1.0:
Blog Contents:
2.0–2.4:
An Unfunny Reality /
3.0–3.7:
Edited Out /
4.0–4.7:
An Early Reference To The Changeling /
5.0–5.7:
Trimalchio As Mephistopheles /
6.0–6.4:
Returning To The Direct Discussion Of 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021 /
7.0–7.5:
The Great Change Of The Changeling Myth /
8.0–8.4:
The Adult Changeling /
9.0–9.3:
Die Hexen /
10.0–10.2: Disclaimer //.
☆☆☆
2.0 — An Unfunny Reality: One of the earliest references to a 'changeling' is recorded in the satire, the Ancient Roman text by Gaius Petronius of Marseille, France, 1st Century A.D., an author who migrated to and lived in the city of Rome; Petronius became the "arbiter of elegance", that is, among the Emperor Nero's intimate circle—as is intriguingly chronicled in the historical novel: 'Quo Vadis' circa 1896, by the Polish author, Henryk Sienkiewicz.
2.1 — Gaius Petronius's satire: 'Satyricon liber' exists along-side: 'The Golden Ass', of the 2nd Century A.D., by the "Algierian" Lucius Apuleius, as seminal texts which satirically portray the social customs and cultures of the regions of the Ancient Mediterranean; possibly, the seat of the Western World's civilisation and, as such, continues to exert relevance to contemporary society through foundational tropes, arch-narratives and crucial symbolism.
2.2 — Satire is thought to have been developed by the Ancient Greeks, such as by the play-wrights Aristophenes of the "Old Comedy", and Menander of the "New Comedy"; as a means of portraying on stage, the truth of society: to affect a sort of realism for comedy in which the laughter of the audience diminishes the facticity and consequences of the revealed truth, the veritable revelation, as a matter of trivia or a point of which deserves sympathetic understanding to the common experience of limitation and frustration.2.3 — The main inference of the comedic, satirical text is, that beneath the appearance of society exists cultural activities which remain hidden, and which require to be "spelt out" for what those activities represent, viz. brain-washing; exploitation; enslavement.
2.4 — An unfunny reality emerges when Kate Dolan's film is examined: the point should be made, while satire is often thought of as comical, some satire repesents racism and persecution of various categorisation.
Figure 1. A film still with Hazel Doupe as Char confronted by Ingrid Craigie as Rita, in the film: 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021, from the Internet Movie Database web-site, accessed 25 May 2021: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10406596/>.
3.0 — Edited Out: Audiences ought to cautiously treat texts, such as 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021, as signifying greater than that which is shown; rather that the text shows: "the tip of the ice-berg".
3.1 — The point to make is of the under-lying discourses of a political reality that apparently no-one is permitted to discuss or criticise; that is applicable to either side of the political divide, viz. every-one is censored and has been subject to concussed states by asphyxiation, drugs, electro-convulsive therapy, etc. The cause of failing to remember the truth of what really has happened, is equal to causing cultural genocide and the denial of democratic forms of government.
3.2 — A film such as: 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021, to be taken as representative of a near-to-exhaustive exposition of a pattern of narrative is an improbability, because back-ground information drawn from similar narratives to construct a more truthful perspective reveal the lacunæ in the narrative's telling. The film's narrative is over-edited, either in terms of the film's script that focuses on a truncated narrative, or the film at the post-production stages, such as to have edited out strategic filmed parts.
3.3 — The argument must hold, that the audiences who attend and consider the film's narrative complete are the same as Char, edited and censored through brain-washing by psychological, violent or drugging methods. The cinematic screen is a mirror of the audience—all forms of art are mirrors of the soul, not simply the surface appearance of some-one or some-thing. I would estimate, that an older audience would resist walking out on such a trite and superficial film, because an older audience would know greater than that being shown; that the film constitutes some-thing of a mockery.
3.4 — The presiding point remains that our existence occurs under the control of a tyrant, the veritable Mephistopheles who controls society from, not so much "behind the scenes", but from the point of a lithium-based, erased memory of his ever having involvement.
