Metaphysics in Movies
by Christopher Toussaint
The following contains highlights from a Learning Annex panel at Agape
Spiritual Center in Santa Monica in November 1997 called “Metaphysics in Movies”.
The three panelists included Stephen Simon, of Metafilmics,
producer of the Christopher Reeves film “Somewhere In Time” and
more recently the Robin Williams starer “What Dreams May Come”, a
love story set in the afterlife to be released soon; Michael Murphy, the
founder of Esalen and author of several books on consciousness;
and Bruce Joel Rubin,
meditation teacher and Academy Award-winning
screenwriter of
“Ghost”, “Brainstorm”, “Jacobs Ladder” and “My Life”.
A New Genre
Stephen led off the panel acknowledging that “this new genré” of
films with metaphysical themes like “Phenomenon” or “Ghost” has
for sometime now been defined by 1 or 2 movies per year that have
been “wildly successful.” He suggested that the answer to why
there aren’t more of them is “not because all studio execs are
Philistines” but because they are not passionate artists, nor even
free spirited entrepreneurs like in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
He lamented the fact that most movies set in the future show a
distopia, or fall of civilization, while conjecturing that perhaps this
may be explained by our collective “sense memory” from a prior
collapsed civilization (Atlantis, anyone?). Still he saw hope coming
from the advance of lower-cost technology, independent financing
and the “leaderless evolution” direction society seems to be moving towards.
Bruce Joel Rubin reminded us that the movies have always bordered
on religious experience, being communal, yet personal to each of us,
“being alone in the dark sharing the same journey.” He cited “The
Wizard of Oz” and “Star Wars” as examples of movies that take us
on a journey and then admonished writers and filmmakers “you have
to go into your journey and tell that truth.” Unfortunately, many
metaphysical movies fail because they want to teach -- send a
message, instead of telling a story, he admitted. On top of that, he
quipped, “The problem with spiritual films is that audiences very
rarely root for someone to transcend.”
Michael Murphy elaborated upon Rubin’s “religious experience” track
with an overview of the performances of the Greek Mysteries
preceding Plato, through numinous displays in dark caverns where
revelations appeared in the smoke and mist of early priests and
priestesses. I reflected on how medieval cathedrals and Eastern
temples are not so different from Mann’s Chinese & Egyptian
Theaters and even how corn was sacred to indigenous peoples and
Freemasons, though obviously not in its altered state of “pop”ness.
Bringing us right up to the present he drew the parallel between
different states of consciousness and “how we all are constantly
making movies every day.”
Still, the panelists all saw a lot of room for improvement from the
medium. Simon faulted today’s films for relying on a “technology
that has outstripped our creativity” and for not taking a leadership
role. “We have been genetically programmed to deal with the
negative,” he said, which inhibits our ability to pay enough attention
to the positive things that are happening.
Even though the industry may be behind the book publishing industry
as far as green-lighting provocative metaphysical stories, Simon
feels that there are individuals in key Hollywood studios who have
“the power to say something positive for humanity, do something
wonderful for the world.” Hopefully, he adds, they can resist the
prevailing cynicism, the notion of trying to figure out in advance
what audiences want and introducing compromises during the
development process in an effort to control their investments --
human fears which interfere with the creativity of Spirit.