"Lighthouse" is a relatively special film last year, whether it is its obscure story or the ultimate retro shooting technique.
"Atmosphere comes first and then the rest comes out of that." (First there must be an overall atmosphere, the rest can be formed from it), the director said.
So the movie shuts the audience in the cold storm in the claustrophobic room on this desolate island for nearly two hours, allowing them to concentrate on watching the flow of light and shadow and the fluctuation of sound effects under the black and white scenes.
Often in the process of such a deep immersion experience, the audience is either like magic, fascinated, and accepts all the dim and depressing feelings deliberately created by the director. Either it's like sitting on pins and needles, or it's like being hypnotized.
Moreover, a large number of metaphors and symbols are used in the film, which are intertwined with reality and reality, making it even more difficult to distinguish whether it is fantasy or reality.
I think "The Lighthouse" is more like director Robert Eggers's interest after eating mixed concentrate (the feed is mixed with ancient Greek mythology, medieval occultism, dark folklore in Europe and America, Cthulhu mythology, psychoanalysis, etc.) To a Schrödinger's egg laid.
While watching the film, the audience is also hatching eggs for the director, when the film is over. Some viewers found that the egg laid on their buttocks had not moved yet, and had no intention of breaking the shell (director's narration: buy the ticket and swipe it again); some viewers found that the things they hatched seem to be different from those of the audience next door (director Narrator: A thousand ass can hatch a thousand eggs).
Well, the following paragraphs, let's talk about what is hatched under my ass.
The gaze of a deep dive
The story of "The Lighthouse" is based on the "Smoles Lighthouse Tragedy" that happened in Britain in 1801.
The Smalls Reef is a dangerous group of reefs off St David's Head in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
At the time, there lived two watchers, Thomas Howell and Thomas Griffith, at Smalls Lighthouse. Bad weather kept them stuck on the island for several months, during which Griffith was killed in an accident.
According to reports, due to the tension between the two guards themselves, they often fought. In order to prove his innocence, Howell did not routinely throw Griffith's body into the sea. Instead, he made a temporary coffin, put his companion's body in it, and tied it to a stone outside the house, intending to wait for it to be rescued before disposing of it.
The weather on the island was terrible. Soon the coffin was beaten to pieces by the rain and waves, and it became a corpse and was tied outside the house. Griffith's body swayed back and forth with the wind and waves. The passing patrol crew said that they saw a blurred figure from a distance and waved to the crew. Therefore, the crew determined that everything on the island was normal.
Four months after the storm, Howell had been living with Griffith's corpse. In order to resist loneliness and fear, Howell began to profuse himself frantically. When he was discovered, he was insane and his crotch was filthy. When Howell was rescued, he was insane and his crotch was filthy.
After the incident, the British government stipulated that the lighthouse must be equipped with at least 3 staff.
But on December 15, 1900, on the Flannan Isle (named after St. Flanan, Bishop of Ireland) at the northern tip of Scotland, the three staff in the lighthouse, William McArthur, James Ducat, and Thomas Marshall (also A Thomas) was also discovered mysteriously missing (the fourth member of the team was on his rotation in the mainland at the time).
The earliest record of an abnormal situation in the Flannan Islands lighthouse keeper was a ship named Archer. According to the Sagittarius’ HNA log at the time, they set off from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA to Port Leith, Edinburgh, England. When sailing to the area on the evening of December 15, 1900, they discovered that the lighthouse on the Flanan Islands was not lit. So after arriving at the destination on December 18, the Captain of the Sagittarius reported the incident to the Northern Lighthouse Commission.
Later, a rescue ship named SS Hesperes was originally scheduled to deliver supplies to the Flannes on December 20, but due to weather problems they had to postpone their journey to Flanders until December 26. Southern islands. After arriving at around 12 noon, the captain Jim Harvie found that there was no lighthouse keeper to respond, and the flag was not raised on the lighthouse, so he fired a signal flare and sounded a boat whistle to remind the lighthouse keeper. Come to receive supplies-but even so, the entire Flannan Islands is still deadly quiet.
In this way, Jim, who was anticipating that something was wrong, took a crew member named Joseph Moore to the lighthouse to see what was going on.
