My interpretation of this film is the struggle or duality of the human spirits search for truth and it's quest for freedom. I'm working on trying to eloquently represent my interpretation but don't want to simply have a conversation with myself on here.
Does anyone else see Freddie as a symbol for Freedom and Dodd the symbol for Truth. Any thoughts or opinions?
Is the tension actually between freedom and truth? What's more true about Lancaster than Freddie? What's more free about Freddie than Lancaster?
I think there's been a rape up there!
I believe it is about the degrees of control we have over our emotions; "as we are man" and "not animals".
it is possibly a duality between our constructed society vs. our animal instincts.
There definitely is a duality between of the human spirits in this film, similar to full metal jacket. But, I personally believe to try and boil it all down to two specific words is rather... impossible.
But, if I had to try boil it down, I believe it isn't about two words opposing each other, but two factions, the socialized (or socially accepted) and the "crazy" (or the one's that don't abide by society's rules).
The question then lies in which rules are "good" for society, which rules prevent it to break down? Prevent people from becoming addicts? Is it better to have "freedom" from society and its boundaries at the cost of becoming dependent on the use of narcotics?
So it really isn't about truth, as there is no specific truth here to reveal, besides perhaps that our society isn't always here for the best of us, that perhaps the truth of society is that it can blind us, hold us down, but perhaps it's for a good reason sometimes.
I personally saw it as a relationship between two men and MAINLY their position in society. It isn't the position that is important, but the social implications that come with them. We have the floater looking for a place in society, but unsure if he really can, then a "Master" on some social level also looking for a deeper purpose. In their relationship we see the "Master" try to well... master the floater's "social... defects". But is in the end unable to do so, but most importantly in this process the "Master" realizes something he may have known for quiet some time, that he really isn't a true Master, but only a shade of it and that perhaps the floater that is labeled as a "follower" is indeed a master of himself to a degree; that he is free of the rules of society, but not free of himself.
Scenes that led me to this current conclusion:
- Quell's overall nature of walking, almost like an animal, a dog; doing what he pleases wherever he wants.
- Quell masturbating on the beach, intoxicating himself on cocktails of poisons.
- The repetitive use of the word "man" and "animal".
- Multiple hints that people in The Cause are into adultery, but hide it from society, then blame Quell.
- Landcaster's outburst with the "scientist", thus showing his lack of control, but more importantly that he also is in the end an "animal" to a degree.
- Landcaster's desire to control other people, primarily to get a sense of mastery over something to quell his own perceived inadequacies.
- There are a lot more but I'll save them only if this conversation is of any interest to you
I hope to hear back from you!
Cheers
I just posted this in a different thread, but I think it fits better here:
Freddie seemed to me to be a parallel of Dodd. Both men were trying to live without masters--Dodd by being the ultimate master, and Freddie by being the ultimate rebel. Neither man was successful in being totally "unmastered," although Dodd's path brought much more material success.
Thanks for the replies!! Calvinl I agree with you that you shouldn't try to boil this film down to just two words. I just had this overwhelming feeling while I (re)watched it the other day. Walt I agree with you one hundred percent that the two characters seemed to be parallel one and other. And the parallel I draw is between the search for the ultimate truth and the quest for absolute freedom. Granted there are countless connections to be made and parallels to be drawn The Master is a complex masterpiece with many layers (some more subtle than others) including PTSD, substance abuse, religion, control, and sex to name a few.
Cal I like the connection you make as the two characters representing man vs animal and/or society vs man's primordial instincts. I felt these themes to be extremely well represented in shades of both characters in the film. Dodd more heavily favored man/society and Freddie the beast.
I also feel though you could say Dodd represented mans inquisitive nature. The first time we see Dodd he mentions he is 'a writer, doctor, nuclear physicist, theoretical philosopher and above all a man. A hopelessly inquisitive man. Just like you' which Freddie scoffs at immediately. This inquisitive nature is the driving force behind the search for truth. This characteristic is heavily favored in the the philosophers who helped establish modern law/society. This characteristic is the basic element of art that drives humanity in a positive direction.
Freddie's quest for freedom, on the other hand, may appear to be less introspective and more animalistic in nature. You could say the search is less evolved or not as spiritual and I might agree but that's not the point I feel is being made. We all serve our masters and Freddie's master was freedom. He tried to free himself of the pain that tortured his infantile mind. He seemed to be content living with no real rules and enjoying Americas new found freedom he fought and sacrificed to achieve.
Freddie and dodd's arcs do seem to collide as they share a similar journey as they are both struggling to become masters and as we all well know only a master can know a master. Yet spoiler alert neither are masters. Life is a process of failures and achievements no person has mastered or will master Truth and Freedom in this world.(unless you believe in Jesus and/or those things) The two spirits are confined in the fleshy limited human bodies.
I have so much more to say about this film on many more levels but that is all for today.
Thanks for the comments they were very thoughtful!
-when speaking in conversation run-on sentences are acceptable
I did not get an email to this reply as I think it only went to the person you responded to.
But, I am excited that you enjoy this wonderful film as much as I do! I watched it at least 3 times within the first month of seeing.
Granted there are countless connections to be made and parallels to be drawn The Master is a complex masterpiece with many layers (some more subtle than others) including PTSD, substance abuse, religion, control, and sex to name a few.
