Recurrent themes are the staple of poetics. They are usually motifs that we have come to recognise as universal truths or the natural outcome of things. Loved ones separated by the magic of villains, evil people having their vices turned against them and so on.
As it is, one of the most ironic things is to see otherwise powerful and clever people fall into such traps because arrogance or dire need or passion or a combination of all of these elements made them behave like cartoon villains.
I am saying all these things because several days ago I watched the digital 3D remaster of Tim Burton's "The Nightmare before Christmas". Among other poetic leitmotifs, it shows the time-honoured universal truth that a free-spirited woman cannot be trapped in a tower as a piece of property, like Rapunzel (as Dr. Finklestein, in the movie, tries to keep Sally the Rag Doll locked in his tower).
Indeed this notion appears in poetic creation about as frequently as the belief that no real gain can come from bartering with evil spirits.
This prompted me to write about Hedy Lamarr and how that idiot austrofascist husband of hers tried to keep her trapped in a meaningless existence as a simple showpiece. It is in times like these that one realises how blind to some simple facts people can be.
How can a wild spirit be trapped? How can lock and bars and pig-headed obstinacy match the wiles of a determined mind?
For some people, freedom is simply non negotiable.
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My dearest friend if you don't mind
I'd like to join you by your side
where we can gaze into the stars
and sit together, now and forever
for it is plain as anyone can see
we're simply meant to be...
(Finale (reprise) by Danny Elfman, The Nightmare before Christmas, 1993, Touchstone Pictures)
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