Hyborian Bridge 91

There could be some people who are thinking this stuff on the roots of fantasy is too abstract by far. The problem is, we live in an abstract world (of numbers and symbols and signs) so, unless you understand that, nothing you say will wash.

The archetypal forms of owl and pussycat and vixen and raven and snake are fantasy in that they are the creation of movement and line alone, and nothing to do with information - DNA as “they” would have it.

I don’t pretend to know all there is about it; only that it’s information that is fed into an AI. It’s one side of reality since, without data, all would be chaos. The other side of reality is the physical and psychic side.

Information is something that attaches to the ego. It’s not just me talking; have a look around at the smartphones and screens. Yes, it exists, but I keep noticing how many celebs are switching off, saying the feedback is all negative (comments). Something is missing. It’s all head.

That something is the physical substance of planet Earth. I was taking a look at one of my favorite cartoons – da Vinci’s The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist at the London National. That led me on a trail which led to the Medicis and 15^th century Fra Filippo Lippi.

Leonardo cartoon

The cartoon is basically a study, very well-worked in charcoal and chalk, for a possible painting (that apparently never was). The study will trace lines and their evolutions intensely, and almost through the working, arrive at dynamic equilibrium (see wiki).

So, a cartoon is a very fluid, mobile thing, since pretty much the same applies to classic Walt Disney. So, movement and line make things dynamic, pretty transparently. I’ve been writing a treatment for a sequel to Elektra the film, and have always thought Frank Miller’s work on that one of the most gracefully dynamic ever!
So, a world of in information does not have that – atall. Now, another Leonardo is Madonna of the Rocks, of which there are two versions, one at the National which I know, the other at the Louvre. The latter is thought to be the earlier.

To have a rocky, cave-like formation was pretty novel, but even earlier Fra Filippo Lippi had painted an Adoration for Cosmo Medici, in a setting of wilderness forest, rugged and earthy.

What was this Italian fashion that moved away from a traditional stable and into woods and caves? For a start, Cosmo Medici was concerned with his soul, having lived a life of semi-decadence. He took the Adorations intensely seriously, and they are intended to show God as physically part of the Earth. The physical aspect of the paintings is indispensable.

The Renaissance was a revival, meaning a rebirth of ancient soul. Part Christian, part classical Greece. Meaning a connection to the physical cosmos, and through that the psyche, the narrative of ancient idols. These two elements – physical and psyche – are what a world of information completely abrogates.

You see it in superhero films – like the aforementioned Elektra – but not in “real” life. “Real” life consists of news (information), which could also be looked at as pure exposition. In a comic book, exposition happens when there is no action; Miller’s Elektra Saga is so great for the total lack of exposition.

Another good example is the Turanian War (War of the Tarim) from Conan #19-25. BWS’s work is cartooning at its best, moving characters around in landscapes and seascapes with joyful fluidity (Hyborian Bridge 19,20). Roy Thomas weaves it all into a sustaining narrative thrust of wit and pathos. He’s good, but without the dynamic that BWS (and later Buscema) brings to the series it wouldn’t be superlative. 

Conan #24

This is what cartooning does, and if it’s also earthy and rugged it can affect the very soul. Why are we on Earth except to experience some small measure of the great cosmic soul? Where there is action, as in the Turanian War, then the action takes the place of news – the action is the news.

This is what I mean by the fact that a world of news is tautological because it’s news about news (without the action). Action is our connection to Earth – the physical earthiness. So, a barn owl flying off is action as opposed to news.

The connection to Earth affects our psyche – the two are intermingled. In other words, our world of news is psychically empty. This is beginning to sound abstract, so what I’m basically saying is we can have news so long as we have lives also that are physically active on Earth, like the barn owl on its roost. Barn dancing, cave, forest, soul.

Again, if the entire cosmos were a product of reason, then the news could cover it entirely. But it’s not; there is a cartoon simplicity that is the product of movement and line. Tribal peoples often think in cartoony, figurative ways since it’s essentially true (physically, psychically).

The Amazonians are telling Bolsonaro of Brazil to “have a conscience” because logging is an industry y while they have an arborial history, ancestry, strong roots. Most of the news we hear is industrial – be it the military or finance – and the best I can do here is sign-off with a line from my Elektra sequel treatment.

In the story, Elektra has joined a Himalayan kingdom called Prester, which has renounced all mod-cons. Here at the end of a high-speed chase and fight against seven ninjas, talking to Daredevil.

DD: SO, YOU’RE STILL THE SAME ELEKTRA (he grins)

E: NO, I’M A PRESTERAN NOW. I NO LONGER WORK BLINDLY FOR THE DOLLAR, FOR PAYMENT

DD: STILL, YOU’VE GOT AN ELECTRIC-POWERED HARLEY DAVIDSON

E: WELL.. ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY!

(The film poses a quandary. The question is worth asking, but the film doesn’t answer it).