HALFBORN: An Inland Empire Analysis

Started by Jeremy Blackman, May 18, 2009, 09:03:10 PM

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drepoe29

Hello, definitely enjoyed reading thus analysis and all the other theories that were provided. Definitely cleared some things up for me that I missed watching the first time. I could not get subtitles to work to hear all dialogue. I like both the purgatory theories and someone else talked about multiple personalities, which is what I thought at first because I thought she ended up being a drug addict..but by the end didn't get the sense that she was. A couple of things I wanted to add:

Does anyone have any comments on the rabbits involved in the movie or the polish gypsy folklore at all?? I agree about the comments here but I also have more to add. From online reading rabbits or hares have a a variety of meaning over time.. The holy trinity, messengers of dieties, they have represented fertility death and rebirth, also a trickster (they have all of these elements in the movie). I think that this movie touches on all of those things, not to mention the male rabbit was definitely some sort of messenger. Also, the one folktale in the movie talked of the alley on the way to the palace (palaces are in fairytales) and there is a Russian man named Vladimir Propp of the 20th century who named the elements of the folk tale (which also came to be known as the fairytale) and this movie has all of those elements. I took this movie as a surreal fairytale of the subconcious, which leads to true enlightenment. It's hard for me to explain my thoughts but definitely look up some of the above.
I also read somewhere recently on a different article that David Lynch really likes that Vladimir Propp (has a picture in his house) and did research on rabbits or hares over the years? I don't know if this is true but linking these two things, after doing some reading online, gives me a feeling that the name Inland Empire refers to a subconscious fairytale (palace..empire). The movie definitely has all aspects of the structure of what fairytales are considered. It's extremely interesting and thought-provoking to me. Below are links to some info on what I brought up in my response.

http://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2014/12/the-folklore-of-rabbits-hares.html

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/propp/propp.htm

Jeremy Blackman

I think that's valid. I will have to read more about rabbits representing fertility, because that is certainly a big issue in the film.

For a really great distillation of the Propp formula and Inland Empire, be sure to read this post by SamFZGames:

http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=10711.msg330952#msg330952

I would also say the rabbits serve as a kind of spiritual source for the whole thing. They are often visually matched with characters in the film, especially characters from the spirit world. But more than that, the rabbits clearly represent the folktales, and the folktales are the ultimate source. It unfolds like this:

Folktales/rabbits ––> 49 ––> On High In Blue Tomorrows

These stories represent lives. I believe Lynch is making an illustration here that each of our lives is like its own story that is cyclical and repeating. 49 is the "story" that Lost Girl is stuck in. "On High" is the story that Sue is stuck in. Nikki is spiritually separated and sees that as a story — so essentially, we see Nikki's journey. (If it wasn't clear, I view Nikki as the non-incarnate version of Sue.)

The final piece is Axxon N., "the longest running radio play in history." I believe Axxon N. represents the whole system of lives, deaths, and reincarnations playing out like stories.

janetshlox

Two things that kinda stick out to me is:

1. A little girl/boy went out to play. Can this be a reference to the cheating love affairs?

2. Is it possible that the phantom can only be seen as the reflected evil?

statsrespecter

This is a REALLY good analysis, probably the best I've read.  I agree completely with *most* of your assessments, with a few exceptions.

The biggest is that I don't believe that Nikki Grace OR Sue Blue and the people of her reality are real.  I think that it's a multiple layered projection on the part of the Lost Girl.  Like you, I believe she's in a sort of purgatory, for the reasons you so eloquently spelled out.  However, rather than Sue being a reincarnation or spiritual "twin" to the lost girl, I think she's a device created by the LG to understand and overcome the purpose of her existence in this limbo, ie: the debt requiring payment.  I think Nikki is her attempt to "clean up" Sue's story, just as Sue herself is a means of "cleaning up" LG's story, but ultimately the Nikki facade falls away, leaving it nothing but the rationalization through Sue for LG.  Just as Nikki is "half born" from Sue, Sue is "half born" from LG...Nikki is Sue's avatar just as Sue is LG's avatar...but only LG is a real person.  To me, this is why we see some repeating characters that are "real" to Sue and Nikki -- Piotrek, The Phantom, Doris Side\Piotrek's wife -- are all actual people from LG's life in Old Poland.  Of particular interest -- the Phantom was the primary antagonist in her life -- her abusive, controlling husband, the same one that killed her lover.  It would stand somewhat to reason that the Phantom, the reflected evil or debt collector, would take on that persona as it pursued Sue.

