#maraclea

[laurelwen]

A brief note: Crossbones

When I was assembling my tarot posts and saw these two cards next to each other, I was struck by something. The angles of Nigel's body echo the crossed bones.

That's it, that's the post.

[theoryofwhatnow]

incredibly fascinated by the idea of nigel being in love with- not helen and not susan- but maraclea.

him having so much adoration for the instrument of an ancient myth that it becomes the closest thing he’ll ever experience to true love which he can only conjure into reality through the exploitation and desecration of another woman/girl.

[realbeefman]

theee necrophilia in like minds is interesting to me because it does follow in this very. frankly trite tradition of “dead woman used and manipulated even in death to solve some guy’s interpersonal problem” but like minds takes the misogyny that underlies the trope to it’s natural horrific conclusion.

It is literally the systematic reduction of the idea of a woman (maraclea) down into this. base state. To just a skull. A sigil. The only utility is in the body and her ability to reproduce, not personhood, and SURE it matters that Alex loves Susan, it matters that Nigel loves his mom, but ultimately it’s about Alex and Nigel becoming so caught up in their own rigid lives that the only change they can conceptualize is in building THEMSELVES up as individuals. Their mutual obsession with respect, with tradition, is what drives them to such ends and in trying to make sense of this very flawed system they’ve been placed at the top of, they build upon those ideas of glory and bloodline and duty and only discover the structural iniquity within which they live.

something something Patriarchy can only function WITH the existence of a second subjugated gender class. and when you strip someone of personhood (textually this means life, this is what murder is when it happens in-universe) and desecrate all meaningful ways that that gender class is constructed (the corpse, the form disconnected from the person it once indicated) and all you’re left with is. Bone. an androgynous skull. signifying nothing but the ways the system architected has bent inwards under it’s own weight

[sweetoneiros]

i have said it before and i will say it again. the feeling that your art gives me is the same feeling that people in history had when they saw van gogh’s madness made material, when they saw the sistine chapel, heaven made real on the ceiling above their heads. humans have always known we have hearts but it is because of artists like you that we know we have souls

i am awestruck by you every single day, by your talent and your humility and you are the most wonderful internet little sibling a person could hope to have

so no head?

drawing inspired by @lunior-art my love 🫵🫶

there’s like 6 different items under the cut, feel free to explore.

different colorings because i’m indecisive (the one on the left was the original)

without background and the weird halo thingy

and the sketches (the window took me 2 hours alone)

i have a version where he doesn’t have eyes either but i’m not going to include that, you guys have seen enough.

[akutagawasbloodyfangs]

Back on the "Nigel was the real Maraclea" bullshit.

Obviously, the story goes that after exactly 9 months later after, well y'know, the Knight took the skull from the grave. If Alex had done it to Susan, wouldn't he had been late?

These were Alex's exact words about the timing: "-love to her body. Exactly nine months later... he was summoned to her grave."

We don't know how much time passed between the scenes of them being at morgue to when Alex had been first brought into custody so it could have been days to even weeks. Adding on to the timing, Alex was in jail/custody for a good while.

(My guess is about a week, maybe a few days more than that.) I checked and from what I remember: What we actually see is Alex telling the story from the span of like 4-5 days while Sally, Martin, and Dr. Forbes interactions are about 3-4 nights. (Could be wrong)

But because of course we aren't going to see every single day of the investigation itself so I think a good area of time to say would be about a week, again, maybe a little more.

The very last time skip (-and the only one that says on screen of how long it's been...) says: '9 months later', not 8 months later as it more accurately would've been had it been Susan.

As to why it would match up with if it was Nigel is because the scene directly before the '9 months later' is Alex finishing the story. (Which I'm obviously assuming he got released that day due to that information.) And Nigel wouldn't have been buried yet because the Becket play had been a month after Susans death (it's verbalized), and the morgue scene came after that. (And I'm probably rightfully assuming that a person who had been murdered would have to wait longer to be buried so the investigators can get evidence, and a lot of tests would have to be run.)

So, the timing would match up with Nigel if he had been Alex's true Maraclea, but not if it was Susan.

I also want to add that the 'My Beloved Susan' written on the card had just felt off? (I made my mom watch this movie at one point, she agrees that the Susan card felt strange and also agrees with what I say next...!)

