Tags
Absolute Write, AW Blog Chain, flaming eye, Mordor, Olympic flame, Olympics, psychology, religious symbology, Sauron, storms, symbols, The Shire
I have to admit that this title had me stumped. I really could not think of anything to comment upon that had happened in the world or had to do with the craft of writing which involved the concepts of fire and ice… I spent a while pondering possibilites – talking about opposites, for example, and how plots in stories often need these to create tension. However, nothing I could think of really inspired me. I mean, what has been happening in the UK recently that has involved a large flame?
Oh yeah…
Danny Boyle performed a massive ritual a week and a half ago which, according to many of my friends, transformed The Shire into Mordor and raised a massive, flaming eye above the stadium so that Sauron could get a good view of the Olympics.
How the hell could I have missed that?
Luckily, this massive ritual seems to have been successful. Not only did Sauron get his premium seat in the stadium but he seems to have blessed team GB with success. Because, suddenly, as if by magic, we are apparently good at Olympic sports*. That is some serious mojo there because, for as long as I can remember, we have always been rather middling at all sports. Plus, it cannot be denied that the Olympics, including the rather exciting wins we have had, have been a great boost to morale in the UK.
Personally, I there think that whatever sacrifice Grand Magistar of the Great Ritual, Danny Boyle, made to the Dark Lord Sauron to achieve this was definitely worth it.**
So, yes, the Olympic flame. It is actually a very powerful symbol supposed to commemorate the theft of fire from the gods by Prometheus (possibly the first theft in the same way as Cain performed the first homicide…) and is also an example (possibly the only existing modern example?) of what is known in religious/spiritual terms as an eternal flame (feel free to insert an appropriate joke about The Bangles here…). That is, a flame which is kept constantly tended and, rather than being put out and relit is passed on from vessel to vessel.
In fact, the modern Olympic flame is lit on Mount Olympus by eleven women representing Vestal Virgins using the light of the sun and is transferred to the new host country using torches lit from that original flame in one hell of a long relay race (which did pass very close to my house at one point, I think they got lost on the way as we are a few hundred miles north of the direct route between Athens and London). There is a hell of a lot of symbolism inherent in that set up, not least the ideas of continuity and eternity. My point? Well, I joked that Danny Boyle was performing a massive magical ritual as part of his opening ceremony but in reality he actually was. The whole Olympics, from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony, is packed with magical and religious symbols and whether you believe in gods, magic or whatever or not these symbols still have an affect on the human psyche. Psychologically, we have been programmed over our entire evolution to put significance on these things and respond to them with the appropriate level of awe. Fire is one of the strongest of these – Olympic flames, burning bushes, burnt offerings, all have been instrumental in our beliefs throughout history.
What about Ice? Ah, you thought I had forgotten about ice…. Well, no, I hadn’t and my Olympic theme holds true. No, I am not talking about the Winter Olympics (which does seem to get forgotten in this country, not really been talked about much since the days of Torville and Dean and Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards) but about the strange thing that happened the day after what has been described as our greatest Olympic day (Saturday 4th August, when we won oh so many medals). A massive storm raged over Manchester causing massive flooding in my local area. Now, summer storms are not unusual and flooding has been known to happen on occasion. However, the really freaky thing about this storm was that it hailed. Yes, hail. Lumps of ice fell from the sky in August on a day that had been very warm. Now, I am no expert on the weather but I think I am right in thinking that this was a somewhat unusual occurence. Clearly, whatever Boyle did had side effects which affected the weather… Maybe the powerful symbol of fire needed the equally powerful ice to balance it amd restore equilibrium to the universe?
So, there you have it… Fire and Ice, important psychological symbols which still impact us in the supposedly more secular and less superstitious modern age. Whether you are writing fantasy, horror, science fiction or even a simple contemporary romance you can use such concepts to induce potent emotions in your readers. Just as the Olympic flame has induced a great passion for sport among people who would not normally care.
* Yeah, ok, we were good at Beijing too but this year we are better… Of course, despite actually being third in the medals table behind the USA and China, according to the British media we are still apparently ‘winning’ the Olympics…
** Ok, yeah, I do not deny that all our athletes are incredibly talented and have worked hard at their sport. But we seem to suffer from bad luck a lot… missing out on gold by mere inches. This year, that bad luck has evaporated and it is about damn time it did.
