Jones Beene
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:56:01 -0700
FWIW - and to rescue the subject of "intent" from the more obscure realms of SciFi and try to shine some light onto its deeper hidden meaning, consider the film noir: "Dark City" ... ...which Roger Ebert calls one of the greatest films of all time. He even taught a University film school class on this single film (choosing it as the focus over such classics as Metropolis, 2001, Blade Runner and Matrix). Trouble is- it is almost unknown, and even dedicated film buffs missed it, or were unimpressed ... until they get "the key." I didn't understand this film either until the second or third time, and wouldn't have given it another viewing without having heard of Ebert's respect for it and his film class. Very few film critics understood the deep layered metaphor of "the strangers"... Not even sure Roger gives it the emphasis it deserves. Anyway- to cut to the chase, "the strangers" who seem so ominous at first are not aliens, demons or confused angles -- but they are hidden "controllers" in one sense: an "intent" to change things for the better, even if things do not always work out that way. The strangers can be either good and evil, and just as in the Matrix, we (as Neo) are never sure that understanding our true nature was a pleasant call. Perhaps the more we can hide our true nature, the better - oops, shoulda taken the other pill ;-) The strangers are us. All of us, or more specifically they are our true identity and spiritual essence, which is not always good, and like them, we "rebuild" our world every day- or at midnight as the case may be. The world does not literally stop and get rebuilt, as in the film but that is the beauty of literary license. Even if you hated it the first time - watch it again knowing the key, and try to imagine the grain of truth which does operate in our real world, for better or for worse... or at least in the world which we think is our real one. i.e. do NOT get off on the 13th floor. Did I mention, the strangers are us? Jones