Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Difference between revisions

This often arises from the improper conflation of symbolism (which doesn't imply a one-to-one correspondence and doesn't need to have one and only one meaning that can be stated in a simple declarative sentence) and allegory (which implies a one-to-one correspondence and a stated specific meaning).

Compare [[Faux Symbolism]]. Contrast [[Rule of Symbolism]].

== Anime and Manga ==

* Shortly after its release, many began suspecting that ''[[Code Geass]]'''s Britannian Empire and its resource-grubbing expansionism was meant to be a thinly veiled potshot at America and the War on Terror, to the point where some began calling for a boycott of the show's eventual US release. In an interview near the end of the first season, director/co-creator Goro Taniguchi [[Word of God|stated]] (paraphrased): "I know some people put political messages in their works, but that wasn't my intent. I just wanted to tell an entertaining story."

** This is actually the case, as the series is based on a universe in which the Britannian empire started in 60 B.C. and therefore "America" remained a part of Britannia, which continued to expand its empire. The series takes place in the 1940s common time, and the only reason the Britannian capital is in America is due to a revolt that happened in England, which forced them to move the capital to America. If it's to be a representation of anything, it is of the western expansion, using England as the central figure in this representation.

* Many ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' fans believe that the religion of Ishval was based off modern Islam, due to the Ishballans' dark skin and the [[Arabian Nights (Literature)|Arabian Nights]]-esque setting they lived in. Hiromu Arakawa (the creator of the manga) has stated that she based it off of the Ainu, an ethnic group that were driven from Honshu and live on Hokkaido, where Arakawa was born. A similar theory is that Ishval was based off of Ishvara, a hindu concept of monotheism. [[The War On Terror|And of course there's the Ishval Massacre......]]

** On the other hand, the screenwriter for the anime has, [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2007-11-01 according to this column], admitted that the war themes explored in the anime ''were'' meant as a commentary on America's participation in the Vietnam and Iraq wars. The Ishvalan civilians represented the natives of these countries, caught in the middle.

* [[Superman]] is Jesus. Full stop.

** Or maybe Moses. (Both his creators were Jewish.)

** X-men has become even more blatant with this, since they've just moved to San Francisco, and now live in a big, phallic tower. There seem to be anti-mutant hate-crimes going on, as a result of the team declaring the city a safe haven. The first person attacked happened to be leaving a nightclub, and has pink hair, a smallish frame, and insect-like wings. Yes, that's right, she's basically a fairy.

** X-men has also been seen as a Allegory about racism in addition to homophobia, the latter being picked up on by director Bryan Singer and integrated into his first two films based on the franchise.

* ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' is just a mindless action movie... or is it? [http://io9.com/5301898/michael-bay-finally-made-an-art-movie This article] brutally rips on both this trope and the movie.

* [[Bill Murray]]'s ''[[Groundhog Day (Film)|Groundhog Day]]'' stands as Hollywood's sole Buddhist message movie. As Phil (short for 'philosopher', obviously, a common name for the Buddha), Murray eventually realizes what takes many lifetimes to understand; namely, that every cycle of birth-death-rebirth (every 'day') is always the same, over and over, depressing, painful, and bound by karma (i.e.- how you've treated others in the past), until you awaken and make a conscious choice to change that destiny. It's interesting that Phil takes the Tantric path, initially using the opportunity of being 'reborn' every morning to simply fulfill all desires, and therefore, to ultimately purge himself of them. Still, over who knows how many 'days' -- how many lifetimes of days -- he eventually comes to see the connectedness of all things, the sacredness of all life, and the joy to be found in knowledge, wisdom, and simply making a difference in the lives of others. By his own effort, and even against his own initial nature, over many lifetimes he achieves Enlightenment, and is able to move on. Plus, that scene where he lets the groundhog drive the truck is freakin hilarious. On the note of "who knows how many 'days,'" [[Word of God]] is that Phil relived that same day for ten years. He was only saved when he finally falls asleep with the one virtuous girl on his bed on the "first" day. [[Sarcasm Mode|Deep Aesop]], right there.

* ''If...'' is a favorite example for people who feel plagued by pretentious movie criticism. Possibly due to the film's anti-establishment themes, a lot of critics at the time were eager to show that they "got it" and came up with [[Deliberately Monochrome|various symbolic meanings]] for its switching between color and monochrome. In fact it was just a low-budget project and they couldn't afford to do the whole thing in color.

* You could potentially read read way too much into [[Quentin Tarantino]] films if you wanted to. For example, [[Oliver Stone]] basically did this with the script of ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' by turning it into a commentary on the mass media. And ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'' arguably implies that the basterds' sentiments towards the Nazis (and thus the sentiments of the audience that glorifies the basterds) are [[Not So Different]] from the Nazis' sentiments towards the Jews and are similarly contemptible. Of course since 95% of everything Tarantino does is based on the [[Rule of Cool]] you're probably just reading too much into it.

* Literally true in the case of the western ''Purgatory'', in that the title town contains a number of wild west legends, all seeking redemption.

* The more popular theories behind ''[[Toy Story 3]]'' are that the film explores the [[Living Toys]] version of damn near ''every'' kind of afterlife imaginable, including Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Limbo, [[The Nothing After Death]], Reincarnation, [[Warrior Heaven]], [[Ironic Hell]]... it's like they didn't want to leave anyone out.

** Does he actually believe it, or did he hear somebody else talking about it, and decide to make a joke out of it?

*** Can't say if QT belives it or not, but it's a rather common interpretation of the film. [[Word of God|Merian C. Cooper]], on the other hand, disagrees, saying his only intention was to make the ultimate monster movie.

