The Psychology of Annihilation (Story Explained)

[Music] what is a dream a meaningless fantasy of the apps in mind yeah is it the moments in which everything about life seems to be him blissful harmony when the struggles of everyday life don't seem to exist what happens when that dream turns out to suddenly be nothing more than a lie in the lose or a reality what happens when her life has suddenly turned upside down into chaos when were two days to even realize we're nearing rock bottom or when it's been two lifeless to have meant much at all when a meteor comes crashing down and through our reality into the lighthouse that stands at the center of our unconscious in which we had trusted to light us a path into the unknown and what happens when we're the ones who are directly responsible for this collapse carrying a burden of guilt ever-present to remind us of our deeds perhaps see a lake of pain will wash it away covering the stains of who we truly are maybe that way we get to move on [Music] he's back a miracle that something's off he's changed and he's dying because of me it's my fault I'm a space or whatever he has faced before me Oh him but where and how do we start [Music] Blackwater National Park reported that a lighthouse was surrounded by something determined a shimmer is it a religious event an extraterrestrial event perhaps a higher dimension something so large in scale and alien and appearance has to be something external outside of us and yet at the same time it feels strangely familiar like something profoundly internal hidden behind an ever-growing Ville volusion staying on its edge and observing it from a distance might feel safe but the only real solution is to be found when we mustered a courage to venture inside and so we shall and the unconscious one is unfortunately in the same situation as an a moonlit landscape all the contents are blurred and merged into one another and one never knows exactly what or where anything is or where one thing begins and ends this world within the dome is the strangest most confusing place one could visit I don't know where it was time space and matter merged seamlessly as if in a dream the order and structure of the outside world don't exist here to say one might get lost in this place would be an understatement and yet this is the place we collectively find ourselves the geomorphologists beyond morning the physicist without purpose the addict the terminally ill the adulterer all in the state of inner confusion risking their lives to find answers to problems only those that are going through deep inner instability would find themselves caught up in it's not exactly something you do if your life is in perfect harmony but if the king of this world is chaos then beauty is not the only thing one is bound to find lurking just below the surface are those primal creatures that will test our instinctual abilities when we least expected the familiar dream in which the dreamer is pursued by an animal nearly always indicates that an instinct has been split off from our consciousness an odds of BER is trying to be readmitted and integrated into life the more dangerous the behavior of the animal in the dream the more unconscious is the primitive and instinctual soul of the dreamer and the more imperative is its integration into his life if some irreparable evil is to be forced all facing this dragon head-on is to merge of the primal instincts that can guide us deeper into this new world failing to do so can make us stray from the light and become blinded in the darkness unconscious and therefore vulnerable to the dangers that can emerge into our lives at any moment we've come upon an abandoned military base a safe haven for those that came before a memory card is found his second revelation reveals itself the monsters we believe to be exclusively external nature dwell abundantly within our own bodies within our souls a realization emerges amide a real danger am i the thing bent on self-destruction accepting it would be to admit to one's own shortcomings which we so often try to hide behind a mass personality denying it would be to disown its existence within oneself completely there was something alive inside that man no that was a trick of the light when an individual makes an attempt to see a shadow he becomes aware of and often ashamed of those qualities and impulses he denies in himself but can plainly see in other people such things as egotism mental laziness and sloppiness unreal fantasy schemes and plots carelessness and cowardice ensured all the little sins about which he might previously have told himself that doesn't matter nobody will notice it and in any case other people do it too for the denier the only way out is to project one's own monsters onto those around her how could I ever be a monster maybe you or you but not me for it is I who knows the way and who will save the world from that nation this unconscious failure to come to terms of one's own reality then becomes nothing more than another ultimate dead end it is only those that on some level have made peace with the fact that spending time in this world is slowly changing who we are and how we perceive ourselves it's this growing realization that the tumour of the shimmer isn't necessarily caused by something outside of ourselves but perhaps an echo from our own inner world and so the only way to save the world would be to save oneself but why would one bother to go through such lengths to salvage something that wasn't even perceived to contain much value to begin with life does what it wants why bother struggling against its will wants to face it you want to fight it no suit rule II desire to return will have the power to re-emerge and so one by one the Companions perish dissolve and disappear and so Lina is the only one left why did they have to succumb to the darkness and why am I still here were they really Anya Shephard Jozy Ventress or were they just characters of a dream fragmented parts of an unconscious personality seeking to be integrated onto the body like the ever continuing cycle of death and rebirth the sign of the Ouroboros the dramatic symbol of the snake eating its own till for the integration and assimilation of the opposite of the shadow the only way to truly find out what all of this means is to make one final push towards the center towards the lighthouse in this final leg of the journey we are already well broken down but as we enter into the lighthouse we slowly begin to realize the toughest challenge is still in front of us hidden in the darkness deep beneath the shining light at a tower a mandala shaped or Kabir's magnificent in its wholeness but equally frightening in appearance it shows us a mirror out of which a figure emerges in shock we stumble and we run or perhaps we don't run at all but lose ourselves in complete confusion people call me Cain I could try to fight it but a mirrors my every move so perhaps I should desire it for self destruction is ultimately all that's certain what is this creature that acts as if my shadow suddenly a face begins to take form he sudden realization dawns on us you are you may if you are me if you are more me than I am than I am a lie and I can exist no longer we finally become fully aware that this world is not at all alien in nature but a part of our own self that was hidden away in our unconscious desperately trying to be acknowledged the only way forward Dennis to look oneself directly in the eye and accepting the shadow as it is only then can final illuminating integration be achieved amidst the hero is the one who conquers the dragon not the one who is devoured by it only one who has risked the fight of the Dragon and is not overcome by it wins the wart to treasure hard to attain he alone as a genuine claim to self confidence for he has faced a dark rounds of the self and dare by has gained himself we now know better who we truly are and if dare by dissolved our pathologies the return to order as therefore shown as a reconciliation of true previously estranged souls both thought and died in one way or another and both have reemerged as someone else one a mere shadow of his former self the other more intact strangers but strangers more attuned to each other than ever before embracing one another as the very first step to start anew thank you so much for watching if you like this video and enjoy our content please consider supporting our work on patreon or consider leaving us a one-time donation on paypal at this point we cannot rely on ad revenue alone so all of your donations truly help to sustain a channel and in return you can get to our channel stickers also we are fairly active on Twitter so consider following us on there if you want to stay up-to-date on the channel and lastly I'd like to thank our top patrons here - Siham ackers and kevin ingram you guys are awesome thank you so much for your continued support thank you all for watching everyone see you in the next one