3.5 — The satirical form in which the tropes of hyperbole, sarcasm and irony, facilitate an insight beyond the perceptual reality of "the every-day", such that "the every-day" is shown to be a prescriptive conceit or contrivance, is nonetheless lived out.
3.6 — Perhaps the contrivance is made bearable for the freedoms of use of the double entendre? Where double or further significations are made often to refer to a position of relation to the status of hiding, that is, one-self, others; or hiding some-thing which authorities or society would prefer to have revealed and dealt with.
3.7 — Often there exists sympathy for the rebel who is inevitably a fool or newly emerging tyrant, but the matters are always ironically treated afresh regarding compliance, censorship and dictatorship, as concerns relative to each circumstance and to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Perhaps, there is a case for justice still?
4.0 — An Early Reference To The Changeling: What is the pattern of the changeling narrative, exactly? To turn to that earliest point of reference found in Chapter 63 of 'Satyricon liber', an indication of answer may be found; specifically regarding a narrative told by the character, Trimalchio, the ostentatiously wealthy freed-man, at whose dinner party, the protagonists Encolpius and Asclytos, are guests and serve as an audience. Trimalchio's anecdote of the changeling is prefaced with two brief anecdotes involving those other things of the æther-world, witches. Note, refer to an online version of Petronius's 'Satyricon liber' that is translated by W.C. Firebaugh, including the forgeries of Nodot and Marchena, and the introductory readings by De Salas and the illustrations by Norman Lindsay, on The Gutenberg Project web-site, accessed 25 May 2022, at: <https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5225/5225-h/5225-h.htm#linkp050>.
4.1 — The first tells of a mysterious death of a boy steward whose death is blamed upon the peculiar and vindictive witches, heard screetching as the mourners mourn the steward's death.
4.2 — The second incident involves the witches who make provocation, such that a large Cappadocian slave leaves the group of mourners to enter the street from where a scream is over-heard to emanate, and from whence the Cappadocian returns, but: "black and blue, as if he had been flogged with whips." The discolouration is purportedly caused by the touch of one witches' "evil hand": and it is commented that the Cappadocian never regains his natural complexion and that he dies a few days later.
4.3 — The third incident refers to the topic of the changeling, in which the mourning mother of the steward finds a 'straw changeling' substituted for the boy's body: an act that is also attributed to the: 'witches [who] had swooped down upon the lad and put the straw changeling in his place!'.
Figure 2. A still of Mario Romagnoli as Trimalchio from the film adaptation: 'Fellini's Satyricon', premiered, 3 September 1969, Rome, Italy, from the "BAMPFA" web-site, accessed 24 May 2022, at: <https://bampfa.org/event/fellini-satyricon>.
4.4 — Trimalchio is found to remark in emphasising the point that must be derived from his own anecdotes: '...there are women that know too much, and night-hags, too, and they turn every-thing up-side down!'
4.5 — Can the summation of Trimalchio's narrative really be that the women—those witches!—must always be held to suspicion for using the evil hand, or swapping the body of a child for straw, viz. causing the changeling? Are Trimalchio's words to be taken in earnest, and the witches, who are only over-heard, not seen, not be taken as decoys?
4.6 — The boy steward may have been intoxicated, laid unconscious, and misinterpreted by the mourners as dead—possibly a perception cultivated by Trimalchio. The boy is referred to as perfect, "a jewel", and may have been the object of Trimalchio's designs in abduction; an argument particularly plausible because pæderasty, men's erotic love of pre-pubescent or pubescent boys—not to be confused with sodomy, viz. the erotic love shared between men—is one of the central tenets of Petronius's satire; that is, the protagonist, Encolpius, through-out the texts' five volumes, contests with his friend, Asclytos, to find and regain the affections of a boy, Gitón—the central plot of the satire that consists of numerous sub-plots.