I think the "Sue\Smithy\Billy\Doris are reincarnations of past people in a real world" is just a little too convenient or on the nose.  No one can say for sure, and I certainly could be wrong, but that explanation just doesn't "feel" right to me, and I can't find enough in the film to support it.  It reminds me a little of a popular(and in my opinion, VERY incorrect) theory that the Phantom is some kind of deity\demon that travels through time forcing victims to act in his "play" and the LG\Sue team up to defeat him.  It just doesn't feel "Lynch" to me.

Another minor detail that I'm not sure about in your piece is the Rabbits -- but I can't fault it either, because I can't really explain their connection either.  To me, that's the biggest missing piece for me..there's clearly something important being conveyed, but I can't see what it is.

Overall...tremendous work...I've read countless interpretations, and maybe it's confirmation bias, but this is far and away the best, most "correct" one I've come across!

Jeremy Blackman

Thanks for all the kind words!  :oops:

I am working on a major update, which I think addresses some of what you're saying.

Quote from: statsrespecter on September 21, 2017, 11:16:48 AMThe biggest is that I don't believe that Nikki Grace OR Sue Blue and the people of her reality are real.  I think that it's a multiple layered projection on the part of the Lost Girl.  Like you, I believe she's in a sort of purgatory, for the reasons you so eloquently spelled out.  However, rather than Sue being a reincarnation or spiritual "twin" to the lost girl, I think she's a device created by the LG to understand and overcome the purpose of her existence in this limbo, ie: the debt requiring payment.  I think Nikki is her attempt to "clean up" Sue's story, just as Sue herself is a means of "cleaning up" LG's story, but ultimately the Nikki facade falls away, leaving it nothing but the rationalization through Sue for LG.  Just as Nikki is "half born" from Sue, Sue is "half born" from LG...Nikki is Sue's avatar just as Sue is LG's avatar...but only LG is a real person.  To me, this is why we see some repeating characters that are "real" to Sue and Nikki -- Piotrek, The Phantom, Doris Side\Piotrek's wife -- are all actual people from LG's life in Old Poland.  Of particular interest -- the Phantom was the primary antagonist in her life -- her abusive, controlling husband, the same one that killed her lover.  It would stand somewhat to reason that the Phantom, the reflected evil or debt collector, would take on that persona as it pursued Sue.

I like this interpretation! I prefer mine, unsurprisingly, but this is really good. It has a lot of things going for it, including something that could be seen as a smoking gun: when they "merge" at the end, Nikki fades away while Lost Girl remains. We do see Nikki after that, though, still existing in some capacity and then seeming to go into her own afterlife — perhaps one of fiction, if you're correct, which is also kind of supported since we see (presumably) Camilla/Rita from Mulholland Drive.

I fully agree with you that Lost Girl is at the absolute center of the film, and that everything about Sue flows back to Lost Girl. I just feel like Sue has her own distinct journey in this narrative with her own agency. So in that sense, personally, I don't see her being an avatar of Lost Girl. Our interpretations are not necessarily incompatible, though, in many ways.


Quote from: statsrespecter on September 21, 2017, 11:16:48 AMIt reminds me a little of a popular(and in my opinion, VERY incorrect) theory that the Phantom is some kind of deity\demon that travels through time forcing victims to act in his "play" and the LG\Sue team up to defeat him.  It just doesn't feel "Lynch" to me.

Spoilers for new Twin Peaks... I would argue that the finale shows that Lynch is very much interested in forces of good teaming up to defeat an evil supernatural entity. Whether he was in 2006 is I guess an open question.

But I agree the Phantom is not as important as many people believe. I view him as a "threshold guardian," a type of figure that we also saw throughout new TP. What's important in Sue's confrontation with the Phantom is what Sue chooses to do — she chooses to openly face and defeat her own evil.


Quote from: statsrespecter on September 21, 2017, 11:16:48 AMAnother minor detail that I'm not sure about in your piece is the Rabbits -- but I can't fault it either, because I can't really explain their connection either.  To me, that's the biggest missing piece for me..there's clearly something important being conveyed, but I can't see what it is.

