This latest blockbuster season took off to a
resoundingly positive start with Marvel’s Doctor Strange. To be honest, I was initially
dreading it as the trailer had looked like “Inception done badly with a heavy
dash of Orientalism mumbo jumbo”. Thankfully the actual execution of the movie
was done nicely, with the right amount of entertainment with thought
stimulation, which is what I will be musing about next. Spoilers ahead for any
who has yet to watch the movie!
Around two third into the movie to build up the
conflict, we discover together with Doctor Strange and his companion Mordu from
the minor villain Kaecilius, that the Ancient One (played by Tilda Swinton),
had managed to stay alive for as long as she did, through allowing for the existence
of Dormammu of the Dark Dimension, and even drawing upon its power.
During my early interpretation of this turn of events,
my sentiments were greatly akin to that of Mordu’s, who was utterly disappointed
with the Ancient One. It was extremely difficult to reconcile the logic, if
there was any, behind the Ancient One’s decision. This question nagged at me
for quite a while till much later, days after watching the movie, that I realized
where the crux of the issue was (looks like I’m still extremely dense, Doctor
Strange was able to understand it much faster).
When we talk of the seven deadly sins, pride is the
head of the pack, as it is not just traced to human beings, but the devil
himself. In the book of Isaiah, it is briefly mentioned that the downfall of
the devil, who was then one of God’s leading angels, is attributed to his pride
of his perfection, which propelled him to eventually rebel against God.
When God created human beings in his image, as stated
in Genesis, there is repeated emphasis on the “goodness” of human beings and
the world in its origin form. However, nowhere was it mentioned that everything
was “perfect”. What then differentiates
between perfection and goodness? Goodness indicates an element of positive
dependency and teamwork, between all parties, that all parties involved are
equally invested in the success of something. However perfection is of a more dismissive,
isolationist nature, even with a suggestive hint of the destruction of other
elements which do not conform.
And that is what differentiates the Ancient one and Doctor
Strange, from Kaecilius and Mordu. Doctor Strange and the Ancient One’s
ownership of their imperfections while trying to perform the greater good, is
ironically what still grounds them as heroes, while contrasted with the
self-righteous pride of Kaecilius and Mordu, who have sadly tipped into the
villain zone.
During the final moments before the Ancient One’s death,
she shares with Doctor Strange the heartache that she has carried all , musing
that it was conflicting to do what she did, feeling especially wistful at how
her decision has spurned former disciple Kaecilius to become so extremist in
mindset, that he has now joined forces with Dormammu of the Dark Dimension.
Nevertheless, she has no regrets as she acknowledges the goodness of the
intentions behind her action, which were never self-serving in any manner,
while at the same time also taking accountability over the consequences of her
actions through death. Doctor Strange later takes up this mindset mantle of
hers, when he “defeats” Dormammu the way he did, adding pensively to fellow compatriot
Wong that there will be unfortunate consequences to this temporal victory.
Kaecilius ironically gets his wishes to assimilate
into the Dark Dimentsion, though of course to his horror things are not as he
envisioned. Meanwhile unfortunately Mordu has turned extremist in mindset like
Kaecilius, taking on a vigilante mission to cleanse the world of any practitioners
of the Mystic Arts who he deems have gone wayward and self-serving.
So what lesson, does this movie has for us, beings
made in the image of the Perfect One? To strive for goodness will do.
Meanwhile, leave the perfecting of all things to Him. Maybe I should rename
this blog altogether, and quit being bothered with perfect vision, amen.
