by Josef Steiff
Still, accepting William James’s account of genuine belief options granting the right to believe according to passion would not and should not take away the desire to really get to the bottom of things and form beliefs based on evidence. Even if we recommend James’s form of reasoning to Ross, we still identify with the ache in Ross to know the truth. James does not ask us to pretend that believing something is true will always make it true, and what we really want is to know what is true. But the conditions of living often put us in the need for guidance even when we cannot know the ultimate truth, and James’s help is worth considering. Wondering is long, but life is short. As Armitage said, “It’s like an expiration date.”7
EYE AM
by
Josef Steiff
Chapter 6
Josef Steiff
Columbia College
Chicago, Illinois
[email protected]
The following analysis of the anime Magnetic Rose AKA Memories is written as a sequel to both Katsuhiro Otomo’s original manga and in particular the film version written by Satoshi Kon and directed by Kōji Morimoto.
“EYE AM”
INT. KOPERNIKREV OBSERVATION DECK
An eye opens, flecks of gold sprinkled amid a circle of hazel green. The pupil dilates, and shiny points of reflected light slowly appear.
These steady pinpoints of ancient light fill in more and more of the blackness, a field of stars as far as the eye can see.
NADINE BECKNER, 30s with a tomboy’s lanky body and shortly cropped hair, stares out into space.
Her own reflection takes form before her, and the large observation window, bulkheads, and laced beams of the spaceship almost seem to coalesce around her.
A chirp interrupts her solitude, and she sits up to answer the intercom.
NADINE
Beckner.
ZEH
We’re at the edge, Nadine.
EXT. KOPERNIKREV
The spaceship slows to a stop against a backdrop of stars and a nearby planetary system. Bold letters spell out “Kopernikrev” across the sleek hull, followed by an emblem encircled by the words, “search and rescue.”
INT. KOPERNIKREV BRIDGE
Nadine stands behind Kopernikrev’s commander, ZEH, a tough-looking man of indeterminate age and mixed ancestry.
ESCHER, small and prematurely grey with a bushy mustache, studies the monitors, listening through headphones as he tweaks several dials.
One of the screens contains a stellar map, a large portion of which is shaded green and overlaid with a series of coordinates that include “RZ 3005.”
The main monitor reveals the empty space before them.
NADINE
So this is the Sargasso?
Zeh nods.
ZEH
Bayes is prepping the Remote. We’ve located the ship’s Recorder beacon. Here.
Zeh points to a corner of the screen.
NADINE
The Recorder? Does that mean—
ZEH
It means the ship is not intact.
Nadine catches her breath and looks away.
ESCHER
Sir. I’m getting another signal through all the magnetic distortion. It seems to be ...
Escher glances at Nadine, then Zeh.
ESCHER (CONT’D)
... using the Corona’s wavelength.
NADINE
Where?
Escher points towards the middle of the main monitor and flips a switch, allowing the signal to fill the bridge: lots of static and what might be a wisp of music.
Zeh listens as he scans the main monitor for some sign.
ZEH
Magnify.
The screen’s perspective shifts, and the monitor now reveals a massive debris field, a random arrangement of tiny particles that become larger and more dense in the distance, as if orbiting around some central point.
NADINE
We’ve got to go in.
Zeh indicates the static coming from the speakers.
ZEH
On account of that? That’s no signal to my ears. Just a jumble of magnetic interference. Let’s see what the Recorder tells us before we go getting ourselves into trouble.
As Nadine and Zeh argue in the background, Escher rubs his eyes and looks at the monitor more closely, because it seems as if the debris is starting to move, forming a shape near the center of the field that resembles a giant metallic rose.
The static becomes worse, and Zeh turns it down.
ESCHER
Hey. Do you see that?
ZEH
What?
ESCHER
The debris. Coming together.
Zeh studies the screen, and for a moment he can almost see the rose as well.
NADINE
It’s just random movement. There’s nothing there.
When Escher looks back at the screen, the rose is gone, and the debris is just debris.
INT. KOPERNIKREV LAUNCH BAY
A lethal combination of British youth and good looks, BAYES preps the automated Remote Retrieval Unit for reconnaissance. The RRU is a lop-sided oblong box that would be big enough to hold two men if it weren’t filled with an engine, fuel, computer, storage space and retractable arms folded along its sides, each terminating in some tool or measuring device.