Also, it may've been for dramatic effect but, isn't the whole ritual based on love, care, and protection?? (protection of the skull) So why would Susan's grave be that destroyed, like it was ripped open without any care? It looks almost, like, mocking? In a way. Does that make any sense?

Like, doesn't this look almost careless? Yes, the skull is missing, and the bones are crossed but it seems out of place. (Am I looking too into this?)

[antleredreality]

writing an essay about love at first sight and i’m somehow sneaking in like minds references. how cooked am i???

[einarravens]

one of my irl friend made a like minds bookmark for me (and thanks to her anyways) 🥺

📸: credits to my friend for the art and photo (1st pic only) ofc

(it was also given to me during recognition day at our school and I brought it when I'm out of town with my fam :33)

[bloodbathfortwo]

Like minds coded: Gudnyt.

[sunshinerotting]

sad so i’m rewatching like minds (2006) which will certainly for sure help

[theotherrichardpapen]

david levithan

[mew-the-classic-peach]

Nigel Colbie lives rent-free in Alex Forbes's head

Just other random thoughts about Like Minds.

The majority of Alex and Nigel's story is narrated by Alex, adopting the style of an "unreliable narrator." Nigel's parents have all been killed, and since Nigel is a new student, there are very few people who knew him well enough, and only Alex - his former roommate - is thought to have known Nigel well enough to testify about him. Alex is introduced as having an ideal profile - highly intelligent with impeccable achievements, according to his father and even the detective. While many people can describe Alex's personality, only Alex can describe Nigel's. It almost seems as though Nigel only exists in Alex's mind and memories.

Additionally, Nigel frequently appears or stands behind Alex in many scenes. Due to their height difference, Nigel's mouth is at ear level with Alex, creating the impression that Nigel is whispering into his ear. In a sense, Nigel is like a presence that is intimately connected to Alex, and only Alex possesses the ability to hear and feel him most deeply.

Using the same vision as when Nigel approached Alex, Alex also approaches another "target" from behind toward the end of the movie. 

Now he's Jack, or more accurately, Nigel's Jack. He had his Maraclea, and they found their eternity.

Visit my WordPress for a full Like Minds review & analysis.  

[laurelwen]

Breakdown and Comparison of the Books in Like Minds

So a careful viewer will notice that Nigel's bible and Alex's bible are clearly two completely different books. As @currentlyonstandbi also pointed out to me, the movie soundtrack underlines this by having two separate tracks titled "Nigel's Bible" and "Alex's Bible". The difference between the two is obvious in the two photos below.

We get glimpses of a few pages inside each of these books, and a side by side comparison will show that while they are different books, there are certain shared images that are suggestive of a few conclusions.

The first commonality is the use of the map insert seen above. Both maps appear to be exactly the same image, depicting the Mediterranean and the Holy Land during the time of the Crusades when the Templars were active. The map in Nigel's book is clearly larger and from the color of the paper seems to be somewhat older. Alex's map seems to be pulled from a different, newer source.

Both books also contain the same image of a man: Thomas Becket. It is hard to tell if this is merely the effect of the difference in lighting in each scene, but Nigel's version again appears somewhat yellowed, as if it was cut from an older book, while Alex's version seems more like a photocopy. Included below is the original of that image, as well as the art added in Alex's version, depicting the murder of Becket.

When Alex returns from his thwarted date with Susan, he throws Nigel's book across the room. It opens to this page, with an original pencil or charcoal drawing of a modern girl, and artwork depicting a skull inside a chalice or grail.

Alex's book also contains the same skull and cup image, but no copy of the sketch. This stands to reason, given that it appears to be an original drawing rather than an image pulled from an existing text. The same difference in paper color between the two versions is noticeable.

When we look at the images of the cover of Nigel's book (as seen in the Maraclea image above) we can see that the spine is smaller and that the pages seem to be full or nearly full. Alex's book seems to have a wider spine, and is clearly only partially filled, with many more blank pages remaining.

Conclusions and Analysis:

There are a couple different lines of thought one can pursue with this information. First: what happened to Nigel's book? We know that Alex can't have gone back to his room after Nigel died and therefore had no opportunity to hide it. We also don't actually know if he returned it to Nigel after reading it. One imagines that it would have been in either his room or Nigel's secret room, but we know from his conversations with Sally that it was found in neither location. It is possible that Alex is correct in his assertion that the Order removed it before the police could find it, or that the police chief (who was a member of the Order) had it removed from evidence.