Calvinl thanks for the reply and your comments on emotions and control.
Yet your comment "I personally do not see humans as really individuals in a vacuum but as a sea or colony of flocking minds like any other species" while I understand where you are coming from, I disagree with you because unlike all other living species we are different because of our level of consciousness. We are aware of our environment and our awareness has helped speed up our evolution and bring us closer to perfection (or helps lead us to perfection as I believe perfection itself is an ever evolving process)
I was discussing the film with my brother and he came up with a connection that you might find interesting.. I will copy and paste our text conversation but I think you will get the gist of the points being made..
" the characters were all personifications of the id (phoenix), ego (psh), and superego (adams)...the ego looks to be the one in control (psh...aka master) but actually has to answer to both the id, the superego, and the public..
...the id always is in search of freedom, cares the least about public judgement and acts based on animal insticts like sex, alcohol, fighting...his way of being a master is by having no masters and defying authority whenever possible...the superego wants perfection no matter the cost and u saw amy adams only cared about the cause and hated the disorganization, randomness, and animality brought on by the id...she didnt like phoenix's influence and her main goal was to get the ego to focus on the cause..
The ego looks like he's in charge but is tasked with balancing his animal instincts with his desire for perfection as well as his perception of outside world...psh pretends like he is above the animal side yet still gets into yelling matches, drinks moonshine, and lets the id influence him more than he'd like to pretend...the only thing i kinda disagree is his search of truth...i think the ego is more tasked with making everything fit together than he is with true honesty, i think psh is full of $hit and knows it, like when his second book has typos and he tries to talk his way out of it, or when he cant defend his thoughts in new york. his main concern is appearing in control and trying to compromise both the id and superego into something useful or beneficial, kind of an "end justifies the means" mentality..but i think he is full of $hit if only because he wont quite say when he doesnt have all the answers or that he made a mistake, he instead tries explaining his way out of it or justifying it somehow (like the ego does)"
He is much smarter than I am. I enjoyed his interpretation of the 3 characters and how they represented different forms of our personality and our conscious/subconscious.
Let me know what you think of his interpretation. I'm glad you recognize the value of this film. I feel it is art to the highest degree.
Cheers
My apologies for the extremely late reply (if you could even call it one at this point). I changed my email address around that time period (when you replied) and did not receive a notification.
To first clarify what I meant by "flocking minds", I agree with your entire rebuttal; we are all different in many different aspects: we crave different things, have different goals, different emotional compositions, body structures, it goes on ad infinium. I also agree that the human species is rather unique and of course the most intelligent when compared to the rest of our planet's ecosystem.
What I was implying (albeit in a poor way at the time of my previous posting), was that our conscious minds are surrounded by other people as well, thus, we as a social species intermingle and exchange ideas with one another. I was stating this because I was simply saying that: on my first viewing I was so focused on simply the two "main" characters that I didn't study their relations to everyone around them - I basically lifted the importance of them above the rest of the entire movie's backdrop (other characters, themes, etc.).
About your brother's commentary on the id, ego, superego; I have read into the ego throughout my uni. years, reading such materials like Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Story of Civilization, etc. I know I didn't even mention the id/ego/superego at all, but I was aware of it the entire time, I guess this is because in my daily life I pay much attention to my own ego and its behavior. I am saying all of this because I am basically saying that since I have read into the ego (enough to understand it) I find your brother's observation rather sharp and possibly even correct! I was very aware that the ego was a general theme, that J.P. was the embodiment of being one's own master and that P.S.H. was a sort of master over other people and thus (possibly) not a master over his own issues: possibly evident in the ending scene where his frustrations are brought to surface and light. Only after viewing the movie once more (after you replied but I didn't read it until this very day) I noticed that Adam's character was actually a master in her own way (in the backdrop[to my eyes]), I did not attribute the superego to her as I wasn't thinking in those terms(ego,etc.) when viewing this film but I very much want to say I think that your brother/your observation are in fact, correct.
Overall I would finally say that I think all the themes your brother, you, and I have touched upon are all present/important and that P.T.A. most likely studied some/all of these in much depth prior to writing the script for said movie.
It was great reading your brother's and your observations! I hope I cleared up the confusion about what I mean by "flocking minds" and that you forgive this year long running reply n_n
Cheers!
PS. I have always found the poster art for The Master a fascinating starting point for some of the possible themes of the movie - it has a Rorschach Test vibe, J.P. is centered in the middle (but is asymmetrical), Adams is usually to the left and P.S.H. is usually to the right. I do not feel this is a direct correlation to literally the brains structure but does possibly imply P.T.A.'s adamant feelings of pushing the theme of the mind, ego, etc. into even the poster art. (My sister worked for graphic design companies for movies such as the Madagascar, Disney, or Spiderman so I understand how directors would come in and sift through possible designs).
.......although Dodd's path brought much more material success.
As long as Dodd and his groupies could stay one step ahead of the law, he could be considered a success. Finally fleeing the US for England at the end was that last step ahead of the law.
Maybe England was more receptive of mystical stuff in the post-WWII period, since they had suffered a lot.
E pluribus unum
Freedon, no kompromise!
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Everything good dies here, even the stars.
If anything I see Freddie as symbol of freedom, and Dodd as a symbol of evil.
Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.