Licht und Blindhiet, the title is inspired by Oedipus the king becoming blind oppon seeing the 'light'.
Freudian analysis of Oedipal desire, while tangible, is something I find less interesting than the entirety of the story. The Fable of Oedipus the king takes place during a day, a hapless day. The Oedipal day is by no means different from the average Americans dance with debt, work, feelings of uselessness in the face of the inevitability of death, perhaps mans pursuits through the day are attempts to put off the overwhelming feeling that one day he will die and the world will go on merrily without him.
The harder we try to force our will upon fate the more we solidify our fate. To those standing on the sidelines of both Oedipus RexÕs life and the American status quoa, it must look ridiculous; to see clearly and watch fools persist in their follies. Sophocles used the image of clear vision as a metaphor for knowledge and insight, the references to eyesight and insight in Sophocles plays form a meaningful pattern in conjecture to references of literal and figurative blindness. Oedipus is famed for his clear sightedness and quick comprehension. In juxtaposition he is completely blind to the truth for many years. In the end Oedipus becomes aware of the truth that the prophet Tiresias a blind observer, warned him of. In The end the king blinds himself, the full weight of his actions, the truth of it all is too much for him to bear, so he takes his own eyesight an almost direct reference to Plato's allegory of the caves.
Long before we got "civilized" ancient Greeks were already talking about predestination. The helpless notion that we have no real say in the significant events that shape our lives, it relieves of any responsibility we hold in relation to these events. The prophet Tiresias' literal blindness sheds light on fate, destiny and in this case, an artist.
http://vagnervision.com/
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