An Interesting Movie Weekend

I haven't been able to post in my blog for quite some time now. That's because I've been helping out on a little project for the Pranic Healing Foundation of the Philippines, which will hopefully launch within the month of August.

Anyway, last weekend I decided to relax by finally watching The Sorcerer's Apprentice. As someone interested in esoteric subjects, I couldn't help but be curious about the film's take on magic. Of course, my expectations weren't high, since it's difficult to come across some really good magic-themed movies. Still, as long as it's entertaining enough, it should at least be worth the price of a ticket.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a live-action adaptation of the 1940 Disney animated classic Fantasia. Fantasia features eight animated segments, with a classical music selection for each segment. One of these animated segments is the original Sorcerer's Apprentice in the form of Mickey Mouse. While I haven't seen the original movie, I read in one review of the live-action movie that the scene where Dave magically animates a mop to help in cleaning but soon gets out of control is a tribute to the original film where Mickey Mouse does the same.

The premise of the new Sorcerer's Apprentice is interesting enough, though during some of the magical combat scenes I was half-expecting someone to shout "Hadouken!" or "Kamehameha!" (that's Streetfighter and Dragon Ball Z terminology respectively, for you uninitiated ones). They certainly got some of the postures down pat.

Be that as it may, I found quite an interesting dialogue between Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) and his apprentice Dave (Jay Baruchel). Balthazar was explaining the concept of magic, of how it all starts in the sorcerer's mind. The discussion then turned to the difference between fire and solid matter, and the answer was vibration. Balthazar said that everything is in different states of vibration, which gives the illusion of solidity. By increasing the rate of vibration, one can produce fire. The way to do this, get this, is to clear one's mind.

To anyone who is already familiar with the esoteric, that movie lecture just touched on some fundamental esoteric concepts. Of course, there's more to it than what was shown in the movie, but the essence is obvious to anyone who knows anything about the subject. What's more is that some of these concepts of vibration are supported by quantum physics. Even this little topic will require a lot of space to expound on it, so I'll leave it for a future post.

Later on in the movie, Balthazar also tells Dave that his rubber shoes are insulating him from connecting to the energies of the ground. This is another esoteric concept that found its way into the movie. I guess whoever wrote that part of the script at least did some research on magic and alchemy.

Incidentally, during that same weekend I also got to watch The Last Airbender. As you may have figured out, I like watching movies. There were times I would carefully choose what movie to watch first in the theater, so that as soon as I come out I could catch another movie just before it starts.

In any case, although I haven't watched the cartoon, I know there are a lot of negative reviews of The Last Airbender. I'll refrain from saying anything more about the technicalities of the movie and the plot and focus instead on the whole concept of elemental control. The idea of controlling the elements is an intriguing one. After all, who hasn't thought of throwing a few fireballs or flying on air?

In case you haven't watched it yet, in the movie there are special people who have the ability to "bend" one element to their will. These people are grouped according to nation, i.e. Water Nation, Fire Nation, etc. One person, called the avatar, has the ability to control all the elements and bring balance to all nations. For some reason, the avatar is some sort of United Nations rolled up into one person. Once the avatar dies, the soul reincarnates and it is the duty of the monks of the Air Nation (the avatar always has to start as an Air bender) to discover the reincarnation. This follows Tibetan belief where after the reigning Dalai Lama passes away, a search is conducted for the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama.

In the movie, the reincarnated avatar (still a child at this time) disappears, and this leads to war amongst the nations, instigated by the Fire Nation.

Interestingly, in some traditions of hermetic magic, it postulates that humans are made up of four basic elements: fire, air, water and earth. The fifth element, ether, pervades all. Any imbalance in the proportion of the elements is detrimental to the health of the person, manifesting either as physical, emotional or mental disturbances.

I find it interesting that all these different esoteric concepts managed to surface in a couple of movies. I suppose this is part of the effect of the coming Age of Aquarius, whereby previously hidden knowledge now becomes accessible to the masses.