Manhunter analysis - part 83: Use of colors in the movie

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**












Eight-color 'RGB' (red-green-blue) test pattern color bars as used on Bowman's video screens. Bowman is the man in the Documents department who analyzed the writing on the tissue note.



The 'red-green-blue' color system is being used in our movie, to symbolize pagan entities having to do with 'worship' of Lecktor/Jupiter, and also to symbolize the various 'modes' in which Graham/Christ represents God. In what follows, I have equated the colors used in the image above to the colors used in "Christ in the Solar System" on the BibleNews1.com website. Below I list, from left to right, the color, solar system planet, Roman pagan entity/Greek equivalent, and 'mode' of Christ:

White, Sun and Moon, Sun - Sol/Helios, Moon - Luna/Selene, Sanctification
Yellow, Mercury, Mercury/Hermes, Savior
Cyan/light blue, Neptune, Neptune/Poseidon, Redeemer
Green, Uranus, Caelus/Uranus, Mediator
Magenta/violet, Jupiter, Jupiter/Zeus, Almighty God
Red, Mars, Mars/Ares, Blood of Christ (or his enemies)
Dark blue/indigo, Saturn, Saturn/Cronus, God of the Covenants
Black - not yet determined

The colors are used in various ways in the movie. For example, in the bedroom scene in the Captiva house, the bluish 'glow' probably represents the sea, since the house is next to the ocean, and Neptune (Poseidon) is the ancient sea god.

During Will's phone conversation with Lecktor, if we look carefully at the background in Will's hotel room, we first see a round white light representing the sun, which gradually comes into focus - this represents 'the Light' within Will getting brighter, as it is during this conversation that Lecktor is to try to tempt Will into becoming as God is. The corresponding 'mode' is sanctification; to sanctify means to make holy or sacred. At the point in the conversation when Lecktor suggests to Will that Dollarhyde wants to become as God is, he is indirectly suggesting that Will himself can do this too; it is at this moment that we see two small spherical 'globs' rise in the background: the first one is light blue and represents the Redeemer; redemption refers to Christ's dying for mans sins. The second is green and represents the Mediator, mediation being the way in which Jesus is like both God and man: he is mortal like a man, but divine like God, so he is an 'intermediary'.

In an earlier scene, in which a helicopter arriving from Baltimore is getting ready to land in Washington, we see two white lights on the front of the helicopter (one large and one small), a red light on the right (our perspective), and a greenish (or possibly cyan) light on the left; also, there is a yellow beacon light at the lower left of the screen. No doubt all these lights have 'divine' and/or evil implications, for example the red might have to do with some of the investigators being enemies of Will. Much later, near the end of the movie, when the police are on their way to Dollarhyde's house, their patrol car lights are flashing only two colors, red and white. The red can be taken to represent the blood of Christ, corresponding to Will's later getting cut and bleeding, and/or the blood of Christ's enemies, since Dollarhyde is eventually shot and killed and ends up lying in a pool of blood.

Finally, the red glow in Lloyd Bowman's lab room probably represents the presence of Mars/Ares, whom Dollarhyde represents, so is probably an indication that Bowman is yet another enemy of Will. I leave it to the reader to prove this by using forensic science, as was done for Katz and Price; one possible way of approaching this is to use the fact that some amines, such as aniline, yield orange to red colors in the presence of ninhydrin (this being a negative test).


      

Manhunter analysis - part 82: The fingerprint man is deceiving Will

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**













Fingerprint man Jimmy Price looks at the tissue note.


We have already seen that Beverly Katz, the hair analyst, is deceiving Graham (and Crawford) in the investigators' meeting. It now appears that Jimmy Price, the fingerprint man, is also involved in the deception. There are several clues given to the audience that this is true. First, Price makes statements to Graham and Crawford which imply that since the clean-up man (the man who cleans Lecktor's cell) would have had the skin oils washed off his hands due to his having used cleaning solutions, he would not be able to detect any fingerprints that might have been left by this man on the tissue note. Will asks him if a ninhydrin analysis would work, and Price says no, that he would not be able to wash it out after he was done (the goal is to place the tissue note back in Lecktor's cell without making him suspicious.)

The problem is this: the cleanup man would, of course, normally use at least one solution containing ammonia while doing his job, and ammonium salts yield a positive result when tested with ninhydrin.* And, there would have been no stain on the tissue from this test, since the salt sample is first collected from the surface of the tissue, then separately diluted with water (the solution is then heated, and tested with ninhydrin).

The way I see it, there are at least three other 'clues' given to us that Price is on Lecktor's side (see part 74 - the analysts who are being dishonest are, metaphorically speaking, 'worshipping' Lecktor as the sun god Ra/Thoth). One is that during the analysis, Price states that some of the things which appear to be ridges on the tissue are really just due to its texture. This is probably his way of 'hiding' the fact that there are, in fact, prints on the tissue (it is quite obvious to us, the viewers, that there are smudges on its surface); but if either Crawford or Graham notices the indentations from the teeth marks at this point, then this statement would also 'explain' those marks (recall that Crawford didn't hear Chilton mention the teeth marks during the earlier three-way phone conversation).

Another clue is that when Price turns on the laser he is using to look for prints, we notice that a portion of the inside of the laser machine gives off a violet 'glow', thus indicating the 'presence' of Almighty God: the god Jupiter, who is 'over' Lecktor; this is similar to the violet glow in the sink in Lecktor's cell (and the violet coloring inside the bins in the area in which Katz works, as discussed in part 70).


*Ref: see the Central Connecticut State University, Dept. of Chemistry ninhydrin test page. See also the Wikipedia ninhydrin page here.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 81: Who it is that Graham represents

CATEGORY: MOVIES













William Petersen as Will Graham.



