So I watched this movie today called The Fountain starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. It tells the story of 3 very similar men who all live in different time periods: the first, Tomas, lives in 500 A.D.; the second man,Tommy, lives in the year 2000 A.D.; lastly, there’s Tom who lives in the year 2500 A.D.
There are two prevalent themes that show during this movie, love and immortality/eternity, the latter stemming from the former. It’s movies like these that I both love and hate because they offer exactly what I want at the price of (ironically) bringing me back to reality.
It’s hard to talk about these themes and referencing the movie because there are many things going on in all three of these storylines and they’re all interwoven into one tragic love story, so I’ll just talk about how I feel about these things, since watching this film has got me in a sullen mood. Again.
Love. The so-called mightiest of all the emotions, the one that prevails even in the darkest of times, the conjoiner of two beings. To me, Love has lost a significant amount of it’s meaning. Being a kid I used to think it was pure along with a lot of other things. Now that I’m older though I see it for what it really is: a placebo. It’s a drug comparable to alcohol. It’s something we rely on in place of the real world. A hyper-real euphoria. I don’t see how people get so worked up and revel in the idea of Love. Love is over-glorified. It’s certainly not as great as people make it out to be. Besides, the greater you obsess over Love the greater it back stabs you in the end. Let’s be real. It’s all a lie. A damn fairytale.
Immortality/eternity. I don’t think many people would welcome eternity. They are grounded by physical, perishable objects. What I’ve come to realize is that no one thing is eternal; nothing lasts forever. I feel I have abandoned these tangible attachments. If you become attached to something and it eventually vanishes or disappears from you, you feel pain and loss. Why become attached in the first place? To experience it and have the thought of knowing it was there only to have it taken away from you? The only thing I feel I can hold onto now are thoughts and ideas, even if they’re only here as long as I’m here. They’re the only thing that’s unchanging and won’t erode away. That makes them the only thing worth attaching to.
I would gladly welcome the chance for immortality with it’s ever-changing horizon and the possibility of leaving everything behind. The future has always held mystery and to be able to really know what happens. Do we as a species branch out and explore the cosmos? Do we come into contact with other sentient species? And what happens at the end of time itself? A Big-freeze? Does time repeat itself? Immortality would also ultimately allow me to do something that I love, watching. It would grant me an infinite amount of time to just sit and watch as things unfold, something I enjoy.
So yeah, this is how I feel about some of this stuff. Thought I’d share something after watching that movie. Damn it was good.
Also, got some new briefs. Brightly colored ones.