Both Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017) and Jorge Luis Borges' The Aleph (1945) deal with space as an existing character that played a vital role in resisting oppression
Loneliness & isolation. Hannah Arendt claimed that both of these traits, though not necessarily the same, can be vital weapons for oppression, i.e. total dominance of totalitarianism. Losing connection with each other and with reality can be an easy target for the relinquished sense of distinction between fantasy and reality, as well as between right and false. In this post, we have a movie, a book, and a spatial discourse that exists everywhere. The movie is Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" (2017) and the book is Jorge Luis Borges' "The Aleph" (1945) - both of which deal with space as an existing character that played a vital role in resisting an impregnable force. In both cases, tyranny comes in two different forms: Colonel Richard Strickland in The Shape of Water, and the misunderstood, or better yet the one-sided, love of the author to Beatriz Viterbo - a woman he once craved for. The abstract and the concrete, though separate, yet come together to depict oppressiveness over emotions and human connectivity. It is only through spatial bonds that characters, i.e. protagonists, are able to defeat cruelty and exploitation.
The Very Last Scene / Page
Following the death of Colonel Strickland in the movie and the demolition of Daneri's house in the novel (a postscript to the story), we notice a sense of spatial serenity - a feeling of letting go of all what has been attached to our shoulders, i.e. the characters' shoulders. In The Shape of Water, Eliza finally comes to acknowledge her belonging to the water with the Amphibian Man, where she is heard, understood....and loved. The water is endless, and so is the creature....her lover. Her connection to a fantasy-like environment with endless possibilities and infinite angles - a reservoir of reality and fiction, symbols and signs - was her ultimate weapon that conquered Colonel Strickland. Eliza's way of communication did not stop us for a moment to deny the purity within her essence, nor even think about it. The characters in the film understand her just as well as if she was speaking normally. It's this pure-heart person that drives human for more interconnection, for loving and caring for one another, and for strengthening our sense of community.
Unlike Colonel Strickland, Eliza is an anti-solipsistic - space can never exist within solipsism. Corresponding to Lefebvre's interpretation of space as a social product, Eliza's symbolic communication with the Amphibian Man, as well as her close friend Zelda, is a representation of how complex social relations projected upon space can create an existential framework that goes into a continuous loop of production and reproduction. Eliza has set her own meaning and value in the face of an authoritarian figure who, continuously, attempts to de-democratize such meaning.
On the other hand, Daneri's house was the focal point at which the narrator was able to let go of the lost love that he once craved. The tyranny feeling that had full grip over the narrator had gone into oblivion when confronted with the Aleph. The Aleph is a point in space that allows simultaneous viewing of everything within. Anyone ho gazes into it can see all points in the universe from every angle without overlapping or distortion. Thus, the narrator's gaze into the Aleph allowed him to free his mind, body and soul from the domination of his false relationship.
Prior to the demolition of Daneri's residence, the narrator experience a metaphysical, yet another existential, spatial experience with the Aleph, where he witnessed the world from every angle - at one point he saw "the rotted dust and bones that had once deliciously been Beatriz Viterbo". The narrator is the man who allows himself to discover and interact with all what's absolute and uncertain, abstract and concrete, subjectivity and objectivity, reality and fantasy, facts and perspectives, etc. It's in this interaction that a metaphysical social product that was created by the Aleph where the narrator finally found his sense of relief and defeated the unforgettable burden.
ONE MUST THINK WITH THE BODY AND THE SOUL OR NOT THINK AT ALL - HANNAH ARENDT
So...What does this all mean?
Whether we ought to reflect Del Toro's vision upon the Trump-Mexico relations or Borges' anti-fascist literary approach, which also included his essay "Yo, Judio" (1934), eventually space is the Earth and Earth is space. Our connection to each other is the engine for the production of social space, which will concertize our distinction between all what is real and all what is abstract. Quoting back to Arendt: "Terror can rule absolutely only over men who are isolated against each other...Therefore, one of the primary concerns of all tyrannical government is to bring this isolation about". What Del Toro and Borges attempted to claim is the necessity for individuals to be able to communicate, tolerate, care, and if possible let go for the sake of our loved ones.
So, do you think the modern world is corresponding to Del Toro's and Borges' visions? Please share your comments, ideas, thoughts, criticism, and/or any sort of information and/or interesting facts.
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