Last weekend I took two young friends, 12 and 14 year-old girls, to see a movie called "Into the Storm" in English, about a series of tornados destroying a midwest town. It was a typical Hollywood piece of schlock with weak story lines about the people involved, families, young romance, blablabla. However, there were a few points that stuck out in my mind as being relevant and interesting, especially regarding the readings.
In the "What Use is Mythology?" article, Craig writes, "Myths, legends, and folk tales also act like barometers of a time gauging underlying psychic currents." This ridiculous film did have the following elements that are worth mentioning. There were regular folks living their innocent lives. There was a team of scientists that mentioned the increase in storm intensity and frequency. And there was the implication that the cause of these increases was human behaviors. These elements seem to me to be a very common narrative in our present times of Terrapocalypse. The US American story is one of innocence and ignorance by the masses, an unheard and unheralded scientific community acting as a seer, and the destruction of the innocent ignorants as an act of natural retaliation for ecologically irresponsible behaviors.
Now, I can fully admit my ignorance of the breadth of the mythic or narrative tradition, but I can at least liken the basic storyline to some of the old testament stories that I do know, like Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed by brimstone and fire, the story of Noah and the Ark, the story of the ten plagues in Egypt in Exodus. Nature and its unstoppable destructive power acts as cleanser and purifier of society gone wrong.
This storyline is very attractive to me. I have to admit that I love to indulge the fantasy in films of seeing my hometown of New York City get bashed by weather like in the Day After Tomorrow, or Godzilla the monster created by nuclear irresponsibility, or by aliens who come to remind us to cherish our planet. All of these seem to be warnings, calling on our societies to wake up, take more precautions, be more respectful in the use of our limited knowledge, and be grateful for what we do have.
Now, I don't know the range of archetypes, but I imagine there might be one that is akin to a finger or hand of god descending from the heavens to wreak havoc. This seems to me to be the image of the tornado: the hand of god reaching down from the sky to cleanse the impurities and evil of man from the face of creation. Is that a common archetype?
That's all for now.
Replies
I enjoyed reading your insights.
Jane
Hi Doug,
I like these kinds of movies too. Go to YouTube and search for "conscious apocalypse chalquist" and see what you think.
Hi Doug. First, what a great thing that you are friends with young women of that age: I've been connected to Artemis a lot lately after a powerful dream about her, and I'm struck by the fact that she is a warden of just such young women. For me, that generation and that age of girls in particular are absolutely critical to our collective future and they are so impressionable yet so hungry for guidance and growth at that age.
Meanwhile, like you, I am irresistibly drawn (I suppose like many of us) to apocalyptic narratives, I suppose because I am so aware of the downward spiral we're in. Obviously it's in the unconscious as we are so perilously close to the precipice. I don't know if you know the book, Living in the Borderland by Jungian analyst Jerome Bernstein. In it, he posits nature itself is reaching out to us to pull us back from the brink of extinction by communication with those of us who are sensitive enough to hear/feel the overture. It's sort of the antithesis of the image/myth of devouring or vengeful nature which so much of the mainstream seems to believe in (maybe out of a repressed sense of guilt?). Anyway, thanks so much for the post. I'm going to see "Into the Storm" anyway—even though I've been duly warned by you about the story lines :)
Hi Bonnie,
Thanks for the feedback. One of my personal narratives that recurs with some frequency is of the savior or protector of women. I take care of a family in Costa Rica, I have mostly made them mine, consisting of a single mother and four daughters. The relationships are the most meaningful I have here. It also fits in with a strong theme that runs through development studies and sustainability thought that a key to improvement in all sectors of society is the empowerment of women, who tend to make much better decisions than men and whose value system is more embedded in care and compassion.
I don't know the Bernstein book but it sounds excellent. I'm a few steps away from diving into heavy reading on these subjects. At the moment I'm reviewing Boal and improvisation texts, reading some Aristotle, and also Joanna Macy. I do have a copy of Man and his Symbols on my bed though, so I hope to get to the psych books soon. I'll put this one on my list and I really want to thank you for making these recommendations to me. You are contributing to my personal and professional growth and that is a gift that I appreciate deeply. You are earning my profound gratitude.
Doug