The low gravity field of the Kopernikrev allows Bayes to easily swing the RRU into the launch tube and seal the door.
EXT. KOPERNIKREV
The RRU glides away from the ship. Once clear, the RRU re-orients and fires boosters that propel it into the Sargasso.
INT. KOPERNIKREV OBSERVATION DECK
Nadine watches the RRU set course.
EXT. SARGASSO SPACE
As the RRU nears the edge of the debris field, it passes a large panel etched with the name, “Disposer.”
INT. KOPERNIKREV BRIDGE
Zeh and Escher watch the constant stream of data and video images the RRU sends as part of its mission.
INT. REMOTE RETRIEVAL UNIT
From the inner workings of the RRU, sensors zero in on a faint pulse of light that is accompanied by a slight pinging sound and a small burst of radiation.
EXT. SARGASSO SPACE
The RRU unfolds and extends a clawed arm to scoop up the Recorder, a small black box etched with several number sequences and its ship’s name: “Corona.” A second arm helps tuck the Recorder inside a storage compartment before the RRU turns back towards the Kopernikrev.
INT. KOPERNIKREV LAB
Nadine, Zeh and Escher watch as Bayes plugs the Recorder into a computer console. The surrounding monitors burst to life with a bombardment of jumbled images, static, and opera music.
Nadine’s attention is suddenly drawn to one of the screens, a static-filled black and white video image.
VIDEO:
HEINTZ BECKNER, late 30s, blond, square-jawed, and muscular, holds his ID up to the camera.
HEINTZ
“... acting on a mayday signal ... 05
... about to ...rescue ...”
In the wallet with Heintz’s ID card is a photograph, only a part of which shows in the monitor, but enough to see that the picture is of Heintz, a little girl (Emily), and Nadine.
BACK TO THE LAB
Nadine gasps, and Zeh puts his hand on her shoulder.
The opera music becomes more insistent. Bayes turns down the sound.
BAYES
This is going to take awhile for me to sort out. Why don’t you guys find someplace else to haunt.
INT. KOPERNIKREV BRIDGE
Zeh’s eyes are closed, but from the way he leans in his chair, it’s difficult to know whether he is awake or asleep.
Nadine sits at Escher’s console, headphones on, listening to the signal coming from the center of the debris field as she watches a monitor of Bayes and Escher working in the Lab.
INT. KOPERNIKREV LAB
Escher and Bayes pore over Corona’s mission logs, studying a particular segment of the Rec
order’s video.
VIDEO:
Heintz, weapon drawn, moves in front of an open hatch, about to enter ... what? For a split second, everything fades to white, no detail of the environment he’s about to step into.
BACK TO THE LAB
Bayes hits “pause.”
BAYES
There. In another few frames, he’ll enter the Great Hall. But at this point on the video, it’s almost as if there’s nothing there, like the ship’s interior comes into existence when Heintz is perfectly positioned to be able to see through the open hatch. He’s not so much stepping into the Great Hall, but rather the room forms where he’s about to step.
ESCHER
Maybe the chandelier was so bright it took a moment for the Recorder to compensate.
Bayes presses “play,” and the video continues in the background, Heintz’s comrade, MIGUEL, following him into the Great Hall.
BAYES
That could be, but think about it. The Maid Robot telling Madam that luncheon is served doesn’t appear until after Miguel sees the hologram of Eva on the hillside. And the hologram of Eva doesn’t appear until after Heintz and Miguel see her portrait in the Great Hall.
ESCHER
You’re implying a traditional cause and effect arrangement, like they’re somehow influencing what’s happening on the ship.
BAYES
The ship certainly seems to be responding to them. That doll that Heintz finds? It looks just like his daughter Emily. And it even falls from the table.
ESCHER
So?
INT. KOPERNIKREV BRIDGE
Nadine stares back at her face in the monitor. She is beginning to show signs of strain. She presses “record” on the console and watches her lips barely move as she whispers:
NADINE
I’m here, my love.
