Advocating For Chaos

seeking the closure

Maddieroni&cheese-5th

In a world full of disorientation, closure is difficult to find. It’s like searching for answers on wikipedia: Unreliable, fragmented, and redundant. Each individual will have a life story capable of any physical, emotional, or mental chaos, but it shapes their identity. The voices in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Coleridge, declares disconnection of truth and memory through postmodernist unreliable narratives and fragmentation, ultimately reiterating the pain that lingers within cycles of guilt. The mariner, like our society, desires to move forward, to find closure… 

But at what cost?

In the traditional postmodernist era, chaos is rooted in fragmentation: the breaking apart of a life. The narrator in Unnecessary things transfers from past to present which distorts the divider between reality and imagination. In the story, Tatyana holds onto ordinary objects that hold a memory to her, however, she “doesn't know why [she] keeps[s] it” (Tolstaya). Tatyana embarks on her walk down memory lane, subconsciously clinging to trauma, slowly pulling her under. The deepened connection between physical objects, specifically Tatyana’s “gray and stiff” childhood bear, embraces the emotional voids that tear us down, found within Nostalgia. The analytics behind Nostalgia are exposed from constant flashbacks amongst the act of wanting something out of our reach. Tatyana has lived with drive to recover emotions tied to her past, while in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner longs to disestablish his past actions. The man committed a religious deviance…(killing the Albatross) and was ultimately cursed with intense drought, both emotionally and physically, buried within guilt. The mariner preaches this story in a choppy vision to elaborate the crew’s continuous search for emotional foundations and literal water. Since they were in the ocean, there was “water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink” because of the Nostalgic curse planted from the divine gods (Coleridge 2:9). The importance behind this quote is connected to the desire to be fulfilled, however, with the humorous approach of postmodernism, they survive through fate. Because of these two stories, the aligning past refuses to stay hidden, or concealed, yet it recycles. Deflecting the closure, and recycling the present. 

In, Making a Fist, Naomi coats her death trial with traits of postmodernist Intertextuality by normalizing the tropes of traditional growth with contradiction. The questions of deep reality cross her mind while on the road trip, however, her

mother’s reaction opposes the stereotypical responses. Instead of acknowledging the poetic, literary complicated answer most people give, for example from the bible, “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you” (Philippians 4:13), her mother exclaims to “make a fist” (Nye). This is an absurd way to handle the matter of life and death because of its physical, simple outlook to refocus the mind. The utilization of confusion promotes a universal symbolism when describing the fist figure, for strength persists in uncertainty. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is similar in matters of endurance revealing human spirituality. The trauma experienced by the mariner unlocked mindfulness of spiritual sin, yet “instead of the cross, the Albatross/ About [his] neck” was a representation of repentance. The ultimate shift from a personal growth story, towards a unitized systematic symbol, involving faith based fate, transforms the perception of traditional values transferred throughout life. 

The fist in this happenstance is double sided to the symbol of strength, unity, and perseverance, while also maintaining physical strength as reassurance. The ability to mobilize your hand shows resistance to rigor mortis, literally, yet highlights the hyper focused aspect of staying alive in a time of desperation. Naomi develops her existential crisis thoroughly through the factors of simple symbolism in concepts of Intertextuality. 

Source 2!

The composition of Schism is channeled through postmodernism fully. The song relies on a melody transition from ⅝ to ⅞ between verses to emphasize the chaotic unpredictable manner of uncommunicative relationships (Castiglinoli). The mixed meter and purposeful fragmentation generates the offset mood along with moments of isolative decay. Tool wrote this song in an open ended manner, disclaiming a moment of disconnectedness within a relationship buried in self insecurity. The movement of tempo changes displays the ups and downs of life and the contrasts of destruction/creation. The narration in this lyrical is compromised, and deemed unreliable, because of the emotional trauma embedded internally, rather than external punishments. This is directly related to Rime of the Ancient Mariner because of the existential guilt faced. The heavy “evil looks/ from old and young” compromise the reliability of the narration because of dramatic tension (coleridge 2:14). Similarly, Schism can be identified with the literate Unnecessary Things because of the obsession to hold onto things that share no likelihood of returning, because “the pieces fit” at one point (tool). Even though the loss can be beyond redemption, division heals the irreparable. 

The movie “inside out” is based on the internal composition of emotional reactions and their connection to primary memory collections. The film suggests the introduction of one core memory, or one striking value, like Tatyana’s bear, to be enough to generate a complete transition in mental routes. In the movie, Riley is the keep holder of emotionally tied memories, which are often altered by sadness or lost in the chaos of life. The emotions in her head constantly compete for control, which is similar to the Mariner searching for a grip on his life,  however, he is unable. Riley is known to have a fragmented, and unreliable memory, which proposes concepts of guilt to take over. Typical postmodernism. UGH. Inside of Riley’s head, there is an emotional “storm” between anger, sadness, and anxiety, paralleling the storm at sea for the Mariner’s internal state. Similar to sadness taking the blame for the chaos, the Mariner follows suit, acknowledging his self degradation, ultimately healing the wound. The film emphasizes the delicacy of memories and the crucial roles they play in identity formation through the returning of memories in the vault, acting as a postmodern capsule. Check it out below!

A scene that captures the sources together in my eyes is the iconic scene of the Titanic. In the cinematic, Jack and Rose share a deep connected love, however, during the storm of life, like Rime of the Ancient Mariner, they are separated by the ocean. Their separation compares to the surges of emotional turbulence within The Schism, both aligned with dark, cold, hardening tones. Rose eternally clings to the floating board, symbolizing her dedication to her love of Unnecessary Things. These alternative styles of work manage similar fragmented meanings encompassed around incompatible restoration within the chaos of life & dedication of closure.