Pan's, Ovid's, and Homer's Labryinth

Although I saw Pan’s Labyrinth several months ago, I am still awed with the relation and correlation that the film had with much of the topics and general themes of ancient Greek and Roman mythology. To begin with, there is the clear representation of Pan, the character within Ovid, this physical interpretation of Pan was not quite what I had in mind. Although the character is friendly throughout the film, never dangerous, we are still weary of his intentions for he seems as though me might potentially be dangerous. In the film, Pan is somewhat frightening especially for a child this old twisted figure asking you to perform fantastic feats might seem fairly sketchy. In the same sense however, this is how many of the stories within Ovid are portrayed. Although the gods bring great fortune and gifts to some, the also have a darker side that many fear and quite a few have felt the wrath. The entire mood of the film follows the same premise, there are scenes of beauty, fantasy and indescribable magic for this poor girl, but at the same time her world is crowded with horrible violence and pain, the side of the gods exposed to such characters as Arachne, Terreus and many, many others.

There are also relations to Homer, first in the Iliadic sense that in order to return home and save her loved ones, the young girl must defeat terrible beasts and overcome great misfortune and suffering. Secondly when she enters the underworld of the man with eyeball hands she is too entering Persephone’s underworld, and as in the Homeric hymns, the young girl eats the tempting fruit and almost solidifies her position in the underworld, I am dying to see the film again because I could only imagine far more allusions to Ovid that I simply had not picked up on. Great film though, everyone should get a chance to see it. And see it through the eyes of the past.

Here is a link to see the movie preview:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw its pretty cool but the guy narrating is that really cheezy movie voice guy so it may lose some of its beauty to that but its still pretty cool

just a related qoute

regarding my post, "the importance of asses ears" i found/ heard this great E B White qoute: "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. " in my blog my point was that from time to time we must simply enjoy our surroundings, take in what we can, experience life instead of analyzing it.

I for one think the story of Pygmalion is false information. The world should not and does not work in such unnatural ways, yes unnatural things happen that we predict to be great but their greatness lies in the recognition will should soon come to that nothing can compare to the real deal.

For example, a modern day rendition of Pygmalion is in a little film called Weird Science, where two young “nerds” create the perfect women at home on their make-shift computer. Their prayers and plans are answered when a beautiful, smart, loving woman comes forth from their computer in a dense fog with 80’s laser beam light effects. Despite her beauty and seemingly perfect aspects, the two boys soon learn that she is not real and there for not really possessive of all these wonderful things based on this new found information the boys turn their attention to actual women and because they have learned from their previous mistakes they are now ready to go after the real deal with some educated zeal.

This recognition and then change of ways has been a common pattern all throughout human history and has only recently taken a change for the worse with the invention of GMO (genetically modified organisms) we have for the same reasons as Pygmailion and the young nerds (frustration with women, un able to connect with them or retrieve desired results from women) decided to create our food from a laboratory instead of letting it come to us naturally as the gods have given us. Instead of taking the time to nurture plants (as Pygmalion should have nurtured women) we have decided to create our own plants, just as we dream them; strong, fast growing, defensible against pests and bountiful. But as many of us realized that behind this facade of greatness these GMO are simply not real and the threats and dangers that they pose to the environment because of this fact are very real and very serious. Its not even the fact that GMO have been tested to give lab rats CANCER or that the largest company producing them is the same “safe” company that brought us DDT and Agent Orange, no its not even about these things, the fact of the matter is, like Pygmalion’s girl or the two nerds cyber babe, none of it is real and it will never compare to what is.

The importance of asses' ears

When was the last time any of us actually listened to the world? And by that I mean not only listening audibly as in hearing, but also visually and physically. When was the last time any of us spent time taking life in, instead of throwing our opinion into life?
In life, college especially we are so frequently asked to comment and give feed back or interpretation onto all facets of life that we run into. This assignment even is an example of this commonplace in academia. It is important however, to see the world not through a critical eye, take the time to see and hear and experience life without trying to dissect it. When overhearing a debate, every once in a while instead of taking side and routing for one while denouncing the other, listen intently to both arguments and make no judgment once the debate has finished. There is a time however where analysis is important, this should go with out saying. But just once in a great while gather as much information, as much knowledge and visions of beauty as you can our world holds a plethora of beauty, beauty not only of the aesthetic kind (ie. blooming flowers and golden fall foliage) but also beauty of knowledge and emotion, of human interaction and love. It is important no to always judge and be skeptical of these things, instead to take the time to recognize them for their power and grace.