She rests her finger on the “transmit” button before applying the required pressure. A dialogue box appears on the monitor screen: “sent.”
Nadine listens, but the incoming signal remains unchanged. She takes off the headphones and stretches.
ZEH
You’re going to drive yourself crazy.
Zeh’s eyes are still closed. Nadine looks for some evidence that this sprawling body just spoke.
NADINE
I know he’s out there. And I won’t leave without him.
Just as she thinks she imagined his voice, Zeh responds:
ZEH
It may not be your choice.
INT. KOPERNIKREV LAB
Bayes and Escher watch the video of Heintz exploring the Rose, encountering hints that its lush ornateness belies its true condition.
ESCHER
Maybe the entire ship is a hologram.
BAYES
But the problem with the hologram idea is that the Great Hall is real in a way that the hillside Miguel first sees through the windows is not. That hillside and his first glimpse of Eva is definitely a hologram. We can even see the field disruption when Miguel steps in too far. The other parts of the ship seem solid, and they are breathing air, so not everything can be holographic.
ESCHER
What if it operates less like a hologram and more like a work of art?
BAYES
Huh?
ESCHER
There are art theorists who have argued that the observer completes or finalizes the work of art, in effect coauthoring the text.
BAYES
Yeah, I’ve read Bakhtin and Hall, too. But they don’t mean literally. They mean that the act of taking in and interpreting the artwork is the final step of the artistic process. It’s not as if the words on a page rearrange themselves in response to the reader.
ESCHER
You and I could read the exact same paragraph and remember it differently.
BAYES
Which is an act of interpretation, not different words on the page.
ESCHER
But how would you know? If your reading of the book affects the book itself, how would you know? Because you can only be aware of the book as you perceive it.
BAYES
You’re making my head hurt. And you can’t mean that my copy of The Dialogic Imagination is different than your copy.
An unexpected voice suddenly interrupts:
ZEH
What did I tell you? These two are always at it. That’s why I make them work down here. If I wanted all this philosophy theory stuff, I’d read a book.
Escher and Bayes turn, surprised to see Zeh and Nadine standing in the doorway.
Nadine smiles at the two men and glances at the monitor.
Zeh grunts and continues on down the corridor. Nadine makes as if to follow.
Escher and Bayes turn back to the monitors.
BAYES
You’re just winding me up.
Escher shrugs “maybe so” and smiles.
ESCHER
Reception theory could help explain why Miguel and Heintz experience the roses in Eva’s dressing room differently.
BAYES
Let me guess, something about Bakhtin’s conceptual horizon, right?
ESCHER
Surely the physicist in you can appreciate the idea that two people can never see exactly the same thing, because they cannot occupy the exact same space at the same time. Their perspective and therefore their perceptions are different, literally and figuratively. For Miguel, the roses are alive—tangible and real. Heintz still sees the ship as an abandoned wreck. When he picks up the roses, he sees what he expects to see: they turn to dust.
BAYES
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They experience the ship like a work of art.
ESCHER
And each has his own interpretation of the artwork.
BAYES
Which I guess does help explain how a hologram, which is a computer simulation that should be consistent and the same for both, can somehow be a shared experience and yet different for each of them. Miguel begins to experience Eva and the ship as alive before Heintz does, because they’re interpreting differently what they see.
Both men glance up at the monitor and see that the video log has now reached the point where:
VIDEO:
Heintz stands on the sidewalk leading to his home. EVA is coaxing him to come into the house, to join her and EMILY, a ten-year-old girl with pigtails, who stands in the threshold. But another Emily falls from the roof, and Heintz is unable to catch her in his outstretched arms. She passes right through him like a ghost and lies dying at his feet. He begins sobbing, trying to pick her up.
BACK TO LAB
Unbeknownst to Escher and Bayes, Nadine has continued to observe them from the doorway. A tear in her eye, she turns away, no longer able to watch.
INT. KOPERNIKREV CREW QUARTERS
Nadine wakes with a start.
The crackle of radio static comes from the intercom. A few notes of melody weave in and out with a familiar voice.
HEINTZ
(off screen)
This is Heintz Beckner of the salvage freighter Corona, please come in. This is Heintz Beckner of the Corona, please come in.