Channel: Storytellers

Views: 71,196

Keywords: Annihilation, Annihilation video essay, Annihilation analysis, Annihilation trailer, Alex Garland, Ex Machina video essay, Annihilation bear, Storytellers, Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Annihilation alien, Annihilation soundtrack, Ex Machina lfts, Ex Machina, Jeff VanDerMeer, Annihilation Jung, Nerdwriter1, Now You See It, LFTS

Id: xk4eAwg5Snk

Length: 9min 51sec (591 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Duskmourne]

Loved the movie.

Full disclaimer I didn't read the book. I did feel they kind of missed an opportunity by not expanding on the whole time distortion aspect.
When they "first" wake up in the shimmer and realize it's actually's been their third day there, I was really excited due to it being a relatively unique gimmick. Sadly though it's never referred to again or even mentioned by the characters.
It would have been brilliant if they had to find a way of recounting past days, logging things, sketching, etc. Especially considering their professions. Having a scene where they wake up, look at the notebook and see the mutated bear or alligator and not believing it, etc would have been amazing.

[u/lilred181]

The background music at around 2:30 sounds like The Last Of Us soundtrack.

[u/nunsinnikes]

Very Jungian interpretation. I love the idea that human beings have a shared language of symbols that emerge through tradition, behavior, mythology, religion, story-telling, etc. Very useful way of looking at the world. Whether or not it's capital T true is to be seen. But it is pragmatic.

For any interested, Jordan Peterson (independent of all the controversial gender pronoun stuff he's gotten himself in the media for) has taken up the modern day Jungian analysis mantle. He has an incredible series of interpreting the Bible exactly like this video interprets Annihilation. It's one of the most insightful series (really about the human pysche, more than the religion at the baseline of the series) I've ever seen.

[u/Pomodoro2]

r/HighQualityContent

[u/_learning_as_I_go_]

At this point I enjoy videos like these more like the films themselves.