Witnessing Consciousness in Stranger Than Fiction
Posted on Nov 24th, 2006
by 
ebbandflow
ebbandflow
We went to go see Stranger Than Fiction yesterday where Will Ferrell discovers that he is a character in someone's novel. He starts hearing a voice in his head that narrates his life and his deepest feelings, and it allows him to escape the boredom of his routines through many twists and turns.
There are a number of spiritual aspects to the film that I thought I'd jot down.
Witnessing Consciousness: Ferrell hears a third-person omniscient voice that is observing, deconstructing and witnessing his behavior. By hearing this witnessing voice, Ferrell is able to break out of familiar patterns and structure that dominates his life. The film itself also has a witnessing consciousness when a literary professor starts to deconstruct and analyze the movie's plot from a theoretical perspective. So it's very meta.
Free Will vs. Predestination: Ferrell makes choices about his life, but there are situations that seem out of his control and seem to be written as part of his fate through his book of life which is being actively created. Is he able to overcome the predestined context through the power of his own choices and decisions for how he views his fate?
Surrender and Release: Is Ferrell's character able to surrender control over his seemingly predestined fate, and accept his soul's path that has been written for him?
The Balance between Structure and Flow: Ferrell's character is the epitome of structure, and there are a number of characters that counteract his rigidity by getting him to go with the flow and allowing life to unfold from moment to moment. These polar extremes find a balance with each other.
Carpe Diem: There's an overarching message that you have the ability to make whatever you want with your life, and that you always have the choice to make the most with what you have been given. We don't know when our lives are going to end, and so why not live life to the fullest that we possibly can.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed the film and would be curious to hear other's thoughts on it.
There are a number of spiritual aspects to the film that I thought I'd jot down.
Witnessing Consciousness: Ferrell hears a third-person omniscient voice that is observing, deconstructing and witnessing his behavior. By hearing this witnessing voice, Ferrell is able to break out of familiar patterns and structure that dominates his life. The film itself also has a witnessing consciousness when a literary professor starts to deconstruct and analyze the movie's plot from a theoretical perspective. So it's very meta.
Free Will vs. Predestination: Ferrell makes choices about his life, but there are situations that seem out of his control and seem to be written as part of his fate through his book of life which is being actively created. Is he able to overcome the predestined context through the power of his own choices and decisions for how he views his fate?
Surrender and Release: Is Ferrell's character able to surrender control over his seemingly predestined fate, and accept his soul's path that has been written for him?
The Balance between Structure and Flow: Ferrell's character is the epitome of structure, and there are a number of characters that counteract his rigidity by getting him to go with the flow and allowing life to unfold from moment to moment. These polar extremes find a balance with each other.
Carpe Diem: There's an overarching message that you have the ability to make whatever you want with your life, and that you always have the choice to make the most with what you have been given. We don't know when our lives are going to end, and so why not live life to the fullest that we possibly can.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed the film and would be curious to hear other's thoughts on it.
Access: PublicTagged with: stranger than fiction, surrender, free will, destiny, fate, film, movie, review, spirituality, Will Ferrel, structure, flow, witness
destiny
January 2007