We already suspect that Will Graham must in some sense represent the biblical figure Abraham, due to the common 'raham' in their names. However, there is more to Will's allegorical identity than this one representation. In the "director's cut" version of the movie, there is a scene in which Molly, who has traveled from Florida, meets Will at his hotel in Washington, so they can spend a little time together even as the investigation continues. At one point during this scene, the camera dwells on Will's bare, athletic-looking upper body; I believe this to be an indication that he represents the Greek god Adonis, with whom there is a modern association with physical youth and beauty. The Greek goddess Aphrodite, whom Molly represents (see part 62), was Adonis's lover and surrogate mother. The latter relationship fits with the bedroom scene in Captiva, wherein Molly is holding Will close with his head under her chin, as if mothering him.

The name Adonis is somewhat similar to the name Adonizedek (variously transliterated as Adoni-zedec or Adoni-Zedek; in Hebrew, Adoni-Tzedek), who was, according to the Book of Joshua, king of Jerusalem at the time of the Israelite invasion of Canaan. His name means "my lord is righteousness" in Hebrew. According to the Midrash, the name Adoni-zedek is translated as "Master of Zedek" — that is, "of Jerusalem," the city of righteousness.[40] As mentioned earlier in the analysis, the name for the planet Jupiter in Hebrew astronomy is Zedek, and it is Jupiter who rules over Lecktor (see part 70); thus we see that Will Graham, in representing Adonizedek, has a more exalted status than Lecktor - he essentially represents God, the righteous lord, the highest power. Late in the movie, he is tempted by Lecktor to try and become as God is (see part 27).


      

Manhunter analysis - part 80: Hermeticism

CATEGORY: MOVIES

This post contains a basic description of Hermeticism, which is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the writings of Hermes Trismegistus (see parts 71 and 76). The blue-colored words are links to Wikipedia pages for topics that the reader of this analysis may want to explore as having application to our movie. (Some of these topics have already been mentioned briefly elsewhere in the analysis.)

In Late Antiquity, Hermetism emerged in parallel with Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, and early Christianity, "characterized by a resistance to the dominance of either pure rationality or doctrinal faith".[a] The books now known as the Corpus Hermeticum were part of a renaissance of syncretistic and intellectualized pagan thought that took place around the 2nd century. Other examples of this cultural movement would include Neoplatonist philosophy, the Chaldaean Oracles, late Orphic and Pythagorean literature, as well as much of Gnosticism.

The extant Greek texts dwell upon the oneness and goodness of God, urge purification of the soul, and defend pagan religious practices, such as the veneration of images. Many lost Greek texts, and many of the surviving vulgate books, contained discussions of alchemy clothed in philosophical metaphor. And one text, the Asclepius, lost in Greek but partially preserved in Latin, contained a bloody prophecy of the end of Roman rule in Egypt and the resurgence of pagan Egyptian power. The predominant literary form is the dialogue: Hermes Trismegistus instructs a perplexed disciple on some point of hidden wisdom.

Not all Hermeticists take a religious approach; some consider it to be a philosophical system only. In Hermetic religion the supreme Deity, or Principle, is referred to variously as 'God', 'The All', or 'The One'. Many Hermeticists also align their beliefs and mystical ideas with other religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, mainstream Paganism, or Islam. Many hold that all great religions have equivalent mystical truths at their core, and that all religions share an understanding of esoteric tenets with Hermeticism.

The three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe:

Alchemy — The Operation of the Sun — is not simply the changing of physical lead into physical gold. It is an investigation into the spiritual constitution, or life of matter and material existence through an application of the mysteries of birth, death and resurrection.

[UPDATE 1/21/2012: The relationship of alchemy to the Hannibal Lecter movies is discussed in my 'unified analysis' of the movies, and in the 'Lecter movies - depiction of alchemical processes' video. There is also some discussion of alchemy in my analysis of the movie Hannibal, which was realeased 15 years after Manhunter came out.]

Astrology — The Operation of the Moon — Hermes claims that Zoroaster discovered this part of the wisdom of the whole universe, astrology, and taught it to man. In Hermetic thought, it is likely that the movements of the planets have meaning beyond the laws of physics and actually holding metaphorical value as symbols in the mind of The All, or God. Astrology has influences upon the Earth, but does not dictate our actions, and wisdom is gained when we know what these influences are and how to deal with them.

Theurgy — The Operation of the Stars — There are two different types of magic, according to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Apology, completely opposite of each other. The first is γοητεια, Goëtia, black magic reliant upon an alliance with evil spirits (i.e. demons). The second is Theurgy, divine magic reliant upon an alliance with divine spirits (i.e. angels, archangels, gods).[39]

a. van den Broek and Hanegraaff (1997), p. vii.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 79: Augustine on Shem and Japheth

CATEGORY: MOVIES

The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth.


Continuing along the thread of discussion from parts 77 and 78, we now come to City of God book 16, chapter 2 (note that I am not giving my own opinion on anything here - I am merely quoting Augustine):

...Shem and Japheth, that is to say, the circumcision and uncircumcision, or, as the apostle [St. Paul] otherwise calls them, the Jews and Greeks, but called and justified, having somehow discovered the nakedness of their father (which signifies the Saviour's passion), took a garment and laid it upon their backs, and entered backwards and covered their father’s nakedness, without their seeing what their reverence hid. For we both honor the passion of Christ as accomplished for us, and we hate the crime of the Jews who crucified Him. The garment signifies the sacrament, their backs the memory of things past: for the church celebrates the passion of Christ as already accomplished, and no longer to be looked forward to...

