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t0ast-ghost · 30 days

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Episode 25 (This Side Of Paradise) is this the fuck flower one? Only one way to find out; through:

- Dangerous fucking planet. “Living tissues disintegrates under its exposure” I’m worried the suggested “limited exposure” might become less and less limited

- did they? Make McCoy’s eyebrows thicker? Like does he have eyebrow pencil on? I just wanna know

- “On pure speculation… just an educated guess— I’d say that man is alive.” Kirk gives him a *look* how does he survive around McCoy and Spock’s sass

- I feel like having warm flesh isn’t necessarily the ultimate test to see if someone is alive. But what do I know, I’m an actor not a doctor.

- McCoy and Spock are so handsome in this episode

- how do I explain that this photo reminded me of this video?

youtube

- what in the kuleshov effect?? Why does Spock like this random- nvm not random but why?

- “I wouldn’t know right or wrong if it was two feet away from me.” Sits right next to the flowers. Sulu move away from the flowers please

- not ominous not threatening and completely normal (my mantra for thinking about the planet inhabitants when they say something like “he has no choice but to stay” or “you’ll find no weaklings here”)

- girl, he is GAY

- “Emotions are alien to me I am a scientist.” What do you study? Men? (I’m sorry I’ll stop now)

- DID THAT PLANT JUST- nope can’t say that

- “It shouldn’t hurt” HES ALLERGIC

- “Would you like me to use a butterfly net on him, Jim?” (Note to self draw Bones with a butterfly net and one of those stupid drawstring sunhats)

- Spock’s cloud watching.. HES SEEN A DRAGON WHAT KIND OF LORE IS THAT

- “No I don’t think so, *sir*” YES FULL SASSY SPOCK YES

- “That didn’t sound at all like Spock, Jim.” “No… I thought you said you might like him if he mellowed a little.” “I didn’t say that, I!-” “You said that, I-” “Not exactly… He might be in trouble.”

- Spock in a tree? How’d he get up there?

- THE PLANTS THEY- no no don’t say that.

- “Hiya, Jimmy boy!” It’s kinda funny how Bones becomes more southern (and happy) every time he’s mind controlled

- Jim alone on the bridge :(

- THE FLOWER JUST FUCKIN- no…just… no

- Jim: Time to go piss off my crew and get beaten up by Spock

- NO JIM TOO FAR

- All they have to do to get McCoy back is put him in a room with Spock and let them go at it (edit: I meant arguing)

- “You wanna see how fast I can put you in a hospital.” WHOA WHOA WOW

- McCoy not afraid TO PUNCH A BITCH!

(I’ve got all three of them now :D)

- Jim’s surrounded by people on the bridge again! Yippee!!

- I’m reminded how much I need subtitles on this show

- “For the first time in my life… I was happy.” WHAT SPOCK THATS INSANE! LET HIM BE HAPPY???

Okay good fuck plant episode. See you next time

Masterpost

#Youtube #I’m… somewhat regretting this commentary #star trek #star trek the original series #star trek tos #tos kirk #captain james kirk #tos spock #spock #tos mccoy #tos bones #leonard bones mccoy

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hellsparadiseessays · 5 years

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Chapter 66 - The gourd

Disclaimer : As usual, this is Spoiler Central so go catch up if you haven’t done so yet. Also, I’m not Japanese nor Chinese so what I’m explaining here is supported by the research I did beforehand. Finally, English isn’t my native language and lately my brain hasn’t exactly been the most functional so yeah, sorry if there’s typos and some dodgy grammar (yes, this one has been difficult to type, that’s why I tried to keep it as simple as possible). That said, I hope you’ll find this write up entertaining or informative!

There is a neat little detail in chapter 66 I hope you all caught: Rien put the Elixir of Immortality in a small bottle shaped like a gourd. Now you may ask “but Crow, why is it relevant, we often see bottles like that in manga and anime”. Well, it is more relevant than you think, both from a meta perspective (cultural aspect of the gourd in Japan and China) and from a narrative perspective. In fact, Rien *had* to use a gourd for many reasons.

I. The practical use of a gourd

From a strictly practical perspective, the fruits we know as gourds have been used for food, but also as musical instruments or as bottles when dried. The process takes some months for the gourd to completely dry, and the fruit must be turned regularly to dry evenly. Once it’s dry, the seeds in it can be used for a musical purpose, or it can be opened and used as a container. It is even possible to give the gourd a specific shape when it’s growing – the 8 shape being very common, 8 being considered a lucky number (and making it convenient to tie a rope and have a portable gourd). There is a reason why, nowadays, the image of the old but eccentric mentor figure in anime and manga can be portrayed as an old man with an 8-shaped gourd used to keep sake, for example. It all has a practical and cultural basis that can be found pretty far back in time.

II. Symbols of the gourd

The gourd is linked to a lot of symbols, especially in China.

It is commonly used as a charm to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck because of the way it is pronounced. Called *hulu*, it has the same pronunciation as the words meaning “to guard” and “blessing” (both pronounced *hu*) as well as “happiness” (*fulu*). The word for creeper (like a gourd vine) is *màn*, which sounds like *wàn*, the word for 10 000, myriad and forever. As such, gourds and creepers are often associated to symbolise immortality.

