The Old Religion and Story Structure in Superhero Movies

As we are all aware, the modern cinema has moved beyond the giant robot to embrace a far richer and more diverse metaphor to better represent the totality of our civilization, that of comic book superheroes. I have recently taken it upon myself to review the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe of 12 films (so far) in order to prepare myself to analyze both the text and subtext of this pillar of popular culture and in so doing was surprised that there were actually some very entertaining movies in this torrent of cinematic excess in the service of art or at least commerce.

Among these 12 were numerous films that fulfilled all the best expectations of the graphic novel whether that involved destroying entire worlds or the threat to life in the galaxy and managed this intense mayhem without being overly burdened by humor, character development or any of those other old-fashioned story elements. But even in the most excessive of these there were moments that were really well done in a non-kinetic fashion, that is, well written, or well acted, or clever. There were four films in particular that had actual humor including Iron Man (2008), Thor (2011), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Ant-Man (2015). 

It was Thor (2011) in particular that completely surprised me. This is the film which is, of course, loosely based on the pre-Christian religion of northern Europe, as documented in the Icelandic Poetic and Prose Eddas as well as other sources. In particular, the film's lead character is the eponymous Thor of Asgard who was said to wield a hammer that destroyed his enemies and would make the sound of thunder when it was used.

There are two movies in one in Thor (2011), one that takes place in Asgard which is boring and stupid and one which takes place on Earth, or Midgard, which is very entertaining. This essay discusses some of the elements that the filmmakers used to achieve their aims: a brilliant director, excellent casting especially of the lead, an appealing and classic story structure, and a story itself that incorporates humor and human values but fails to rely on digital visual effects (how could that be?!)

Thor after his shower and without his shirt....

makes quite an impression on the research assistant.

The fundamental reason that I believe that the “Midgard/Earth” portion of this movie works so well is that it is based on a classic story structure that is sometimes called “setup and payoff”. In “setup and payoff” the audience knows something early on that the other characters in the drama do not know. So as the story proceeds we know that there will be a time when the truth is revealed and that can be very entertaining. "Setup and Payoff" is used on a regular irregular basis in the West as a fundamental element of storytelling and especially of comedy.  One movie that comes to mind is Galaxyquest (1999) which makes very good use of this technique.

In this case, the setup is that we know that the homeless person who seems deranged *is* actually Thor, at least in a modified Marvel Cinematic Universe sort of way, that he is from Asgard, and that he has been banished for his irresponsible behavior. We know this, but *they*, the mere mortals of earth/Midgard, don't. When he saves the lives of his friends at the expense of his own we share in the tragedy yet we know that still all may be well, and indeed, being worthy, his mighty hammer, Mjornir, is restored to him, with his armor, and in full view of everyone he defeats evil.

This of course makes use of another important trope of storytelling one that has been called "He's Back!" and goes by other names as well.  (1) 

The elder scientist tries to convince Natalie Portman that no one will believe her theory without evidence, when Thor's friends arrive to Midgard by way of the Bifrost.  Setup and payoff.

It helps that the main characters are cast so well. In particular, Chris Hemsworth both looks the part, looks great in armor and a pair of jeans, and can play the part straight yet with a touch of humor.  It also helps that the film is directed by Kenneth Branagh slumming here for his first superhero movie. An entertaining script, good actors, well directed, and very few digital effects that do not serve the story.  No wonder Hollywood finds it difficult to make an entertaining movie.

Its a shame they did not emphasize the human sacrifice which is so a part of indigenous European religion, but this is a comic book, after all.  Maybe the sequel of the sequel will make more use of "kennings".

A classic text on the Old Religion

http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Religion-North-Ancient-Scandinavia/dp/0837174201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460974181&sr=1-1

Marvel Cinematic Universe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Cinematic_Universe

Kenneth Branagh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Branagh

Thor (2011) on IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800369/

1, There are several extensive lists of storytelling tropes on the Internet, almost all of which are aimed at popular culture, but they could also be applied, with some modification, to classical culture as well.

See http://tvtropes.org/

The TransPacific Partnership and the Inalienable Rights of the Corporation

draft

When will American's wake up and realize that it is the noble corporation, the keeper of all that is right and just, that must be the focus of all our laws and institutions? By enabling and encouraging the large corporation, mere freedom and liberty is transcended by providing greater profits to the shareholders. America is based on this fundamental principle in spite of the whining of little groups of failed so-called upholders of liberty. They should realize that the only liberty that matters is the liberty of the large corporation.  It is from these corporations that all the good in our world originates.  Our entire political system is dedicated to empowering the large corporation.