And when to the expression "he was naked" Scripture adds "in his house," it elegantly intimates that Jesus was to suffer the cross and death at the hands of His own household, His own kith and kin, the Jews. This passion of Christ is only externally and verbally professed by the reprobate*, for what they profess, they do not understand. But the elect hold in the inner man this so great mystery, and honor inwardly in the heart this weakness and foolishness of God. And of this there is a figure in Ham going out to proclaim his father's nakedness**; while Shem and Japheth, to cover or honor it, went in, that is to say, did it inwardly...(my emphasis)


*Reprobrate (noun) - 1. a depraved, unprincipled, or wicked person; 2. a person rejected by God and beyond hope of salvation.

**The Curse of Ham (also called the curse of Canaan) refers to the curse that Ham's father Noah placed upon Ham's son Canaan, after Ham "saw his father's nakedness" because of drunkenness in Noah's tent. It is related in the Book of Genesis 9:20-27.

City of God, Dodds translation on WikiSource


      

Manhunter analysis - part 78: On the genealogy of Shem

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**










Shem, Sons of Noah.


Yesterday in part 77 of the analysis, we analyzed Katz's and Zeller's names in an attempt to determine their heritage. We concluded that Katz represents a descendant of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah*. In book 16 of City of God, Augustine discusses the line of Shem. From chapter 10:

Of the genealogy of Shem, in whose line the City of God is preserved until the time of Abraham

It is necessary, therefore, to preserve the series of generations descending from Shem, for the sake of exhibiting the city of God after
the flood; as before the flood it was exhibited in the series of generations descending from Seth [the third son of Adam and Eve]. And therefore does divine Scripture, after exhibiting the earthly city as Babylon or "Confusion," revert to the patriarch Shem, and recapitulate the generations from him to Abraham, specifying besides, the year in which each father begat the son that belonged to this line, and how long he lived...

When, therefore, we look for the city of God in these seventy-two nations [the nations of the descendants of Noah], we cannot affirm that while they had but one lip, that is, one language, the human race had departed from the worship of the true God, and that genuine godliness had survived only in those generations which descend from Shem through Arphaxad and reach to Abraham; but from the time when they proudly built a tower to heaven, a symbol of godless exaltation, the city or society of the wicked becomes apparent. Whether it was only disguised before, or non-existent; whether both cities remained after the flood,—the godly in the two sons of Noah who were blessed, and in their posterity, and the ungodly in the cursed son [Ham] and his descendants, from whom sprang that mighty hunter against the Lord [Nimrod],—is not easily determined. For possibly—and certainly this is more credible—there were despisers of God among the descendants of the two sons, even before Babylon was founded, and worshippers of God among the descendants of Ham. (my emphasis)

Recalling the common 'raham' in 'Graham' and 'Abraham', perhaps Will's presence indicates that the time of Abraham has already come. At a metaphorical level, this might mean that Katz's being evil signifies that Shem's descendants are no longer 'preserving' the City of God.

*We also determined that Zeller represents a descendant of Japheth, one of Shem's brothers.

City of God, Dodds translation on WikiSource


      

Manhunter analysis - part 77: The relationship between Katz and Zeller

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**

In order to fully determine what is going on between Beverly Katz, the woman who did the hair analyses on the tissue note, and Brian Zeller, the man who 'betrayed' her by divulging the truth* to Will Graham, we need to start at a very early point in biblical history, in specific, during the time of Noah.

The Table of Nations or Sons of Noah is an extensive list of descendants of Noah which appears in Genesis 10 of the Hebrew Bible, representing an ethnology from an Iron Age Levantine perspective. The significance of Noah in this context is that, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 6), the population of the Earth was completely destroyed during the Flood because of the wickedness of the Earth's inhabitants. Noah and his family were the sole survivors to continue the human race; consequently, all humans on Earth are descendant from him. A literal interpretation of Genesis 10 suggests that the present population of the world was descended from Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. Until the mid-19th century, this was taken by many as historical fact, and still is by many Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

Shem is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity in each to have yielded different translations. The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Aram, Arpachshad and Lud. Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs, was one of the descendants of Arpachshad. Shem signifies name or renown (the Scriptures have been given to us through the family of Shem, and Christ was of that family.)

Japheth is often regarded as the youngest son, though some traditions regard him as the eldest. They are listed in the order Shem, Ham, and Japheth in Genesis 5:32 and 9:18, but treated in the reverse order in chapter 10. For those who take the genealogies of Genesis to be historically accurate, Japheth is commonly believed to be the father of the Europeans. In the Bible, Japheth is ascribed seven sons: Gomer, Magog, Tiras, Javan, Meshech, Tubal, and Madi.

Some writers have associated Noah's sons with different skin colors or alleged races. For instance the Jewish text Pirqei R. Eliezer, depicts God as dividing the earth among Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and attributing different skin colors to them (literally, —'blessing' them with different skin colors): light colored skin for the Japhetites, and medium dark or brown for the Semites, and dark brown or black for the
Hamites.[35]

With the above in mind, let us now examine Katz's and Zeller's names (we had actually begun an analysis of Katz's name back in part 73):

Katz is a frequent German surname. It is also a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname. It is an abbreviation formed from the initials of the name Kohen Tzedeq, and has been used since the seventeenth century, or perhaps somewhat earlier, as an epithet of the descendants of Aaron. In the Hebrew Bible, Aaron, sometimes called 'Aaron the Levite', was the brother of Moses, (Exodus 6:16-20) and represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites. Aaron was descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and thus from Noah’s son Shem.[36] Thus we see that metaphorically, Beverly Katz represents a descendant of Shem. Also, since she is (again, metaphorically speaking) descended from Aaron, she likely represents an Ashkenazi Jew.

