Looper, Dr Ronald Mallett, Time Travel

[wolven7]

So we saw Looper, last night.

A couple of notes, before we get into whatever this will be:

1) Rian Johnson is a HUGE Warren Zevon fan. The song "Carmelita" makes an appearance, and is, in a weird way, a cipher for a major portion on the story.

2) My birthday plays a very important role in the film. On the date in question, I'll be turning 57.

So, there's not much I can tell you about Looper that hasn't already been said, without spoiling major portions of the plot for you. I can say this: The time travel mechanism-- that is the philosophical implication behind what happens in the film-- works. It's iterative, and it works. That's all I can really say, there.

So, recently, I'm reading Dr Ronald L Mallett's Time Traveler, which is about a theoretical physicist's personal quest to make time travel a reality. Rebekah gave me a paperback copy. Even if you don't know Mallett's name, you know his theory: A closed loop of light creates a frame dragging effect much like matter with a large mass, and thus deforms gravity. Mallett theorised that a loop of light closed in the correct manner would allow for the deformation of space time to extend to macroscale objects, and create the ability to travel within time as well as space. If you've read Warren Ellis' Planetary, then you've seen a Dr Mallett's theory in pop-culture, which is good, because as Mallett himself says, if it weren't for Science Fiction, he wouldn't have become a theoretical physicist.

That's important enough for me to say again: If it weren't for Science Fiction, Dr Ronald L Mallett-- revolutionary in the theory and practice of time travel, and in the breaking of boundaries for people of various races and ethnicities within the sciences-- wouldn't have become a theoretical physicist.

You see what I'm getting at, yes?

Part of what I want to start doing, in all of these things, is to bring together professionals, academics, and fans in a far more direct fashion.

I've sent emails.

There will be more about Looper, later, but for now: go see it.

Comments

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

I think I saw someone mention it on Twitter, but JGL's own HITrecord is a really good model for something like this.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

This puts crazy ideas in my mind.

[mrvi.livejournal.com]

Far too many mythic resonances in it to count too. Joe's stripper gf vs Sarah, the hair stroking. (Giving vs take/Mother archetypes) Sarah's corn in which all the action takes place is in seed for next year so young Joe can't burn it ---> Sid as the Rainmaker creating a better future through Joe's sacrifice. Joe not being able to save his own Mother, so saving Sarah...There's loads of that in there even if you discount the TT For example, Sarah being able to move the lighter when everyone else can only do quarters. The line about superheroes.

I'll shut up now.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

No no, you're 100% right, and this is what I meant by it all being iterative. How many times did Joe kill himself in how many ways before his 30-years-in-the-future Taking happened Just That Way, and he created Just That Plan, which led to Just That Outcome?

And then he sees all the loops, all the recurrences of the same themes, all the resonances tying, pulling intersecting... and he cuts them.