I am overpowered by movies. My experience of being at the movies is of being under semiotic assault – if the movie is any good. (And I don’t go to movies that aren’t good.)
The theatre is my church.
Naturally, I can’t but help interpret the scriptures.
These pages are about the process of interpreting movies.
I don’t have a name for it, but there is something I want to note, as well:
I am utterly baffled by why there is so little analysis & interpretation of the key texts of our day. What “analysis & interpretation” there is, is mostly surface level, closer to the level of a review. I search for hours for analyses, but find nothing that notes what is plainly obvious.
I am struggling to figure out why this is the case, where these hidden communities are hiding. I have begun to question the use of Google as a search mechanism for this purpose; Are they publishing in paper journals? Are they just swamped by fan websites?
If you know of any communities doing this work, please let me know. 206.427.2545.
These pages are about my interpretations of movies, or things that I found noteworthy in particular movies.
EvolutionarySpiritualityMovies
I roughly equate the years 1999-the present (2007-12) with “Evolutionary Spirituality Emerging.” When I see these movies, I see fundamental ideas and principles of EvolutionarySpirituality being communicated, either explicitly (TheMatrixTrilogy?, HappyFeet, BeeMovie?) or accidentally, as radiation off from the ZeitGeist (TransFormers?.)
“Accidnetally” – TransFormers? features the Internet and intelligence (via intelligence operatives) “in the background,” and are more reflective than intentionally communicative.
Defining elements include: simulation, naturalist history, spirituality, heart, communications, media, the social organism, questions
Also, of special note, Metal Gear. These are video games, but see: MoviesAkaText?.
Japanese culture is very different than US culture. Their concept of EvolutionarySpirituality has a similar but different timing and history than the US. Shinto (animistic) is intrinsically inimical to EvolutionarySpirituality, and OsamuTezuka was putting Evolutionary Spirituality themes into his books (see: TaleOfTheFuture?); In some ways, EvolutionarySpirituality seems obvious to the Japanese.
To be honest, though, there culture seems to me to be through very different transitions than US culture, and my reading of the ages of Anime (of which there is a wealth of text on the Internet) is very different than my reading of the ages of US media. Immediately, I sense concerns with decay in Japan, (perhaps reflecting the dwindling population,) struggles with empty surface-layer anime, and frustration with the salary-man vision – “What is it to be Japanese?” The major visible turning point was probably Evangelion, to my mind.
Speculation on the future of movies is speculation on the future of the social organism.
I often wonder: “Will the next period for movies be based in SocialSelfAwareness??”
My belief is that the social organism will come into greater clarity, and that we should see at least one major movie reflecting the beginnings of the emerging social organism within the next 10 years.
I would not be surprised (for example) to see ChildhoodsEnd? turned into a movie. (Then again, I just found that a TV version was made in 1997; Does that mean another movie version can’t be made for N more years?)
I expect global convergences as well, over the next 20-50 years, if the planet takes the opportunities available to distribute things more evenly. (That is, I perceive a fork in the road for the planet.)