4.7 — Trimalchio's hair-raising tale is, then, to be considered propaganda used to direct suspicion for the offence of abduction to be directed at another, the witches, and to deflect suspicion from the men, such as Trimalchio and his Cappadocian slave. The latter, while brawny, is labelled a simpleton, a booby, who could inspire little cause for suspicion. Whereas Trimalchio, once a slave, has managed to free him-self—a praise-worthy feat—but also, Trimalchio has become a wealthy freedman, such that suspicion could be placed upon him as cunning enough to under-take a staged abduction.
5.0 — Trimalchio As Mephistopheles: Is Trimalchio really involved with a self-aware politics which seeks to manipulate people's perceptions, such as to allow him, as is said, "to get away with it", viz. the abduction of a boy to be at the disposal of his pæderastic fancies?
5.1 — Trimalchio indicates he is already aware of the cultivated opinion that the author, Homer, such as of 'The Odyssey', is of renown and repute, to mention Trimalchio grew up with long hair as of the fashion of the island of Chios, the place of origin of the great Greek bard, Homer, whose texts precede Petronius's own text of the 'Satyricon liber': 'When I was a long-haired boy, for I lived a Chian life from my youth up...'.
5.2 — The reference to Chios bestows a greatness, at least, regarding the ability to narrate, by way of association to Trimalchio. Homer represented then, and to an extent continues to represent, the greatness of authorship per se; that is, certainly to the author Gaius Petronius who constructs the character of Trimalchio and Trimalchio's use of association as to impress his guests.
5.3 — Acknowledge, that Trimalchio is only moments before to comment on his own prowess at narration in the apparently tasteful manner of self-deprecation, by comparing him-self badly to Niceros, whose narrative of a were-wolf preceded his own in being made to the dinner guests: '...if you’ll believe me, my hair stood on end, and all the more, because I know that Niceros never talks non-sense: he’s always level-headed, not a bit gossipy. And now I’ll tell you a hair-raiser my-self, though I’m like a jack-ass on a slippery pavement compared to him'.
5.4 — Trimalchio as representative of the nouveau-riche, while able to afford the gala, may not yet demonstrate the æsthetical and political sensibilities, such as of the existing elite, to gain membership. The horror tale of the witches, the evil hand and changeling, could be considered representative of a grotesque æsthetics crudely manipulative in a political context, that is, to the educated, not the laity.
5.5 — An analysis of the name of 'Trimalchio', 'Tri-' and 'Malchus' refers to: "Thrice King", or "king of kings", which is partly hyperbolic in the satirical gist of Petronius's text, but further alludes to Trismegistus, the Hermetic mage or magus, who may be a senior representative of a gnostic sect that involves the Phrygian or Oriental cultures of pæderasty.
5.7 — It ought to be remembered when Trimalchio introduces him-self as being from Asia, that is, Phyringia—refer to Chapter 44 of 'Satyricon liber'—he compares him-self to the catamite "Ganymedes": the boy stolen by the god, Zeus, who took the form of an eagle and "swooped down upon the lad"; that is, to use the very words used by the character of Trimalchio to describe the witches' conduct in swapping the boy for the changeling straw.
5.6 — Refer to page 80 in the article: "Trimalchio" by Gilbert Bagnani, in 'Phoenix', Autumn, 1954, Volume 8(3); pages 77–91; published by: Classical Association of Canada; stable URL: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1086404>. 6.0 — Returning To The Direct Discussion Of 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021: Earlier I averred that Angela is sorrow-stricken due to the inferred fact she mourns the loss of a child—a point to which reference is not made within the film. I provide a plausible explanation to the abduction or murder of a baby boy, that is, because depression is typically triggered by loss, such as the loss of a beloved, rather than, as some psychologists maintain, as a feature of an inherently flawed character, that is, as a manifestation of the unwanted change symbolised by the changeling, it-self. Psychology could be found to pathologise, that is, diagnose some-one along similar lines for being inherently flawed, such that to be labelled a changeling or some-one with a disability, such as depression, persecutes a person for illness that really requires understanding, not ignorance, fear and loathing.
Figure 3. A film still with the actor Carolyn Bracken as Angela tied to a bed-head and covered with a sheet in the film: 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021, from the IMDb web-site, accessed 25 May 2021: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10406596/>.
