To what extent
is fantasy a physical reality denied by modernity? Not only the heroic fantasy
of a Howard, but also gaming. I don’t really know much about it, except that
the pure physicality of gaming must be a hook to the body, the instinct for retaliation
and kinetics. You wonder if it goes through the body owing to the realism, and
puts one back in a physical universe of yore?
Admittedly, I
have been saying up till now that realism goes via the head; but gaming is such
a kinetic industry one wonders. This was sparked-off by watching a film called Royal
Kill (Ninja’s Creed) which got generally appalling reviews. I thought the
total opposite that it was the best I’d seen this century, admittedly with
flaws that were probably budgetary.
Most reviewers
were dismissive to the point of insulting of Babar Ahmed’s premise, which I’m
not sure they really “got”. For a start, it has a Carpenterian feel and similar
locations with hand-held cameras. Another connection is pro-wrestler Gail Kim
plays an assassin; Carpenter employed pro-wrestler Roddy Piper in They Live!
The assassin is after the last princess of a remote south Asian dynasty who has
been hidden in America and lives with her American dad and the “royal maid”. A
soldier (Alexander Wraith) from the far off kingdom must find the maid to
preserve the princess and hopefully foment rebellion against the nefarious
Scungy empire who have killed all the remaining royals.
The film’s
ending leaves one wondering whether the entire plot ever took place, but along
the way there are intriguing clues. Right at the start, her American dad (Eric
Roberts) is palying chess with a neighbour and recites the line, “You..are the
champion!” Is the entire film also a game? At the end of the film the soldier
becomes a mere security guard, and recites the line, “To be ordinary.. the
horror of modernity.”
There are other
clues. Towards the beginning of the film dad disturbs his daughter (Lalaine)
dressing and we see her nipples are exposed (briefly). This is a typical
classical motif – usually of a goddess – a sign of physical luster and
desirability (Hyborian Bridge 31)
Obviously, Babar
Ahmed isn’t Greek or European, but I think the Asian deities have similar
attributes. Added to the physicality is pro-wrestler Kim who wraps her legs
round opponents’ heads, somersaulting in neck-cracking action.
If the film is a
game, it’s a game of blood and desirability. These two attributes – strength
and love – hark back to the heroic and irrational. We of the modern era – at
least the elite – have a tendency to assume rational thinking (the likes of
Hilary Mantel of Wolf Hall on Henry VIII).
What is much
more likely is that men of the Middle Ages - and of course women like
Jeanne d’Arc - had conscience (religion)
and a code-of-honour (chivalrous). You see this so much in Howard’s tales of
Outremer and beyond; not only of Christian knights, but of valiant Saracens,
particularly in The Sowers of the Thunder (Pictorial 11)
Rational thinking
is more of a modern disease; a cold-blooded escape from physical constraints.
If you take a medieval figure whose cause was seemingly just – 13th
century knight Simon de Montfort against the corrupt Henry III – his cause was
truly Christian, and he raided Jews, as often as not, for their coffers.
Simon de Montfort by Edmond Mennechet
His cause may
have been just but it was far from rational, depending on the oaths of barons
to attend constitutional parliaments (which they often broke). The conscience
of a knight was a thing of strength borne of the body. When Simon was
eventually defeated by Henry III’s troops, he was decapitated, feet, hands and
testicles cut-off.
To what extent,
then, is our modern rational universe a thing of the head, unreal and
immaterial? Dismemberments, whether of animal or man, are gory things as the
history of the West tells. History is gory; Howard is gory; the cycle of
lifedeath and the destiny of individuals. Simon de Montfort was a rebel and
lived and died by blood. It may not be pretty, but it may be that, in an immaterial
universe (of the head) the only rebellion possible is a physical one (of the
body).
Victory of Simon de Montfort by Jean Fouquet 
Defeat of the barons
That will
implicate free conscience (belief) and codes-of-honour (blood sacrifice). If
life is a game then it’s a bloody one. I just saw this photo of a 40,000 year
old timber wolf head, preserved in Siberian permafrost.
fangs for the memory (Pleistocene)
What really
struck me were the predominant cartoon-like fangs that could rend and tear. Cubs
will play games, primarily to practice their moves on prey.
This raises the
question of how predatory is the universe as a physical thing? What I mean is;
is there a primeval rhythm that is strong and flexible? I mean the primordial
serpent, basically (Pictorial 1)
A serpent is
androgenous and requires no verifiable proof (of existence) since its shape is
intrinsic to the universe – of sun and moon, polar opposites spinning in space.
Therefore, the shape is a priori to scientific method; meaning all the
facts we have been given dating approximately from Newton (“Opticks” or sun).
The universe is
intrinsically bloody and proportionate, having a predatory shape, and with that
comes meaning and structure – Hyborain Bridge 59 . To seek to deny that
may be rational but that doesn’t make it right! It’s an escape from the constraints
of the body into the immaterial head (of electromagnetic impulses).
It’s almost a
case of the predatory Howard of poetic meaning, versus the meaningless
mumbo-jumbo of the likes of Hameroff; physique versus immateriality.