As the movie, Network (1976), so presciently puts it, in putting words into the mouth of the Chairman of the Board of the eponymous network,

A lecture on Globalization

"You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today."

And so, with this so clearly expressed back in 1976, why do we have to listen to mere Noble prize winning economists like this Joseph Stiglitz who is running down the Trans Pacific Partnership? Who is he to say that this is the "worst treaty every negotiated"?  President Obama had the interests of all Americans at heart when he tried to steamroller this treaty through congress without discussion.  Sure this treaty was negotiated in secret without the input of the citizens of the various nations but so what?  Look at what Globalization has brought to all the citizens of this great nation: poverty, the destruction of organized labor, the exploitation of enslaved people around the world.  Shouldn't that be enough to establish a little trust here?

Joseph Stiglitz going on and on about economic inequity again

In America, our entire political system is dedicated to empowering the large corporation. As it has always been. As it will always be.

Its for our own good.

You can read about Dr. Stiglitz's rant here:

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/joseph-stiglitz-tpp-1.3515452

The IMDB page for Network (1976) is here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt

A Conspiracy Theory about the Panama Papers

What is great about conspiracy theories is that they do not have to be motivated by mere facts. After all, the point of a conspiracy is that a cabal is actively hiding the truth so all right-minded citizens are forced to speculate. Its their own damn fault for lying to us so often, right?

The art of creating a vibrant conspiracy theory is to weave events that are believed to have happened into a narrative that purports to explain why and how it happened. Sometimes events are invented or enhanced to enrich the process. Often bogus analysis and interpretation is required to make a conspiracy theory plausible, except of course it doesn't make it plausible at all, but merely exposes the credulity or borderline insanity of the audience. The best conspiracy theories do not open themselves up to magical thinking, at least not so much.

This post proposes that there is some basis for attributing a lovely conspiracy behind the Panama Papers leak that is causing such havoc in the world today.

And what havoc it is creating! We have one prime minister resigned already, and red faces in many parts of the world. That stalwart upholder of freedom and truth, the People's Republic of China, is madly trying to suppress the information that reveals so many Chinese in the government had these off-shore accounts. Russia is even saying that this is all a plot to besmirch Putin.

So without further ado, here is my take on the events, starting many years ago.

In part one of the story, various intelligence agencies of the West, possibly on their own or in cooperation with the intelligence agencies of other allied countries, run operations against aspects of the banking and legal infrastructure of off-shore accounts. They do this in order to try and identify and compromise the activities of other countries that use such accounts for their own covert activities including the financing of terrorist activities, arms purchases, and other operations. Thus, law firms such as the now famous, or infamous, Mossack Fonseca, are the target of operations by the western intelligence agencies.

As a result of analyzing this intelligence, it is of course noticed that various criminal activities, such as the illegal diversion of government funds, narcotics, and tax avoidance are also exposed. But as always, there are real barriers to using this information in domestic law enforcement as the source of the intelligence would have to be exposed.

In part two of the story, the United States and other countries are the victims of some very serious provocations, often behind the scenes but not entirely. Whatever is happening in Ukraine, and whatever happened in Crimea, there is every reason to think Russia is being proactive here behind the scenes. An even better example is the People's Republic of China who, if one can believe what one hears, has executed the largest intelligence operations in the history of the world outside of wartime in their “advanced persistent attacks” against American domestic and military targets. In other words, the PRC waged undeclared war against us, stole an incredible amount of military and other information, and then blandly denied it to our face.

In part three of our story, some part of the intelligence infrastructure, or the administration, notes that various leading members of the governments that are being so annoying have also violated their own laws by having these off-shore accounts for their own personal gain. They have thus made themselves vulnerable to attacks or blackmail of one form or another, perhaps thinking that they are protected because the “Western democracies” never inconveniences the rich of the world. And while that is true, it is possible that a special exception will be made for the leaders of some countries who have really gone out of their way to be annoying.

In part four of our story, the intelligence community of the country or countries try to come up with a way to use this information without having to admit that they have in fact spied on these law firms not to mention the various banking industries of certain nations who are guilty as hell. And it is noted that the world's fourth estate is unbelievably credulous and romantic about the so-called “individual whistle blower” who is acting out of a desire to help the world, or so the press believes.