6.1 — Arguably, a recurring pattern is found connected to the changeling mythos in which a boy is abducted, viz. the steward boy of Trimalchio's tale. The abduction of Angela's baby boy may be a second or third time of such a case of abduction, at which point, Angela, feeling trapped in a setting of a domineering brother figure and mother, starts to act in hitherto known ways, unfamiliar and spontaneous, exists out-side of the family's typical standards of control, and becomes the very fuel for confirming perceptions of her as a changeling, that is, the "changed thing".
6.2 — The point of explanation where Rita explains to Char that Angela is a changeling, that is, an adult changeling, arguably is made before Angela is about to convey to Char that Angela's infant sons are taken from her; because, by way of inference, the boys are labelled 'changelings'—similarly marked out through her to her sons, according to Rita's and Aaron's perceptions.
6.3 — By Rita telling Char before Angela, Char is indoctrinated to Rita's and Aaron's perceptual approach.
6.4 — There is the further sub-plot, that Char is similar to Margaret (also known as Gretchen) to have established a relationship with Faust, that is, Aaron; in which case—should the reading of the older narrative be considered edited out in the 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021—Char immolates her mother to remove the romantic competition. Margaret is, thus, far from being the guileless, gullible adolescent girl as Char portrayed in Kate Dolan's film.7.0 — The Great Change Of The Changeling Myth: Should the ancient text of 'Satyricon liber' be taken as offering an elucidation of the changeling myth, because that text is one of the first to mention the changeling, there is a further inference of the figure of the patriarch who manipulates perceptions to blame witches—that is, to allow for his abductions of boys—such as that Mephistopheles who arranges to have the scenes of the action and drama, edit out the parts of his performance.
7.1 — Further, by applying the formula of Wolfgang Goethe's text of 'Faust', circa 1880, Aaron is a type of Faust him-self, who is inferred as paying Mephistopheles with his infant sons, supposedly as justified by the manipulative narration given by Trimalcio of chapter 63, 'Satyricon liber'.
7.2 — Note, some of Wolfgang Goethe's texts can be read free of charge at The Gutenberg Press, at: <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/586>
7.3 — The text by Petronius is by Goethe's text of 'Faust' to celebrate the dark powers of Trimalchio, the gnostic Trismegistus, as Mephistopheles, who takes possession of Faust him-self. A man's sons may be referred to as him-self, on which point 'Faust' shows a consistency with the variants of the changeling narratives mentioned in these blogger posts.
7.4 — The film, 'You're Not My Mother', circa 2021, arguably, has removed all traces of culpability to the Mephistopheles figure, and only a vague inference of culpability on the father, viz. Aaron, to leave the witch, the grand-mother, who is Rita, to settle the matter.
7.5 — The great change of this old narrative, then, is that the changeling is no longer a straw doll, nor a real but apparently tainted infant, nor the curious, and inasmuch, childish man, Faust, him-self—but is the mother labelled an "adult changeling", who, resembling the figure of the witch, can easily take the place of the witch as who is burnt at the stake.
Figure 4. The cover art of the album: 'The Changeling', 30 June 1982, by the British band, Toyah, in which Toyah Wilcox appears as a changeling, from the Discogs web-site: <https://www.discogs.com/ko/release/4542167-Toyah-The-Changeling>.
8.0 — The Adult Changeling: The female (and male) adult changeling began to make a cultural impact from within Britain through a post-punk, new wave, pop music scene of the early 1980s until current. The British musical artist Toyah Wilcox, represented her-self as a changeling with the release, 30 June 1982, of a same-named album by the band Toyah. The pop album became a vehicle to transport the audience to the world of the fairies or trolls, where the folk-lore offers a symbolic correlation to an alternative cultural presence within the Western World.
8.1 — The album's tracks, such as: 'Street Creature', 'Castaways', or 'Life In The Trees', convey a folk-lorish world that is less fantastical and more palpable, to suggest a musical experience as much as a lived experience. This involves the ancient notion of the artist as the medium: who offers a way of channeling between different worlds: which may, in fact, refer to an unobviated inter-cultural mixing.