Zeller: like Katz, Zeller is a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname. In Hebrew the word Askhenaz designates the region of middle Europe now known as Germany. The patriarch Ashkenaz was Gomer’s first son, and thus descended from Japheth. In Rabbinical texts Ashkenaz is believed to be the ancestor of the Germanic, Scandinavian and Slavic peoples, because of the similarity of the names Gomer and German, and the similarity of Ashkenaz to the name of the mythological founder of the Germans and Scandinavians Aschanes or Askanius (German) and Ask (Scandinavian).[37] If we go with the Rabbinical texts, then it seems Brian Zeller could represent an Ashkenazi Jew.

If we go according to the 'skin color theory' as stated earlier, then since Katz's skin is light brown, her identity as a descendant of Shem is confirmed. Concerning Zeller, he has white skin, so he represents a descendant of Japheth. The meaning of the name Brian is not known for certain, but it is possibly related to the old Celtic element** bre meaning "hill", or by extension "high, noble". The idea of Brian Zeller being noble fits with his divulging the truth to Will (i.e., he ultimately does not go along with those who are deceiving Will).

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim, are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany.

The exact definition of Jewishness is not universally agreed upon—neither by religious scholars (especially across different denominations), nor in the context of politics (as applied to those who wish to make Aliyah), nor even in the conventional, everyday sense where 'Jewishness' may be loosely understood by the casual observer as encompassing both religious and secular Jews, or religious Jews alone. This makes it especially difficult to define who is an Ashkenazi Jew, because they have been defined by different people using religious, cultural, or ethnic perspectives. Since the overwhelming majority of Ashkenazi Jews no longer live in Eastern Europe, the isolation that once favored a distinct religious tradition and culture has vanished.[38]


*At this point in the analysis, my theory is that Zeller is the person who told Will about Molly having committed incest with Kevin.
**A name element is an etymological piece of an individual name.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 76: Augustine on Hermes Trismegistus

CATEGORY: MOVIES
















Hermes Trismegistus, floor mosaic in
the Cathedral of Siena.



Saint Augustine discusses Hermes Trismegistus in City of God, Book 8, chapters 23-26. The background to what follows is chapters 15-22, wherein Augustine criticizes pagan teachings on demons, such as the teachings of Apuleius, who maintains that demons are beings with souls and bodies superior to those of men. Moving on to chapter 23,

The Egyptian Hermes, whom they call Trismegistus, had a different opinion concerning those demons. Apuleius, indeed, denies that they are gods; but when he says that they hold a middle place between the gods and men, so that they seem to be necessary for men as mediators between them and the gods, he does not distinguish between the worship due to them and the religious homage due to the supernal gods. This Egyptian, however, says that there are some gods made by the supreme God, and some made by men. Any one who hears this, as I have stated it, no doubt supposes that it has reference to images, because they are the works of the hands of men; but he asserts that visible and tangible images are, as it were, only the bodies of the gods, and that there dwell in them certain spirits, which have been invited to come into them, and which have power to inflict harm, or to fulfil the desires of those by whom divine honors and services are rendered to them. To unite, therefore, by a certain art, those invisible spirits to visible and material things, so as to make, as it were, animated bodies, dedicated and given up to those spirits who inhabit them,—this, he says, is to make gods, adding that men have received this great and wonderful power...

[Hermes seems to have predicted] the present time, in which the Christian religion is overthrowing all lying figments with a vehemence and liberty proportioned to its superior truth and holiness, in order that the grace of the true Saviour may deliver men from those gods which man has made, and subject them to that God by whom man was made. But when Hermes predicts these things, he speaks as one who is a friend to these same mockeries of demons, and does not clearly express the name of Christ. On the contrary, he deplores, as if it had already taken place, the future abolition of those things by the observance of which there was maintained in Egypt a resemblance of heaven,—he bears witness to Christianity by a kind of mournful prophecy...


City of God, Dodds translation on WikiSource


      

Manhunter analysis - part 75: Reba represents Rhea Sylvia

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**













Joan Allen as Reba McClane.


Since the name 'Reba' is short for 'Rebecca', it seems likely that our Reba may in some way(s) represent the biblical figure, Rebecca; but for right now I want to discuss another person whom I think she represents, the mythical woman Rhea Sylvia. Rhea Silvia (also written as Rea Silvia), and also known as Ilia, was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome.

According to Livy's account of the legend, she was the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa and descendant of Aeneas. Numitor's younger brother Amulius seized the throne and killed Numitor's son. Amulius forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin, a priestess to the goddess Vesta, so that the line of Numitor would have no heirs; Vestal Virgins were sworn to celibacy for a period of thirty years. Rhea Silvia claimed that the god Mars, however, came upon her and seduced her in the forest, thereby conceiving the twins.[33] We know that Dollarhyde represents Mars, and we know that Reba was a virgin before having sex with him, so it appears that there is a fairly strong correspondence between Reba McLane and Rhea Sylvia.

Digressing for a moment, it should be mentioned that The Order of the Vestal Virgins and its well-being was considered to have a direct bearing on the health and prosperity of the city. The prefect Symmachus wrote, "The laws of our ancestors provided for the vestal virgins and the ministers of the gods a moderate maintenance and just privileges. This gift was preserved inviolate till the time of the degenerate moneychangers, who diverted the maintenance of sacred chastity into a fund for the payment of base porters. A public famine ensued on this act, and a bad harvest disappointed the hopes of all the provinces... it was sacrilege which rendered the year barren, for it was necessary that all should lose that which they had denied to religion."

