Distributed Mind

(This post copyrighted 2006 Justin Lowry. Permission to link to or cite with reference.)

I have wanted to write this for a long time, but have only now done so in response to a post on IMDB. I intend to edit it for clarity and possible expansion in "the future".

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"The Fisher King" is a film that I think deserves a lot more attention than it receives, particularly from Christians.

Though the movie can be understood without working out the "Fisher King" (the in-film parable) or "Pinocchio" references, I think they are very helpful keys. To me, these two stories are Christian metaphors and very likely had their origins as such. Both are about becoming "truly human". In the case of "Pinnochio" this is explicit, in "The Fisher King" becoming human is inherent in the quest. The Fool from "Fisher King" and the Fairy from "Pinocchio" are both Christ-like figures (though in different ways). The Fool has humility (though not inferiority) and responds to the king with love. The Fool is able to find the Holy Grail because he acts out of love alone and not with motivations of fame and fortune. In a sense, the Fool is the humanity of Jesus Christ, living his life in humility and with love. On the otherhand, the Fairy from "Pinocchio" has more in common with the divinity of Christ. She brings grace and forgiveness to Pinocchio and gives him humanity when he wills only the Good above all else. There is another side of Pinocchio that needs to be mentioned: while the Fairy brings grace, Jimminy Cricket brings judgement. He is the conscience that prods Pinocchio and in the end shows how far he has fallen from where he is suppose to be. (For Christians this Fairy/Jimminy relationship is very much like the Law and Gospel understanding of the Word.)

Perry is Christ-like in different ways. For one, he is Christ-like in the more realistic sense that any human being can become "like Christ", he does God's will which in his eyes is communicated to him through the "little fat people". In his relationship to Jack, he is basically the Fool, however for Jack he also serves as a Jimminy Cricket. As the Fool he has no cares for money or fame or status, simply to love and do the will of God and because of this he is more human and can be happy with so little. As the Fool he also does not see Jack as superior because of his better social status and yet at the same time, as the Fool, he consistently responds to Jack out of love and attends to his needs. But when Jack encounters Perry he feels his judgement and sense of condemnation more acutely than ever and feels responsible for Perry and in this sense Perry is unknowingly Jack's Jimminy Cricket (not because Perry judges Jack, but because Jack is faced with his own guilt more fully by dealing with Perry). This prods him into action on Perry's behalf. However, he only "becomes human" when he truly acts *for* Perry (out of love) rather than to conquer his guilt. In other words, Perry as Jimminy Cricket reveals Jack's fallenness yet Jack's response must not be out of guilt (which does not in the end satisfy as he learns), but out of love. Also, Perry as Jimminy Cricket occasionally puts in front of Jack his responsibility to Anne and prods him towards commitment (marriage). Finally, in relationship to Lydia, Perry is more of a Fairy figure: that is to say, Christ-like in the sense that he brings grace and love, not judgement. Lydia is humble but more out of a sense of inferiority. She already sees herself as fallen, she does not need judgement, she needs grace. When Perry reveals that he truly loves her *unconditionally* (this is an ideal, though in reality we can assume that Perry is only coming as close to it as a person can in this world), she feels the same joy that is understood by those who see Christ in the same way.

Jack undertakes the quest for the "Holy Grail" out of love for Jack, regardless of the absurdity of it (I could talk about the importance of absurdity for a while, particularly in connection with Gilliam's film "Munchausen", but this is already a very long post! Hint: Kierkegaard.). By acting out of love for Perry (who is basically God's messenger to Jack) he ends up also doing God's will. Yes, God is a character in this film. One might think God is only metaphorical or Perry's delusions at first, but by the end it is almost explicit that, for the film, God is real: God has "orchestrated" Jack's "Holy Grail" quest so that by setting off the alarm in the Castle, he would save the life of the owner (the man in the chair who almost commits suicide). The "Holy Grail" is certainly not the cup of Christ, but rather a trophy. And like the Grail in the "Fisher King" story, the point is not the cup at all but the action taken to receive it. In both the story and the film, the Grail is attained because of love. It is the quest itself, and not the object of the quest, that is important.

Perry's status as a Christ-like figure is apparent in other ways. When Jack brings him the "Holy Grail", Perry awakes, indeed one could say he is "resurrected" in keeping with his Christ-like role. In fact, Lydia's arrival after Perry's "resurrection" is very reminiscent of Mary Magdalene's arrival at Jesus's tomb: Lydia finds Perry's bed empty, much like Mary found the tomb empty. Prior to this Lydia steadfastly attends to the comatose Perry like Mary attended Jesus' body. Another parallel can be drawn when one realizes that Jack has essentially become a disciple of Perry's and mirrors Peter's denial of Christ when he denies knowing the homeless "cabaret singer" (in effect, also denying his association with such humiliation and rejection, as Peter did). I think all of this just serves to hilight the fact that Perry, being Christ-like, has been an instrument of salvation for both Jack and Lydia (in Jack's case he came to his resue both physically, when Jack is attacked, and spiritually). Again, he is an instrument of salvation because he acts out of love and does the will of God.

As to some of the details:

Perry may be Christ-like in his humanness and his desire to do God's will, but he still suffers as anyone who lives in this world is bound to do. He cannot deal with the brutal death of his wife. The Red Knight is obviously representing Perry's suffering, his inability to deal with trauma. The color "red" may point to the Knight's Satan-like nature, since red is often associated with the Devil and Hell. The fact that it is a knight seems to be in keeping with the medieval motif: Perry sees himself as a knight, the good knight that comes to the rescue of others, including "damsels in distress". Others may be able to speak to specific references that I am not aware of regarding the Red Knight.

Now regarding the dancing in the train station: I think there are a number of ways to see this. The main point is that Perry is "in love" and as such sees only beauty when he sees her. The dancing is obviously only in his mind and an expression of how the world looks so much better (so rosy!) when you are "in love". On a subtler note, I am reminded of a verse from the New Testament: "All things work for the good for those who know and love God". All of Creation seems to be working in concert with Perry because he loves, therefore people waltz in keeping with Perry's feelings.

Ah, the "little fat people"! I don't think we need say that the fat fairies are real. They are almost certainly hallucinations of Perry's brought on by his psychological distress. HOWEVER, I do believe that what Perry understands as coming from "fat fairies" (who even he says are just messengers of God) is truly instruction from God. So while the messengers are figments of Perry's imagination, the *message* is not. As for the particulars of the message: God wants Perry to help Jack (in more ways than one, some unknown to Perry) and wants Perry to send Jack on a quest. Jack is "the one" to go on the quest.

So there you have it. There is my reading of "The Fisher King". Sorry about the length and any poor writing.