NIGHT CIRCUS / TIME BANDITS

                             
                                                  THE TAIL OF SPIRITUAL EDUCATION


Erin Morgenstein's novel is very imaginative, magical, and dark.  There were many themes about making choices and following dreams.  The Night Circus is unusual because it never begins its performances before sundown.  The circus seems magical, but serves a darker purpose.  It is the battle between two illusionists bound to each other in a life altering game.  The circus is the setting for a contest between two illusionists, Marco and Celia.

At first, neither character knows who their opponent will be or exactly what the challenge is going to be.  The extreme competition results in some sinister events.  As Marco and Celia get to know each other, a magical love  connection happens.  They feel conflicting responsibilities to themselves and the circus.  The consequences of the game becomes clearer with death.  Their spiritual and moral issues become challenged.  They must decide whether to pursue their love for each other without destroying themselves or the circus.

The circus represents the stage for the battle of imagination and will.  Celia and Marco are in love which seems to be a real love.  The game has to continue and play out with its fate.  Its is important for the game to continue until one of the participants is dead.  Tsakiko, a magician, agrees to help Marco and Celia stop the contest, and proclaim a winner.  Celia realizes the plan and rushes to save Marco.  By doing this, Celia sacrifices herself for love and they both become spirits bound to the circus.  The circus begins to fall apart after their deaths, but Celia and Marco spiritually are tied to the circus and bring back the spirit of the circus.  The couple are now ghosts who haunt the circus together forever.

Movie:  TIME BANDITS

This movie is a fantasy which addresses the theme of ordered society and how it functions.  Kevin is a young boy fascinated with history.  His parents are materialistic and too busy to pay attention to him.  This creates a sad situation.  The solution for escaping this situation for Kevin is through his imagination.  As his journey begins, he encounters a set of time bandits dwarves who have stolen a map belonging to the Supreme Being.  Their intention is to rob history from its greatest treasures.  Kevin experiences evil and danger as he meets legend through different periods of time.  The entire imagination journey is observed by the magical powers of a sorcerer who wanted to put the map to a test.  This is an example of how free will is the reason why evil still exists.  At the end of the movie, Kevin wakes up to find his house on fire and that he was rescued by a firefighter who looks like one of his history legends.  Kevin tries again to explain things to his parents and again they ignore him.  As he watches, his parents are blown up and he is left by himself to face life all alone.  This movie showed both factual and mythological aspects of history.      

THE HOBBIT / THE COLOR OF MAGIC

                                                                  HEROIC JOURNEY

The Hobbit is an epic that reflects elements of the classic hero journey.  It is a story filled with action, magic, and surprise.  Bilbo goes into the crazy world and discovers himself as he travels on his journey.  His journey becomes more difficult with risks and challenges.  Bilbo's daring rescue of the Dwarves teaches him that he does have a strength within himself.  He faces the worst of his fears, conquers them, and confronts deadly creatures.  Bilbo overcomes his fears and at that point, he transforms from who he was into who he was meant to be.  Bilbo faces many dangers such as the three hungry trolls, a group of goblins, Gollum, and a sly dragon named Smaug.

His heroic deeds throughout the story are all the more remarkable because they do not change him.  He discovers capabilities that he did not know he had, yet he never becomes arrogant or never changes his values.  Bilbo had an inner strength that needed to come out.  As his journey continued, he built confidence, became resourceful, and a true hero.  He returned to Bag End where the "new" Bilbo Baggins provided many benefits to others and himself.


Bilbo's personality at the beginning of the story is quiet, meek, and he is afraid of danger.  A classic hero starts out brave and strong right from the beginning.  Bilbo is not willing to participate in an adventure that might be dangerous.  It is only until later that he decides to join the quest.  A classic hero would have accepted the journey right away.  Bilbo longs for home when he is in danger or afraid.  He is not courageous or strong when a problem emerges at the beginning.  Bilbo does not have heroic qualities and always seems unsure of himself until he changes.  Bilbo Baggins likes being a quiet Hobbit, however Bilbo shares some features of the classic hero.  He has the drive to join the quest and his bravery gradually increases.  Bilbo is very intelligent which is a trait of a hero.  He thinks and reacts fast which helps him get out of situations.  Luck and chance are always protecting him.  At the end of the story, Bilbo is a true hero. This book is very good and I recommend reading it.

Movie:  THE COLOR OF MAGIC (2008)

The Color of Magic was fun to watch.  It contains fantasy and comedy that starts with a so-called planet made up from a great turtle with four elephants standing on the back and on their backs rest Discworld.  Discworld contains the greatest college of Wizardry.  At this point, we are introduced to Rincewind who has the reputation of being the worst wizard in the school and therefore he gets evicted.  He meets Twoflower who is rich and happens to be the first tourist in Discworld.  Rincewind becomes the guide and guardian of Twoflower.

