art – Stepping Stones

Preface: Lest Triggered

As stated in the excerpt, the premise of this article is that the widely acclaimed 2025 horror movie Weapons is, primarily, an ‘antisemitic’* representation of the Jewish people and a political allegory about Israel’s influence on Palestine and the US. However, it is not a claim that Zack Cregger or anyone associated with the movie Weapons is antisemitic, nor am I interested in their actual views about the Jews or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This article is not purposed to criticise or defend groups or particular people but to excavate the most significant symbolism I’ve seen in Weapons that has been part missed and part wilfully ignored by mainstream and social media (at least as far as I’ve seen). Suffice it to say here that entertainment media – as with society and the world – is designed and directed from an orchestrating source above and behind the individuals who are accredited with creating it. Zack Cregger’s comments about the meanings of Weapons (some of which I quote in this article) happen to exemplify this principle: that artists are not the true authors of their works (which, like Cregger, they often hint having ‘channelled’) and aren’t even required to know the deepest meanings and functions of them.

There’s Something About Movies: Special Edition (packed with bonus features!)

PART 1
Embedded-Archetype Recycling

Introduction

More so than any other medium, the motion picture – also known as film, cinema, and most commonly, movies – has the capacity to convey ideas and themes whilst bypassing the viewer’s awareness of having done so; meaning that even the reception of the content generally remains unperceived, i.e. let alone its affect and techniques thereof. This principle can be observed by the substratum of archetypal themes from which movie* narratives are constructed upon; by the industrial recycling of these archetypes, evident in movies that are differentiated by time and genre; and by the common obliviousness to embedded elements and the pervasiveness of this practice.

*Although most of this article concerns movies, the discussion generally applies to television fiction too, particularly since it has become more cinematic in recent years. Movie narratives, however, are the primary form of embedded-archetype recycling.

I have termed the principle behind this practice ‘embedded-archetype recycling’, where “archetype” refers to a type of character or theme that is ancient, or at least pre-modern (hence being adapted into modern form); where “embedded” refers to the concealment of the archetypes within the overt narrative; and where “recycling” refers to the institutional practice of reapplying these archetypes to the narratives of “new” movies (hence, archetypes pervade the medium irrespective of era divergences and genre differences between movies).

Tag: art

Weapons (2025): A-Political Analysism | Film Analysis

Preface: Lest Triggered

There’s Something About Movies (2-Part Special Edition): Embedded-Archetype Recycling in the Hollywoodverse

PART 1
Embedded-Archetype Recycling

Introduction

Preface: Lest Triggered

PART 1Embedded-Archetype Recycling

Introduction

PART 1
Embedded-Archetype Recycling