Yeah, I didn't really deal with the rabbits too much. They were discussed somewhere in this thread, though. Essentially, they can be seen as direct connections to the Polish folktale (and representations of it).

If you haven't, read this, one of the best / most important posts in this thread:

http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=10711.msg330952#msg330952

In my update, I'll have an explanation that addresses the four "levels" of reality/narrative at work in this universe. But here's a sketch of what I have in mind:

1. Axxon N. — Represents the whole spiritual system of this universe — incarnate lives as stories — a plane on which all of this takes place. The way Axxon N. is used to frame 47, it's like 47 is an iteration within Axxon N. — an episode of it. Here's an excerpt from what I'm writing that elaborates on that:

When Sue gets to see some scenes from Lost Girl's life via Axxon N., it plays out like Sue is vividly watching... yet there is the crackle of the needle, reminding us this is all still a story playing out on Axxon N., as is all human drama, as are all lives.

2. The Old Tale / Polish Folktale — The creative source of all narratives that run through lives. (Credit to the post linked above.)

3. 47 — Lost Girl's story. Ostensibly a German film based on a Polish folktale. However, we see Polish characters speaking Polish (not German), all but proving that Lost Girl is not literally in a German movie — rather, the fictitious 47 is a figurative representation of her actual life.

4. On High In Blue Tomorrows — Sue's life. A "remake" of 47. Which neatly illustrates that Sue's life is based on Lost Girl's life. Now we see exactly how these "movies" are being used to represent these two lives.

r3dshift3d

Hey all! Long time Lynch and Inland Empire fan here, just found this forum today and have thoroughly enjoyed reading the discussion. I'm in the middle of making a comprehensive IE analysis video for Youtube and would love to get some input/discourse going. Not sure if that's going to happen judging by the date of the last post, but thought I'd try anyway!

Jeremy Blackman

Greetings! I'd definitely be up for some discussion.

Is your youtube video going to be 50 hours long?

WorldForgot

I'm also down to have an active discussion. Gonna be watching this film concurrently with designing my next short. Something about the format this is captured in takes me in toward the theme of obliteration. It's the jaggedness of the DV, but the way it muddies details so that people are part of the production design, it renders into a sort of personality-numbness that I've only turned-onto in Lynch's work (usually so bright and stark in its personalities) after The Return's monochrome portionz.

r3dshift3d

Awesome, wasn't expecting replies!

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on January 11, 2019, 11:01:09 AM
Is your youtube video going to be 50 hours long?

After watching Inland Empire to death over the past several years I've come to the conclusion that it's unsolvable. Lynch left way too much ambiguity in some of the key aspects of the story for a complete, comprehensive explanation to be possible (I'll expand below). What i'm aiming to do with my video is to tie together a high level plot for people who don't understand the film and then to identify the core mysteries of Inland Empire and why it is indeed unsolvable.

I have a lot to say about the film but here are a mix of points which may be of interest; some addressing points made earlier in this thread some which I haven't seen mentioned before)...

- There's evidence to support that many of the events in IE have been a reoccurring cycle; Kingsley mentioning "if we all play our part, this could be the one" and "this is a star maker if I ever saw one", as well as the seemingly frustrated silence of him and Freddie when they sit down at the script reading (like they're having to start things all over again). Also, we see the Visitor again at the end of the movie pointing to future Nikki, but this time the story's been resolved and she's at peace instead of starting the series of events over again.

- I've never seen someone bring this up, but there's a fairly subtle recurring motif of the window from Smithy's house. If I remember rightly we see it 3 times; briefly overlaid on the Axxonn intro, (obviously )when Nikki invades the set and enters the house, and when Nikki/Sue looks up to see herself. This strongly suggests that there are 2 mirrored/alternate 'realities' at play. I'm almost positive that the Nikki/Sue we see with the prostitutes and doing the silk/cigarette trick is different to the one we see playing out scenes from the film. Smithy's house also backs this up - one version of the house seems to be genuine  and the other seems to exist outside of reality (think the Red Room from Twin Peaks).