Zosimus records how the Christian noblewoman Serena, niece of Theodosius I, entered the Temple of Vesta and took from the statue of the goddess a necklace and placed it on her own neck. An old woman appeared, the last of the vestal virgins, who proceeded to rebuke Serena and called down upon her all just punishment for her act of impiety. According to Zosimus, Serena was then subject to dreadful dreams predicting her own untimely death.[34] We recall that Augustine was inspired to write his City of God (which we have been using for this analysis) in response to murmurings that the capture of Rome and the disintegration of its empire was due to the advent of the Christian era and its intolerance of the old gods who had defended the city for over a thousand years (see part 20).

Returning to the subject of Rhea Sylvia, as I mentioned she claimed that the god Mars came upon her and seduced her in the forest, thereby conceiving the twins Romulus and Remus. We note that Dollarhyde's house, where he and Reba had sex, is located in a wooded area reminiscent of a forest. Insofar as Reba represents Rhea Sylvia, we see that Reba was impregnated by Dollarhyde when she had sex with him, and furthermore, she is to bear twins. This is why Dollarhyde is hesitant about killing her near the end - he 'senses' that she has his offspring within her.

Perhaps the fact that Reba is to bear twins explains why the woman depicted in Blake's 'red dragon' painting that was actually used in the movie (The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun) is more obviously pregnant than the woman in the painting that Dollarhyde identifies with (The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Rays of the Sun**), though ostensibly it is the same woman in both paintings (see here).


*The thirty years were, in turn, divided into three periods of a decade each: ten as students, ten in service, and ten as teachers. Recall that Reba tells Dollarhyde that she had trained in therapy for speech- and hearing-impaired children, and that she would "probably go back to it some day".
**This is the alternate name for Blake's painting, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 74: Washington, D.C. represents Heliopolis

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**

Clockwise from upper left: Map of Ancient Egypt showing Upper and Lower Egypt; modern map of Maryland showing Baltimore and the Washington, D.C. area; Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.; Obelisk of Pharaoh Senusret I as it appears today in Cairo, Egypt. Though it is hard to tell from the map of Egypt, the ancient city of Heliopolis is located in Lower Egypt, and Hermopolis on the border between Upper and Lower Egypt. Since the Nile flows from south to north in this region, and the Potomac River flows from north to south near Washington, then if we rotate the map of Egypt around 180 degrees, Baltimore (north, and thus 'upper') can be taken as Hermopolis, and Washington (south, thus 'lower') as Heliopolis. Noting that there is not a strict one-to-one correspondence between the two regions, we can nevertheless take the Atlantic Ocean as the Mediterranean Sea, and the 'combination' of the Potomac River/Chesapeake Bay as the Nile.

Yesterday in part 71 of the analysis, we were discussing the idea that Lecktor represents Hermes Trismegistus, who represents a 'combination' of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. I mentioned that in Hellenistic Egypt, the two gods were worshipped as one in what had been the Temple of Thoth in Khemnu, which the Greeks called Hermopolis. Going into some detail on Thoth, this god was often considered as the heart, which, according to the ancient Egyptians, is the seat of intelligence or the mind, and tongue of the sun god Ra; as well as the means by which Ra's will was translated into speech. He had also been related to the Logos of Plato and the mind of God.[30] Ra (also spelled Ré) is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the fifth dynasty he became a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun, with other deities representing other positions of the sun. Ra changed greatly over time and in one form or another, much later he was said to represent the sun at all times of the day.

The chief cult center of Ra was first based in Heliopolis.[31] Heliopolis (Greek: Ἡλίου πόλις or Ἡλιούπολις), meaning sun-city, was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome. In ancient times it was the principal seat of sun-worship, thus its name, which means city of the sun in Greek. Heliopolis contains the earliest temple obelisk still in its original position.[32] The Washington monument, which is an obelisk, 'corresponds' to the obelisks in Heliopolis (see the two lower photos above).

What all this amounts to when applied to our movie, is that while Lecktor resides in Baltimore, his main cult center is located in Washington: The FBI personnel who are deceiving Will during the lab analyses and in the investigators' meeting in Washington, represent worshippers of Lecktor as the sun god Ra (ultimately, as Thoth/Hermes Trismegistus)!! The correspondence of Lecktor to a sun god reminds us of "the source of light" in the tissue note. Lecktor's 'residence' in Baltimore can likely be taken as representing the temple in Hermopolis.

In the above I used the word 'personnel' (i.e., the plural) because, although Brian Zeller ultimately does not deceive Will, it may be the case that Lloyd Bowman and/or Jimmy Price are trying to do so. We need to 'analyze' those two characters to see if they could be involved in the deception; we also need to explore a little more into the sun god Ra. We will accomplish both of these things very soon.

[UPDATE 10/5/11: For more detail on the reason some of the investigators have decided to work for Lecktor, see part 27 of my 'unified analysis' of the Lecter movies.]

      

Manhunter analysis - part 73: Psychopomps

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**

















Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung in 1910.



In part 71 of the analysis, I mentioned that both the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth were considered to be psychopomps. Psychopomps (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός (psychopompos), literally meaning the "guide of souls") are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife.

In Jungian psychology, the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms.[29] Perhaps Lecktor is acting as somewhat of a mediator between these two components of Will Graham's psyche - at various places in the movie after his meeting with Lecktor, ideas seem to 'emerge' from Will's unconscious into his conscious mind. For example, it is possible that upon seeing the severed branch in the Jacobi's tree, he 'knew' the instrument used to cut it was also intended to be used to break into that family's house, but that he did not consciously 'recognize' this fact until later, while going over the Jacobis' home movies with Crawford in Atlanta.* In fact, it is this recognition which began the mental process leading to his 'epiphany' about how Dollarhyde selects his victims. Regardless of whether and to what extent Lecktor may be acting as his psychopomp, it appears that Will may have a natural talent in this area as well, that is, he is more 'attuned' to his own unconscious than the average person.

