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Holy Mary, mother! of God...
Religious symbolism and allegory in Darren Aronofsky's mother!
This webpage was created for the course Religion 2812: Religion and Pop Culture at Memorial University of Newfoundland. My website, “Holy Mary, mother! of God”, will attempt to analyze the religious elements within Darren Aronofsky’s 2017 film mother!. According to the film’s director as well as the star Jennifer Lawrence, the film is an allegory for the Book of Genesis. An allegory is a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, and is often used in religious films. (Butler, 1969) The main character, known simply as mother, is representative of both Mother Earth/Nature as well as the Virgin Mary. She is married to a character known as Him, who is clearly meant to be representative of God. There are characters throughout the film who represent characters from or surrounding the Bible such as Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, the Serpent, Biblical heralds, Jesus, zealots, sinners, adulterers, Christian followers, and more. Once you understand the idea that the film is a Biblical allegory, the movie makes sense. Anyone who sees the movie and doesn’t put those pieces together must have no idea what they’re watching. The film is extremely controversial, but the critics mostly praise the film for Aronofsky’s genius filmmaking. I plan to dive into the religious symbols and themes represented in the film through looking at the different charcaters, locations, and symbols, and make them clear so that everyone can understand and hopefully enjoy the film.
"The universe rests on two divine principles, one masculine and one feminine. The masculine principle is restless and creative, the feminine principle nurturing and custodial. The masculine principle feeds on conflict, suffering, desire, loss; the feminine principle thrives on beauty, stability, order. The masculine principle draws on the feminine principle's love in order to create, but wounds and weakens Her every time He does. This pushes the universe into a cycle, in which the eternal He is perpetually allowing the eternal She and what they make together to be pillaged, mistreated, ravaged, abused, and even crucified, in order to further His creative visions, His dream of a constantly outspreading love. And at a certain point Her patience runs out, and She turns on Him and on creation itself, bringing on the apocalypse and setting a new cycle into motion."
Darren Aronofsky is an American director, writer and producer known for his controversial films. He is known for making films that people love or people hate, and mother! is no different. After the film’s first screening at a film festival, half the audience booed and the other half gave it a standing ovation. Aronofsky has created many critically acclaimed films such as Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and Black Swan. His films are known for sometime being incredibly graphic and violent in nature, often using formal devices such as sounds and visuals that make the audience almost feel as if they can feel the pain the characters are suffering from. (Devereaux, 2015) This is certainly true in mother! as well. He is also known for creating characters that drive themselves mad, sometimes through obsessions over things existing only within their own mind, such as the protagonist in Black Swan. (Corpus, 2011) This is true to an extent within mother! when we see mother slowly going insane. This film was written in only 5 days and was met with extremely mixed reviews.