- Speaking of the set, there is definitely something significant about the mysterious room in the hallway. We see Smithy go in there with his green jacket once, we see Nikki/Sue enter there before confronting the Phantom, we see Lost Girl exit out of it and we see Nikki/Sue enter it in MTTH before ending up back outside the house. There is also definitely something up with the final Axxonn room we see before Nikki/Sue confronts the Phantom. Watch the scene carefully: Nikki/Sue enters the door and appears in Smithy's house, she then goes through the mysterious hallway door (notice how it goes slow-motion at this point), the camera pans slowly to the right, the lights change colour and then Nikki/Sue reappears back in the Axxonn room. Notice how an unreasonable amount of time has passed on the Axxonn room clock while this happens. Weird, huh?? I'm certain that this is some clever misdirection and there are actually 2 Nikki/Sues walking around (no idea which one's which); 1 enters the mysterious door to where the Lost Girl is and the other one enters the Axxonn room a bit after (entering the room from the right) and goes to confront the Phantom. This explain the doppelganger on the Walk of Fame, the weird mirror scene mentioned earlier (where Nikki/Sue looks up to see herself) AND how Nikki/Sue ends up in 2 different places at the end for seemingly no reason (one in the Rabbit room and one in the Lost Girl's room).

- I'm still not entirely sure what the deal with Doris is. When she approaches Nikki/Sue on the Walk of Fame she's clearly unarmed and unhurt, and when she stabs Nikki/Sue the screwdriver is left behind. So how exactly did she end up stabbed, herself? I propose she's either stabbed by the 2nd Nikki/Sue or this is just some shoddy continuity on the film's behalf.

- It's absolutely not clear who-kills-who in Old Poland, there are valid cases for the 'mystery girl' being both Doris or the Lost Girl. It does look more Doris from the back but she clearly says "I'll never let you have her" (or whatever it is), heavily implying that she's the one who commits the murder (and the corpse is almost definitely Doris); but this is all contradicted by the fact we see the Lost Girl walking up the stairs with the screwdriver. These scenes would be more enjoyable if they left ambiguous rather than outright contradictory. Also. we hear a gramophone crackle at the start of the first Old Poland scene which leads us to believe it's part of the Axxonn radioplay. Thus I don't believe that these scenes are part of Lost Girl's history nor the 47 film. Buuuuut the presentation of these scenes differs to the black and white scenes at the start of the film which are also apparently part of Axxonn - more contradictions, yayyy!

- Speaking of which, the 2 people with blurred-out faces at the start of the film and definitely not the Lost Girl and the Phantom. The voices and actors are different (credited just as "Man" and "Woman" or something if I remember rightly). The hotel room of the Lost Girl has modern decor (notice the absence of the TV in the black and white scenes).

- The Rabbits take on a similar role to the spirits in Twin Peaks (Firefighter, Mike etc), seeming to be pulling the strings of the events throughout the film. They laid a trap for the Phantom ("bring the horse to the well") which allowed Nikki/Sue to kill him. This would suggest he's a kinda rogue spirit, much like Bob in Twin Peaks. They also grant him permission to enter the physical world at the start of the film ("I'm looking for a way in").

- Regarding Smithy, it's made clear that he's under the employment of the Phantom, but what does he do exactly? We see him leaving the house late at night a few times with a green coat, I think we can assume this is when he's off to do his jobs. When Nikki and Devon are having sex for the first time I think we're seeing Smithy here, not Piotrek (notice the clothes), but how is that possible?! Wellllll, we see Smithy enter the mysterious door in the hallway, and it's already established that this door is like a gateway between the 2 worlds/realities; so I highly suspect that Smithy is jumping between them (remember we see him lurking on the set when Nikki enters the house for the first time). So does that mean that Smithy/Piotrek are the same person? Not sure about that. We're also drawn attention to the question "who's playing Smithy?" - is the answer "himself"? It also seems like he's wearing the green jacket whenever he's doing this work. Still not entirely sure of the answers here but there's definitely a greater significance of his involvement than we're lead to think.

- If we're to assume that MTTH is canon then it seem like the Lost Girl ended up damned by buying the watch from the Phantom.

Interested to hear what you guys think!



Jeremy Blackman

I will probably try to tackle your Qs in a few days. But I'll say this, it's a pretty bold claim to say this movie is unsolvable. I mean, you're right that it's not 100% solvable. Just by virtue of the way it was made. But I think I've made sense of 90-95% of it.

You might also say that a lot of questions don't really need to be answered.

r3dshift3d

No problem, looking forward to your response!

