Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-26512661-20200118161649/@comment-35434444-20200118230727

Ironwood knows about "The timeline" as well and I feel like I'm the only person inside or outside the narrative that even noticed.

Logically this is the kind of thing that would be an even bigger secret than Amnity Tower, but he just mentions it in passing -- like as if anyone asked he'd be like, "The timeline? Oh yeah M&K are just restructuring the cosmos, but you don't need to worry about that, dear protagonist."

Is this a turn of phrase on Remnant? Something happens and they're just like, "Well this certainly changes the structure of the space-time continuum that I was expecting to run into in the near future."

Whatever, Salem's projection shows up in a very stylish transformation of the seer grimm, rupturing it's internal ink sacks to create a medium for one final transmission and ensuring self destruction so it can't be examined by the protagonists. Only M&K are credited as writers so I can evaluate their progress on integrating the anima -- no wait I mean, depicting Salem.

There's certainly a strong effort to promote subtlety. They did a good job of conveying that Salem could fly into a rage at any second without getting overeager and making her look ridiculous. She's better spoken now instead of just being verbose. Her aspect as a seductress is incorporated as well with the animation to match. Exactly why it's so nessessary may become apparent as I go on. (It has nothing to do with creepy fanfiction, though it will unquestionably spawn copious amounts of it as it always does.) But there still isn't quite that mercurial flash that both she and Ruby need to play off each other to maximum effect.

Interestingly, they do seem to mirror each other in their conversation, with Ruby growing very still too. The exchange works better for it's economy, yet I somehow feel that the two had considerably less to say to each other than they might.

"Serve me, Ironwood. I'll be your mommy, little boy."

"Nuh uh -- he don't need no mommy. We're gonna stop you!"

"Maybe. But you certainly do. Your last mother made a delightful chewtoy for my cerberus grimm."

[Ruby re-enacts the "Mother!" scene form FF7 Advent Children and collapses]

I was hoping Salem would be more inclined to ignore Ruby and be unfazed when she mentions that she knows about her history, although to the scene's credit it only barely gets her attention.

If there is one character who embodies 陰, it's Salem. She embodies it more than the God of Darkness himself. That means less is literally more with her. She is vantablack. She is void. She is space.

Cultivating the conscientious skills needed to write effectively is well understood and can be found in any textbook on the subject. But the lion's share of writing is done unconsciously, so could it be possible to develop unconscientiousness?

Obviously if there is it couldn't be encapsulated in a method, but anima integration offers us a convenient yardstick. Jung divides anima integration into four (because of course he'd pick the number four) stages comparable to well-known litarary tropes.

The first is Eve. (Or Salem as she was when Ozma had to save her from the tower.)

Concerned predominantly with the physicality of a woman, a man with an undeveloped anima is little more than a manchild and can only regard women as sources of security and affection. Her virtues (that's virtue in the contemporary western sense of the world meaning "moral rectitude" or "goodness") are not distinguishable from her faults and it hardly occurs to him that she is an agent at all.

The second is Helen. (Salem as she was when she and Ozma ventured side by side.)

Women are recognized as being capable agents in the world, but with an undercurrent of cynicism. Ironically, the anima in this stage seems incapable of recognizing the animus in the opposite sex and regards them as lacking higher psychological functions such as imagination. Any expression of this is relegated to achievements in intelligence. She is regarded as being, in some abstract way, still being dependent on men.

Thirdly, the Virgin Mary. (Salem as she was when she deceived humanity into attacking the gods.)

Women at last have agency and virtue, but there is a fly in the ointment that stems the flow of creative energy in the male pyche from reaching it's full potential: the man has difficulty recognizing a woman's faults. Indeed, male NPCs don't seem likely to ever venture past this point in thier individuation. Even court judges have a marked tendency to give more lenient sentences to women (not that that is necessarily a consequence of incomplete anima integration. I just find it curious.) Woman is now placed on a pedestal above man, but this is an overcompensation.

And finally, Sophia. (Salem as she is meant to be now, having proclaimed herself queen of the world.)

