I mentioned in a previous post that I had begun watching ABC's Once Upon a Time. Well. Several weeks ago, one of my friends/classmates began watching it herself, and suggested that I watch it, too. I had had my eye on it, although I wasn't terribly interested because I'm not a big fairy tale person, and I didn't know exactly how fairy tales were involved in this show. So I let the weeks pass by and instead kept re-watching episodes of Supernatural.
But just the other day, I got tired of re-watching Supernatural and decided to try something new: Once Upon a Time.
I do admit it's pretty good. For those unfamiliar with the series, it's basically about this evil queen who curses all fairy tale characters into the "modern world" - a town in Maine called Storybrooke. In this modern world, the fairy tale characters have forgotten who they actually are, and live modern, everyday lives. The queen, Regina, is also there, as mayor of the town, and she - along with the modern version of Rumpelstiltskin and her adopted son Henry - is the only one who knows about the curse. The cool part is that in each episode, the characters' "modern" lives are modeled around their fairy tale lives.
Some of it is kind of cheesy. I mean, it's an ABC show. There's a huge theme of true love, imagination, stories being real, that kind of thing. I'm mainly interested in watching what happens in the "modern world," because there's a lot of drama and scheming going on between those who know about the curse and those who don't.
This evening, while watching the episode "Hat Trick," the Mad Hatter (in the modern world) quoted something quite relevant to my current thoughts:
"Did you learn about [the Civil War] in a book? How is that less real than any other book? Storybooks are based on what? Imagination. Where does that come from? It has to come from somewhere. Do you know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants a magical solution for their problems, and everyone refuses to believe in magic."
I had to smile. Of course, the protagonist, who is meant to break the curse, doesn't believe in the whole "everyone's a fairy tale character" thing. Or magic, for that matter. But the conversation Mad Hatter (or "Jefferson") had with Emma, the protagonist, was very relevant to what I've been thinking about regarding the "storybook theory."
Yeah, I get it. No one wants to think their lives are set in stone. If you had talked to me back in August, I would've fiercely denied it, too. Funny how truth changes like that...
And even funnier? I go downstairs just now to get me some green tea and my mom finds some ground coffee in her lazy susan that she didn't know she had. So I said: "The things you find in your lazy susan..." And what does she say?
"I know! It's like magic."
Heh. You know... I'm perfectly okay with being a "storybook character." I'm perfectly okay with having my life defined for me. Because I'm bigger than that. This simple little skin is nothing compared to my true face. And to think I used to cringe when I would hear some people back at SF say free will is an illusion. This whole world is a bloody illusion. Why should free will be an exception?
It's not like we're prisoners. People freak out at the idea of no free will because they think they're insignificant. But they're not.
Earth's future is already determined. Earth has its own story, just like any other piece of existence. All stories have an end, just like they all have an author. Plots are weaved. Characters are developed. Plot twists throw characters off track. There are major character deaths, and minor ones too. There are triumphs and defeats, and reunions with loved ones. Sacrifices, jealousy, heroes and villains.
We're storytellers. Each and every one of us. Who's to say we aren't writers in our purest form? And just how coincidental that I work on rewriting a portion of VotS today that is also very relevant to this topic:
If Adonai was a separate being, I picture it sitting alone in the universe, deciding what to do with its existence. It has all this potential creativity from which countless masterpieces could be formed. So to pass the time, it creates. It paints and sculpts fabulous worlds, and then writes stories to fill them. Stories of drama, of mystery and horror, of fantasy and sci-fi, of romance and the supernatural.
"Let me ask you this: if you were truly aware of yourself as infinite creative energy, what would you do? Would you sit in silence in the void and twiddle your thumbs? Would you deliberately choose to ignore the yearning to create? Creative energy – Source – is pure creation. Therefore, why would we, as that energy, refrain from our most natural gift? This would be akin to a talented and passionate artist refusing to create beautiful works of art, despite being presented with an endless supply of materials."
But this is a topic I need to save for my book.
As a last bit of news: I did get to leave class early, and as of this moment, I have 98% of my assignments done. I do admit I'm not too excited to pitch my Bertie Bott's Beans commercial to the class on Wednesday. I'm much more excited to present my self-portrait. It came out pretty nice.
3 days!
Evaah
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