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Obscure Film Theories - SPOILERS


Devon Malcolm

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It's getting on my tits not having a thread sub-title box on this new forum.

 

Anyway, yes. What are some interesting or just plain mental theories you've seen for films that you've seen, or that you've come up with yourself? One I liked that I read recently was that Stanley Kubrick based his interpretation of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey on Frankenstein's monster, which I think does make a lot of sense when you watch the film.

 

There have also been some great ones about Enemy, the recent fantastic mystery thriller with Jake Gylenhaal, that have been floating around as well. There's a really good article about the ending (which I nearly shit myself over) here:-

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/03/14/enemy_movie_ending_explained_the_meaning_of_the_jake_gyllenhaal_and_denis.html

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Did they ever actually come out and admit that Beckett was meant to be Jesus or God? I know it was alluded to a lot but I was wondering if they ever confirmed it. I never did finish the last series.

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Did they ever actually come out and admit that Beckett was meant to be Jesus or God? I know it was alluded to a lot but I was wondering if they ever confirmed it. I never did finish the last series.

 

Nah. The bartender in the finale, played by an actor who'd been another character in the pilot, was supposed to be God, and it's implied he'd picked Sam as his good-doer and was the one causing him to be stuck leaping all the time.

 

I will expand on this in print in a few months, but Saved by the Bell appears to be an example of Many Worlds quantum theory, with two splintered timelines, each further forking into another two separate universes, with additional scattered bubble-realities.

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Captain Scarlett is Jesus.

 

He was tempted by a fallen angel (Captain Black / Satan), he died and rose again after three days, he lives in the heavens, and he's backed up by the Angels.

 

And Colonel White is God, obviously.

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I've been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation again recently, and it seems obvious to me that the Federation is a totalitarian fascist state and Starfleet is its Gestapo.

 

There's no money and commerce, so everyone is in thrall to the unelected, undemocratic government for jobs, food, healthcare etc.  Anyone can be transferred or moved at any time.  All forms of popular entertainment such as video games, tv and film seem to have been banned. 

 

Starfleet seems to be both the military, judiciary and government for the Federation.  Whenever Starfleet Admirals appear, they're always ordering bad things to happen and expect total subservience.  Star Fleet high command are cold, autocratic and usually only concerned with "security".

 

The Federation comes across as an awful place to live.

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That's not really anything new or obscure about Inception though, is it? It would be a more obscure theory if someone discovered it was a good film.

 

There's some great stuff around Triangle. I love this review from Letterboxd comparing it to Greek mythology:-

 

*The following is NOT a review but a crude interpretation of the events. It may not hold up to great scrutiny but may be of interest to some.*

Triangle is a trip through the five rivers of Hades, in fact the whole film is dripping in Greek mythology references. Now some of the following is me trying to clumsily fit the film to a theory but by and large there is a rough correlation.

One of those rivers, the Lethe would explain her forgetfulness, it was the part of the journey that required the passengers to forget their earthbound lives in order to be reincarnated and reborn. The river would pass by Hypnos, the god of sleep, which points to why Jess fell asleep on the boat and why, upon waking, she remembered nothing.

I also wonder if the seagulls could be a representation of Thanatos (the daemon personification of death). Sisyphus, the man that cheated Zeus (and death) and who is represented by Jess, outwitted Thanatos on a couple of occasions. Historically his character is represented as a winged creature and it would explain why seagulls were an repeated presence, especially near dead bodies. Jess/Sisyphus outwits (not literally) Thanatos when she hits him with the car near the end of the cycle.

So they travel along the Lethe, explaining both the forgetfulness and the sleep via passing the God, Hypnos. Yet one other key component of the Lethe is that it offers the travellers the chance of reincarnation too. Considering multiple versions of the characters keep turning up on the upturned yacht this supports the interpretation.

Yet there is more than just one river of Hades which means, assuming we see most of their journey to Hades, they need to pass along the other rivers in the film. Akheron, the river of pain, is where Charon ferries the souls. Conventional wisdom would suggest all the rivers would at least be during the water bound section of the film but assuming the taxi driver who takes Jess to the boat is Charon then the road journey post-son's death would represent Akheron - it is also the period where Jess feels the most pain for the loss of her son.

Next, Kokytos (the river of sorrow) which is most likely the section where Jess is driving with her son and kills the seagull. It is a rather vague river though which is less definable than the others so it could occur at some point(s) on the cruise liner. Styx would most comfortably fit the sections on the Aeolus because it is where souls are punished for eternity and whilst the entire film is a loop it is on the liner where this eternal loop is most apparent. Which brings me onto Phlegethon (the river of fire), it has similarities with Styx but is where murderers stay. Unfortunately I'm struggling to place where this would be in the narrative (perhaps when she murders herself at her home?) but because of its similarities with the river Styx it might not be so identifiable within the film itself.

One thing I am struggling with is whether or not Greg is a significant Greek character or not. He invites all of the passengers on to the Triangle except for Heather who tags along with friends. She disappears when the boat capsizes (does she die or does she return to the 'upperworld' because she was not due to travel to the Underworld?). Greg can't be Charon because he becomes tangled in the loop but he could represent another Greek figure: any ideas?

As I said, a silly theory that is far from water tight but does help to explain some of the stranger elements in the film.

 

 

http://letterboxd.com/lordcookie/film/triangle-2009/

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That's not really anything new or obscure about Inception though, is it? It would be a more obscure theory if someone discovered it was a good film.

 

There's some great stuff around Triangle. I love this review from Letterboxd comparing it to Greek mythology:-

 

 

Actually, that is a good point. It does end on the note and isn't really obscure. However i did really like the movie. Triangle was an odd one, I remember seeing it at the cinema on release and a lot of people around me were just perplexed by it. I might have to give it another viewing.

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