Jeremy Blackman

I'm working on a new, much longer interpretation, so I'm going to draw from that for a lot of this. You'll just have to trust me that a lot of my ideas are supported by evidence, even if I don't write it all out here.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMThere's evidence to support that many of the events in IE have been a reoccurring cycle; Kingsley mentioning "if we all play our part, this could be the one" and "this is a star maker if I ever saw one", as well as the seemingly frustrated silence of him and Freddie when they sit down at the script reading (like they're having to start things all over again). Also, we see the Visitor again at the end of the movie pointing to future Nikki, but this time the story's been resolved and she's at peace instead of starting the series of events over again.

I agree. Even on a surface level, we see that the events playing out in Nikki's life are essentially a new cycle of the events in Lost Girl's life. Axxon N. ("the longest running radio play in history") is crucial here. I like to think of it as an eternal system of lives, repeating, but with "variations" as Visitor #1 puts it. In Lynch's metaphor here, stories = lives.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMI've never seen someone bring this up, but there's a fairly subtle recurring motif of the window from Smithy's house. If I remember rightly we see it 3 times; briefly overlaid on the Axxonn intro, (obviously )when Nikki invades the set and enters the house, and when Nikki/Sue looks up to see herself. This strongly suggests that there are 2 mirrored/alternate 'realities' at play. I'm almost positive that the Nikki/Sue we see with the prostitutes and doing the silk/cigarette trick is different to the one we see playing out scenes from the film. Smithy's house also backs this up - one version of the house seems to be genuine  and the other seems to exist outside of reality (think the Red Room from Twin Peaks).

I don't want to spoil my full answer for this, because it's my favorite chapter of the thing I'm writing. But essentially my view is that ghost-Sue is a time traveler. That's not so much "alternate reality" as a fluid way of observing and learning in this strange pseudo-spiritual space.

This is basically how it happens. Going from memory, so hopefully this is correct:

(1) In the alley behind the marketplace, Sue (ghost-Sue) enters the Axxon N. door. This is a magical door that takes her back in time. Axxon N. represents the time cycle/continuum, so of course it makes perfect sense than an Axxon N. door would be able to take you through time.

(2) Sue emerges in the set. She sees the earlier version of herself, not yet awakened. Her intrusion on this set helps awaken the previous earlier of herself.

(3) Earlier Sue (still a ghost, still naively going by Nikki) gets curious and suspicious and the reality of her world starts crumbling.

(4) She eventually gets curious enough that, while in the alley behind the marketplace, she passes through the Axxon N. door. See #1.

In other words, this is literally a time loop.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMSpeaking of the set, there is definitely something significant about the mysterious room in the hallway. We see Smithy go in there with his green jacket once, we see Nikki/Sue enter there before confronting the Phantom, we see Lost Girl exit out of it and we see Nikki/Sue enter it in MTTH before ending up back outside the house. There is also definitely something up with the final Axxonn room we see before Nikki/Sue confronts the Phantom. Watch the scene carefully: Nikki/Sue enters the door and appears in Smithy's house, she then goes through the mysterious hallway door (notice how it goes slow-motion at this point), the camera pans slowly to the right, the lights change colour and then Nikki/Sue reappears back in the Axxonn room. Notice how an unreasonable amount of time has passed on the Axxonn room clock while this happens. Weird, huh?? I'm certain that this is some clever misdirection and there are actually 2 Nikki/Sues walking around (no idea which one's which); 1 enters the mysterious door to where the Lost Girl is and the other one enters the Axxonn room a bit after (entering the room from the right) and goes to confront the Phantom. This explain the doppelganger on the Walk of Fame, the weird mirror scene mentioned earlier (where Nikki/Sue looks up to see herself) AND how Nikki/Sue ends up in 2 different places at the end for seemingly no reason (one in the Rabbit room and one in the Lost Girl's room).

To your first point, if I understand this correctly, that room is important because that's where the Phantom-killing gun is kept. It's made very clear to Sue how important this room and this dresser is, because she will need to retrieve that gun.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMI'm still not entirely sure what the deal with Doris is. When she approaches Nikki/Sue on the Walk of Fame she's clearly unarmed and unhurt, and when she stabs Nikki/Sue the screwdriver is left behind. So how exactly did she end up stabbed, herself? I propose she's either stabbed by the 2nd Nikki/Sue or this is just some shoddy continuity on the film's behalf.

