symbolic-rants

[symbolic-rants]

“To go back is nothing but death; to go forward is fear of death, and life everlasting beyond it. I will yet go forward.” ― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

#quoteoftheday #pilgrim's progress #john bunyan #death #life #inspirational

[symbolic-rants]

Fight Club - Finding authenticity in a consumeristic reality

Fight Club, produced in 1999, is about a man who cannot sleep, everyday is the same. He is blinded and slowly being killed by consumerism. He cannot find authenticity because it is hidden by capitalism and rationalism. Consumerism is trying to give us comfort, trying to cover up the pain of the world, but it is only inducing it. Man needs to find authenticity through relationships, although our secular world makes it strenuous to resolve the question of the meaning of life and instead they show us consumerism and comfort.

The narrator struggles to find the authenticity his body physically needs, as he is unable to sleep without it anymore. His mind is never truly awake, only intaking the repetitive consumerism of the world. Consumerism fails to cover the suffering and lack of masculinity in the real world, the only thing we truly have is comfort. 

Tyler Durden is created because the narrator needs to find authenticity. Everyone protects and supports Project Mayhem because they would do anything to find connection. By destroying the ten bank buildings, everyone has to start over. “Break up civilization so they can make something better out of the world.” (Palahniuk 16.76) Everything the government has built, trying to control the minds of the consumers, is destroyed. 

“The things you own end up owning you.” (Palahniuk) We enjoy watching chaos, because we are indulging in comfort. Male suicide rates are skyrocketing, and testosterone levels are plummeting because we are never challenged anymore. For many Americans every day is the same, we indulge in social media, swiping for hours, searching for comfort and certainty. Most are controlled by the media and the objects we purchase.

Life is empty and meaningless when we have no authenticity in our lives. Our relationships are becoming meaningless and shallow, and our daily lives are repetitive. But we crave authenticity, we need meaning, commercials try to fill that empty gap of authenticity, but it does not work. They tell us to be the “real you,” but we do not know who the real you is. We are disconnected from ourselves and others, everything is cold, shallow, and repetitive. 

This garbage consumerism our life is filled with keeps us from going deeper and looking for the meaning we desire. We do not think, we let others think for us. Man does not even know why we want marriage, a good job, we just want it because everyone tells us we are supposed to want it.

Even if someone settles on a meaning, the media judges it, giving more decisions and questions. It distracts you from finding purpose, and instead gives you the purpose of consumption. We are all consumers controlled by others, but we are told we control ourselves.

What Fight Club tells us is that relationships are the only way to a meaningful life, the narrator can sleep after connecting in the support groups, but is unable to sleep when Marla takes the authenticity away. Although, the meaning and authenticity is made hard to find because of the noise of consumerism.

The narrator cannot find authenticity in the media, in support groups, or in Fight Club. Society numbs us with advertisements and fake meaning. We buy products searching for happiness, then we buy the next dopamine rush, and this cycle constantly repeats. The only way to find authenticity is through connection, but society makes it difficult to realize this and instead drugs us with comfort.

#fight club #essay #tyler durden #movie review #philosophy #edward norton #brad pitt #consumerism

[symbolic-rants]

"If you look for perfection, you will never be content." - Leo Tolstoy, from Anna Karinina

#anna karina #leo tolstoy #quoteoftheday #perfection #quote

[symbolic-rants]

Eva Rebuilds, let's talk.

The newest Evangelion Rebuild recently came out, not really sure what to think. It is coming to theaters in America on the dates Dec 8th, 10th, and 11th. Okay, let's break this up.

SPOILERS COMING UP!

CHARACTERS

A lot changed from the original Evangelion characters we have come to know and love. Some of them are not even the same people. I feel like a lot of the scenes in the original NGE that held so much emotional value, are now destroyed because of the way they designed some of these characters. The new characters did not have the time and development they had in NGE, so some of the scenes feel forced and unrealistic because of that. Shinji does not really know this Asuka, but he treats her just like Shinji treated Asuka in NGE, which does not make sense because they have no real relationship together, as they did in NGE. Overall, the characters are just somewhat rushed, which is understandable because they tried to fit 27 episodes of development into 4 films.

MARI RANT/SIDETRACK

Oh, boy, Mari. The American cutie, she has it all, boobs, a beautiful voice, she's a fighter, and she is decisive. I am not about to trash on Mari, you cannot enjoy Mari if you do not understand why she is there, or why the rebuilds are even made at all (it's not just money). The point of the rebuilds is that Anno is not a depressed 14-year-old anymore, he is a grown man, he has a wife, he has lived more life. He needed to end Eva the right way, Shinji gets his happy ending, just like Anno did. Mari is the combination of all of our lovely females from Eva. She is a mature grown woman, she is feisty, she is a good fighter, and she is decisive (just as I said in the beginning). She is the whole package for Shinji or Anno. Knowing why she is there, allows us to respect her more. Over all, the story could go without her, and they could have put her into the story in so many other ways, but I understand why she is here.

PLOT/TIME SKIP

The plot/time skip thing they went for is kind of a mess. Which, is a difficult storyline that most films/TV shows fail, but they didn't really have to do it in the first place. The main thing that lets us know that time ever actually skipped is Toji's sister, other than that they did not have to use a time skip to complicate the story, and they still could have done what they did. The plot is confusing (as usual), but, this is the same with NGE, the point is not the plot. That is what most people fail to understand, they get too hooked on the lore and go complain online about one of the greatest endings of a TV show of all time (NGE ending). Over all, the plot is not really the point, but it is flawed.

SOUNDTRACK SHORT RANT

I just wanted to say how I was upset about it not having The Cruel Angel's Thesis. The song "One Last Kiss" is fine, I have listened to it several times. I just wished they put A Cruel Angel's Thesis in. Short rant.

THE ENDING TO ALL OF EVA

Honestly, the ending is fine, it serves its purpose, but it does not do much else. The rebuilds need not really need a great ending, because they were not really that great, and someone could argue they were not really supposed to be that great, but instead clear up things in Anno's head.

CONCLUSION

The Evangelion Rebuilds are something where you must understand why it exists to respect and enjoy it (the intended way at least). Anno made this to put his mind at ease and conclude Eva once and for all. Anno has grown up, he wanted to give Shinji that as well, the rebuilds did this. They went out a served a purpose, when you expect the wrong thing from TV shows you will get upset, this is a common problem with people and Eva, not just the rebuilds. If you eat an orange expecting an apple, you will get upset and be distracted from how good the apple actually is.

#neon genesis evangelion #evangelion 3.0+1.0 #shinji #Evangelion #rebuilds #eva #asuka langely

[symbolic-rants]

Breaking Bad Color Theory

The popular western TV show, Breaking Bad, is possibly one of the greatest shows of all time. The term "Shakespearian" has been used more than once to describe it (usually compared to Macbeth). Just watching the first season of the show, you immediately notice that it has strong and vibrant colors. Characters (for example, Marie) also have their "usual" colors. Try to imagine Walter wearing blue, you just can not, it is strange. So, what do these colors actually mean? That is what this post is about.

BIG BREAKING BAD SPOILERS, MINOR BETTER CAUL SAUL SPOILERS AHEAD!

In the image above, you can see that characters have usual colors, or that their colors change with them throughout the story. Let's look at what each of these mean, and their characters.

GREEN

Green represents pride and greed. Green is the color of money, signifying greed. Green is almost always worn by Walter White. Walter's greed destroys him by the end of the story. In season one, shortly after Walter tells his family he has stage 3A lung cancer, Skyler organizes a "family talk". Walter is wearing green in this scene, because his pride is making him choose to not get chemotherapy when it would benefit the family most, and it is important to Skyler.

YELLOW

Yellow represents anything that has to do with meth. The Pollos Hermanos uniform is yellow, hazmat suits are yellow, and the Mexico flashbacks are yellow. Jesse and Gus are most commonly seen in yellow, although most characters are (Walter). For example, Walter noticed the yellow on the doctor's jacket, because he is focusing on the meth industry, not his health or family.

BLUE

Blue represents loyalty and honesty. Skyler almost always wears blue at the beginning of the show, but her colors start turning more black (See the first image for reference). Skyler's eyes are blue, and her name is a reference to the blue sky.

RED

Red represents danger, violence, and "bad guys" (as the opposite to blue). Red is the color of blood and danger. Out of the main cast, Jesse is seen to wear the most red. A character will most likely wear red when they are going to do something violent (see the Jesse gun scene). In the image for the final season of Better Call Saul-

-Jimmy (AKA Saul) is seen putting a red coat on. This symbolizes what the show is about, Jimmy's transition from good to bad. There is no real reason for Jimmy to choose bad (the same applies to Walter) he solely chooses it because it is bad.

PINK

Pink is the color of youth and immaturity in Breaking Bad. All the presents at Holly's baby shower are pink, Holly's room is pink, the teddy bear is pink, and Jesse's last name (Pinkman) is symbolism of his immaturity.

PURPLE

Purple is one of the most obvious colors, with Marie's house being covered in it. In Breaking Bad, purple represents self-deception, luxury, and not having to do with the meth trade (purple is the polar opposite of yellow). Throughout history, purple has been the color of luxury and riches. Saul Goodman (Jimmy) and Marie are the two main characters who wear purple.

BEIGE

Beige is a bland color, representing plain, basic, and, most importantly, not being a danger to our protagonists. Walter wears beige while teaching, and most notably, the beige party in season one. "Jesus, guess we didn't get the "beige" memo." Is said by Skyler when they first come to the party.

BLACK

Black is the absence of color, representing death and emptiness in Breaking Bad. Walter White's old business partner's name is Elliott Schwartz, "Schwartz" is German for black. The black and white creates a contrast between our protagonist and Elliot.

WHITE

White is the opposite of black, representing life and innocence (Strange for it to be Walter's last name, right? /j) White is the name of our protagonist's family, Walter strips down in to his white underwear in the first season, the symbolism being that Walter had a new beginning in the meth industry. White is usually seen on Skyler, but Marie wears it some.

CONCLUSION

Thank you for reading this post. Breaking Bad changed the way colors are done on TV, I can't watch anything without thinking, "Oh! Red!" anymore. /lh

#breaking bad #color theory #walter white #jessie pinkman #jesse pinkman #better call saul #symbolism #colors #walter white's decay #heisenberg