After Jim and Joseph arrived at the lighthouse, they found that the lighthouse door was closed but not locked, so they pushed in. But even though they rummaged through the lighthouse, they still couldn't find a trace of the lighthouse keeper.
In order to find out what happened, Jim asked all the crew to go to the island to search for the lighthouse keeper. After careful investigation, there are only some messy clues in the lighthouse. For example, a raincoat is missing in the lighthouse and the kerosene lamp is also filled with oil, an overturned chair, a messy bed, etc. The most valuable findings belong to Steaks and potatoes that have been cooked and cooled (cooked but not eaten).
In this way, after investigating the lighthouse for a whole day, Jim was convenient to send a telegram to the Northern Lighthouse Commission in the evening to report the incident, and left three crew members including Joseph to temporarily manage the lighthouse on the island. , And continue to investigate this matter.
During the two days that Joseph stayed on the Flannan Islands, he found some creepy records in the lighthouse log. There was a storm on December 12th, and the storm was so strong that this permanent resident at the lighthouse was scared. , And also wrote that James suddenly became very quiet, and William (William was the former navy who had been on the battlefield to be brave) was crying.
However, it was not William's anomaly that was really frightening. Joseph also found that the port west of the lighthouse was severely damaged-part of the iron railing was greatly bent by external force, and part of it was pulled out of the concrete and thrown away, and there were many more. Sundries were scattered nearby. Even more bizarre is that a huge boulder weighing about 1 ton was removed from its original location, but in Joseph's eyes, the storm did not seem to have that much power.
However, according to the local meteorological bureau and other seafarers in the sea area, there were no large-scale storms from December 12th to 15th. Instead, there was a major storm on December 17th. It became weird.
Well, this is very Cthulhu.
In the myths of Cthulhu, there is often no beginning and no real definite ending. It stops in the vague narrative, and ends with the narrator’s madness and self-destruction.
In 1917, H.P. Lovecraft created the short story "Dagon", which was the first work of the Cthulhu mythological system. The novel describes the story of a sailor who fell into madness after encountering the suspected ancient evil god Dagon (Dagon, Dagon, Dagon) at sea.
Under a piece of dark water, there is a mysterious underwater city, inhabited by a mysterious murloc (deep diver), they serve an evil creature sleeping in this dark water-Dagon.
H.P. Lovecraft created "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" , which further enriches the image of the deep diver .
Innsmouth (Innsmouth) is a fictional seaside town located in New England on the northeastern coast of the United States. The inhabitants of the town abandoned the faith of Christ when the town was about to decline, and turned into mad believers of Dagon. After offering sacrifices of living people in exchange for gold and fish catches, the locals finally started to climb ashore on a regular basis for deep diving. The person copulates, and the body also undergoes an abnormal change. It slowly transforms from a person into an aquatic monster. His legs are gradually unable to walk, and fins, gills, tentacles and the like will grow on his body, and finally become a member of the deep dive. Enter the sea low life.
Dark Cthulhu version analysis:
The old Thomas was a sailor when he was young. He wandered on the sea all year round. When he went out to sea, a rat infestation occurred on the ship. The food was quickly eaten by the rats, and the crew also suffered from sepsis. Fortunately, a sailor found a deserted island, and everyone on the island managed to survive by gnawing on bark and grazing.
The mainland was far away, and seeing the crew around him died of illness or starvation, the old Thomas fell into deep despair.
At this time, the supernatural phenomenon occurred. The evil god Dagon in the ocean appeared before his eyes. He chose to abandon his beliefs and companions, sacrificed other crew members, and always served Dagon, the king of deep divers, and Dagon helped him return to the mainland. .
Many years later, he was no longer a sailor and became a lighthouse watchman. He secretly arranged Dagon's shrine in the lens of the lighthouse, and performed frantic cult rituals naked on the top of the tower every midnight. And follow the female divers who are attracted from the seabed to copulate.
Until one day his assistant discovered his secret. The assistant recognized the female deep diver as a legendary mermaid, and envied the old Thomas being able to have fun with the mermaid, so he secretly saw the mermaid carved into a puppet. Under the bed, when the loneliness is too long, I take it out as the object of obscenity.
