Remember how back in Season 2 Steve Newlin challenged Nan Flanagan on TV, baiting her with the logic that because vampires don’t respect death they also can’t respect life? He was essentially implying that their undying bodies are an affront to the endless cycle of death and rebirth―of course, his vision of rebirth being one awash in His Holy Light as the immortal soul splits from the body, leaving this mortal coil behind.
Pam’s decay, while utterly horrifying to her (and us!), can be seen as a return to the natural processes of birth, death, and renewal.
Our culture worships birth and its correlates youth and
beauty, but it can’t acknowledge and uplift that single phase of life alone; we
need the goddess of death to chew and destroy the unneeded so new forms can
emerge.
I’ve spoken about the neglected value of the death aspect of the goddess before, i.e. Who Is She Who Munches The Dead? and Pam's Taken The Veil.
Let’s think about the process of death and rebirth in cosmic terms. A fundamental truth, the most profound property of time, is that nothing lasts forever; this plays out on earth and in the depths of space.
A supernova burns out to a nebula with a tiny point of light at its center―the remnants of a star crushed to oblivion by its own gravity. In the nebula― a gas cloud of elements―all the elements a star produced in its life and death is pumped out across the universe yielding greater complexity, the seeds of our own existence.
I’ve spoken about the neglected value of the death aspect of the goddess before, i.e. Who Is She Who Munches The Dead? and Pam's Taken The Veil.
Let’s think about the process of death and rebirth in cosmic terms. A fundamental truth, the most profound property of time, is that nothing lasts forever; this plays out on earth and in the depths of space.
A supernova burns out to a nebula with a tiny point of light at its center―the remnants of a star crushed to oblivion by its own gravity. In the nebula― a gas cloud of elements―all the elements a star produced in its life and death is pumped out across the universe yielding greater complexity, the seeds of our own existence.
 |
| supernova |
 |
| Orion nebula |
But eventually, all life on this planet will cease to exist.
Decay, entropy, and disintegration will rule as the universe
becomes less ordered. According to the 2nd law of thermodynamics―
everything tends from more to less order.
Stars cannot shine forever.
In 6 billion years our sun will explode.
The cosmos will one day be plunged into eternal night when
the stars fade and die―the end of the stelliferous era.
Only black dwarves―dark dense balls of decaying matter―will remain.
 |
| black dwarf |
Then, only a sea of photons tending towards absolute zero.
Life only exists for a fleeting, bright time.
But in death to old forms once again comes the potential for new life.
Life is the cosmos made conscious, how the universe understands itself.What new life will emerge from the death of our universe?
A new big bang…
…come on, sing it with me
our whole universe was in a hot dense state…
As we've seen, True Blood alums can be reborn on CBS's The Big Bang Theory!
None of it’s possible without the old forms first passing away.
Now, we know vampires’ undead bodies are static and unchanging, seemingly closing them off from life's cycles.
But their minds and hearts, as we’ve seen over the course of four seasons of True Blood that that’s another story entirely.
What deaths and rebirths of the mind and heart can we expect from our undead friends in Season 5?
We’d love to hear your ideas!
~ Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment