The Gods of Our Time
There is a certain postmodern perspective which states that which god is worshipped is not important. They advocate absolute rationalism, denial of all things divine. I would contest that. The symbols in our modern pop culture fill our heads with subconscious symbols and ideas. Instead of acting like these don’t exist, or pretending that they are unimportant, I’d like to take a closer look at them.
A popular character, especially for those well versed in internet culture, is The Doctor. For those unaware, the Doctor is a mystical space alien who uses his time machine to go to anywhere and anywhen. His time machine disguises itself as a blue policebox which is “Bigger on the inside.”
The Doctor is not a New Invention. He came around in 1963 on the BBC service. He represented the television set at the time, as it was many British Citizen’s first set. They showed historical documentaries and the news from all across the world. This governmental box was indeed, “Bigger on the inside.”
Doctor Who took a Hiatus in the 90s, save for a made for television movie. When the show was rebooted in 2005, the internet was already making a big splash. People all over the world, not just in Britain, watched the show. This new box was much bigger on the inside.
The Doctor, with his running and clever tricks, is the perfect stand in for Hermes and Apollo, the first doctor.
I’m not going to talk too much about The Doctor, since I’ve got other deities to discuss. Post in the comments if you want more Doctor Who!
When I was in college, one of the popular party houses had a great big mural. Plastered across it was an image of a sun with water spewing out of it’s cartoon mouth. This image puzzled me for a while, until one day I drank too much.
The sun came up, and there was a pounding in my head. Yet somehow I felt serene, everything was quiet yet impossibly loud. I stumbled down the hallway to reach the bathroom and threw up. I had a hangover.
This is not the picture on the wall, this is merely a similar image of the vomiting god. The image I knew had water instead of a rainbow.
Once I started looking, I started seeing the Vomiting god all over the place. He even shows up in Chicago Architecture.
Next time you’re at a college house, keep an eye out for sun and moon symbols. The college lifestyle is strange: The daytime is filled with work and conformity and sleep, and the night is filled with really cutting loose. The night belongs to the young and the day to the old.
Barong and Rangda
Barong and Rangda are a pair of deities on the Island of Bali. Barong is a happy, doglike dragon who taunts and infuriates Rangda, the witch-goddess of fear. In some cases, When the person portraying Rangda comes out of the trance, he is filled with such evil thoughts that he is brought to the witch doctor. The Balinese actually believe that the Queen of fear can physically possess someone.
A King of Joy and a God of Fear? Remind you of anyone?
That’s right. Though the roles of fear and joy are reversed in this case, these themes come through extremely strongly in the Batman myth.
What does it say about us, that our heroes represent Terror and wealth, and our villains poverty and joy?
