Re: TNW musings

[doobie@st1.vuw.ac.nz (A little Doob'll do ya)]

In article <m0kRt2o-00026UC@chinet.chi.il.us>, katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) writes:

Hi Vickie. Thanks for responding to my last post - stay real.

> This is interesting to me because it tends to make an argument for the
> fact that the woman dies. If she's "one" with the ocean, after her mind
> has gone through such amazing turmoil, then she could have died just when
> she was a more "whole" person. It's hard to explain, I never can seem to
> find the right words to describe what I'm thinking here, but I've always
> felt the woman died. Hints in other songs helped, but this line in particular
> leads me to think that, and to be very sad about it, but accept it.

Yes, I always thought this too. Sort of like her whole life (past, present and
unrealized future) flashing before her. I've always thought of TNW as a story
of death and rebirth, with the Sea as an allegory of the Universal life force,
from which all comes and to which all returns... which would mean a literal 
interpretation of "being born again" in "The Morning Fog". 

> We know very little about the character, who she was and what she was like,
> before the shipwreck, so it wouldn't help us to know her after she'd been
> "rescued", we wouldn't know if she'd changed. Common sense would tell us 
> how an experience like that would change a person, but we just don't know.
> In my tiny mind, there's no reason for Kate to "save" the character, because
> the 9thW, besides being a rousing sea tale, is about learning to appreciate
> the things you have, family, friends, loved ones. It's a morality tale.

More than that, I thought... I interpreted it as a tale of enlightenment, which
unfortunately comes just before the poor woman dies. Y'see, I personally read
some pretty heavy philosophical motifs into JCB's poem. If we take the Sea as
the Life Force, then when the character drowns it's more or less union with the
Divine, or God, or whatever you want to call it. Which is why I originally 
thought she entered the water of her own free will ("Get out of the waves girl!
Get out of the water!") because the last stage, Death, is just another point on
the ever-turning wheel, which she has to go through to be Reborn, either 
literally or figuratively.

> If the character lives, it's just a nice story. If the character dies, it's
> a lesson to the readers (listeners) to do what? I don't know. Live their
> lives to the fullest, say "I love you" more often, never travel by boat. :-)

Or, even better, "the last step forward is the first step back/ don't worry
about me, I'm coming back/ I will return" - a message of accepting Death when
it comes. 

These conclusions are heavily weighted with my own philosophical biases, which
mean they do not necessarily hold any relevance to anyone else. But they're 
nice ones for me - all my favourite works of art are either about love or death.
Or both.

> What a wonderful piece The Ninth Wave is! I do wish Kate and Terry Gilliam
> had gotten together and gone ahead with the film. Then again, nothing on
> film is ever as vivid as a listener's own imagination, so maybe it's best.

No! No, I won't have that! Somebody, PLEASE make a film of TNW! I don't care if
you have to pay KaTe your entire life's savings and give Her a cut of the
profits, JUST DO IT!!!

This raving was brought to you courtesy of the Bard.
-- 
This was Anthony Hobbs, the Bard... currently borrowing doobie@st1.vuw.ac.nz
"Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,
 'Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep..." - Tennyson, "The Coming
								 of Arthur"
DISCLAIMER: Actually, VUW agree with every word I say.