Round the world and home again
That’s the sailor’s way
Faster faster, faster fasterThere’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There’s no knowing where we’re rowing
Or which way the river’s flowingIs it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowingNot a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowingYes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they’re certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing
Lately I have been feeling like the world is on such a wondrous boat ride as Willy Wonka and his Ship of Fools. I have to wonder what connections can be made to mythology, archetypes, Willy Wonka and our current experience at this point of time.
Greek mythology brings up Charon who ferrys people across to Hades. How might this connect with the Chocolate Factory? Wonka did ferry his boat to a deeper level, didn’t he? To where are they going?
To where is the ferry man taking us? I feel like our world is on a ferry ride to the depths of Hades, while the rowers keep on rowing with no sign of slowing, and no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going.
Where is the Candy Man to command this boat to stop?
Or are we deranged, frivolous, and oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, ignorant of our own direction?
The ship of fools is an allegory that has long been a fixture in Western literature and art. The allegory depicts a vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_fools
In The Ship of Fools Bosch is imagining that the whole of mankind is voyaging through the seas of time on a ship, a small ship, that is representative of humanity. Sadly, every one of the representatives is a fool. This is how we live, says Bosch–we eat, dring, flirt, cheat, play silly games, pursue unattainable objectives. Meanwhile our ship drifts aimlessly and we never reach the harbour. The fools are not the irreligious, since promiment among them are a monk and a nun, but they are all those who live “in stupidity”. Bosch laughs, and it is sad laugh. Which one of us does not sail in the wretched discomfort of the ship of human folly? Eccentric and secret genius that he was, Bosch not only moved the heart but scandalized it into full awareness. The sinister and monstrous things that he brought forth are the hidden creatures of our inward self-love: he externalizes the ugliness within, and so his misshapen demons have an effect beyond curiosity. We feel a hateful kinship with them. The Ship of Fools is not about other people, it is about us. -http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/fools/
I have to wonder how many mythic and archetypal analogies can be made to our present day situation. And since Willy Wonka inspired this ponderance, how many more ways can this and other scenes be seen. What does it mean in context of the movie and how can we draw upon them and apply them to our current affairs?
