Leave The World Behind Part 4 is called The Flood. Let’s continue our analysis. Be sure to check out PART 1, PART 2 and PART 3 of this analysis. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Part 4 – The Flood
Back at the Scott’s house, the adults gather in the kitchen. They look despondent because it is now clear that there is no way off the island.
Amanda wants to find shelter but George wants to stay put until more is known. We aren’t surprised that they still don’t see eye to eye but this will not always be the case. Clay the mediator agrees with George but this time he puts his foot down when Amanda protests. For now, the family stays put.
They Make Me Happy
Rose and Archie are each in their rooms upstairs. Rose still can’t finish her show 😢. Interestingly the events of the world doesn’t seem to have curbed her resolve to finish her show. She simply won’t give up!
Archie is in bed having “thoughts” about Ruth as he gapes at her picture on his cellphone. He stops looking at his phone and gropes his forehead. He is a bit unwell and running a temperature. This is not good!
Rose intrudes on Archie and we solve the mystery as to why Rose is obsessed with the show Friends. Archie poses the question, a little annoyed that she would disturb his “sleep”. Her simple answer is that “they make me happy”. Simple. Innocent. We see Rose is driven by the simple desire to be happy. She needs to see the end of the show for purely emotional reasons. In typical fashion, big brother Archie dismisses her and tells her to “find something else to care about”. It’s a cruel thing for him to say but Rose isn’t easily dissuaded!
Clay is being useful and filling the bath tub with spare water just in case. Ruth is watching him and seems attracted to him (bad Ruth 🙈🙈). She offers to share her vape and he agrees. Outside while they pass the vape between each other Ruth continues to flirt with Clay, and it’s not even subtle. A very married Clay doesn’t resist, he just goes with it. We think he’s done this before. 🤔
Outside, with the vape smoke taking effect, he admits he got lost earlier when he went to the town to get information. He seems disappointed and ashamed at his own incompetence. He also feels guilty about the Spanish speaking woman he left at the side of the road when she clearly needed help.
Ruth seems to be a little “turned off” by this revelation, she very likely had “other ideas” as to where this convo would lead 😋😋. Yet, he has not been completely honest and she’s curious, so she presses for more information. He recalls the White Lion that crashed up on the beach when they first arrived. He further speculates as to the root cause of the strangeness and Ruth does not like what she is hearing. Just then, they hear a noise in the pool behind them. A flock of pink flamingos have landed in the backyard pool. Clay and Ruth seemed shocked at this because this is highly abnormal.
Symbolically the transformation in the psyche/self is ramping up. The primal, animalistic, instinctual forces are gaining ground and are poised to completely dominate soon. The presence of these birds in the pool is a symbol of this “take over”. The world is falling apart, the very truth itself is in question an the order of things are changing.
Meanwhile George and Amanda are inside, alone in the kitchen. Alcohol is flowing so inhibitions are relaxed. They begin sharing and are refreshingly open and honest with each other, a positive change from the earlier coldness in their relationship. This is where Amanda is FINALLY able to extract the truth about why George came to the house.
George begins a story about a major client at his job, a “government” type. Over drinks, his client eventually confides in him the reality of “an evil cabal” who he’s connected with. Amanda’s face falls at this revelation, she is not amused. George giggles, he thinks it’s funny.
George doesn’t reveal his clients’ name but Amanda has heard enough and offers an excuse to shut down the conversation down. Despite wanting to know the truth all this time, now that it is in her face, she doesn’t want to hear it. She’s scared. In a swift movement, George grabs her arm and won’t let her get up from the table (😬). She is going to hear what he has to say whether she likes it or not.
Amanda, despite clearly having strong instincts, doesn’t want accept the truth of things. She doesn’t want to accept the truth of herself, she wears a mask to do her job. She admits she hates people but yet working with people is how she makes a living. She doesn’t want to accept the truth of her husband either, who is likely cheating on her with his students.
George continues his story without missing a beat. Just the day before, this high value client calls and asks him to move his assets around, which is unusual. The conversation isn’t the upbeat/buddy convo they usually have. The client’s attitude and tone is different, serious and because of this George has reason to believe that something really bad is about to happen. He can’t remove the thought of this interaction from his head.
George, analytical and observant, proposes that what is happening is beyond the work of some evil cabal. He thinks the horrifying reality is that nobody is really in control. That these cabals don’t know or control anything with perfect certainty and rely on available information just like everyone else.
Amanda is back to not liking George again (that was fast🤣), she doesn’t like what he had to say. But George, smooth and charming, is going to win her back. They go to another room where they both engage in an awkward dance to a classic R&B Record called Too Close by Next. It’s hilarious to watch them both but it makes sense for the characters.