*An intervening event occurred wherein Crawford told Will that the tool used to sever the branch was a common bolt-cutter. This piece of information, coupled with the initial 'recognition' upon seeing the branch, came together in Will's mind upon viewing the movies.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 72: Augustine on 'cycles' of time

CATEGORY: MOVIES

In this post I am going to introduce into the analysis what I believe to be the grandest underlying theme of Manhunter (and by implication, the novel Red Dragon), this being the idea of what Augustine in one place calls cycles of time. Part of doing this will consist of quoting from City of God, book 12, with the idea essentially being that throughout the history of man, world events have occurred in cycles, that is, events have tended to repeat themselves over time. One type of event which repeats is evident from the reading over of this analysis, that of a major prophet predicting the 'downfall' of a civilization: we have seen Jonah prophesy the downfall of the city of Ninevah, Jeremiah that of Israel, and most notably, St. John prophesying the end of Babylon and the world itself in the book of Revelation. We will begin with Augustine book 12, chapter 13, which is entitled, Of the Revolution of the Ages, Which Some Philosophers Believe Will Bring All Things Round Again, After a Certain Fixed Cycle, to the Same Order and Form as at First:

[Some philosophers have introduced the idea of] cycles of time, in which there should be a constant renewal and repetition of the order of nature; and they have therefore asserted that these cycles will ceaselessly recur, one passing away and another coming, though they are not agreed as to whether one permanent world shall pass through all these cycles, or whether the world shall at fixed intervals die out, and be renewed so as to exhibit a recurrence of the same phenomena—the things which have been, and those which are to be, coinciding...

Some, too, in advocating these recurring cycles that restore all things to their original cite in favor of their supposition what Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes: “What is that which hath been? It is that which shall be. And what is that which is done? It is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Who can speak and say, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us.”[Eccles. 1.9-10 ] This he said either of those things of which he had just been speaking—the succession of generations, the orbit of the sun, the course of rivers,—or else of all kinds of creatures that are born and die. For men were before us, are with us, and shall be after us; and so all living things and all plants...

However, some would understand these words as meaning that in the predestination of God all things have already existed, and that thus there is no new thing under the sun. At all events, far be it from any true believer to suppose that by these words of Solomon those cycles are meant, in which, according to those philosophers, the same periods and events of time are repeated; as if, for example, the philosopher Plato, having taught in the school at Athens which is called the Academy, so, numberless ages before, at long but certain intervals, this same Plato and the same school, and the same disciples existed, and so also are to be repeated during the countless cycles that are yet to be,—far be it, I say, from us to believe this.

For once Christ died for our sins; and, rising from the dead, He dieth no more. “Death hath no more dominion over Him";[Romans 6.9] and we ourselves after the resurrection shall be “ever with the Lord,”[Thess 4.16] to whom we now say, as the sacred Psalmist dictates, “Thou shall keep us, O Lord, Thou shall preserve us from this generation.”[Ps. 12.7] And that too which follows, is, I think, appropriate enough: “The wicked walk in a circle,” not because their life is to recur by means of these circles, which these philosophers imagine, but because the path in which their false doctrine now runs is circuitous.

It is evident from the above that St. Augustine does not agree with the philosophers who propose the existence of cycles of time. However, when considering the metaphorical depiction of repeating events* in Manhunter, it appears that Red Dragon author Thomas Harris does not agree with Augustine: Thomas Harris is using holy scripture to prove Augustine wrong - he is using the Bible to show that these cycles do exist!

*What I am talking about for right now are the movie's allusions to the 'apocalyptic' prophesies mentioned at the beginning of this post. There are metaphorical depictions and suggestions of other repeating events as well - we will be exploring those as the analysis proceeds.

City of God, Dodds translation on WikiSource


      

Manhunter analysis - part 71: Lecktor represents Hermes Trismegistus

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**










The caduceus, one of the symbols
of the Greek god Hermes.


Continuing our 'analysis' of the character Hannibal Lecktor, one thing of note is that, recalling that he represents the Greek god Hermes, in this capacity one of his symbols is the caduceus. The caduceus is typically depicted as a short herald's staff entwined by two serpents in the form of a double helix, and is sometimes surmounted by wings. It is sometimes erroneously used as a symbol for medicine, especially in North America, due to confusion with the traditional medical symbol, the rod of Asclepius, which has only a single snake and no wings. Since Lecktor is a doctor, it makes sense that one of his symbols has to do with medicine; but since it is technically not the correct symbol, perhaps what is being inferred is that he is some kind of 'false doctor', i.e., one who does not truly heal: he is in one sense trying to heal Will, but ultimately he is leading him to his destruction. Of additional note is that In later Antiquity the caduceus might have provided the basis for the astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury and in Roman iconography was often depicted being carried in the left hand of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, guide of the dead and protector of merchants, shepherds, gamblers, liars and thieves.[27]

At this point I am going to go one step further and say that the entity whom Lecktor represents is Hermes Trismegistus (Greek: Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος, "thrice-great Hermes"; Latin: Mercurius ter Maximus). Hermes Trismegistus is the representation of the combination of Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. In Hellenistic Egypt, the Greeks recognised the congruence of their god Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth. Subsequently the two gods were worshipped as one in what had been the Temple of Thoth in Khemnu, which the Greeks called Hermopolis. Both Thoth and Hermes were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures. Thus, the Greek god of interpretive communication was combined with the Egyptian god of wisdom as a patron of astrology and alchemy. In addition, both gods were psychopomps, guiding souls to the afterlife.

