thirdeyeanthology

[thirdeyeanthology]

October skull studies by ryan lang

[thirdeyeanthology]

Sappho is Burning is a poem constructed using lines from Sarah Dowling’s Entering Sappho as well as the transcript of Paris is Burning (1990).

[thirdeyeanthology]

“Adoration of a Sunflower”

She arrives early from the East.

My sisters and I,

Waking from our slumber,

Slowly lift our petaled heads

To watch her rise.

To our joy,

She breaks free of the earth.

Stretching her fingers out

In rays like a crown,

She drives back the inky blue sky.

Night retreats until the sky

Is hers once more.

We follow her,

Cheering as she climbs-

Ascending her celestial throne

Rising, until finally,

Zenith.

We gaze up at her in awe.

She gives us a light

We cannot hope to live without

And we give her a love

She cannot possibly return.

Our exaltation is brief.

She begins her descent.

Again our heads follow her

Down, down- back into the earth.

All the while begging her to stay,

Though she cannot hear our pleas.

She nears the edge of our sight.

Slowly sinking back into the earth,

Once more fleeing the thieving darkness.

Though our time in her light

Will always be too brief,

We treasure it.

She may never understand our glorification.

It is possible

That we have always been hers,

Since before our own existence

And we will be hers

Long after we have withered into dust.

She will rise and fall

The same way she always has,

Oblivious to our adoration.

But to have loved her at all,

We think, is enough.

A flash of green to the west

And she is gone from our sight.

We bow our heads

And wait,

With hope and unconditional devotion,

For her to rise for us once more.

Always.

[thirdeyeanthology]

A comparison of the architectural styles, religious affiliations, and functions of Ise Jingu and Tōdaiji, the most important Shinto and Buddhist centers in Japan.

[thirdeyeanthology]

Francisco Goya (1746-1828) “Witches’ Sabbath (The Great He-Goat)” (1821-1823) Oil on plaster Romanticism This painting is one of the fourteen Black Paintings that Goya did on the walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo. The paintings were done in secret: he did not title any of the works or leave a record of his intentions in creating them. Absent of fact, “Witches’ Sabbath” is generally seen by some art historians as a satire on the naivety of the age, a condemnation of superstition and the witch trials of the Spanish Inquisition.

[thirdeyeanthology]

Fireflies at Ochanomizu, Kobayashi Kiyochika, ca. 1880

[thirdeyeanthology]

3 years ago I wrote a paper presenting my research into the mythical hero Achilles’ sexuality and I haven’t been the same since. 

[thirdeyeanthology]

‘sappho’ - charles auguste mengin (1877)

ransacked to the waist, hounded under gales. of black hair, eyes burdened with longing, you are left behind, the lyre in your hand. fretted with the chords of the sea. - andrew miller

[thirdeyeanthology]

The appeal of cosmic horror is in its ability to inspire fear and fascination through the sheer unfathomableness of it's subject. For this reason, a majority of cosmic horror is found in literary and audio format; the visual medium, by it's very nature of showing the audience what they are meant to be afraid of, is unable to leave enough to the imagination that it takes away from the impact of its own delivery. Because of this, media that did not necessarily intend to be interpreted as cosmic horror may have more elements of cosmic horror than pieces of media that actually attempted to emulate the genre. One such example is evident in the song Really Cool Wig by Lemon Demon, in this essay I will-

[thirdeyeanthology]

The Lighthouse (2019) - Symbols & Themes

I recently watched The Lighthouse (2019) and as an avid fan of literary analysis, I did the only thing I could: compile a list of notable symbols and themes from the film. These are ramblings, but I currently have neither the time nor ability to clean them up. In any case, I hope you enjoy! 

Beware! The content below contains spoilers!

The Light

Represents salvation, purity, knowledge, truth, power

The light is too much for the men. They become obsessed with it and lose their minds attempting to behold it

It’s also sexualized

Saint Elmo’s fire, fire of the gods

The light is the highest point on the island- heavenly, superior

Too much to behold, unendurable. After seeing the inner chamber of the light, Howard is cast down, away from the light, from salvation. He ends up on the ground again (hell)

Lighthouse as a panopticon 

Seabird

Considered bad luck to kill a seabird 

Think of the death of the albatross in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The gull as a test of Howard’s character- which he fails

Birds spotted on the open ocean may serve as guides, leading sailors towards land

When both men are dead, only the gulls and other sea creatures remain on the island. The gulls feast on Tommy; retribution, punishment, torment

Filth 

Water contaminated by human waste and decay

Emphasis on excrement

Things get dirtier as the movie progresses

Howard is literally getting shit on/treated like shit

The island and the house are both perpetually dirty. The cleanest part of the island is the light.

