The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the Reinvention of Myth
The Ocean at the End
of the Lane by Neil Gaiman tells the story of a middle-aged man returning
to his childhood home to attend a funeral. As he is drawn to a farmhouse with a
pond his past comes flooding back. A past so strange and frightening it’s hard
to believe a small boy experienced it all. I don’t want to give any spoilers
away so I’ll leave it at that but this book is amazing. It’s so relatable the
story is told with a rare and fantastical understanding of all that makes us
human. We often suppress things as to keep going with our lives just as our
unnamed protagonist does and we shelter ourselves from darkness. Our pasts
become myths and as we get older we forget the past as if it were some sort of
fairytale that we outgrow. I was often questioning if these were his actual
memories or his childhood rendition of what was happening or maybe a mix of
both. Great read, truly a great modern fable.
Other Perspectives
The Spanish film Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Torro is a
work of art. I love this movie so much it’s another great example of fantasy
merging with the real world and the questions it entails. A child is always
seen as a portal to the fantastical just as in Gaiman’s work and although the
film can be brutal at times it’s touching on so many levels. On the Urban
Fantasy side of things Being John Malkovich is also an extraordinary film
although I might be a bit biased when it comes to Spike Jonze films. It would
take to long to explain the film and it would just ruin things if I di but it’s
a fun and quirky brainteaser of a film that has you constantly questioning its
ties to reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment