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Popular Culture Review
experiences often take the form of mystical encounters, feelings, and thoughts.
He writes that his interviews, as well as other research, tend to find women
“describing] the divine in terms of interconnectedness and boundlessness, and
in terms of subtle exchanges between the realms of the holy and the human,
nature and cosmos” (52). This falls in line with Izzi’s role in the film, save that
her ultimate purpose, and the film’s message, does not preach union with or
understanding of the divine with regards to a god or goddess by any name.
Cynthia Eller, writing about feminist debates over representations of women,
says of the divine feminine, “Statuettes, paintings, calendar, and jewelry abound,
and many small woman-owned-and-operated businesses cater to this ongoing
hunger for female symbology” (24). In The Fountain, woman becomes both the
source of knowledge and of life. Although the image of the tree does keep in
line with conceptions of the Earth goddess, the film goes beyond this. The Tree,
Izzi, leaves the Earth behind and ends in oblivion. She thus sets a sacred
example to be followed, but one which resists commonly held assumptions
about representation and meaning. She is the mother who holds a dying child
and soothes it into whatever comes next, rather than the woman birthing new life
into the world.
Aronofsky drew on ancient mythology, specifically stories of the World
Tree in crafting his story. Of his inspiration for the film, Aronofsky states, “But
I think one of the initial things was, ‘How come no one’s ever made a film about
the Tree of Life?’ In Genesis, there’s two trees: the tree of knowledge and the
tree of life. It’s something that’s been in human mythology forever. People
wanting to live forever” (Murray). Indeed, the biblical story of the expulsion
from the Garden of Eden emphasizes God’s concern that A dam and Eve would
attempt, in the aftermath of having eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil, to also eat from the Tree of Life. This would render them
immortal and thus undifferentiated from the deity who created them. In terms of
mythic motif, the Genesis story can be seen as one of a number of stories
designed to underscore that it is the fate of human beings to grow old, lose
vitality, and succumb to death.2
Aronofsky also says of his development of the story, “For me, one of the
big things was the fountain of youth which I thought was a really cool theme.
It’s an old theme and one of the oldest stories that mankind has been telling. It’s
in Genesis with the tree of life. It’s in Gilgamesh and Ponce de Leon searched
for it” (Epstein). Whether envisioned in tree form or as a literal fountain of
youth, the notion of a means by which to stave off death remains a fundamental
dream of human culture. Aronofsky’s film deals specifically with a story of the
World Tree as a vehicle for immortality, and he is correct in that no film in
recent memory has really contended with the myth. Yet, current culture
continues to fixate on finding the means to delay or prevent aging and death.
The anti-aging industry brings in billions of dollars per year selling everything
from products designed to hide the external effects of aging to supplements and
treatments marketed as a means to prevent the onset of aging, thus delaying