Trying to think of an old movie (or book)
polycounter lvl 20
A friend at work is trying to recall the name of a movie or book that this memory of her's comes from. I figured you lot would have an idea what she's thinking of.
Any help?
Any help?
I've been wracking my brains over the last couple of days trying to identify an image. The big problem is that I can't remember if it was an actual scene from a movie or a dream I may have had, or maybe even my own imagining of a scene from a book. Whatever it is, it feels like I dreamed it/saw it/imagined it quite a long time ago.
The memory was triggered by a passage I read in the introduction to a translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It was a description of the afterlife - the passage reads:
"Ordinary mortals must go to 'The house where they sit in darkness, where dust is their food and clay their meat, they are clothed like birds with wings for garments, over bolt and door lie dust and silence.' It is a depressing vision of heavy moping voiceless moping birds with draggled feathers crouching in the dirt."
This stirred a memory of a particular scene, but as I can't remember the source, I will refer to the person in the scene as the Traveler - it may have been myself, or the film's character(s).
The scene I was reminded of was a desaturated wasteland. A mostly dry, but still mucky swamp with dead trees and vegetation. The Traveler encounters very large crow/vulture but oddly human-like birds sitting in one of the dead trees, and they are speaking to each other - they speak to the Traveler too. They are old and abandoned creatures that did not leave when disaster was coming, and are now too confused and tired to move on. They bicker amongst themselves, and give conflicting advice to the Traveler. The birds might want the Traveler to stay with them, or help them leave, I can't remember. The Traveler realizes they are of no help, and turns to move on, realizing that the birds have started to repeat things they said at the beginning of the encounter, even their bickering - and they don't notice. It's like their record is skipping.
The whole scene has a 'purgatory' vibe to it - these birds are stuck here, and they don't realize it.
It's definitely after-lifey, and has the underworld-journey feeling to it. I'd say maybe it's from "What Dreams May Come", but I'm pretty sure it's not from that. I thought maybe from the Brothers Quay "Gilgamesh" film, but I don't remember it very well, and I'm pretty sure it made very little sense and didn't have nearly as much dialogue as my scene had anyway. There's some feeling of the swamp in the Neverending Story also, but I kinda feel like I'm grasping at straws now. Maybe someone else remembers better.
So... familiar to anyone? Did I just dream this stuff up, or is this from something that exists?
Replies
I think a friend might have nailed it, but it's kind of funny.
Someone suggested a couple of cartoon options & I said that at some point in my recollection, I thought it might be from a cartoon, like the crows in Dumbo or something - but when I looked it up, it was definitely wrong. Somebody else suggested the Jungle Book, and I almost didn't bother looking - I was so sure it wasn't right, but check this out:
[ame]
It definitely has the anthropomorphic vibe, and it has the repeating conversation, AND has the gloomy environment, AND is from a cartoon.
I think the underworld-vibe I attributed to it may just have been my own memory embellishing it to suit my mythologist tendencies.... I'm not surprised that I'd take a pretty light-hearted scene and subconsciously turn it into an underworld/mythic journey metaphor, hahah
Thanks for posting for me, Adam!
Speaking of which... For anyone in Vancouver tomorrow night, The Rio Theatre is running a midnight double feature: The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Super awesome combo.
Sidenote: When I young my feet were huge (they still are). My mom would call me Mogli.
Or maybe something from Neverending Story or one of its sequals.
could be something form tad williams 'Otherland' series aswell..