Finally one night, the desire that was suppressed for too long caused the assistant to lose his mind and rush to the top of the tower. . . Dagon received a new offering.
One day, old Thomas welcomed his new assistant, a young man who claimed to be winslow.
Then happened the story described in the movie "The Lighthouse".
Finally, let’s taste the paragraph in the Yipin film where the old Thomas said he did not accept the culinary suspicion and scolded the little Thomas:
Harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk! Hark, Triton, Hark! Bellow, bid our father, the sea king, rise from the depths, full foul in his fury (it seems that Poseidon and Dagon are still neighbors, and they don’t like bathing) . black waves teeming with salt-foam,to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye,engorging your organs till ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more. Only when he,crowned in cockle shells. with slithering tentacled tail (Poseidon covered in slippery tentacles?) and steaming beard,
Vulcan and the Box Thief
In addition to the shadow of Cthulhu mythology, the film also has strong traces of ancient Greek mythology. Symbols related to ancient Greek mythology abound, and the ending scene completely mimics the composition of Prometheus's crucifixion under the Caucasus Mountains. Needless to say, it is simply too obvious.
But is the film a new compilation of the myth of Prometheus stealing fire ? Is Prometheus the symbol of little Thomas?
I said it was totally unacceptable, because my favorite image in the entire ancient Greek mythology system is Prometheus.
Oh, that is Prometheus who knows the future and the truth! Chief counselor of the Battle of Titans; supporter and gravedigger of Zeus, the god of the gods; creator, guardian and savior of mankind (also the opener of the battle of Troy, this is the only black spot of the gods, but There is room for washing the floor).
In the various versions of Greek mythology created by different authors, Prometheus almost always appears in the image of a prophet god who is the most good and wise. It is really difficult for me to associate him with the reckless little Thomas in the film. Both say The difference between mud.
When the story proceeds to the fast half of the small Thomas say his real name from the mouth of Ephraim , the bell but rather appears another possibility: this is where the Illuminati Prometheus, clearly his stupid brother, the enlightened Egypt Epimetheus (Epimetheus).
Little Thomas has a dark history and is suspected of killing a former colleague.
And Epimetheus also has a dark history. He was almost extinct due to his stupidity and desire.
As a result, the eyes suddenly became clear, and everything seemed to be explained.
Because of the deity symbolized by old Thomas, I think it is not necessarily Poseidon, but also Hephaestus , the god of fire , and the characteristics of old Thomas are also consistent with Hephaestus fans:
1, lame (both lame, in the same movie with mythical New style sunrise Valhalla Valhalla Rising , the men also inherited the main Maishu mapped one-eyed god Geao Ding)
2. Its appearance is not good (of course, the body of Uncle Fu is a handsome uncle, but this makeup in the movie...)
3. Crude and wretched (Old Thomas exhibitionist + fart mania, while Hephaestus is a tram lunatic sport against Athena)
4. Addiction to alcohol
5. Temper tantrums
6. Bearded haha
Maybe everyone still thinks that Vulcan and the old sailor's identity seem to be out of touch with each other?
Actually otherwise, Hephaestus was disgusted and rejected by the extremely beauty-loving and narcissistic queen mother Hera because of ugliness after he was born. Si was kindly adopted and grew up at sea. It was not until the battle of the Titans that she was ranked as the twelve lord god with the skill of two unicorn arms. However, she did not want to stay because of her bad relationship with her mother and son. The God Realm preferred to stay in the human world, but was kidnapped and taken to Mount Olympus after being drunk.
In other words, Hephaestus spent almost the first half of his life as a proper old sailor on the sea seeking life. There is even an adoptive mother of an ocean goddess who enjoys the blessing of "son of the ocean" BUFF.
As for the explanation of the mermaid that frequently appears in the movie.
Well, I think it might not be the Siren the Siren, but another god, the wife of Hephaestus : Aphrodite, the Roman name Venus.
The goddess of sexual desire, born in the waves of the sea, turned her husband Hephaestus green into purple, her concubine was all over the Three Realms, and her illegitimate children flew all over the sky.
