Synchromysticism

" Synchromysticism:
The art of realizing meaningful coincidence in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric significance."

- Jake Kotze

January 22, 2012

Year of the Synchromystic Dragon (Part Two)

Continued on from -
Year of the Synchromystic Dragon 
(Part One)
Star (Brandon) within a star (Bruce)?
This above shot is taken from a scene where Bruce is about to meet Linda for the first time in his life. 
At this stage I noticed there was a lot of scared geometry/symbology in this film.
For instance in the above photo the brickwork seems to be hinting at a Star of David interwoven triangles type symbol of two forces merging, in this case female (Linda) and male (Bruce) forces intertwining to merge as one (Brandon?).
Yin/Yang symbol?
This photo above of Bruce and Linda in the hospital is a very good example of the symbology used ... and I think deliberately is the case of the symbology used like above.  
Here I see a Yin/Yang symbol implied, with Linda and Bruce opposite, but complementary forces blending into one great untied force. 
In this scene she announces that she is pregnant with Brandon.
Point within a circle within a square?
They first met at the University of Washington in Seattle when she attended a class Bruce was giving to students there.
In the commentary in the special features of the DVD, Rob mentions that the University of Washington wouldn't let them film there, so they had to film in San Fransisco instead. 
Linda had to sneak out to see Bruce, because her parents didn't approve of a developing relationship with him.
In the movie and real life, one of their first dates was an outing to see Breakfast at Tiffany's, where Mickey Rooney did a cringing performance of an Asian landlord.
Stargate?-)
Opening Bruce's eyes to the stereotypical image of Asians in Hollywood. 
Oddly, Mickey would play a character (Harold Lang) in the  
A Shaolin Treasure episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues along side David Carradine in 1996.
 A TV show dreamed up by Bruce Lee himself in a roundabout way.
Audrey Hepburn would die in 1993 on Jan 20th, a few months before Brandon. 
Her last movie was Stephen Spielberg's Always, a ghost story, 
"Pete always takes chances, confident that his skill will bring him through. 
One day it doesn't and he is killed. 
He finds himself returning as an invisible ghost who's presence is barely felt giving advice to his successor."
Bruce opens his first Kung-Fu school off campus and gets into hot water with the Chinese community for teaching these skills to non-Chinese.
And the demon resumes his interest in the movie at this stage where Bruce is payed a dreamlike appearance in his studio while writing this on his typewriter.
Phi (the golden Mean?) or an i in a triangle?
The demon enters the studio in the scene below
and comes in through these doors (below) which have some weird props either side of them.
Tiger vs Dragon
1964 the Year of the Dragon also. The year I was born
A young boy delivers a note to Linda to give to Bruce.
It is threat to stop teaching the secrets of Kung-Fu to non-Chinese people.
Then Bruce has to fight an opponent of their choosing in a star chamber.
He wins the fight, as he did in real life, but in the movie his opponent gets up and kicks him in the back, giving him the famous spinal injury that nearly ends his career.
But in reality he did it to himself lifting weights and crushing a disc in his back.
In this scene (above) the impending birth of their son Brandon is announced.
 The director has deliberately tried to link the bedridden and immobile Bruce Lee to the Jesus nailed to the crucifix on the hospital wall by having Linda walk past it one way then come back to Bruce the other way, with the crucifix clearly in the background suggesting a connection with the nailed Jesus.
The next shot when the movie switches from the hospital to the real notes Bruce drew for his famous books manuscript confirms the intention of the director when he focuses on a diagram that looks very much like a crucified Jesus figure.
Year of the Synchromystic Dragon 
(Part Three)

2 comments:

  1. As usual the detail is one step beyond.

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  2. Great observations. Note that Bruce is writing about Hegelian synthesis of thesis and antithesis (coniunctio oppositorum) when he confronts his Shadow.

    Note Linda's High Priestess role as keeper of Bruce's book. And before that she receives another "Scroll of the Law" (the TORA) that makes the Christified Bruce encounter the Curse. Bruce is obviously experiencing the full agony of the cross after his battle with his darker half.

    The weird props suggest his fight is with 1) his animal nature (the tiger and dragon) and 2) his ego (the heads).

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