Thus, the narrative goes, instead of releasing all the information collected from various law firms, banks, and so forth, it is proposed to leak the information of one particularly interesting law firm, and pretend that it came from an individual who, of course, must remain anonymous.  In this way, no one doubts the information the way they would if it came from our government, and even better, we don't have to pay for the analysis which no one would believe anyway. Instead we get hundreds of journalists on someone else's payroll to rake through the muck, having previously checked to see that there is nothing *too* embarrassing to us before it is released. In other words, some Americans and other westerners will be exposed here, but nothing too serious.

Thus I am proposing that one possible explanation for this unprecedented compromise of the great international industry of hiding money had nothing whatsoever with a lone whistle blower at all.

It is made all the more delicious as none other than that narcissistic keeper-of-the-truth, Ed Snowden, is acclaiming this leak and calling on various heads of state to resign.  How wonderful if it were to turn out not to be an individual leaker at all, but none other than the US Intelligence Community?

Sadly as time goes by and more and more prime ministers of the Western nations are forced to resign, this theory becomes more and more unlikely.  Which is a shame.  Perhaps, if it were true, it would merely be an example of "unintended consequences"?   Perhaps there is an intelligence agency somewhere with egg on its face?  Or perhaps it will turn out that this agency was in fact manipulated by the Bavarian Illuminati which stands behind and manipulates all such things? What is great about conspiracy theories is that you never know.

The NSA, Nazi Gold, Watergate, Enigma and Cryptome.org

We have two documents here from the Center for Cryptological History (CCH) of the NSA. Both papers are interesting on several different levels and are highly recommended for those who wish to be informed about how the NSA works and thinks about its work. Those who are paranoid about the NSA (possibly with good reason) but don't know much about it should certainly read these reports to get a more nuanced view of what is going on.

The first paper is a report on how the NSA found itself involved in the ever-beguiling topic of Nazi Gold. In 1997, Congress began an investigation into this history requesting input from the various law enforcement and intelligence agencies, but did not ask the NSA for some reason (one reason could be that the NSA did not come into existence until years after the end of the war). The NSA read about it in the open press and did not think much about it. But coincidentally an NSA historian happened to be going through old archives for work on another topic and discovered to his surprise that the NSA had something to contribute on this subject. Apparently a predecessor organization to the NSA had in fact captured and decrypted discussions between the Swiss delegation on the topic when negotiating with the United States. This started a process whereby the NSA internally decided to bring this document to the attention of the Congressional committee even though they had not asked.

The second paper is a discussion, formerly classified Top Secret Umbra, about the impact of Watergate and the release of Enigma decryption efforts of WW 2 had on their operations. It is particularly interesting because it goes over in modest detail some of the problems that occur when intelligence collected for national security purposes is repurposed for domestic law enforcement. This is a very important problem and one that has the chance of vindicating one small part of the Snowden revelations (even though I believe that most of the Snowden revelations have nothing to do with the violation of American civil rights and were released for other purposes). It is therefore important for anyone who is concerned on these issues to become aware of some of the history of this dilemma which this report describes.

In particular the report discusses what happened when the Reagan Administration requested NSA to cooperate with FBI in using SIGINT for domestic law enforcement and what the NSA thought and did about it. Those who believe that the NSA gladly violates the Constitutional rights of Americans will be reassured to know that by no means is the NSA cavalier about these issues. Those who are concerned about whether their Constitutional rights to privacy might be compromised by a future or current Administration have every reason to be concerned.

You will note that both of these documents are archived on the internet site cryptome.org. Cryptome is a well known entity in the area of Internet privacy and government secrecy. Run by John Young and Deborah Natsios in the upper west side of NYC, they maintain an online repository of many of the government documents that have been released and those that have been leaked and include many items of relevant commentary by individuals, groups and news sources. Although the politics of Mr. Young and Ms. Natsios are far to the left and I certainly do not agree with them on many issues, I have found Cryptome to be a useful and reliable web site and worth checking out on a regular basis.

But can we really believe the content of these papers? Even now the US Government hides the facts of our use of Nazi Gold to finance the reverse engineering of the Nazi anti-gravity drive. And what about the Nazi bases at the Polar regions? Sadly, no mention. We must conclude that these papers were released to deflect attention from the truth.

www.cryptome.org

NSA Paper on Cryptology and the Watergate Era

https://cryptome.org/2016/03/nsa-cryptology-watergate-era.pdf

NSA Paper on Nazi Gold

https://cryptome.org/2016/03/nsa-nazi-gold.pdf

Bladerunner (1982) Convention Reel Found on Vimeo

A 1982 “convention reel” for the movie Bladerunner (1982) has appeared on Vimeo. It is very low quality, probably a transfer from the 16 mm but has some interesting material in it. In fact it contains some of the first efforts of Hollywood producers to destroy the noble art of visual effects by revealing the secrets of the arcane technology which is better held by a trusted elite and not just thrown out to the great unwashed of the filmgoing public.

https://vimeo.com/38950113

This was still in the early days of “convention reels”, when film producers would pander to attendees of science fiction, fantasy and comic conventions. The success of the marketing of Star Wars (1977) could not be ignored and so studios and filmmakers started allocating money for short films describing the film in progress and sending those films along with a marketing assistant and possibly a star or two to the various conventions around the country.

