I watched a fantastic movie the other night called The Invention of Lying. If you haven't seen it, the premise of the movie takes place in a satirical version of the modern day world in which lying is not an aspect of the human condition. The protagonist; Mark Bellison played Rick Gervais, has a sudden epiphany while at the bank. He creates the first lie in history to get more money than he actually had in his account from the bank teller. No matter what he says people believe him without question because lying is not a comprehendable concept. In accordance with this reality, there are no words for such concepts as truth and fiction. This implication of the dictation of language on a society's understanding of the world reminded me of a poem by Wallace Stevens titled The Idea of Order at Key West handed out by Robert Bennett in my Literary Criticism class:
"She sang beyond the genius of the sea.
The water never formed to mind or voice,
Like a body wholly body, fluttering
Its empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motion
Made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,
That was not ours although we understood,
Inhuman, of the veritable ocean. The sea was not a mask. No more was she.
The song and water were not medleyed sound
Even if what she sang was what she heard,
Since what she sang was uttered word by word.
It may be that in all her phrases stirred
The grinding water and the gasping wind;
But it was she and not the sea we heard.
For she was the maker of the song she sang.
The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured sea
Was merely a place by which she walked to sing.
Whose spirit is this? we said, because we knew
It was the spirit that we sought and knew
That we should ask this often as she sang.
If it was only the dark voice of the sea
That rose, or even colored by many waves;
If it was only the outer voice of sky
And cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled,
However clear, it would have been deep air,
The heaving speech of air, a summer sound
Repeated in a summer without end
And sound alone. But it was more than that,
More even than her voice, and ours, among
The meaningless plungings of water and the wind,
Theatrical distances, bronze shadows heaped
On high horizons, mountainous atmospheres
Of sky and sea.
It was her voice that made
The sky acutest at its vanishing.
She measured to the hour its solitude.
She was the single artificer of the world
In which she sang. And when she sang, the sea,
Whatever self it had, became the self
That was her song, for she was the maker. Then we,
As we beheld her striding there alone,
Knew that there never was a world for her
Except the one she sang and, singing, made.
Ramon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,
Why, when the singing ended and we turned
Toward the town, tell why the glassy lights,
The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there,
As the night descended, tilting in the air,
Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,
Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,
Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.
Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,
The maker's rage to order words of the sea,
Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,
And of ourselves and of our origins,
In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds."
Anyway, Mark begins lying constantly and getting everything he could possibly want. As I watched the movie, I began to see many references to the story of Moses becoming a prophet of the Israelites. When his mother is dieing, her begins lying to her about how she will go to a wonderful place when she dies and everyone she has ever loved will be there. Tears poor from both mother and son as her spirits are lifted by Mark's words as she passes away, a very powerful moment in the movie. Word gets out about what Mark said, and Mark finds himself having to describe heaven to eager and gullible crowds. Mark tells the people that his has been given this information by "The Man in the Sky". Mark is clearly Moses. His metaphorical struggle to summit Mount Sinai can be found in the brutal and heartfelt insults and judgments thrown at him by society for not being overly handsome or wealthy.
Before addressing the masses concerning his lie to his dieing mother, he even writes his message on two pizza boxes for display, a reference perhaps to the existence of two tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, or the more interesting fact that two versions of the Ten Commandments exist in the Bible. The first set of Ten Commandments can be found in Exodus 20:2-17.
This is the more popular version of the Ten Commandments. The other version comes from Deuteronomy 5:6-21.
I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
Neither shalt thou steal.
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Obviously the development of the bible by multiple authors explains the duality. I enjoyed David Plotz's discussion of this in The Good Book. I personally did not grow up in a religious family. I might have mentioned it earlier but I don't recall, but I have never even been baptized. As early as elementary school I would joke to my friends that I was an ungodly heathen. "A child of satan!" I would taught. I wasn't actually a bad kid, but I got a kick out of the reactions of some. Also if I did not mention this earlier, I am an atheist as well. I tend to agree with Buddhist views on spirituality rather than the psychological undertaking of theism, though I suppose both belief in god and belief in no god can be difficult to live with depending on who you are and where you come from.
Anyway, Mark describes heaven and naively creates a fairytale for his listeners. Then someone asks if bad people "get mansions" too. Suddenly this creates a difficult dilemma. A barrage of questions ensues as Mark recklessly creates a three strike policy for sins committed before going to 'Hell'. The creation of more detailed moral guidelines is essentially a spoof on the development of the entire book of Deuteronomy. The movie even shows the effects of such beliefs on society, including a radical promoting the committing of the first two strikes because they don't count as long as you don't commit a third.
The Invention of Lying also had a touching message. Mark's ability to lie was really his ability to say something other than the universally perceived common reality. Mark had imagination. The ability to imagine not only allows one to lie, but also allows one to see beyond the superficial judgments of society. The Invention of Lying was not only a spoof on aspects of the Bible, it also accredited the Moses and the Bible in general albeit indirectly with the ability to provide hope, faith, and positivity for the future. I would highly recommend this movie as I certainly enjoyed it myself.
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