Ok, Blog chains… this is how it works. You ‘ve read this one so now you are legally bound to read all the others. There is a special server in the MI5 building set aside *just* for tracking who reads what on this blog chain so they *will* find you out… If you fail in this task, the IOC will have to take all the gold medals away from whichever country you are from so the honour of your country depends on this! The list of participants is below….
Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to this month’s post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
areteus – https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Catherine Hall – http://theelephantinthetemple.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
bmadsen – http://www.bernardmadsen.com/ (link to this month’s post)
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
magicmint – http://www.loneswing.com/ (link to this month’s post)
meowzbark – http://erlessard.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
tomspy77 – http://thomaswillamspychalski.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
BBBurke – http://www.awritersprogression.com/ (link to this month’s post)
writingismypassion – http://charityfaye.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Proach – http://desstories.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
randi.lee – http://emotionalnovel.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
BigWords -http://bigwords88.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
wonderactivist said:
To me the flame represents our passion for competition. The human spirit craving to be great. It doesn’t surprise me hat hosting the games would inspire your country to win more medals. That’s the home-court advantage.
D.A Lascelles said:
True, but it is still a nice surprise when it happens 🙂
But the home advantage is also a symbol, the desire to protect the home….
paulaacton said:
damn you are only just down the train line from me in Huddersfield, we are doing okay this week only drizzle guess you got it all but we have a food and drink festival this weekend so am expecting to get wet wandering round the cheeses
D.A Lascelles said:
It’s worse than that… it was bright sunshine in Stockport and other parts of Manchester not too far away. It seems to have been only Prestwich which got hit… that’s a very small area.
Diane Carlisle said:
I never watch sports, but I had a heck of a great time watching the US beach volley ball team kick ass. Wow. Now I’ve gotten a history on the Olympic torch. I never knew all that. 🙂
D.A Lascelles said:
We were confused as to why there had to be volleyball AND beach volleyball… 🙂
I’d always known the Olympic flame was an eternal one but the rest I looked up…
alexp01 said:
The host nation always does well at the Olympics, be it from inspiration, home field advantage, or what have you. I’m not a sports fan, but the ‘Lympics are definitely ripe for analysis and symbolism (like the fact that the torch relay was created by the Nazis for the ’36 games). Also: the London torch reminds me less of Sauron and more of Yellow Submarine what with that forest of trumpets it’s got going on.
D.A Lascelles said:
Yeah, I didn’t include the Nazi connection as that would be a much longer post…
I also suspect that the Yellow Submarine link may have been intentional but for some reason all my friends, on seeing a big flaming ring, think ‘Sauron’. 🙂
alexp01 said:
Well, Sauron is as British as Marmite, after all! Well, I guess he could also be considered South African too. As could Marmite.
B.M. said:
I like it, a lot! Fire and Ice are staples in literature, symbolism and in creating emotion to those around. I believe we can use them even when our language is not compatible. The Olympics are a good example of this! Cheers!
D.A Lascelles said:
I think this is the strength of such symbols – the fact that they can cross international boundaries. Most of the really strong symbols were established a hell of a long time ago.
Pingback: AW’s August 2012 Blog Chain: Fire & Ice « Neither Here nor There….
Pingback: August AW Blog Chain: Fire and Ice Prompt | Lizzy's Dark Fiction
Charity said:
Thanks for sharing. I never gave much thought to the purpose or symbolism of the olympic torch.
BBBurke said:
Now that the Olympics are over, I have to say: well done. The coverage over here in the states talked a lot about the US/UK relationship and the games seemed to symbolize that. Sure, the US dominated the medals. We’re good at brute force. But the British do seem to have a fierce spirit hidden under that reserve that is quite different from us but equally as impressive.
Pingback: Fire and Ice « reverse perspective
Suzanne Seese said:
“You‘ve read this one so now you are legally bound to read all the others. ”
Sorry but I’m still laughing at the end of your post. Thank you for threatening your readers towards my blog, very much appreciated.
And a good post by the way.
D.A Lascelles said:
I do like to make sure readers have an incentive to carry on reading… 🙂 I put something similar on all the blogchain posts… feel free to go back and look.
Pingback: AW Blog Chain – Fire And Ice « The Graveyard
Pingback: Photoshoot II: Attack of the texting Zombies (with Romans) « Lurking Musings
Pingback: AW August Blog Chain: Fire and Ice | Deanna Proach, Writer