The transformation in the self/psyche that is core to this story involves closing the distance between opposites. Amanda had absolutely no trust for George when they first met just the day before yet, here they are dancing together having fun! Different ends of the spectrum of the self/psyche, the superego (George) and “id” (Amanda), are now brought closer together in an awkward dance in a time of crisis. Will the stoic and analytical superego and the instinctual “id”, merge?
There is a “moment” between them but Amanda loves her husband and George loves his wife so they don’t go there. George loves his Maya (illusion) and his daughter and doesn’t want to let them go! Symbolically this means that it will be hard for the superego to let go of its illusions and its moral conceptions but it is a transformation that must happen if the self/psyche is to undergo its transformation.
Just as they share this tender moment, the shrill, deafening noise starts again suddenly. It is painful and torturous and it brings the entire household to its knees with the pain. Glass surfaces crack and break, the lamps pop and the flamingos in the pool flee.
I’m Done Waiting
..the crowned and conquering child…goeth radiant ever upon His Way. Even so goeth the Sun: for as it is now known that night is but the shadow of the Earth, so Death is but the shadow of the Body, that veileth his Light from its bearer.
Heart of the Master and Other Papers (1925), Aleister Crowley
Some time later the noise is gone and we see the family of 4 all in the same bed. Apparently all the electrical lighting in the house is destroyed so they must now depend on old fashioned candles. Rose and Amanda are awake, but the men are sleeping.
Rose begins to share what is on her mind. In what is probably the best scene of the movie, Rose retells a story she once saw on a popular TV show. In it, a deeply religious man is in need of rescue as his home floods. He gets three chances to be rescued: he is forewarned of the flood via radio and had a chance to escape on foot, another man in a rowboat offered to save him when the flood came and yet another offered to rescue him by helicopter. The man ends up dying and in the afterlife he is annoyed that God didn’t save him. He feels his devotion to God has gone unrequited so he asks God why wasn’t he saved. God retorts that he did indeed send the news, the rowboat and the helicopter but the man refused his help. 🤯 🤯 🤯
Amanda is listening intently to her daughter and wonders why she’s sharing this story. With initiative and resolve way beyond her years she declares “I’m done waiting”. Powerful!
As the world continues to collapse around them, Rose seems to be getting more and more empowered to follow her own instincts. Of all the people in that house she is one who seems most in touch with her inner self. Recall that she is the “id” driven by raw instinct and desire, which are at once entirely selfish but also pure and true. She wants to be happy! That is all. She is tired of waiting to be rescued and is prepared to follow her own heart.
The ego and superego (the men of the house, Clay and George) have all but failed to be of any real value. Is it that a child, has the answers? In a time of crisis is it our inner child, the “id” that will light the way?
Amanda is listening but she doesn’t fully understand the implications of what Rose is saying. She is a child after all, nobody listens to her.
Downstairs, George and Ruth are preparing for bed. The arrangement is that George takes the floor and Ruth takes the bed. The noise has scared Ruth and wants her father to protect her. She shares her concerns about Clay and Archie; she is convinced that they might harm her if things get really bad. Ruth does not trust them, still.
As they talk, Ruth (the catalyst) reminds him not to be as trusting as he’s been up to this point. This is good advice and eventually it will sink in but George, forever moralizing, isn’t quite there yet. As the superego, he has been shaken by the events thus far, but not broken…yet. Nonetheless, this conversation is key to him “getting to that place” where he knows he must do what needs to be done.
Remember that pistol? This is one of the things that will become important to the “new George” once that superego role is discarded.
The next shot is a shot of space where we see the American flag sit motionless on a dead moon. In the distance, our Earth has moved into position to block the light of the sun and soon enough there is complete darkness except for the halo of the sun around a darkened hollow center where the earth sits. The visible presence of man on the moon has been thrown into complete darkness.
The sun represents the ego/superego, as we explained before. The moon landing is considered the peak of human ingenuity and achievement. Its symbolic darkening represents the ego death explained earlier. These worldly achievements are the result of the activity of the ego and superego. During this “cyberattack” however, the ego is undergoing transformation and it must “die” symbolically. Its light, however, will be interrupted and there will be darkness for a time.
A very well known 16th Century alchemical text called Rosary of the Philosophers contains a woodcut that conveys the same symbolism:
We see what looks like a Lion attempting to eat or swallow the Sun. Given what has happened thus far in the story we can confidently unpack the symbolism here. The sun, representing the ego, is being devoured/dominated/eclipsed by the ancient, primal, instinctive animalistic forces of the psyche/self or the “id”. These forces are driven by pure desire and they will “darken the sun”, so to speak.
