Cabin in the Woods

Today I went to see the film "The Cabin in the Woods." The film made me think of some stuff I have learned while at the temple, so I thought it'd be a good idea to post my thoughts here while it's still fresh in my mind. This post contains spoilers, so if you are planning to see the film, you may not wish to read on (the film is one those "the less you know the more exciting it is" types.)

The movie got me thinking about what Joseph Campbell has discussed about myth and ritual. The entire film can be seen as a kind of myth, in regards to being a commentary on life and framework on how to view it.

In the film, people representing different archetypes(whore, athlete, scholar, fool, virgin) are to be sacrificed to the "Ancient Ones." These are apparently the Gods of Old, who must be appeased by sacrifice every year or they will rise up and destroy humanity. I noticed how in the film, while the Ancient Ones are bringers of destruction, they aren't described as inherently evil or dark. They are kind of like Shiva (or some other deity), who may bring destruction, but also can bring life and transformation. In our own lives, we may view these "Ancient Ones" as the neutral forces beyond our control, such as natural disasters. But nuclear destruction is also I think a good real-world version of the "Ancient Ones", because, like the destruction the Ancient Ones bring, the destruction nuclear weapons bring can be prevented through the action of humans.

As I mentioned earlier, there are specific archetypes to be sacrificed. However, the director of the sacrificing mentions that the archetypes change with culture, and the one theme that binds all of the archetypes is youth. In our present day culture, we desire and resent youth- people in our culture wish to be/stay young (so we have cosmetic procedures like botox and shows where middle-aged adults act like 20-somethings), and some may also wish to see the young suffer due to "their arrogance." We want to see people who flaunt their youth (their heightened sexuality, health/physique, mental capabilities, foolishness, innocence) to "get what's coming to them." So, it makes sense that youth would be sacrificed. We already kind of do, symbolically. Most notably, through horror films! Though we could also argue that some reality TV shows do the same thing, where we get to watch people get their hearts broken or humiliated on-screen.

One part that stuck out at me was at the end of the film when the "fool" and the "virgin" are sitting in the chamber above the Gods, waiting for them to rise and start destroying humanity. They say that maybe it is best that humanity will be destroyed- something new will be able to rise up to take their place. It's the cycle of life/death, on a grand scale. It's the acceptance of being part of the old way, and having to leave to make way for the new.

So yes, those are my main interpretations of the film- if you have any to contribute I'd be interested to hear them!