The other possibility is that Alex was the true mastermind behind the events of the film, and that Nigel's book was an invention/exaggeration based on his OWN book to serve his depiction of Nigel. This seems less likely for one important reason: where was his book when the police investigated? Surely it would have been found, unless he had previously hidden it in some secret location never mentioned in the film.

The simplest explanation is that Nigel's book existed and was removed by the Order to preserve their secret lore, and Alex used the 9 months after Nigel's death to recreate his book from memory. We know from his conversation with Sally that he was completely engrossed by Nigel's book (though he tries to back pedal immediately after that). Obviously, he wouldn't have been able to recall or track down every piece of ephemera used, particularly not the metal badge or coin or the snippets of original documents or rare texts.

He also couldn't include the original drawing of the girl, probably done by Nigel himself and clearly placed next to the skull image as a reference to the Maraclea legend. Was this drawing meant to be Susan herself? Given that the moment this image is shown is almost certainly concurrent with the murder of Susan, it seems clear that a parallel is being drawn by the filmmaker. But unlike Susan in the movie, the hair is braided with bangs (Susan has no bangs and never appears with a braid), and the girl has an open collar showing a necklace with a cross pendant (also not in line with how Susan dresses in the film). We must also consider that this page is closer to the front of Nigel's book, implying that it has been there for a while. It's possible the drawing could have been pasted in later over whatever was on that page previously, or it could have entirely predated his interactions with Susan and Alex.

The end of the film highlights the fact that Alex believes in the Maraclea legend and obviously implies that Susan was his Maraclea. Nigel's 2 page Maraclea spread would have stood out in Alex's memory given the circumstances under which he first saw it and then the events which later transpired. While he couldn't have recreated the same drawing for his book, it is notable that he didn't attempt to create a similar spread with the skull/chalice image using another drawing or picture of a girl, including one of Susan herself.

Why didn't he?

The movie will never answer this question, but I'm firmly convinced it is because Nigel is his true Maraclea.

[Like Minds Masterpost]

[laurelwen]

It's fine go ahead and just hurt my feelings like this ughghghg.

It really could have easily been Nigel who died that night, and I think Nigel knew that and was prepared for that outcome. I think that's why he flinches as he sits there and John swings that gun around in his rage. There were so many variables that I don't think Nigel could really have *known* how the night would turn out. He set the pieces up, and then just had to let them fall where they might. It's like he just NEEDS it all to reach some kind of climax and is willing to accept whatever shape that takes, even if it's not his ideal script. Maybe the fact that it DOES turn out well just further fuels his belief that this was all fated. And maybe it was fated, who are we to say?

And my feelings might be hurt, but now they're all patched up because of these tags. Believe me, I did a lot of staring at walls while writing it.

what an interesting twist it would have been had john killed nigel that night. in his fit of rage and horror, if he fired the rifle and instead of killing poor helen, he killed his only son.

all of alex’s troubles with that boy, everything that nigel did, just to die by john’s hand. his plans ruined, his sacrifice, all that he endured and worshiped; all of it for nothing but also, it would have played perfectly into alex’s hand if he ever believed nigel to be his maraclea.

a tragic accident befalls “the poor fair maiden”. dying at the hands of the man who raised you sounds awfully poetic but it begs the question, would alex have still killed john after that?

[realbeefman]

the choice, intentional or not, to twist the maraclea legend in like minds to make a lady of maraclea become the lady maraclea is so fascinating to me. been thinking a lot about kristeva’s concept of abjection as the place where meaning collapses in on itself, the way a supernova implodes into a black hole. it contributes to this larger use of gestalt not as a way of understanding the events that happen in the film but rather as this constant and continual process of deconstructing/stripping all meaning. maraclea is taken and bastardized to pure signifier without sign. a meaning utterly detached from the context which formed it. “that thing that no longer matches and therefore no longer signifies anything”

[not-a-heretic]

boyfriends

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wouldn’t be like minds fanart if i didn’t have a bloody version. i think i like this version better than the others :(

reference

[akutagawasbloodyfangs]

Was looking at the official Like Minds soundtrack on Spotify and noticed this.