For Your Solstice Consideration

A bit of a maudlin discussion of The Wicker Man on Metaphilm comparing it with Foucault's philosophies.

Now, I'm not a Foucault scholar, and the person who wrote the article at least presumes to be, but a bit of it is hogwash. It did, however, remind me of a singularly interesting movie that I'm not sure could ever get made in a commercial studio these days. Also, regardless of if you hold with it or not, solstice recalls more than just long days - it's the beginning of the return to darkness.

From the article:

As he burns, the Wicker Man crumples before the setting sun of a life, an anthropology, a story, a game of truth, a history, an image of man washed away by the timeless movement of the sea. Therein lies the true moment of dread, inspired by all the greatest horror movies—The Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead, Frankenstein, Evil Dead, etc.—for the greatest fear is not of death, but of the loss of the self, of identity, of autonomy, of subjectivity. [full article here]

Now that? Kind of interesting. And if you haven't seen the movie and want an eerie experience, go rent.