In my last post I spent a LOT of time (and words) laying out what I believe is the hidden gnostic undertones of HBO’s Westworld, season one, episode one but to be honest, I even had MORE to say about the Gnostic underpinnings but decided to cut it short. Today I’m going to finish up with a little bit more Gnosticism and then delve into some other subtle hidden gems I believe I’ve found in episode one.
The robots of Westworld (also called hosts) are programmed to play their role in the narrative that makes up the main story of Westworld and each host is merely an actor playing out their part. I find it interesting to point out that our modern word for “person” comes from the Greek word persona which literally refers to a role that an actor plays on stage. It is perhaps not by accident that we have been told all our lives that we are “persons” since one could argue that our master (the Gnostic Demiurge) knows the secret truth that all of us are just playing a role, just like in an ancient Greek tragedy.
Reincarnation
Many Gnostics also believed in the concept of reincarnation and this themes is expressed in the series through the use of what are called “narrative loops”. The robot inhabitants of Westworld are programmed to do the same things over and over again in a continual loop. The live, they die, the get fixed up again and they repeat the process over and over (reincarnation). Sometimes the hosts programming will be modified slightly to improve upon their story or to make it more or less dramatic, but for the most part the host will continually repeat the same story line over and over again so long as they remain ignorant to the true nature of their reality. This is the reason why Dolores is questioned after her death and whty the interrogator wants to know if she has noticed any of the repetitions her life has gone through. In other words, is she remembering any past lives?
There is some tendency among those who are spiritually awakened to almost feel envious of those who have not discovered the truth of their reality. Those who have come to believe and understand that they are merely playing a role that is being replayed over and over and that the role they are playing is not “real” may come to feel a sort of depression over their plight, especially if they are still stuck in their “loop” of reincarnation.. In this way they may look back on their lives when they used to be ignorant of their true condition and wonder if perhaps it is true that ignorance is bliss. Is it better to to know you’re in a prison for eternity or to be ignorant of your prison and live with the false impression that you are truly free?
The Subconscious
The concepts of conscious and subconscious thoughts are also touched upon in episode one. We are told that the host’s creator (Dr. Ford) has slipped in some new code in the host’s programming that allows them to access bits and pieces of past memories or past lives in an effort to make them seem more lifelike.
To me this poses an interesting food for thought. Wouldn’t it be interesting, for example, to find that perhaps the reason you feel a “gut instinct” about something bad about to happen is actually because, unbeknownst to you, that you have already done whatever you are about to do dozens of times before in past lives with the same results every time and now a small part of you remembers and senses that doing this again will just end badly once more. We don’t fully remember the past lives but we hang on to a subconscious memory that things will not go well.
A neat scene that demonstrates this (which most people catch) is the three times we see Teddy on the train entering Westworld throughout episode one. The first time we see him he is smiling and looking out the window having no clue that he will later be shot through the heart by the Man in Black. The second time we see him on the train (on his second loop) we see him acting essentially the same, but on the THIRD time we see him on the train, Teddy does a strange thing and subconsciously reaches up to his chest and puts his hand over his heart. It is as if he’s remembering being shot and yet he’s still smiling. CONSCIOUSLY he does not remember being shot but SUBCONSCIOUSLY there is a part of him that does and it makes him reach for his heart without knowing why.
While we’re discussing it, there is another little reference to past lives coming back to us as subconscious thoughts in a scene with Peter Abernathy. During this episode Peter has his worldview shattered when he finds a photo from the future and begins to question the nature of his reality (i.e. the question you’re not supposed to ask). We are also told in the episode that Peter once played a different character with a different name and a completely different narrative. In a previous loop, Peter played a professor who always liked to quote Shakespeare. When Peter Abernathy starts to break out of his current narrative loop he begins to mutter Shakespeare quotes as if subconsciously, somehow accessing his past memories or lives. It is also why Peter responds with the phrase “a rose is a rose” when asked his name. Through his enlightenment he has realized that his name is not important. He is neither Peter nor the professor, nor any other role really. All of these names are just roles which he has been playing and have no real meaning.
After Peter Abernathy has broken out of his loop he is put away in cold storage and retired and we see Dolor’s father in Westworld is replaced by an entirely different body but with the same old narrative. Dolores doesn’t seem to notice a bit that her father now looks ENTIRELY different now. She is playing her role and so is he. It doesn’t matter what actor is playing the role behind it, the script is always the same.
Going a step further I would point to a scene in episode one where the Man in Black scalps an Indian to get his secrets and finds that under the Indian’s skull cap is a strange image of a man inside of a maze. I believe this is a metaphor for the concept that our true “self” is within us, hidden deep inside of a maze of multiple lives and personalities (personas) from which we seem incapable of escaping. The path to enlightenment therefore may be to realize that the true self is hidden inside of the current role we are playing. We must learn to navigate the maze that is our own false ego or belief that we ARE the role we are playing. Whatever it is that we are, it is not the role we are playing on the outside.
According to Westworld, the real problem with the hosts starting to remember their past lives and breaking free of their narrative loops is that the hosts are starting to become very unstable and unpredictable. This is demonstrated when a host named Walter breaks free of his programmed script and goes on a murdering spree.
The Judas Steer
Now we may be departing a bit from Gnosticism but there is an interesting little scene that always catches my attention in episode one every time I watch it. Teddy and Dolores are looking over a valley together as the cattle are moving back home to the ranch for the evening. As Teddy is watching the cattle moving as one he marvels how Dolores is able to get all the cattle moving in the same direction. Dolores simply laughs at Teddy’s ignorance and explains that it only takes one steer, the “Judas Steer” to lead the entire heard home. All you have to do is get that one steer to do what you want and all the rest will follow.
I believe the reference here is to how easy it is to manipulate the masses. All the so called gods or masters have to do is manipulate one or two of us lowly cattle on earth and all the rest of the masses (cows) will follow. The reference to the Judas Steer also seems to refer to the fact that the Judas Steer can literally betray the entire herd of cattle, even leading them right to the slaughter house if they want him too.
Alice in Wonderland
One of my favorite little joys in life is the images and imagination of Alice in Wonderland. It was surprising to me therefore that I entirely missed this little gem hidden in the film. The episode begins with Dolores waking up in a laboratory after having recently been murdered. She quickly apologizes to her interrogator for being a bit confused about where she is.
This appears to be a line from Alice in Wonderland that goes “I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir’….’because I’m not myself, you see.”
I found a clever blogger or youtuber online that pointed out that there is a striking resemblance between Dolores and several modern portrayals of Alice in Wonderland as seen here. Coincidence or on purpose? Later in the series we will see a scene where a character is literally reading from Alice in Wonderland to a child so I’m sure the easter eggs are there on purpose.
DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man
Last but not least, I’d like to end this not so little blog entry on the similarities between the Westworld logo and Leonardo DaVinci’s famous Vitruvian man sketch seen here. It is said that DaVinci saw in the form of man a microcosm of the entire universe and believed that man was a diven representative of the cosmos and contained the entire cosmos within him. He depicted this in the famous sketch below on the right which to me is obviously echoed in Westworld logo and even by NASA (which is fitting as they explore the cosmos).
Honestly I have even MORE slides I could share. I didn’t even get into the music score and what song choices may contain hidden meaning. But, if we’re ever going to get to another episode review I’m going to have to stop somewhere so this will be it for episode one.