So this explains why old Thomas has a wife in his family but ran to the island to stay alive and widows, and hesitated when he mentioned his wife.
And why did Aphrodite go to her husband and seduce Thomas, undoubtedly to humiliate and avenge Hephaestus.
Because Hephaestus once captured the brother-in-law of Aphrodite and Ares, the god of war, in bed when they cheated, and trapped the naked two with a special gold net and called the gods to watch. Almost let Aphrodite, who is also one of the twelve gods, face disgraced.
In addition, Hephaestus, as the god of fire, is also the custodian of the fire of the gods.
The story of Prometheus stealing fire from the sun god Apollo, which is more widely circulated in China, is actually a version that only prevailed after the Middle Ages.
In Plato's "Protagora" and Aeschylus' "Bound Prometheus" in the ancient Greek era, Prometheus stole the fire from the furnace of Hephaestus.
Stoves and lighthouses are both luminous and heat-generating objects. So is the light of a lighthouse a fire that symbolizes human well-being?
Not at all. In addition to stealing the fire, there is also a she , which can also connect Epimetheus and Hephaestus into a story.
She is a gift that cannot be refused, and she is also a trap that cannot be avoided.
Zeus was angry with Prometheus and the humans he created, so that the ingenious Hephaestus created a girl with clay in the image of a goddess and gave it to Epimetheus as his wife. The light makes men unable to look directly.
she is Pandora
Prometheus, who knows everything, has already warned his stupid brother who lives in the world not to accept any gifts from Zeus.
But Epimetheus, bathed in the light of Pandora, had already regarded this as the wind blowing in his ears, and happily signed the mailing bride Pandora, and a clay pot that the gods carefully prepared for Pandora as a dowry-later generations will use it. Make Pandora's Box.
So I think the plot can be like this.
As a reflection of the Godhead of Hephaestus, the light-keeper Thomas, at the top of the lighthouse, is not the fire that symbolizes the well-being of human beings, but the beautiful but dangerous Pandora and her magic box full of disasters.
A god once asked Hephaestus what his most perfect work is, is Hades’ double-stranded fork? He shook his head. Is it Poseidon's trident? He still shook his head. It must be Zeus's lightning spear. He still shook his head, "It might have been before." The god puzzled: "What about now?"
Hephaestus was stunned for a while, but said angrily: In the past? now? Haha, wedding dresses, wedding dresses, have never changed, I have never made wedding dresses for others. . . Seeing that he didn't speak any more, the god walked away without interest.
Hephaestus is a god who is not bad in nature. He prevents Epimetheus from contacting Pandora. In addition to satisfying his own desires, he also has a layer of "good intentions" in it.
It is like a father who is an alcoholic, smoking and unclean life style warns his adolescent children: Before I think you grow up, you must not be exposed to alcohol, tobacco and sex.
The child questioned: why? Don't you dip everything and still enjoy it.
"Because I am an adult with sufficient self-control, and you are just a kid"
If the child asks more questions at this time, or shows a trace of doubt or dissatisfaction, it will be a curse or a fat beating.
Old Thomas knew that little Thomas would become another old Thomas one day, to dominate the lights of another lighthouse on another island, to bully another little Thomas.
Hephaestus also knew that Epimetheus would one day take away his Pandora, would open that magic box, and make mankind from time to time. Because this is not only the will of Zeus, the father of the gods, but also a doomed suffering that even sages such as Prometheus cannot stop. It is a ghost called fate at work.
Prometheus: I make humans no longer expect death.
Narrator: What medicine did you find to treat this disease?
Prometheus: I put blind hope in their hearts.
Narrator: Is it easy to stand outside the pain and persuade the suffering person?
Prometheus: I am willing to endure any doomed suffering with him.
-"Prometheus Bound"
In the end, Epimetheus fell Hephaestus, who was unwilling to hand over Pandora, to the ground and climbed to the top of the tower. Under the bright lights, he got his wish to see the beautiful and alluring Pandora and her half-opening magic box. The lighthouse collapsed with the old paradise of mankind, and Epimetheus suffered the same suffering as his brother because of his stupidity and greed.
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