As a divine source of wisdom, Hermes Trismegistus was credited with tens of thousands of writings of high standing. The origin of the description Trismegistus or "thrice great" is unclear. Copenhaver reports that this name is first found in the minutes of a meeting of the council of the Ibis cult, held in 172 BCE near Memphis in Egypt. The date of his sojourn in Egypt in his last incarnation is not now known, but it has been fixed at the early days of the oldest dynasties of Egypt, long before the days of Moses. Some authorities regard him as a contemporary of Abraham, and some Jewish traditions go so far as to claim that Abraham acquired a portion of his mystical knowledge from Hermes himself.

St. Augustine and some of the other Christian writers considered Hermes Trismegistus to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity. They believed in a 'Prisca Theologia', the doctrine that a single, true, theology exists, which threads through all religions, and which was given by God to man in antiquity and passed through a series of prophets, which included Zoroaster and Plato. In order to demonstrate the verity of the 'priscia theologia' Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. By this account Hermes Trismegistus was either, according to the fathers of the Christian church, a contemporary of Moses or the third in a line of men named Hermes, i.e. Enoch, Noah and the Egyptian priest king who is known to us as Hermes Trismegistus, or "thrice great" on account of being the greatest priest, philosopher and king.

This last account of how Hermes Trismegistus received the appellation "Trismegistus," meaning "Thrice Great," is derived from statements in the The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, that he knows the three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe. The three parts of the wisdom are alchemy, astrology, and theurgy. The pymander, from which Marsilio Ficino formed his opinion, states that "they called him Trismegistus because he was the greatest philosopher and the greatest priest and the greatest king." Another explanation, in the Suda (10th century), is that "He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the trinity, saying there is one divine nature in the trinity."

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, known as Hermetica, enjoyed great prestige and were popular among alchemists. The "hermetic tradition" consequently refers to alchemy, magic, astrology and related subjects. The texts are usually divided into two categories: the "philosophical", and the "technical" hermetica. The former deals mainly with issues of philosophy, and the latter with practical magic, potions and alchemy. Spells to magically protect objects, for example, are the origin of the expression "Hermetically sealed".[28]

We will soon be taking up some of the issues stated or implied in the above, such as Lecktor's use of 'magic', the topics of hermeticism and psychopomps, and other things.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 70: The Melchizedek allegory

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**













Silver and violet coloring in the sink in Lecktor's cell.


Yesterday in part 69 we began to analyze Hannibal Lecktor's name, to see what biblical or mythological character(s) he might represent (in additon to Hermes). At one point in that post, I mentioned the Carthaginian military commander and tactician Hannibal (248 - 183 or 182 BC). Hannibal’s father Hamilcar Barca or Barcas (ca. 275 – 228 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family. The related name Brq (or Baraq) means "thunderbolt" in the Punic language and is thus equivalent to the epithet or cognomen Keraunos, common among many contemporary Greek commanders. The ancient Greek god Zeus, and his Roman equivalent, Jupiter, were often depicted holding a thunderbolt.[25] This fact will come into play in what follows.

We recall that in Lecktor's prison cell, there is a 'silver'-colored sink (probably stainless steel), atop of which is some sort of light-emitting device which gives the inside of the sink a violet or magenta "glow". Now, according to one website I have found*, there are links between various solar system colors, and holy scripture. In particular, violet, corresponding to the planet Jupiter, represents "Almighty God". Taking this together with the thunderbolt symbolism, we see that Lecktor's metaphorical 'father' is Jupiter/Zeus, so he (Lecktor) represents the presence of this Almighty God. (Of course, we also know from Greek mythology that Hermes was the son of Zeus, but we needed to establish the relationship with biblical scripture.)

Now, back in part 64 I promised that we would see if there is any relationship between Lecktor's plans for Will, and the fact that Beverly Katz is trying to deceive Will in the investigator's meeting. First, we note that when Will and Crawford first bring Katz the tissue note and hair samples from Baltimore, she is standing near a microscope in a large laboratory area, and against the far left (from our perspective) wall of this lab, there are a couple of large bins or recesses in the wall which have a violet color, very similar to the glow in Lecktor's sink as described above. This suggests some relationship between Katz and Lecktor, since the bins are visible to us while she is conversing with the others. The problem is that it is seemingly impossible to determine from the surface action in the movie, exactly what the nature of Katz's relationship to Lecktor is. Thus, we need to investigate the underlying symbolism and metaphor in the movie to find out what this relationship could be.**

Let us begin with Katz's name. According to Wikipedia, Katz is a frequent German surname. It is also a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname. It is, along with Cohen, the oldest and most common of Jewish last names. It is an abbreviation formed from the initials of the name Kohen Tzedeq (כּ״ץ), and has been used since the seventeenth century, or perhaps somewhat earlier, as an epithet of the descendants of Aaron. The collocation is most likely derived from Melchizedek ("king of righteousness"), who is called the priest ("kohen") of the most high God (Genesis 14.18).[26] The following passage is contained in Genesis 4:17-20, which falls under the heading, "Abram Blessed by Melchizedek" (Abram is the same person as Abraham):

After [Abram's] return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the king's Valley). And King Mechizedek of Salem [later, Jerusalem] brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abraham by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything.

