On what's possibly the sixth total rewatch of Iron Lung (I'm fine!), this phrasing hit me... Simon says this to Ava, after returning from his encounter with the Light. It's the only time he addresses, out loud, the strangeness and the impossibility of what he went through. Otherwise, he remains incredibly single-minded and practical in his goal to survive; none of the supernatural or the horror phases him too much ("Fucking aliens...").

But then, at the end of the movie, the Blood Eel/Elli throws so many hard-hitting accusations his way. She calls him a killer, she mentions Simon's mother, she calls him out on his hypocrisy... and yet the thing Simon responds to is Elli wailing that "There's nothing else for us now!"

He responds to Elli saying there's no purpose anymore, no hope. It's fascinating to me that what offends Simon here is the "Nothing else", and that his answer basically boils down to "How dare you say there's nothing left to fight for, what do you know?" But then Simon also says "You're just a piece of shit that doesn't even know it's dead." This echoes his own assertion earlier that he "might have died," and I wonder... if this is meant to be another nod towards the similarities between Elli and Simon, with Simon not even realizing that he's projecting; that he's criticizing Elli for something he himself cannot admit (that he died already when he went into the Light, that he's dead).

Or, if this means that Simon accepted death. At this point in the story, there is not any conceivable hope for survival anymore. Ava is gone, and she never intended to save Simon to begin with, so this moment is more likely Simon acknowledging it and almost sounding superior over it; as if he's telling Elli that at least he knows he's dead. Simon is so desperate for purpose, for something to dedicate himself towards-- most of all it's his own survival, but when that's not possible, the goal becomes the survival of everyone else. The thought of giving up, even when all seems lost, angers him. All thorought the movie he talks about how it's "game over" and "what's the fucking point" and "what does it even matter," but it's all just passing outbursts. His will to live and his hope ("If it happened once, why can't it happen again?") are unkillable.

God, as a character he's literally the embodiment of "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," with a huge emphasis on rage. What a guy.

there's an anime everyone's into right now and it must be really confusing because everyone in the tags keeps going "wha?" it's okay gang you'll figure it out.

WE ARE ONE IN THE BLOOD

Iron Lung art piece based on The Void scene!5.5 hour piece on Procreate with default brushes on procreate

Below are few of the sketches/thumbnails made for the piece

The Red-Eyed God vs. The Last Tree

Note: This is an edit of a theory/literature analysis post I made a few months ago, with corrections now that the movie is out.

If you want to understand the dynamic between the Red-Eyed God and the Tree, you have to look at it as a massive accident. It’s a yin-yang of opposite extremes, where both of these "deities" are fundamentally trapped by the very things they can’t control.

Take the Red-Eyed God on AT-5. This thing is the ultimate aggressive, power-hungry cosmic tyrant, from the perspective of humans. It poked a hole in the veil by some mysterious circumstance (could have very well been an accident), peered into our universe with a simple curiosity, and then all of reality literally melted into Red Soup as a result.

Now, it's hoarding the physical remains of humanity, sculpting monsters in the deep like they are part of some prized collection of souls.

But here is its fatal flaw: it can command the flesh, but it cannot control the human mind. It can terrify people, it can kill them, mutate them into things of its own design, but it can't force them to truly submit or worship it. The Eel and ocean's hivemind cry about wanting to be saved almost through the whole movie. Nobody likes it down there, not even the monsters.

Then, on the total opposite end of the spectrum, you have the Tree on Eden Station. The Tree never asked for any of this simply because it's not sentient. It doesn't fight, and it doesn't seek power. In all honesty, it’s just a fucking tree. But, because traumatized humans needed a savior in a dead universe, they uplifted something mundane and normal into a god in their own minds. It has absolutely zero power over anything, really, but the humans don't want that, so they gave it control over their minds. Of people, and their hope.

See, that's the kicker. There's a dual narrative of body vs mind between these deities, with the tree taking on psychological control and the Red-Eyed God taking control of the flesh.

And that's where the mirroring hits its horrible climax. The "Good" God (this passive, innocent piece of flora) got stuck with humans, and humans are monsters in their own right. It's worshipped by a cult capable of horrific extremes and fanaticism.

Meanwhile, the "Evil" God keeps getting fed people from the COI. This deity is not seeking people out. It's just chilling down there in its own little playhouse. It's not actively hunting humans for sport; hell, the only reason Ellie pushed Simon into the Light, was because she wanted him to live.

As a monster with her, yeah, but still. She wanted him to live, in her own selfish way.

The Red-Eyed God is just trying to understand and even help Simon in its own way, but keeps hurting him in the process because it's just unfathomable.

It actively has to fight and break them down just to get a shred of control over them. The Red-Eyed God (a symbol of evil) is stuck fighting humans, and the Last Tree (a symbol of good) is stuck enabling human monsters.

Kind of crazy, that.

A lifetime of waiting for us to meet

i don't think grace and rocky are meant to be "soulmates" in the traditional sense. they struggle to communicate--like, really struggle, in multiple extended sequences in the film (literally "missing" each other). even when they do figure out translation, they don't just get each other right away. it's a lot of questions, and a conscious effort, and a shared goal.

and why is it these two, anyway? why are they the only ones to be here? it's a product of so many things that just simply happened. the other scientists exploded, so grace had to go. rocky happened to be positioned to be shielded from the radiation. grace happened to survive the coma. everyone else that came with them happened to have died.

they are not the chosen ones to meet each other. they are just the ones that are here. and because they are the ones that are here, they have to do this together, and they have to care about each other, because you have to care about someone. i think that's the point.

craving poison

im really enjoying the Petra Parker trend and i would like to see more superheroes with a gallery of villains who are evil as shit but also (mostly) very respectful about them being queer i think that's hilarious

If you pay your credit card on time and never have to deal with interest or late fees, your credit card company will start offering you cards with much higher limits, sometimes as much as 10x your current limit. You gotta remember that even if that's fine for a lot of people, those offers are specifically designed to be traps, not rewards. Credit card companies do not like "deadbeats", people who pay off their card in full and on time, because they make the vast majority of their money off of interest and fees. They want to increase your limit so that you get careless and spend more than you can actually afford.

It is extremely easy to fall into credit card debt, especially if you get comfortable. Getting a higher limit can help improve your credit score but going into debt because of that limit will tank it anyway, so just be careful.

Hehe Grace in my jackets

Greater glider,

I seem to have accidentally stumbled onto Indeed For Creatures