Ridley Scott in front of a Bladerunner miniature

1982 would have been very early in this trend, before the directors and stars started routinely showing up at the convention.

Highlights of this reel include

-- A discussion by Syd Mead of the philosophy behind much of the production design, which is to say, a layered approach on the lower levels of accretions of technology on top of previous, no longer working, artifacts. I am not sure, but it looks to me as though they were building the set to Bladerunner on top of an urban back lot of existing facades, such as the Universal Back Lot, although I am not sure which one this might be.

-- A discussion by Ridley about why he did not want to use the word Android and instead made up their own word, replicant.

-- A discussion by Douglas Trumbull on the elements required to simulate the interior of one of the Spinners (flying police vehicles).

It is the latter that is the most disturbing as this is one of the earliest cases of the use of arcane technology of visual effects used to sell a film.  What a self-destructive behavior this is!  By revealing how the magic is done, the magic is itself undone, and the audience begins to become jaded and critical.  This process which took 30 years is one of the biggest problems the filmmaker has today.  But it is our own damn fault, or perhaps the fault of the producers who encouraged this kind of behavior out of a desire to market their film, in other words, out of short term greed.

The Candidate for Michael

draft

Now that it is almost certain that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination, we are all being requested to fall in behind the standard bearer. And I expect that I will because the threat of another Republican administration, whether Trump or otherwise, is too horrible to contemplate. But I do resent it, because I do not like Hillary's policies, not even a little bit, its just that she is the lessor of two evils.

So to be specific, here are some positions I would like any candidate I support to have:

1. I would want any candidate I supported be in favor of canceling all H1B visas and that companies in this country should hire the many qualified Americans instead.

2. I would want any candidate I supported be in favor of a salary and compensation cap on executives, perhaps limiting them to some multiple of the lowest salary they pay, perhaps 35 (*) times the lowest salary.

3. I would want any candidate I support to be vocal about his or her desire to change the unemployment metric to include those who are long-term unemployed or underemployed.

4. I would want any candidate I support to be vocal about change to the poverty threshold to make it a more reasonable measure of those who are very poor in this country.

5. I would want any candidate I support to change the way we do loans for education, higher, lower or middle, to make it more along the lines of the Australian system.

6. I would want any candidate I support to be vocal about seeing that globalization is not artificially encouraged by lowering or destroying standards for environmental control, as has happened at the Port of Los Angeles.

7. I would want any candidate I support to be vocal about seeing that that those who encouraged and executed torture in our name to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

8. I would want any candidate I support to work to end the grossly unfair difference between criminal sentences for black people vs white and white collar crime. How can it be just for a black man who stole a stapler in Alabama go to jail for life while John Ehrlichman went to jail for 18 months?

9. I would want any candidate I support to be vocal about seeing to it that local police forces obey the letter and intent of the law, and that those who do not have criminal prosecution brought against them.

10. I would want any candidate I support to be especially vocal about ending the kinds of abuse that one finds in the Orange County Attorney General's office with its illegal use of informants and its perjury regarding the use of databases, and its use of such information to get convictions against innocent citizens.

11. I would want to know why the DOJ did not bring criminal prosecution against the DEA in San Diego.

12. I would want to know why the DOJ did not bring criminal prosecution against the many people in the savings and loan industry for their criminal malfeasance in the 2008 bailout.

13. I would want to change the capital gains taxes to exempt those with under a million dollars in capital, but greatly increase the rate as the capital went above 10 or 20 million dollars worth. In other words, no capital gains taxes for the poor or middle class, but much larger taxes against the very rich. And maybe even a tax on capital itself for those with over 250 M or some other suitably chosen number. In other words, I am not interested in hearing that we do not have the money for education when rich people fly around in their 100 million dollar jets. Just not interested.

14. I would want my candidate to attempt to restore many tax breaks to the middle class, such as the tax exemption for education which Reagan took away.