Noting the common 'raham' in the names Graham and Abraham, and also noting that the planet Jupiter is called Zedek in Hebrew astronomy, we can now see the overall metaphorical meaning of the events taking place among Graham, Katz, and Lecktor: Katz represents Melchizedek, and she is praising Lecktor (Almighty God/God Most High) for delivering Graham's enemies (Molly, Bloom, and Kevin) to him (that is, to Will) - this is of course a 'reference' to the fact that Lecktor's book code message, which is intercepted during the investigators' meeting, is designed to send Will to Captiva to "kill them all"!

Thus we see that Katz and Lecktor are in league with each other. We will talk about this some more later, and we will also seek to find out if any of the other investigators are working against Will.


*Biblenews1.com.
**Just as we determined the familial relationship between Molly and Dr. Bloom by determining which Greek gods they represent.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 69: Analysis of Hannibal Lecktor's name

CATEGORY: MOVIES

In order to determine who it is that Hannibal Lecktor represents, perhaps it is useful to analyze his name. Starting with the last name, Lector (Lecktor minus the 'k') is a Latin term for one who reads. This brings to mind a statement that Lecktor made to Graham during the prison scene: "You haven't threatened to take away my books yet." In a church, a lector is a person who reads aloud certain of the scriptural passages used in a service. The name Leck is German, and is probably an altered spelling of the name Lech, which is North German and is from a byname for a mean person, from Middle Low German lēch, meaning low, bad, or mean. Lech can also be an abbreviation for lecher, an inappropriately lustful person.

The name Hannibal means "grace of Ba'al" from the Phoenician hann "grace" combined with the name of the god BA'AL. Hannibal was the name of a Carthaginian general known for his cruelty, who threatened Rome during the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BC.[23] BA'AL is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that was used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant. Worship of all such spirits was rejected as immoral, and many were in fact considered malevolent and dangerous.

Generally speaking, "Ba‛al" can refer to any god and even to human officials. Since Ba‘al simply means 'Lord', there is no obvious reason for which it could not be applied to Yahweh as well as other gods. In fact, Hebrews generally referred to Yahweh as Adonai ('My Lord') in prayer (the word Hashem - 'The Name' - is substituted in everyday speech.) Most biblical uses of "Ba‛al" refer to any number of local spirit-deities worshipped as cult images, each called ba‛al and regarded in the Hebrew Bible in that context as a false god.

Baal is sometimes seen as a demon in Christianity. Christian writings referred to Ba‘al Zebûb as a demon or devil, often interchanged with Beelzebub. Either form may appear as an alternate name for Satan or may appear to refer to the name of a lesser devil. The demonization of Ba‘al Zebûb led to much of the modern religious personification of Satan as the adversary of the Abrahamic God.[24]

Taking all of the above into consideration, perhaps Hannibal Lecktor can in part be seen as some sort of 'supremely evil' false god. We will soon see who some of his worshippers are.


      

Manhunter analysis - part 68: References to the number '6'

CATEGORY: MOVIES **Contains spoilers**

Image from the Winchester Bible, showing

the seven ages within the opening letter "I"

of the book of Genesis. This image is the

final age, the Last Judgement.

Earlier in the analysis I mentioned that the number six (6) comes up at least three times in the movie: In the pier scene, Will tells Molly that "We [the investigators] got about six days until the next full moon." Later, in Atlanta, Will tells Crawford (paraphrasing), "you brought me in...knowing damn well I'd imagine families three, four, five, and six." Also, it takes six bullets to kill Dollarhyde. I have said that these mentions of the number 6 might be referring to the biblical six days of creation as described in Genesis. I have now discovered that they might be a reference to the Six Ages of the World.

The Six Ages of the World is a Christian historical periodization outline first written about by Saint Augustine circa 400 AD. It is based along Christian religious events, from the birth of Adam to the events of Revelation. The six ages of history, with each age lasting approximately a 1000 years, were widely believed and in use throughout the Middle Ages, and until the Enlightenment, the writing of history was mostly the filling out of all or some part of this outline.

The outline accounts for Seven Ages, just as there are seven days of the week, with the Seventh Age being eternal rest after the
Final Judgement and End Times, just as the seventh day of the week is reserved for rest. It was normally called the Six Ages of the World because they were the ages of the world, of history, while the Seventh Age was not of this world and lasting forever. The Six Ages are best described in the words of Saint Augustine, found in De catechizandis rudibus (On the catechizing of the uninstructed), Chapter 22:

1) The First Age: "The first is from the beginning of the human race, that is, from Adam, who was the first man that was made, down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood."
2) The Second Age: "..extends from that period on to Abraham, who was called the father indeed of all nations.."
3) The Third Age: "For the third age extends from Abraham on to David the king."
4) The Fourth Age: "The fourth from David on to that captivity whereby the people of God passed over into Babylonia."
5) The Fifth Age: "The fifth from that transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ."
6) The Sixth Age: "With His [Jesus Christ's] coming the sixth age has entered on its process."

Augustine was not the first to conceive of the Six Ages, which had its roots in the Jewish tradition, but he was the first to write about it with authority. The theory originates from a passage in 2 Peter: "But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) From this it was taken to mean that mankind would live through six 1,000 year periods (or "days"), with the seventh being eternity in heaven.

Christian scholars believed it was possible to determine how long man had been alive, starting with Adam, by counting forward how long each generation had lived up to the time of Jesus, based on the ages recorded in the Bible. While the exact age of the earth was a matter of biblical interpretive debate, it was generally agreed man was somewhere in the last and final thousand years, the Sixth Age, and the final Seventh Age could happen at any time. The world was seen as an old place, and the future would be much shorter than the past; a common image was of the world growing old.

The Ages reflect the seven days of creation, of which the last day is the rest of the Sabbath, illustrating the human journey to find eternal rest with God, a common Christian narrative.[22]