The Pandorica and the Underworld - meta on The Pandorica Opens

[lonewytch]

I've just completed a re-watch of Series 5 as a part of a viewing marathon on the Gallifreybase forum looking at myth, imagery and symbolism in Moffat's Who.  Thanks to janie_aire for coordinating this marathon and sharing ideas over on that forum,  and also to the others who post there.

I thought i'd post some meta on The Pandorica Opens going roughly

Comments

[a_phoenixdragon]

Ohhh, I love this!!

I must mention (even though I'm not half as good with the thinky) that I found it ironic that the Pandorica was just like the box it was named after. Everything (well....except the universe particles) was left out...but Hope (which was locked inside).

Gonna keep this - you've given me a lot to think about!

*hugs*

[lonewytch]

Yes you're right! It's like that inversion of stuff again, where everything gets turned inside out - so the hope is locked inside, away from everything else, and it's the Doctor's job to reach that and send it out to the rest of the Universe.

Glad you enjoyed it :) *big hugs*

[aareavis]

I had almost forgotten about tarot theories. I think I had also decided that the Doctor was the Hanged Man as well as the Magician because we kept seeing the Doctor upside down. And the Hanged Man is traditionally a man hanging upside down on the world tree.

[lonewytch]

Yes, the Doctor is definitely the hanged man! Have you ever read the norse myth of Odin? He hangs off the world tree for 9 days and nights so that he gains the knowledge of the runes and how to travel inbetween the worlds.

You still around on Gallifreybase? The Looking Glass marathon is still going.

[marence]

Great summary.
I tend to think in allegories and symbolism anyway (too much Campbell during a particularly impressionable time), so S5 & 6 have been fun to overthink about.
I had never really considered the crack as doorway. Now I have to go watch again.

[lonewytch]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed. I'm a Campbell fan as well, and currently reading The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, all about the hero's journey. I can't stop thinking about things in terms of myth at the moment. Moffat's Who is great for that!

I think the crack is like a doorway/threshold between the world of order and the world of chaos. Life needs both of them, but they necessarily have to be kept separate for balance (and the sake of sanity!!) In the world on reality's side of the crack we have the perception of being a separate individual being, on the other side we return to the a one-ness with the Universe - hence why the Clerics "walk into the light" in Flesh and Stone, and are forgotten/never existed, it's got very religious overtones.

[honeynoir]

This is wonderfully written, and very thorough. (Yay!) Everything about it is utterly interesting; I wish I had the time to rewatch all of S5 right now, with this meta in mind.

Not once did I pay attention to the trees. I know someone wrote something about the golden apples in S5, and how they, in Norse mythology, symbolised immortality/perpetual youth. And now there are parallels to Yggdrasil as well… mind = blown.

[lonewytch]

Thanks very much, i'm glad you enjoyed it. Any excuse to rewatch is a good one!

Oooh, i never thought of the golden apples in the Norse as well. They were kept by a goddess called Idunn, and they conferred immortality on the gods. So in a way Amy, keeper of the apples, is like Idunn because she gives the Doctor back his life.

It's crazy how the world tree and the 3 worlds weaves through so many of the eps in series 5, it's everywhere i look!

[honeynoir]

So in a way Amy, keeper of the apples, is like Idunn because she gives the Doctor back his life.
This is lovely! And fits perfectly -- I love Amy and her apples. There was a golden apple in River's cell as well (in S5 at least), and after LKH, the myth applies to her as well. It all makes so much more sense now!

Well, I guess it's time for the DVDs again...

[kaffy_r]

It is with this discussion, on "The Pandorica Opens" that I see most clearly your Yggdrasil imagery. I was struck and impressed by it in your talk about ToA/FaS, but here it really hit home.

And then I started looking around at other iterations of the World Tree/Tree of Life imagery and myths - the Buddhist bodhi tree imagery of enlightenment, the Jewish etz chaim and the subsequent tying of wisdom (Sofia) to the tree ... and I started to get dizzy.

(I was also happily gobsmacked by the Tarot interpretation of River - wow, even down to the blue book!)

Truly fantastic!

[lonewytch]

Glad you also enjoyed this one, and thanks for commenting!

The world tree is everywhere in series 5 as are the 3 worlds - it's crazy how much they are referenced. I'm wavering on whether this was a conscious effort by Moffat and team, or whether it's the archetypal image just manifesting itself through the modern myth of Who, unconsciously on the part of the creators.

Just watched A Christmas Carol and it's there- blatantly - as well!