We see in the film a running theme of animals encroaching on human spaces: the deer and the flamingo, for example. A formerly civilized world is falling apart due to a “cyberattack” which is affecting the “migration patterns” of animals. Animals, which have walked the earth before the evolution of man, have reclaimed their ancient territory. Similarly the “id”, which rules the first stages of a human’s life and similar in nature to animal instincts, forms before the ego and superego are formed. It has returned to reclaim its former domain in the psyche. Two kings cannot reign at the same time so the old must surrender to the new.
As the light of the sun is eclipsed in the heavens, so must the ego/superego be eclipsed by the “id”, the inner child, the most primitive aspects of the self/psyche.
Remember that huge ship that crashed ashore in Part 1? Do you remember the name. It was the WHITE LION. This is not a coincidence.
This alchemical text was written for “they who desire to have the most true knowledge of the greater science of the philosophical art”. Given what we know about the truth behind the lion eating the sun, what do you think this “art” might be? This Art is none other than the knowledge of how to transform the psyche/self!
This implies that the process that we see happening in the movie isn’t random or automatic, but a consciously planned, organized and controlled series of events by, as is revealed later, “the government”. I personally think “the government” symbolizes intelligent cosmic forces but its true nature is never fully explained in the movie.
Returning to the tarot, we see that tarot Key 19 (The Sun) represents the transformed psyche/self now with the “id” in control:
Quite a jubilant scene! The “id” has “won”. The child symbolizes innocence and a new beginning after the ego/superego, the former rulers of the psyche/self, have fallen. The white horse, whom the child rides without saddle or reins, represents the pure, powerful, beautiful, raw instinct, which is now free from the control of the ego/superego. The child is sitting on the horse because this is the “vehicle” it relies upon to manifest its desires.
The banner in the child’s left hand commemorates the victory of the subconscious which is where the “id” resides. The child is also accompanied by a New Sun, shining as brilliantly and radiantly as ever. This sun is not the ego/superego but is really the “id” which is now in control. The ego/superego have been annihilated.
The symbolism in the alchemical illustration and the tarot key both really summarize Rose’s journey in the movie. It is she who is the the hero of the story!
Gone
The next morning, Amanda is woken up by Clay. Rose is gone! (She wasn’t playing!😅😅)
Archie is sick and getting worse. His teeth begin falling out! (😬) Maybe it was the Noise or maybe it was the bug that bit his ankle in the forest. The exact cause is not clear but it doesn’t look good for Archie.
The symbolism here is that the forces that threaten the transformation in the psyche/self are destined to be destroyed. Restriction and suppression is exactly the energy that Archie brings to the equation. He is cruel, abusive and perverted. Literally and figuratively he is Big Brother. He has attempted to sow doubt, despair, fear and shame in the Rose’s mind without success.
What is happening to him isn’t the malicious work of any one person particularly, but a work of nature. As the transformation in the psyche occurs it will naturally become impossible for contrary forces to exist. His loss of his teeth represent his loss of the power to be effective in his despicable mission to keep the “id” from its eventual victory. Sorry it had to be you Arch! 😔😔
Archie serves another purpose however, the catalyst. As we will see later, his illness will help to bring both Clay and George to a different place. Their respective roles as the ego and superego will disintegrate and Archie’s illness will speed this change.
Once the “id” has decided that its “done waiting” nothing nothing nothing can stop it….even death!
The Role of Water
The name of this part is The Flood. Added to that we have seen the theme of water being repeated throughout the film so it has to be mentioned here.
Life began in water.
Looking back over the vast ages of our evolution, evidence shows that we began our journey as humble, minute, single cell organisms that lived in a vast ancient sea. This is our most ancient form and the beginning of our evolutionary journey. One could say it is our infancy as a human race.
To get more familiar, humans are conceived in the aquatic darkness of the womb.
Water’s presence in this story therefore represents a return to the source, but more than that, a reabsorption by water. We don’t necessarily mean physical water, H2O. Because the movie is about transformation of the psyche, “water” in the movie is a stand-in for ancient forces reclaiming what was originally theirs. These forces originate in the subconscious. The “id” is at home with these forces, which are familiar to it, but the ego and superego are not.
Note that they are on an island for the duration of the story also. An island is entirely surrounded by water. The transformation in the psyche/self will use “water” or subconscious forces as its agency in the annihilation of the ego and superego.
Click HERE for the 5th and final part of our analysis. Thanks for reading!