Figure 5. The single cover art, 'Changeling', circa 2018, by The Dagons; image from the Bandcamp web-site, accessed 26 May 2022, at: <https://thedagons.bandcamp.com/track/changeling>.
8.2 — A more recent example—and note there are many musicians and songs predicated on the changeling—of the changeling mythos within music is provided by the Californian band: The Dagons, viz. their single titled: 'Changeling', 7 January 2018, in the cover art of which a reversal of the mildly strange within the nursery as represented by the changeling is affected by the strangeness said to impact the figure of a mother, that is, as the water monster, viz. the crocodile, "Moby Dick" or leviathan, depicted as nursing a "batch of infants" with ever-so-slightly a hint of menace.
8.3 — Two lines of the lyrics of the song reads of a sort of gripping reality, such that the nursery fairy tale elements are registered in the modality of realism: "So they pull the child from the bed / And put in something of their's instead ... Leave the windows open to your room / Lose you now, you're never coming home ...'.
8.4 — The Dagons' 'Changeling' single is similar to the film 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021, in which a horrorific truth is indicated, but not "spelt out". The "indexical phenomena" is to be taken as "sufficient" in pointing towards a reality that is suggested as in occurrence within the Western World—possibly in what was once the true origins of the Western World, viz. Ireland. Denial is a powerful affect; or, is it people could not be bothered with the change that is required of society and one-self to prevent such "back-yard persecution"?
9.0 — Die Hexen: As for the film's own music, the sound-track is by Die Hexen ("The Witches"), also known as the Irish performance artist and composer, Dianne Lucille Campbell; who approaches the numinous with traces of the neo-pagan and macabre, made both visually and musically to references of films regarding dæmonic possessions—a Catholic sub-discourse of the changeling—such as portrayed by the films: 'Rosemary's Baby', 12 June 1968, the United States of America, by Roman Polanski; 'The Exorcist', 26 December 1973, the United States Of America, by William Friedkin; 'The Omen', 6 June 1976, Britain, by Richard Donald Schwartzberg; or to the musical compositions of Krzysztof Penderecki for the sound-track of films, such as: 'The Devils of Loudun', circa July 1971, Britain, by Ken Russell, or the more recent film: 'Wild At Heart', 15 November 1990, Australia, by David Lynch.
Figure 6. A still of Dianne Lucille Campbell within an audio-visual presentation titled: 'Siamese', based on a recurring dream of ceremonial magic; from 'Die Hexen' web-site, accessed 25 May 2022, at: <http://www.die-hexen.com/film>.
9.1 — The celebration of the witch is to be read as representative of a neo-paganistic discourse, that seems to resist the complete telling. Is the witch, who-ever she is, or Mephistopheles, who-ever he is, responsible for stigmatising and persecuting persons who ought to have been treated with dignity and respect?
9.2 — Personally, I feel for Angela who is imprisoned in a home life that society approaches as normal. Perhaps I am not the normal one? I have my imperfections, as do we all—but then, perhaps those are misdirected questions to start with?
9.3 — For the sake of some perspective on the matter it ought to be remembered, Ireland was a country iconic of Christianity. Yet in this film, 'You Are Not My Mother', circa 2021, a satire is displayed on the Christian sensibilities of home, family and mother-hood. Thus, the questions remain, how did Ireland and the many regions of Irish colonisation, including Australia, become places celebratory of not so much the macabre, but the Satanic? What do the permissible celebrations of the Satanic represent, really?
10.0 — Disclaimer: This blog post is the exclusive intellectual property of Craig Steven Joseph Lacey, 4 December 1976–; Google email: craigsjlacey@gmail.com; by way of law, no hacking, copying, editing or disseminating of it is permitted.
10.1 — Six photographs have been used within this blog: Figures 1 to 6; each of which is identified to a resource and is used within the editorial rights' context.
10.2 — Craig Steven Joseph Lacey, 4 December 1976–, Australia; 189 Leichhardt Street, Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia, 4000; Ⓒ 2022, Craig Steven Joseph Lacey.
☆☆☆
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