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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44944 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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The heroine’s journey is an essentially Gnostic reading of women and culture. I don’t think it’s possible to understand the moral intent behind the majority of Western film or literature without knowing the Gnostic worldview.

The Gnostic reading of the Eden Myth is that Eve was right. She was right to be seduced into eating the fruit and she was right to entice Adam into doing the same. Whether it’s because she’s more innately wise than him or whether it’s because even her apparent mistakes are charmed is immaterial: she is complete in and of herself.

The Patriarchal Demiurge punishes her in the story because he’s unable to rule her the way he wants, this is why he punishes her but doesn’t credit her with the sin, (that’s reserved for Adam). The Gnostic reading is that Eve liberated herself and humankind by just letting her curiosity/feeling/intuition (depending on your reading) be her guide.

This is the struggle Cpt. Marvel, Moana, Mirabel in ‘Encanto’, the girl in ‘The VVitch’ et al. have to overcome: a world with inferior men who try to mask how perfect a woman already is with their blind expectations.

It strikes me as borderline repulsive but then again, I’m a man.

I think it's an interesting question to ask: have y'all seen any media where a male protagonist follows the Gnostic journey?

Good question. There are many actually. It requires a slightly different set of rules though. The Gnostic man has to answer a call. His quest is to overcome himself by piercing through the illusory veil built by the demiurge, then sacrifice himself for the good of the world. He is able to do this via the authentic love of a woman (heiros gamos).

The Gnostic reading of the Jesus story is its prototype. There are hundreds of movies that make use of its cosmology.

All the Marvels, ‘Star Wars,’ and other Disney property (everything from ‘Pinocchio’ to ‘Jungle Book’). ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘The Matrix,’ ‘The Truman Show,’ ‘Blade Runner,’ and hundreds of less familiar titles are explicitly Gnostic.

How is LOTR gnostic? Offhand, it doesn't seem to match your description at all.

The description I offered is not complete. I’d point you to ‘Jung and Frodo’ by Robin Robertson.

Here’s a brief primer as well: https://old.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/83n53k/gnostic_elements_in_tolkiens_mythology/

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