This name is perhaps ill conceived since it corresponds to an obscure and intricate Gnostic concept roughly translating to mean a combination of wisdom and knowledge. The goddess Athena is perhaps a better analogy for our purposes, but that still leaves a lot to be desired (note that Athena was born spontaneously from the forehead of Zeus.) I instead elect Android 21, she being closest to home. She is a scientist of great intellect but more importantly has an erratic personality and is capable of constant evolution -- you can think of it as her so overflowing with energy from the collective unconscious that it drives her insane. 覚醒の行末. The anima reaches such a point of maturation that she breaks free of her symbolic confines and becomes capable of finding expression in all things, becoming a conduit to the collective unconscious; a realization almost synonymous with spiritual awakening. Like Mothra spreading her wings in KOTM to, metaphorically, encompass all of being. In this regard, the anima is basically a discount version of the Self. As you can tell if you have seen the character in action, she holds the feminine qualities of the masculine mind but does not behave like any woman would due to her inflated archetypal qualities and is distinctly a male construct. (Appropriate, since Dr.Gero made her in continuity.) The anima and the animus serve complimentary roles but are not direct mirror images of each other. (As an aside, it would be interesting to see what kind of configuration a transgender person's mind would follow.)

I'm sorry for the preamble, especially if I've rambled about this at length before, but I lay out this context because this fourth level is exactly what is needed to the perfect the character. Nothing less will do to my mind. The only thing powerful enough to do it by emulation would be a woman with a fully developed animus, since his creative potential is speculated to be even higher. Or, rarest of all, a writer who is self actualized. I really don't know where we'd find one of those just moseying around. Were Miles or Kerry to achieve this, they wouldn't just be able to explain who Salem is -- they would effectively have met her face to face.

Incidentally, I recommend Kiersi Burkhart handles any scenes heavily involving Oscar or Ozpin since it would be poetic if the animus could be called upon to give life to Salem's counterpart; an advantage Monty would never have had working on his own.

The reason the anima is inferior to the Self in this matter is she excludes, and even usurps, one's individual characteristics. The man gains mythological story of all men before him, but forgets his own story. Feeding the anima too much can cause her to become greedy stifling any further development towards integrating the shadow and, by extension, the Self. Don't let her eat you! She's a magnificent servant but a terrible mistress. She may seem evil, but this is a consequence of her indiscrimination. Yin and Yang tremble before her. (Note that 21's lab clothes are given the opposing colours red and blue.) Beneath it all, she is very friendly, but plays so rough you'd swear she's trying to kill you. She has a brighter, more docile side too, but we're speaking in generalities here and nothing could be more broad and nebulous than an unrestrained anima.

You can tell when a writer is "in full sycnhro mode" and his Self is active because his work has the same rich and spontaneous quality as when the anima is at the helm, but with mercurial speed, endurance, and strangest of all, a barely detectable humility that in no way undermines his confidence and could be expressed as balance. He's godly to the extent he's human and human to the extent that he's godly. This is who Ruby must be at some point leading up to the final act of the series since the silver eyed warriors represent the Self. Most artists go through it at least once and spend the rest of thier lives trying to recapture it.

This is what people mean when they say a work is "original" without reservation or irony. It has a vivid aliveness to it that in point of fact may be derived from some earlier work yet nevertheless feels irreparable.

Such states are rare, short lived, and cannot be summoned at will, otherwise the godhead would quickly grow bored of this experiment called life and shut the whole thing down. It just kind of an, "What would happen if some unsuspecting  human being was struck with a metaphysical bolt of lightning and became completely unstoppable for two weeks?" kind of deal.

What this means in practical terms is some form of introspection. There is of course no way the unconscious mind can be "worked" upon, but the whole endeavour could be summed up being asked, "Who are you?"

At the start of this process, a man uses his name to answer the question.

In the middle, he answers by pointing to something else with increasing spontaneity.

By the end, he again answers with his name, but with a twinkle in his eye.

Succeed in this and you will be past needing instruction from anyone.

...I swear I had a point I was building up to. Oh that's right -- in conclusion, I'd say the character is right on track even if there's still details I could pick on. Really it's just a matter of doing more of the same, but better. M&K, assuming Kiersi or Eddy wasn't whispering in thier ears, seem to have caught at least a whiff of the anima's full potential because her portrayal isn't floundering around nearly as much as it was just one short volume ago. The anima is almost the definition of changeable, however she never snaps from one state to another but flows seamlessly even if the states in question seem superficially unrelated and the change is sudden. Always natural. It's just a shame that we witnessed such encouraging change just as the company seems to be falling apart.

The only other thing I'd like to bring up is how annoyingly prevalent it is for characters to be interrupted in the middle of a line. This is a good tool used sparingly but we need to change things up a --

Shut up, me! You need to tell them that even if they've seen me doing it, do as I say not as I do. If you're interested in follwoing my advice in any case, that is. You've shown me enough that I'm fully content if you done.

Nine times out of ten, all this sounds like waffle. But on that tenth teime when all the stars align...

...Okay I'm done.