The image of the gourd appears often in Chinese mythology as well: used as a boat to escape the deluge, used as a magic tool to trap Sun Wukong (spoiler alert: Sun Wukong didn’t get caught in the end because he’s smarter than that)... And in early Taoism, it is used to describe Chaos (Emperor Hun-Tun’s tale). Indeed, the image of the cosmic egg-gourd that holds Paradise at the beginning and end of time, seems prevalent in Taoism and helps explain the search for balance and immortality: Taoist Chaos is a place and state where all opposites are equal and balanced, where notions like hot and cold don’t exist anymore, where dreams are real and reality is unreal. These concepts are meant to encourage a spiritual journey in oneself to find that paradise. To go even further, the ultimate Taoist body, in its primordial state, should be that of a faceless hermaphrodite with techniques that are frightening to the uninitiated. And I am pointing that last point out specifically because you know what matches that description in Jigokuraku? Lord Tensen’s Kishikai forms.

Knowing all that, it makes sense that Rien *had* to put the elixir in a gourd specifically. It completely suits the theme of the island.

III. What the Elixir is supposedly made of

Now this is the fun part, at least for me, because it’s both amusing and horrific. See, while in the manga we learn that Chôbe’s body parts are essential for the Elixir I’ll never forgive Rien jfc, in the actual myth about the elixir, two rather interesting elements are used to compose that fancy Paradise Potion. I’m straying a bit from the initial point of this writeup on purpose here, but it allows me to expand a bit on a point I mentioned in my previous essay.

See, the Elixir of Immortality is said to be composed of various elements one shouldn’t ingest, such as jade or arsenic. Two curious elements used to symbolise the masculine and feminine aspects are specifically used: mercury for the semen, and cinnabar for the menstruation blood (balance of Feminine and Masculine, I think you get the point now). Now Cinnabar is a vermillion stone which, once refined, turns into mercury. Interestingly enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if this stone was the basis for the Philosopher’s Stone (often envisioned as a glass-like red stone in its purest form, just like cinnabar ore). Now, ladies and gentlemen, have you ever heard of *mercury poisoning*?

Because the Elixir of Life is basically “how to poison yourself 101” from a modern point of view, and mercury poisoning is especially not fun to deal with. Now what happens when one gets mercury poisoning? Well, here is a little list of the symptoms: peripheral neuropathy (movements and vision are affected, with a loss of coordination and of peripheral vision), painful sensations of burning and itching, discoloration and shedding of the skin, memory loss and insomnia... Potentially leading to coma and death if left untreated. Organic mercury (methylmercury) is especially vicious when it comes to poisoning, since it’s an element notoriously that builds itself up in the food chain. Wondering why pregnant women are advised against eating fish? This is the reason why, and fish and whales are closely watched for that reason as well. Interesting fact: the character of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland is based on hatters being poisoned by the mercury they used for their work. Furthermore, the loss of coordination may make one look drunk... Coincidentally, the Eight Immortals are traditionally associated with a certain martial art imitating the movements of a drunk person. I’m not saying there *is* a link, but it knowing what we know, it may not be totally unfounded, right?

If you are curious, I suggest you to check about two interesting modern cases of mercury poisoning. The first one is the widespread poisoning in Minamata (Kumamoto prefecture, Kyushu) in the 50s, that led to the name Minamata disease for mercury poisoning (a second case happened in the 60s in Niigata prefecture, Honshu). The other case is the poisoning of Karen Wetterhahn in the late 90s, which led to a tightening of the regulations concerning the manipulation of mercury, especially with the use of special gloves that are completely impervious to mercury – thus reducing the risk of poisoning through the skin.

And with this, we’re done with this short essay! While it’s not much compared to what I’ve been producing until now, it was interesting to do all of that research! I was aware of Minamata disease thanks to the lore masters of Bloodborne such as Redgrave or Aegon of Astora and their research about mercury, which has a major place in the game. However, I was not familiar with it to the extent of knowing about its references in Chinese myths, so it was yet again an occasion to generally improve my knowledge about stuff that’ll be utterly useless for my daily life! But hey, it’s what makes it so attractive.

For my next write-ups, I’ll have the long-awaited Criminality and Misery essay, as well as a Chôbe rant (y e s) I’ve been thinking about this past month. I guess I’ll do this one first to get it out of the way? I don’t know, I did wanted to at least have the first part of C&M out of the way before Sunday (because this part makes me think about the Aza bros a lot and I end up depressed everytime so I’d like to have it out before we see them again in the manga)... Yeah guess I’ll work on both stuff in parallel and try the insane bet of getting them out before Sunday. Besides, the Chôbe rant shouldn’t be too long, it’ll be mostly the explanation of a trope often used in literature that, I think, matches with Murder Bae perfectly.

Sources

Symbols of the gourd and the creeper

Myth and meaning in early Taoism: the theme of Chaos (Hun-Tun), by N. J. Girardot

Sacred gourd myths

Mercury poisoning

The poisoning of KW

#jigokuraku #hell's paradise #tensen #elixir of immortality #mercury #mercury poisoning #gourd #chinese culture

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