the subject justice. But what I think is funny is how much of this stuff isn't even on purpose, or conscious. I look back on fantasy stories I was writing years ago, and they fit so well with mythological, archetypal symbolisms.