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Post by xpistissopheiax on Aug 3, 2014 23:57:07 GMT -5
io9.com/how-an-obscure-2nd-century-christian-heresy-influenced-1609994487This movie just came out very recently and it's by a Korean director who's made some other films I really enjoy (The Host and Memories of Murder). I think I'm going to get a chance to see the movie this week. I have my doubts as to whether there is any point to having a Gnostic subtext to a movie that (supposedly) on the surface is about the 99% vs. the 1%. I don't really think Gnosticism has anything to do with worrying about economic justice, but maybe I'm wrong 
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Post by phantasman on Aug 25, 2014 9:27:35 GMT -5
I saw it last night with "On Demand".
A good entertaining movie. I guess you could read a religious theme into it. But no more than the first "Total Recall". A demiurge controlling the train, a demiurge controlling the air on Mars? Without them men die?
I saw a futuristic version of the story of Noah's Ark using people instead of animals. Just my opinion.
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Post by xpistissopheiax on Aug 29, 2014 20:48:23 GMT -5
IMO the train isn't an ark, it's an ouroboros. It's always running but it never actually goes anywhere but circles If you or anybody else are super bored I do a run down of some of the symbolism in a phone call to one of my favorite movie podcasts: www.horroretc.com/2014/08/28/episode-358-back-to-the-80s-1985/(It really makes me cringe to listen to my own voice though. When I talk it sounds like Morgan Freeman to my ears, but when I hear a recording back it's a lot more like Joan Rivers for some reason) Anyways I apologize again for not being a more active participant on the forum. I'm glad to see you guys still keeping things going and I hope you are all doing well. School has been extremely hectic and stressful and as a result I don't have a lot left in my mental reserves for thinking or reading about God and etc. If I pass this class it should be much easier in the coming months to participate here with you guys the way I want to. |
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Post by phantasman on Aug 30, 2014 7:19:35 GMT -5
I see your idea as well. Even the poor were ouroboros, though. Remember what they ate? I can't place John Hurts part in the idea, if he was Ed Harris "partner" and had to die. The Chinese guys part as well, since he knew how to open the barriers and it was him who taught Curtis that the world was becoming stable. But like you said...........subtext.
(you sounded just fine and did a good job explaining. I had to fast forward to realize you started talking an hour after the program started.)
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Post by xpistissopheiax on Aug 30, 2014 13:09:11 GMT -5
I would just look at the train itself as a symbol of the ouroboros. The inside of the train is the physical world where "Curtis" moves through each car, which is like another layer of their reality (like Gnostics talking about ascending or descending through realms/layers etc).
That end of the movie seemed murky, but there is some inference in the beginning of the movie that Hurt's character and Harris's character have some sort of relationship. At the end Harris announces that he was sending the messages and collaborating with Hurt, although it does seem a little hard to trust him which makes things a little cloudy.
IMHO the writer is saying political struggle has serious consequences (Hurt's death), and political rivals do destroy each other, but at the same time it's very manufactured and archonic.
I'm not sure if the guy that opens doors fits in with any Gnostic thought at all. He's obsessed with hallucinogens, which some people do believe "open doors" to other layers of reality, so maybe it was an additional perspective added in to the story.
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