As the movie continues, Rincewind and Twoflower begin a journey across the Disc.  The two of them face threats like dodging thieves, assassins, and the inhumanity of man.  They also become involved with trolls, enchanted swords, and dragons.  The two characters really want opposite lives.  Rincewind wants a quiet life and Twoflower wants all the thrills of a dangerous adventure without the risk of death or injury.  These two save the Discworld by their heroic actions.  This becomes a hero journey in a comical way.  This movie mixes an imagined world with great characters in a humorous style.  It is great to watch.                                                            

AUNT MARIA / SUSPIRIA

WITCHES AND WOMEN IN GENRE

Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones is not a typical story about stereotype witches.  Aunt Maria is a sweet, helpless little old lady who likes to talk a lot or so you think as the story begins.  Within her sweetness on the outside, she is an evil witch on the inside.  She has the power of manipulation by appearing to be helpless in her old and crippled age while making everyone feel guilty so that they do as she wishes.  The town of Cranbury-on-Sea, where Aunt Maria lives, is ruled with an iron-hand by Aunt Maria.  She controls all the women, men, and children.  Aunt Maria's power borders more from phycology than direct magic or potions.  Although, she does have the power to cast spells.

Aunt Maria and the women of the town are the only residents with any will of their own.  Their husbands and sons are like zombies and all the children are locked away in an orphanage.  Mig, Chris, and Mom go to take care of poor old Aunt Maria and get pulled into Aunt Maria's emotional manipulation.  Mig is cautious with Aunt Maria, but when Chris rebels, he is changed into a wolf.  Aunt Maria proves that she is at the center of the magic.  A ghost haunts the downstairs bedroom at night and a cat stalks around outside which looks very much like a servant that had been employed by Aunt Maria.  Mig now realizes the situation and is determined to get her brother back and save the town from dear, sweet Aunt Maria.

In conclusion, this book examines the workings of families, family roles, obligations, and the relationship between sexes.  It combines eccentric characters, morals, magic, time traveling, the ability to portray human behavior and the bond between siblings.  Aunt Maria is one of the most hateful and hateable villains.  She is a witch in the archetypes sense.  Every witch in Cranbury-on-Sea had their own aims, views on the gender war and personality.  Aunt Maria talks until her ideas are implanted into someone's head making the victim think she's right.  Aunt Maria is a typical woman with power.  Our culture makes our strong women to be overpowering and domineering.  Aunt Maria fits this description.  One thing that I took away from this story is not to judge a book by its cover or what a person appears to be on the outside is not always what they are on the inside.

Movie:  SUSPIRIA (1977)

This week's movie, Suspiria by Dario Argento, really had me on the edge of my seat.  The movie starts with a young American dancer traveling to Europe to attend a famous ballet school.  This movie has many chilling and gory scenes which start with the taxicab ride.  A flash of lightning reveals a shadowy image of a knife reflected on a tree stump.  A superimposition screaming of a face is reflected on the cab's security divider and this is just the start.  Suzy arrives in Germany only to find that she has entered a witches' coven.

Suspiria is a film where intense colors, mental states, and discordant music blend together into a dream like horror film.  It is strange and unpredictable.  The idea of a palette rich with primary hues and deep blacks was inspired by the Technicolor of Walt Disney's Snow White.  Yet, an abstract daemonic presence haunts this film.  A coven of witches summon an entity beyond their power to control.  I found it strange that Suzy never seems horrified at what goes on around her.  She seems to take it all in visually, but her curiosity seems to come through much stronger than anxiety or fear.  In conclusion, this movie is a fairy-tale of the supernatural with a mixture of childlike wonder and very much adult horror.  If you have a weak stomach and scare easy, I do not suggest this movie. 

THREE MOMENTS OF AN EXPLOSION / FREAKS

                                                                   NEW WEIRD

Three Moments of an Explosion by China Mieville is a book which contains 28 short stories.  The New Weird fiction is different from horror or fantasy fiction.  It mixes the supernatural, mythical, and even scientific themes.  In this book, stories are created in an arrangement of different worlds and settings.  The stories psychologically create panic and demonstrate weirdness of the world.  They represent a world where mystical and dull coexist and feed on each other.  I found some of the stories to be confusing.

An example of weird fiction is presented in the short story Polynia, where the sky over London is taken over by floating icebergs.  It represented a ghostly haunting.  I believe the theme is the destruction of the earthly humans (global warming) by environmental mismanagement.  A second example is a story named Covenhithe, which starts out typically with a man and his daughter walking along a beach in England.  A destroyed oil rig comes to life and crawls out of the ocean.  This is symbolic of the ruins of industry.  Most of the stories use backdrops of surreal images and anti-real strategies.

I believe the future trend in genre of horror will deal more with technology.  The fear of the power of network effects such as computer hacking and the dangers of connectedness.  This will happen as privacy and information security concerns increase.  The need to always be connected by a phone or the internet and the need to check-in shows a fear of isolation or being stranded.  I also believe that issues such as terrorism, the economy, and global warming will generate themes aimed at post apocalypse fiction.

Movie:  FREAKS (1932)

This film by Tod Browning upset many people in 1932.  It is a horror film in which the characters were played by actual carnival sideshow performers that had real deformities.  Freaks provides an opposite view.  The physically deformed individuals "freaks" are really trusting and honorable members of society.  The real monsters are the two normal members of the circus who plan to murder one of the freaks to get his large inheritance.  At the end, they both get punished, one by death and the other becomes a freak herself by loosing her beauty and becoming a bird girl thanks to the sideshow performers.

Freaks tends to horrify the viewers rather than frightening.  In 1932, this film really puts disabilities and differences in people on the screen to the point of being a shocker.  It made people open their eyes and realize the "freaks" were real people and absolutely normal.  Today we do not see these people as being weird or freaks.  There are many birth defects and accidents that have created people with disabilities.  They are accepted and actually helped by many organizations.