walkingshadow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
walkingshadow) wrote2007-02-26 07:12 pm
walkingshadow) wrote2007-02-26 07:12 pm
Entry tags:
what does it mean that you have an existential dilemma?
i spent my weekend a) taking my first wobbling steps at vidding and subsequently losing both the will to live and my SANITY, and b) drinking chocolate martinis and watching the oscars at t. and j.'s; the martinis are ESSENTIAL to surviving the oscar-watching experience.
anyway, some belated supernatural meta i've been sitting on:
google as research tool: symbolism in supernatural 2.15 - tall tales
first of all, i have to say that while this episode was hilariously, wheezingly, slapping-the-carpet funny, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
silentfire and i spent the next week texting each other with BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH and *chipmunk face* and laughing ourselves sick, the pacing was excruciating. so it benefits from that kind of reviewing and fragmentation because the moments—wrestling on the bed! slowdancing aliens! I ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PAIN—are beautiful in isolation, but were strung together awkwardly. onelittlesleep wrote up her tips for the episode (tall tales: how it could have been so awesome), which i think are ingenious—particularly the idea of framing the episode with bobby's POV.
anyway, several people (people who are not me; i was distracted by trying to breathe through all the laughing; also i apparently have no observational skills. *throws up hands*) noted the recurring motif of three glasses: dean has three purple nurples; the traumatized frat boy does three shots; and there are three martini glasses on the bar in dean's made-to-order fantasy (behind the LAVA LAMP. oh, DEAN). each shot is lingering and deliberate, and the image is REPEATED THREE TIMES, so you kind of get the idea that it's probably SIGNIFICANT.
as for what, exactly, it signifies, the only episode meta i could find that addressed it was here (linked bycoffeeandink here): "batyatoon is smart. She pointed out we see three cups (shot glasses), three times; she wasn't sure what that means. I said it was like three card monte, find the bean under the three cups. And then batyatoon pointed out that's what in fact happened at the end, it WAS a three card monte maneuvre (or something like one)." and that was pretty cool, so i turned to the awesome research powerhouse that is the internet for more information.
if you toss "three cups" into google, the first hit you get is for a restaurant in new york; the second link is to the three of cups—the tarot card:
* the hierophant. and granted, i'm taking this out of context (and i know NOTHING about tarot), but it's still pretty awesome:
if you search on "three cups norse," you get norse dairy systems (NDS); "a solitary norse ritual template - ADF neopagan druidism"; traditional norse recipes; and another tarot site that has basically the same things to say about the three of cups, except even more tellingly:
if you keep searching, you will eventually find this wikipedia entry about sinfjötli, which does include a) three cups and b) incest, but does not otherwise seem appropriate.
AND in american gods, which i think it's safe to say the SPN writers have read and loved, wednesday made shadow drink three cups of mead to seal their deal. p.s. wednesday is [SPOILER].
the other likely meaning goes back to whatdotfic and batyatoon were saying with the three card monte, namely the trickster theme. google "three cups trick" and you'll get classic cups and balls tricks; but you'll also get the turning-the-cups trick. i like that one best, because it's a trick that the magician invites the audience to imitate—which they can't do. it echoes bobby's "don't con a con-man," which, it turns out, is still pretty good advice (though possibly it could be rephrased as "don't try to beat an immortal demi-god trickster at his own tricks").
the six shot glasses were full when the camera focused on them (though in turn emptied) while the martini glasses were empty, but, um. i have no idea what that means. i don't know what any of it means! i think, though, that that's the thing about symbols: they're a shorthand. they're meant to be instantly recognized and incorporated into your understanding of the scene; they resonate more than they actually inform.
and one more really cool symbol thatkroki_refur pointed out:
when you google "loki keys" you get this, from wikipedia: "In cryptography, LOKI89 and LOKI91 are block ciphers designed as possible replacements for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The ciphers were developed based on a body of work analysing DES, and are very similar to DES in structure. The LOKI algorithms were named for Loki, the god of mischief in Norse mythology."
this comic pretty well sums up the above, the internet, and the way i live my life.