This was very intentional, in my opinion. In symbolic fashion, Doris has that screwdriver in her gut because she was stabbed by it in her previous life, by Lost Girl, in her apartment. See my posts on this page.

(Also addresses your next point.)

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMSpeaking of which, the 2 people with blurred-out faces at the start of the film and definitely not the Lost Girl and the Phantom. The voices and actors are different (credited just as "Man" and "Woman" or something if I remember rightly). The hotel room of the Lost Girl has modern decor (notice the absence of the TV in the black and white scenes).

I don't have strong opinions on this. I would agree that that's definitely not the Phantom. But I might argue that it is Lost Girl in that scene (played by a Karolina Gruszka body double, perhaps) going by her body type. For that matter, it might has well be a similar version of these characters from a previous life/time. The connection is there, so it ultimately doesn't matter too much.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMThe Rabbits take on a similar role to the spirits in Twin Peaks (Firefighter, Mike etc), seeming to be pulling the strings of the events throughout the film. They laid a trap for the Phantom ("bring the horse to the well") which allowed Nikki/Sue to kill him. This would suggest he's a kinda rogue spirit, much like Bob in Twin Peaks. They also grant him permission to enter the physical world at the start of the film ("I'm looking for a way in").

I like this a lot and strongly agree with you here. I have also always seen the rabbits as being helpful to Sue's journey.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMRegarding Smithy, it's made clear that he's under the employment of the Phantom, but what does he do exactly?

In one life, he worked for the circus taking care of the animals, while the Phantom was the ringleader. So in that sense he did literally work for the Phantom. The rest of this question is addressed in my analysis. But you'd have to agree with me that there are two sets of lives in this film, as I lay out there.

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMIf we're to assume that MTTH is canon then it seem like the Lost Girl ended up damned by buying the watch from the Phantom.

Yeah, it is a major question how canonical those bits actually are. Some do seem like things that definitely happened, others seem like stray possibilities that did not actually occur (and contradict what's in the film), and others are somewhere in between.

WorldForgot

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on January 13, 2019, 02:10:55 PM

Quote from: r3dshift3d on January 13, 2019, 12:09:54 PMI've never seen someone bring this up, but there's a fairly subtle recurring motif of the window from Smithy's house. If I remember rightly we see it 3 times; briefly overlaid on the Axxonn intro, (obviously )when Nikki invades the set and enters the house, and when Nikki/Sue looks up to see herself. This strongly suggests that there are 2 mirrored/alternate 'realities' at play. I'm almost positive that the Nikki/Sue we see with the prostitutes and doing the silk/cigarette trick is different to the one we see playing out scenes from the film. Smithy's house also backs this up - one version of the house seems to be genuine  and the other seems to exist outside of reality (think the Red Room from Twin Peaks).

I don't want to spoil my full answer for this, because it's my favorite chapter of the thing I'm writing. But essentially my view is that ghost-Sue is a time traveler. That's not so much "alternate reality" as a fluid way of observing and learning in this strange pseudo-spiritual space.


Just curious, JB, talkin' Lynch here, and it being that I agree with your interp that within both workz "stories = lives":
Why is it a pseudo-spiritual space and not just spiritual space? Emotional reverberations sprout possibility their reality. Emotional/physical trauma affects Sue + LG's perceptionz and/or experiencez of ontology/lived space-time just as in Twin Peaks, Dale's. Has gotta be as real to mortals as the space of the Rabbits' is to the Phantom?

Jeremy Blackman

Right... I guess saying "pseudo" was an unnecessary hedge. In my interpretation, ghost-Sue is traveling not in the real incarnate world, i.e. not appearing to normal people just living their lives. She travels in a space that's either made for her, or that she is trapped within (or both, you could say) where she can learn more about what she is, and more importantly how she is linked to Lost Girl, and how she and Lost Girl can only attain freedom by saving each other.

Jeremy Blackman

Also you make a great point about trauma. I've been going about it the other way — referring to "abuse" and "suffering." I don't think I've used the word "trauma" at all.

I've argued that the abuse that Lost Girl suffers sets the whole chain of events in motion. That places responsibility on the Phantom (her abuser). But it's probably also important to focus on Lost Girl's trauma, and that experience itself, as being crucial, without trying to blame her too much.

Talking about Sue's trauma is even more interesting. She seems so strong that it's a little more difficult to identify her as a trauma survivor specifically. But of course she absolutely is.