* ''Several Voyages to Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver'', aka ''[[Gullivers Travels]]''. It is difficult to find a line in this book that ''isn't'' either a critique on culture or humanity or a metaphor for a specific event. This, of course, means that even the exceptions tend to get a lot of critique trying to figure out their symbolism.

* Pick a sonnet sequence, any sonnet sequence, and the symbolism will be very heavy, if usually a bit more obvious than certain cryptic writers, but you won't get most of it unless you know something about the history of sonnets, as everything after [[Dante]]'s Beatrice and Petrarch's Rhyme Sparse is ultimately a response to these and other sonnet sequences. It gets confusing fast.

** It really doesn't help that part of the whole response to other Sonnets factor is showing how much more clever you are than previous writers (you know, like Petrarch throwing in special rhymes besides Sonnets, and later writers making up their own ever more complicated rhyme schemes to show off).

* Pretty much every English teacher in the world insists that Robert Frost's poem ''Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'' is about suicide and/or a longing for death, despite the fact that Frost stated publicly and often that it was just a poem about a guy who is enjoying looking at the snowy woods and didn't have any deeper symbolic meaning.

*** However, this is probably just Nabokov ridiculing how pointless it is to speculate on something as irrelevant as what species of insect Gregor Samsa was using "scientific" analysis

*** No, this is certainly not Nabokov "ridiculing." His tone is quite serious, and he finds it important which insect Gregor has turned into. He even drew diagrams of what he proposed Gregor looks like.

* Brazilian writer and "jazz musician" [[Luis Fernando Verissimo]] once wrote a essay in which he claimed that the Walrus and the Carpenter from ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Literature)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' were metaphors for Buddha and Jesus (one being fat, and the other, a carpenter), and the oysters they brainwashed represented the followers of both religions.

** This claim is put forth by Loki, the exiled Angel of Death, in ''[[View Askewniverse|Dogma]]'', in his attempt to convince a nun that God does not exist.

** Certainly, Twain was mocking on people who look for deep inner meanings in shopping lists. However, Twain was famous for being a humorist, aka "a smartass." What is the best way to really get someone to want to do something? Tell them they can't

* According to an author's introduction to one of his Rebus books, Ian Rankin once sat in on a lecture about the symbolism in said book, specifically his use of colours. He said that none of it was intentional but he thought that they were coming out with some pretty good stuff.

* In ''[[VALIS (Literature)|VALIS]]'' by [[Philip K Dick|Philip K. Dick]], many things are Jesus.

** In fact, its successor, ''The Divine Invasion'', outright says that [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory]].

== Music ==

* Peter, Paul and Mary's song "Puff the Magic Dragon" tells a bittersweet story of an imaginative boy who grows up and leaves childhood whimsy behind. The story is inspired by an Ogden Nash poem called "Custard the Dragon." However, many stoners and moral guardians still insist that the song is all an extended allegory about pot. Most of the argument revolves around the "puffing" that occurs in pot smoking and the old slang term "chasing the dragon," which refers to smoking opium. The song's writers continue to deny any deliberate drug references in the lyrics, despite the vast number of popular songs that do openly talk about drug use.

* Similarly, ''Subliminal Seduction'' author Wilson Bryan Key insisted that the Simon and Garfunkel song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was ''really'' secretly promoting heroin use. He went so far as to claim several of the more poetic phrases in the lyrics were actually "common drug slang", although their use as such has never been seen anywhere outside of his fevered imagination.

* In a rather legendary example of this, a ''[[Garfield]]'' [http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/05/death_of_garfield.html Halloween storyline] in 1989 depicted Garfield waking up and finding everyone and everything he knew to be gone and broken down. The storyline ended with Garfield embracing denial and suddenly Jon and Odie are back in front of him. A fan theory began on the Internet suggesting that every strip since that point has been Garfield slowly starving to death in his delusions or already dead. Davis was made aware of those theories in 2006 and is reported to have laughed about them.

* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' has to at least get a mention for the ''[[Fight Club]]'' theories. As well as from a long lost ''[[Non Sequitur (Comic Strip)|Non Sequitur]]'' comic that makes its own theories about the child's need for an imaginary friend.

* Not so much Jesus, but it's generally excepted amongst it's (''many'') detractors that the entire population of ''[[Funky Winkerbean]]'' (and by extention, ''[[Crankshaft]]'') is in Purgatory (Limbo is also accepted) and merely awaiting inevitable death.

* Most of the works of [[Shakespeare]]. Take, for example, ''[[A Midsummer Nights Dream|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. There is argument as to what the [[Love Potion]] is a symbol for -- menstrual blood, symbolizing female dominance over males, or blood shed by a virgin in her first "act", symbolizing male dominance over females.

** On that note, try asking your English teacher what Iago's motives are in ''[[Othello]]'', and what Iago stands for. [[Tongue On the Flagpole|Go on, ask. You'll be there for a while.]] The obvious one is that he's [[Satan]], which has a bit of weight to it. Another is that Iago is [[Post Modernism|the author, trying to engineer a tragic play]]. Or maybe -- just maybe -- he's an intolerant redneck who has a problem working under a black man and a teetotaller, and suspects both of nailing his wife, like he says in the play.

*** One can find sufficient textual evidence for an interesting production based on Iago's romantic love for Othello being his drive to eliminate first Desdemona and then the Moor himself.

*** There's also enough evidence to support the idea that Iago thought that both Othello and Cassio had affairs with his (Iago's) wife, Emilia. She claims that the rumors are false early in the play, but Iago broods over them several scenes later all the same. So Iago could have some sort of paranoia about being cuckolded, and thus tried to eliminate those he suspected of cuckolding him.

[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]

[[Category:Everyone Is Jesus In Purgatory]]