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| Dark Messiah |
When we last left "Burt Wonderstone (Philosopher's Stone, "Stone-Worker") vs. The Anti-Christ," our magician/magickian was just about to meet a man that would change his life forever: the self-mutilating dark messiah, Steve Grey (Jim Carrey). Their face-off will be a metaphor for two very different paths of spiritual self-actualization.
As I've written at length in a previous post, Jim Carrey is no stranger to playing shamanic figures, so the role of Steve Grey fits right in. He reportedly wanted to make the role "more Jesus-y," (and there is, of course, the mystical "JC" initials) and so Grey specifically became a long-haired messianic figure, perpetually bleeding and influencing his entranced followers ("sights and wonders"). Whereas Wonderstone derives his magic/magick prowess from a long-standing tradition dating back to ancient times (and which, the movie hints at though primal symbolism, could be Masonic/Sun-worshiping in nature), Grey is a hardcore New Testament sort of dude.
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| The Prestige: Peter vs. Simon Magus |
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| Wonderstone vs Grey |
Their conflict will be no less than that of Saint Peter versus Simon Magus, the "New Religion" threatening to supplant the old.
Like Jesus, Grey eschews the "temples" (Wonderstone's Aztec Casino venue) to perform his miracles, instead taking it to The People out on the street. In comparison to the spoiled Wonderstone, this makes Grey somewhat (at least on the surface) a populist magician, as Jesus was a messiah "for the people." Wonderstone watches as Grey's tricks culminate in a bloody scene: the "Jesusy" man cuts open his cheek to pull out a gore-stained "Queen" card.
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| "turn the other cheek" |
The unusual card trick brings several images to mind:
1) Jesus telling the people to "turn the other cheek" (the trick involved a staged "fight" with an onlooker in which his mother was called a whore).
2) The Manchurian Candidate (long-haired messianic figures like Charles Manson were sometimes said to be created through mind-control techniques -- and Manson, who Grey resembles and acts like to an extent, certainly knew how to use mind-control tricks on others).
3) A strange representation of the Adam & Eve myth ("Eve" -- the woman on the card - born from Adam)
When Wonderstone visits Grey at his van after the show, the latter blows him off as not "real" enough. In the New Religion, "real" religion means viscera -- not the airy-dairy world of Spirit.
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| 3 days until release/resurrection |
Realizing that he is losing popularity to Grey, Wonderstone "updates" his look and devises his own masochistic stunt: spending three days in a clear plastic cube suspended in the air.
Note the significance of "three days" -- Jesus ressurected within 3 days, and Wonderstone is imitating him in order to "keep up" with the New Religion. Only Wonderstone's "crypt"/"cave" is spiritual -- a clear box. It is not enough -- the New Religion is dazzling the masses with self-flagelation and torture -- and Wonderstone fails in disgrace. Wonderstone also "breaks up" with his partner/Anima, the effeminate Anton Marvelton; now he is only half a person, the yin/yang Animus/Anima dichotomy split.
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| Wonder-Stone with his false idol in the background |
Wonderstone and Grey are now mortal enemies, with Grey's New Religion taking over the world. Wonderstone is thrown out of the (Aztec) temple, and must go into exile with a profane idol of himself (the advertising standee) "mocking" him with the memory of what he once was. He will have to go back to the realm of the ancients (the nursing home) and relearn the essential truths of spirit and magick from the source (his virtual "teacher," Rance Holloway).
Meanwhile, Wonderstone's former assistant Jane (Olivia Wilde) plays a literal "Scarlet Woman" to Grey, dressed in red with a red mask (think back to the bloody Queen card). Grey isn't as "Jesusy" as he likes to portray himself -- like Jack Parsons, who cultivated a "Scarlet Woman" of his own as in the Crowleyan style, Grey is far more Anti-Christ than Christ. In addition, Grey expresses no care for the safety of his "followers," including the children -- again, more Manson than Jesus.
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| Grey/Anti-Christ with his "Scarlet Woman" |
Getting back his "mojo," so to speak (and I can only think of a similar "fall from grace"/literal loss of mojo storyline from the "Austin Powers" movies), Wonderstone must complete his re-initiation by coupling with a Jane -- the Great Working, the Sword and the Chalice, Animus/Anima combined. Unlike his previous platonic relationship with Anton, this new pairing is a sign of Wonderstone's maturity -- he has gone from dwelling in sentiment with his childhood friend, to taking full responsibility for his life as a man.
Meanwhile, Anton has gone all Terrence McKenna and scores plant-derived hallucinogens in Cambodia. More on that in a bit.
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| "JC" vs. Carell |
We now get to the great showdown between Wonderstone and Grey, which takes place appropriately enough during another "initation" ceremony -- that of a birthday party for a young man. As we watch the two complete -- and especially as Grey "bewitches" Wonderstone and embarrases him -- we can only think back to another battle between actors Steve Carell and Carrey -- in "Bruce Almighty."
Who can forget Bruce -- who is granted powers from God, in a "Jesusy" way -- making his coworker Evan speak in tongues on a live broadcast? In the sequel to "Bruce Almighty," Evan will play another Biblical figure -- Noah.
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| Wonder-Stone/Noah with "God" |
Here's where things get even more subtextual and synchronistically weird.
Carrey recently slammed former NRA prez Charlton Heston in his Funny or Die video "Cold Dead Hands." Who is Heston most famous for playing (right after that dude from "Planet of the Apes)? Another Old Testament hero, Moses. So we have "Jesus"/Steve Grey/Carrey/Bruce/Funny or Die Guy up against Moses/Noah/Wonderstone/Carrell/Evan/Heston. You have the New Religion -- one of viscera and blood -- going up against the Old Religion (Old Testament teachings deriving from the same well as Wonderstone's ancient wisdom/Masonic roots).
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| Carrey making fun of Charlton Heston in "Cold Dead Hands" |
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| Heston as Old Testament hero Moses |
But in the big magic/magick competition at the end of the film, Wonderstone will delve deep, deep, deep into the literal roots of the Old Ways -- by utilizing the plant-derived hallucinogens to win. From the medicine man deep in the jungle to Cagliostro, doping up (or tripping out) onlookers and patients were part-and-parcel of the workings at hand.
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| Better shamanism thru plant chemistry |
The peyote/mescalin/mushrooms are the doorway into magickal experience and spiritual growth, and indeed Wonderstone literally drugs the audience; when they awaken, they are no longer in the temple, but in an open field. By utilizing the natural hallucinogenic powers of plants, Wonderstone and Co. has helped the audience "escape" the confines of the temple and open up their mind.
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| Bad trip. |
On the other hand, Steve Grey -- true to his philosophy -- utilizes a far more literal approach to opening one's mind, taking a drill to his brain. This is, of course, the act of trepanning -- modern practitioners believe that by boring a hole in their skulls they will achieve a deeper state of consciousness. This apparently doesn't work for Grey, who now has brain damage -- he has literally gone on a "bad trip," choosing the New Religion yen for sado-masochism over the gentle plant-worship of the ancient shamans.
In closing, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" is a parable of the mystic knowledge of the ancients going up against the prevailing New Religion -- and winning. True enlightenment does not have to come through the mortification of one's body, or through "blood sacrifice." The movie encourages the shamanically-inclined to search for the roots of magick -- the literal roots, all the way to the Source.
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