Signal that something is dirty, corrupt, wrong

Shadows

Draws focus to character 

Reveals something about their true, dark nature 

Plato’s allegory of the cave: human perception cannot derive true knowledge  

The scene where Wake’s shadow (with outstretched arms) appears behind Howard

Identity

Howard assumes the identity of the man he killed, seeking to abandon his old life and self. He tries to be someone he’s not

Howard and Wake share a name (first name Thomas)- not a coincidence, they’re meant to be seen as similar. The worst of each of them is part of the other 

Wake as Proteus

Howard as Prometheus 

The scene where Howard finds his own body- dissociation (his identity is split, he has gaps in his memory, can’t tell what’s real and what’s a delusion) 

Role reversal further indicates their similarities 

Howard defiles the body of the mermaid and breaks the figurine- “permanent loss of the anima means a diminution of vitality, flexibility, and human kindness” - Jung

Isolation

Starving and thirsty, stranded in the middle of the ocean

The open ocean can be seen as a desert. “Water, water is very where and not a drop to drink”

The proximity to the ocean should provide food for the men, but what they catch is usually small, scarce, rotten or contaminated by death

Wake gets Howard drunk and smashes the lifeboat to keep Howard on the island.

We all know solitary confinement in bad for the mind. I don’t think being with just one other abusive person improves the matter.

The Island

Rocky and hostile 

No trees to provide security or protection from the elements 

The island is bare and vulnerable, much like the characters at various points

The island does not provide enough resources for the men (coal, food, water)

Symbolizes purgatory and/or hell

The House

Small, cramped, suffocating, confining 

No privacy, nowhere to hide

The house, like many of the other structures in the island, is dilapidating  which suggests something is wrong, impending death and destruction 

As the storm progresses, the house falls into deeper disarray. It is flooded and leaks. The water is dirty (from the ocean, the cistern, and urine/feces). There is nowhere dry or clean, it offers no comfort or protection from the elements. The furniture is broken and thrown about- no organization- signifies the men losing their sanity.

Nakedness

Vulnerability

“True” human nature

Shamefulness; Adam and Eve once they realized they were naked

At the end, Howard is naked as the birds peck at his insides- he’s bare, vulnerable, degraded

The mermaid is also naked

Shame and Humiliation 

Howard’s shame surrounding his past life, the death (murder?) of his old partner, his sexuality (homosexuality, masturbation, “impure” thoughts) 

Tommy is regularly shamed and humiliated by Tom, contributing to his rage towards him

Dehumanization: Wake calls Howard a dog- he’s not a man, he’s inhuman, inferior. The pervasive filth also serves to further dehumanize the men.

When the two men fight and Howard gains control, he makes Wake the dog (even more severely than he was treated) 

“Do you feel shame when you lay with a woman?”

Perspective

Majority of the film is from Howard’s POV. Like the viewer, he finds himself in an unfamiliar situation. Howard and the viewer are invited to question the reality of what takes place on the island. Is this real? Did this happen? How much time has passed? We are all left to wonder if we can trust our senses and the people around us.

Some instances of Wake’s POV- rounds out the narrative, may also hint at the two mean as the same person, different aspects of the same person

When Wake gets angry he stands, but the camera remains at Howard’s level. This reinforces the power dynamic between the two and portrays a sense of power in Wake.

Howard is stuck near the ground, always looking up at Wake and the light

Plays with the construction of reality and time

Alcohol exacerbates their unstable memories

Eyes

Wake’s former assistant, the gull, and Howard are all missing an eye by the end of the film

They’ve seen too much and paid the price

There’s a real sense of watching/being watched in this film. Howard watches Wake engage in sexual acts. Wake watches Howard covertly and overtly. The gulls follow/watch Howard, they know what he’s done. The mermaid sometimes watches Howard, even when we are meant to think she’s dead. 

Eye imagery: closeup shots of both men’s eyes (usually a single eye); the light of the lighthouse like a sweeping gaze, the shot looking up in the lighthouse from the bottom resembles an eye as well. 

Light house as a panopticon, an all seeing eye of god

Mermaids

Anima: Inner femininity  

Temptation, relief

Fantastical, unreal

The Storm

Wrath of God

Prevents the men from leaving

Storms in film and literature are used to make the atmosphere dark and scary

Foreshadows/mirrors the calamity the men bring upon themselves.

This is by no means an exhaustive list and I would love to hear what you thought of the film!

[thirdeyeanthology]

Brittlestar dunes 🪐

[thirdeyeanthology]

Katsushika Ōi

Night Scene in the Yoshiwara, c. 1850