Not so many years ago, but more than I like to admit, I was passing the time as a university student and I stumbled upon a class called the Sociology of Culture which, by title alone, would seem to almost be the biggest wank that one could, theoretically, wank, if one were so inclined to wank the biggest thing one could get their fists around. The first class, the professor proclaimed that we would read Heart of Darkness, we would probably hate it but, by the end of semester, it would change our life.
And, goddamn it, he was right.
To sum the class up, it was essentially a device to evaluate society through the frame of the stories we tell; to the professor, there were only three stories of which everything else was a variation and, even then, it was sometimes difficult to separate one story out. If you think that sounds like bullshit, don’t worry, so did I.
To be honest, I don’t even remember what the three stories were – the first was, possibly, to do with the emergence of themes and ideas (as exampled as the story of Jesus’ birth), the second I can’t recall, even a little, and the third, which I remember because it resonated, was that of redemption and struggle.
The essence of the third story is the choice between accepting society or self destruction, usually through a crisis that envelopes the protagonist and causes them to question their place in life. As you might guess, Heart of Darkness is the quintessential example, with both Kurtz and Marlow being confronted by the abyss, Kurtz ultimately realizing the meaningless of life (“The horror! The horror!”) whilst Marlow is able to reconcile himself with society or, some might say, deceive himself into believing a greater purpose (a redemptive illusion).
If dense Polish literature sounds like too much work, you can also try Apocalypse Now or, my favourite, Fight Club. The bonus of these, of course, is that they come in easily watchable, 2 hourish chunks of entertainment (though the FC book is great, too).
What brought all this reminiscence on, though, was a conversation with Jack in the car, whilst I drove him to the holiday program at the local gym. Jack, in the way of seven year old everywhere, was trying to digest the deeper meaning of recently watched pop culture (in the form of Frozen) and, in particular, whether Prince Hans was a bad guy or not. Jack was of the opinion that he was overall nice, but made bad decisions. I, on the other hand, held the position that planning to murder two sisters and usurp their throne put Hans firmly in dickhole territory.
As well as forcing me to enter into a lengthy explanation about lines of succession to a throne, the conversation also made me realize that Frozen does, in fact, align with the story of the redemptive illusion, with Anna playing the role of Marlow and Elsa as the lost Kurtz. Of course, being a kids movie, they couldn’t really finish off with Elsa topping herself, so they both find their redemption within their ‘act of true love’.
With only half the trip done, Jack decided he better get some ipod games in before gym, and so left me in silence for 15 minutes to ponder this, with my thoughts also wandering to the Lego Movie. Yeah, too late, stupid brain began the task of making things un-fun and now I’m foisting it on you, but again, the same themes are there, with Lord Business being Kurtz, teetering on the edge of destruction of society, and Emmet, the pure epitome of Marlow, complete with a literal abyss of nothingness to fall into, yet re-emerging with an even stronger sense of his own place within the society that he was able to restore (remembering, of course, that the structure of a ever-changing and imaginative society was the ideal before Lord Business began his shenanigans). Of course, Lord Business also finds his illusion, because the alternative would have been an awful accident involving the solvent and/or Kragle.
Fantastic Fat Cat 