anyway, some belated supernatural meta i've been sitting on:
google as research tool: symbolism in supernatural 2.15 - tall tales
first of all, i have to say that while this episode was hilariously, wheezingly, slapping-the-carpet funny, and
silentfire and i spent the next week texting each other with BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH and *chipmunk face* and laughing ourselves sick, the pacing was excruciating. so it benefits from that kind of reviewing and fragmentation because the moments—wrestling on the bed! slowdancing aliens! I ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PAIN—are beautiful in isolation, but were strung together awkwardly. onelittlesleep wrote up her tips for the episode (tall tales: how it could have been so awesome), which i think are ingenious—particularly the idea of framing the episode with bobby's POV.anyway, several people (people who are not me; i was distracted by trying to breathe through all the laughing; also i apparently have no observational skills. *throws up hands*) noted the recurring motif of three glasses: dean has three purple nurples; the traumatized frat boy does three shots; and there are three martini glasses on the bar in dean's made-to-order fantasy (behind the LAVA LAMP. oh, DEAN). each shot is lingering and deliberate, and the image is REPEATED THREE TIMES, so you kind of get the idea that it's probably SIGNIFICANT.
as for what, exactly, it signifies, the only episode meta i could find that addressed it was here (linked by
coffeeandink here): "batyatoon is smart. She pointed out we see three cups (shot glasses), three times; she wasn't sure what that means. I said it was like three card monte, find the bean under the three cups. And then batyatoon pointed out that's what in fact happened at the end, it WAS a three card monte maneuvre (or something like one)." and that was pretty cool, so i turned to the awesome research powerhouse that is the internet for more information.if you toss "three cups" into google, the first hit you get is for a restaurant in new york; the second link is to the three of cups—the tarot card:
actions: feeling exuberant; enjoying friendship; valuing community
opposing cards: being solitary, withdrawing from the group; lack of trust, wariness; lonely, isolated, hurting (etc.)
reinforcing cards: focusing on the group*; joining forces, working together; excitement, high spirits, celebration
* the hierophant. and granted, i'm taking this out of context (and i know NOTHING about tarot), but it's still pretty awesome:
We learn by living with others. The Hierophant represents such official learning, especially in groups. A Hierophant is someone who interprets secret knowledge. On Card 5 we see a religious figure in a formal church setting. He is wearing the elaborate vestments of his office. His task is to bring the two initiates into the church so they can take up their appointed roles.
if you search on "three cups norse," you get norse dairy systems (NDS); "a solitary norse ritual template - ADF neopagan druidism"; traditional norse recipes; and another tarot site that has basically the same things to say about the three of cups, except even more tellingly:
interpretation: a celebration or joyous occasion; good news; a reunion; success; favorable completion of a project; great happiness.
reversed meaning: overindulgence; concealing or ignoring a disappointment or disaster; intoxication; drowning one's sorrows; ignorant or blind to reality.
if you keep searching, you will eventually find this wikipedia entry about sinfjötli, which does include a) three cups and b) incest, but does not otherwise seem appropriate.
AND in american gods, which i think it's safe to say the SPN writers have read and loved, wednesday made shadow drink three cups of mead to seal their deal. p.s. wednesday is [SPOILER].
the other likely meaning goes back to what
dotfic and batyatoon were saying with the three card monte, namely the trickster theme. google "three cups trick" and you'll get classic cups and balls tricks; but you'll also get the turning-the-cups trick. i like that one best, because it's a trick that the magician invites the audience to imitate—which they can't do. it echoes bobby's "don't con a con-man," which, it turns out, is still pretty good advice (though possibly it could be rephrased as "don't try to beat an immortal demi-god trickster at his own tricks").the six shot glasses were full when the camera focused on them (though in turn emptied) while the martini glasses were empty, but, um. i have no idea what that means. i don't know what any of it means! i think, though, that that's the thing about symbols: they're a shorthand. they're meant to be instantly recognized and incorporated into your understanding of the scene; they resonate more than they actually inform.
and one more really cool symbol that
kroki_refur pointed out:OK, I love the emphasis they put on the trickster’s keys in this episode. In Norse culture, keys were traditionally a symbol of womanhood: the keys to the household would be kept by the matriarch, and they represented her control over the household economy. Women of status were buried with keys. Why am I telling you this? Because Loki, the Norse trickster god (well, you could argue for Óðinn having that status too, but we won’t go into that here), has a very ambiguous gender identity. In one myth he is said to have been turned into a female horse and borne children fathered by Óðinn’s horse (which has eight legs, not that that’s relevant, but it’s cool, no?), and he is associated with cross-dressing and seiðr, a type of magic that seems to be the preserve of women. So the keys? The keys make me happy.
when you google "loki keys" you get this, from wikipedia: "In cryptography, LOKI89 and LOKI91 are block ciphers designed as possible replacements for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The ciphers were developed based on a body of work analysing DES, and are very similar to DES in structure. The LOKI algorithms were named for Loki, the god of mischief in Norse mythology."
this comic pretty well sums up the above, the internet, and the way i live my life.