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemmingway

While reading Symposium one really takes time to reflect upon their previous relationships and look to see if they ever have truly found love in its purist. Many of us can place ourselves along to path to true love, recognizing our past loves as some of the far more sophomoric versions as Plato might see it. When reading the passage, “Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may.” I looked back on some of my own relation ships to see weather or not I had seen true beauty (through the Minds Eye) or merely been tricked with aesthetic beauty, lack substance and true virtue to make the love pure. Its painful to say but, I have never even come close. I can recall one of my last serious relationships, she was young and astoundingly beautiful, but that’s where the line was drawn, I was stopped with an image of beauty but not the reality of it. I soon found myself in recognition of her unfortunate qualities. To begin with she was mean, always heated and open to criticize anything that I did. When the strong physical connection and passion would take rest, these ugly qualities would come to the surface. As far as being a lover of wisdom? Well I’d say she was as far away from being that as any, I don’t recall her ever finishing a book that I gave her let alone begin any such book without a great deal of bitching and complaining, and to top it off, with a dagger to the heart of Socrates: I’m fairly sure she once told me, “philosophy is a waste of time, who honestly cares about that?” It was clear to me then, and far more so now that she was defiantly not the one, not my soul-mate and in fact probably incapable of ever becoming worthy of true love.
As this picture - immortalized by film-shows Marylyn Monroe, reading a book upside down but looking beautiful none the less, as does that ex-girlfriend off somewhere appearing to the untrained eye as a prize of beauty, stunning men all around her, but never the less…reading a book upside down.

Tom Jones ripping it up.

If you want to see a breif performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvmyTZEqlo8

Tom Jones is a God (Dionysus)

When the name Tom Jones comes to mind we immediately picture a seas of woman, ranging from the tight-t-shirt-teens to blue haired grannies. Venues swell with frenzied females, eager to throw themselves at the performer and then party, unleashing themselves on the Vegas Strip. Drunk off the liquor of lust and grape of the vine, these woman act barbaric in the venue, throwing undergarments onto the stage accompanied by the occasional hotel room key. Meanadic in their obsession with the sultry lounge singer -the god of Vegas, the city of wine and inhibition- these woman run from their every day lives off to the airport to catch a glimpse and Dionysus in skin tight pants and an unbuttoned polyester disco blouse.
Jones’s uncanny power over woman can only be explained by the presence of Dionysus himself in the performer. In the Bacchae when speaking of the power that has overcome the women Dionysus cites himself as the catalyst,
“I have stung these women into madness…All the females, all the women of Thebes-I sent them crazy from their homes. Even the Kings daughters are running wild them under the fir trees, or seated on rocks in the open.”
Tom Jones holds the same power, when ever he comes to perform just as when ever Dionysus comes to visit the woman run off from their homes to partake in primal, lustful, alcohol induced behavior.

Although I enjoyed reading the material of Lysitrata in the sense it was a good story, much of the comedy was lost for me, maybe it had to do with the translation of the text or maybe, as I posted in my previous blog this type of comedy (sex jokes and swears) is just so overplayed in today’s world. I mean I could recognize the comedy and appreciate it for its originality of the time but for me personally hearing a joke about an erection- although quite funny in middle school- just doesn’t really seem cut it anymore. am i wrong in thinking so? to not appricate aristophanese genious? well as it is emotionally depicted in this photo of lenny bruce, i could care less i just dont tink its that funny.

Each day in modern society we find ourselves in a bind between what is appropriate in public, and free speech. The FCC is abhorred by the material produced by such shows as South Park and The Howard Stern Show. Years before that comedians like Lenny Bruce, and George Carlin were literally jailed for using language and behavior deemed indecent and inappropriate. These comics are cited as pushing the bounds of social commentary to “unacceptable realms.” Many concerned citizens complain, feeling that comics have gone too far from the conservative and moral life style of the 40’s and 50’s. When commenting on the vast amounts of complaints that pour in annually Richard Roeper -of the popular films critic duet Ebert and Roeper- stated, “Of the 23,547 complaints filed with the FCC in July, 23,542 came from the Parents Television Council, which provides handy online complaint forms for members who aren't comfortable thinking for themselves.”
Those who post these complaints forgot, or are simply unfamiliar to the fact that these bounds have been pushed and pushed over thousands of years prior.
In lysistrata, just by opening up the page you can find an assortment of words such as: bitch, shit, ass, and dildo just to name a few. There is also major discussions of violence, sexual positions and sexual innuendos. What the FCC does not understand is that today’s comedians and so forth are not pushing the bounds too far, rather they are caring out a metamorphose of classic comedy into today’s world.