15. I would want to change our justice system so that the poor really do have access to good legal counsel instead of just paying lip service to it.

16. I would expect any candidate I support to be vocal about seeing that public education was as good as private education.

17. I would expect any candidate I support to work to bring a sense of justice and proportion to our corrupt medical system. I would expect doctors be required to work some percentage of the time in a clinic for the poor, that their salaries would be limited to that which a public servant makes, say, for example, teachers. I would want to evaluate what pharmaceutical companies charge for their medications. For example, I regularly do an off patent generic which sells for over 180 times its cost of production.

Of course, I would not expect any candidate to support all of these, but I might want him or her to support some of them. And I would not expect that he or she could get all or maybe even any of these through Congress, but I would expect them to try.

As Senator Bulworth said in the fabulous movie of the same name, to the black congregation of a church where he is speaking, “What are you going to do, vote Republican?”

I have no doubt I will vote for whoever the Democratic Party nominates.

___________________________________________

(*) Any numbers suggested here are examples only and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Kinky Sex and the Dream of a Regional Film Community in SF Fulfilled

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Will Sex Workers Rush to Silicon Valley to be Sodomized?

Concerns have been expressed that one result of the law suit against Michael Goguen of Sequoia Capital may be a glut in the availability of aspiring sex workers and entrepreneurs trying to cash in on the extravagant prices paid by senior executives in Silicon Valley for sexual services. As the news of the $10M fee received by litigant Amber Baptiste for sodomic services has spread worldwide it has resulted in many new and current sex workers announcing their intent to move to the area. Ms Babtiste is suing Mr Goguen for failure to pay the remaining $30M of her agreed upon fee of $40M.

Sex workers both self-employed and those held in slavery expressed admiration for Ms Baptiste for her lawsuit and for actually receiving the first $10M. “People all over the world get butt fucked for a dollar but Amber got 10 million! She is my hero” said one sex worker who wants to remain anonymous because she is currently an underage sex slave in a middle-eastern country.

Others expressed concern that a sudden influx of sex workers from all over the world to Silicon Valley offering to be sodomized might depress the market. “We dont want them here, they should stay home and get fucked there” said Gloria Standfast, a prominent Silicon Valley sex worker and industry advocate.

Although controversy surrounds the lawsuit everyone that this reporter talked to seemed of the opinion that Ms. Baptiste got a pretty good deal. “Lots of people get fucked up the butt by venture capitalists, but not all of them get as well paid as Ms Baptiste” said one entrepreneur at the Game Developer Conference.

“This is the kind of behavior that made America great and it shows how the free market works to help ordinary workers” said Rep Nelson Freeport (R-CA).

For more information on the relationship between Mr. Goguen and Ms. Babtiste, click here.

Depression, Unemployment, Health, Memory, Stress and so Forth

If you are unemployed then you probably already knew how fucked you are. But those of you interested in the details may wish to review the following links.

1. Long term stress erodes memory. I keep forgetting to post this one, ha ha.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/osu-lse022916.php

2. Accepting a job below one's skill level can adversely affect future employment prospects.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uota-aaj030316.php

3. Depression is more than a mental disorder, it affects the entire organism. Well, who said it was a mental disorder anyway, and what does that mean. Nevertheless, you may read this study here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160301075102.htm

Los Angeles and Architecture in Die Hard (1988)

Many years ago, I was driving down Santa Monica Blvd late at night and ahead of me in Century City was a new building that created a fabulous National Socialist light sculpture on top of one of the new buildings that seemed to extend the building into the sky at each corner.

The night was particularly foggy which no doubt enhanced the effect.

It looked fabulous and yet I never saw it again.

Then I heard it was for the movie Die Hard (1988) which I had never seen.

So I downloaded this seminal and important film and I still did not see what I saw that night.

Oh the building was there just fine. And there were even clearly lights on the top of the building for certain important scenes near the end. But that transcendent and inspiring architectural idea that I had seen and been so impressed by was not there. It did not exist. It was an artifact, no doubt, of shooting some of the movie at night and the atmospheric conditions and not intended by the filmmakers, or the architects, at all.

Yes, one more time, I had given Los Angeles and Hollywood, each in their own way, too much credit. This building was and is intended for studio executives, lawyers and accountants. No inspirational pillars of light needed here. No striking architectural innovation. Nothing controversial at all. Just a well-made building for rich people and former presidents.

Once again, Los Angeles is true to its values.

Die Hard (1988) on IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/