Compare the Tabernacle in "ZARDOZ" to the computer that is the enemy
of the leftovers of Mankind in Harlan Ellison's story "I HAVE NO
MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM". The computer(s) didn't create themselves;
MAN created them, and their creations enslaved them... virtually
annihilating them as a "lesser" type of being. In "ZARDOZ" the
Tabernacle keeps the Eternals in a state of stasis, really, except
for those whom they punish (the Renegades, doomed to senility) and
those who are subject to the 'disease' of Apathy. Ultimately, the
penalties are for Individuality as opposed to the Group-Mind 'ideal'
that is enforced via the Second Level Meditation and all that.
Imagine being forced to mind-meld with a group of people you've come
to despise on the subconscious level... trying to keep your gut-level
hatreds buried, but failing as they make their way into your
conscious mind -- and then the all-knowing Tabernacle (by the consent
of the Group) punishes you for thoughts you can't help having,
hatreds you can't help feeling. Like that poor schmuck George Seden,
who tries feebly to defend himself from the charges against him, then
allows himself a moment of defiance... all, ultimately, doing him no
good whatsoever.

Trapped in the hellish pseudo-utopia that is the Vortex, they need an
outside influence -- a "noble savage" -- to rescue them. Because of
their superiority complex, they feel they have the right to "control"
the outlands... and they delegate the job to Arthur Frayn, the only
Eternal who WANTED to deal with it. While out on his own (and
ostensibly not ENTIRELY under the supervision of the Tabernacle), he
concocts the 'Zardoz' religion as part of an attempt to breed the
Bringer of Death who could ultimately fulfill their deep-seated
deathwish. As the creator of a religion -- a FALSE religion (as I
think all religions are, and as I suspect Boorman probably believed
when he came up with the story) -- Frayn did what every other major
religion has done: he instilled within that religion's followers an
intrinsic hatred of their own nature. The "penis-is-evil" mantra
supports this horrific notion that human nature is essentially
corrupt, that Man is "filth" which "poisons the Earth". That Man is
deserving of death. As a result, the only way to put that religion
into practise is to separate out an "elite" who would then be used to
wage genocide on the rest -- at least, killing the males, so that
they could have the females to themselves (only the Exterminators
could breed).

How is it that the Eternals (i.e. Frayn, working on their behalf)
could do that to the so-called "Brutals"? The Eternals, deep down in
their subconscious minds, HATE their own fellow Eternals, and have
had to suppress it into their darkest depths of their subconscious
minds -- creating an "Id monster" like in "FORBIDDEN PLANET" where
there hadn't been one before. They hate each other... they hate
themselves... so it's no wonder that they have at least as low an
opinion (if not lower) regarding the Brutals. They have no pity for
them (or, with few exceptions, most of them don't). The suffering of
the Brutals has become mere "entertainment" to them.

Boorman's message -- especially if you listen to the commentary on
the DVD -- is that Religion is a sham, and that it is a force which
is ultimately destructive to the human race. In time, the "noble
savage" -- the TRUE human -- will rebel against the inhuman force
that preaches about Man being a creature of "sin" who deserves to be
punished by a "god" -- paid the "wages" of sin: Death. When Zed
destroys the Tabernacle from within -- finding the "flaw in the
crystal" -- it is the first step towards Man's triumph against the
anti-human institution of Religion. Zed is a sort of "antichrist" in
that he brings the gift of Death to people who cannot otherwise die,
the inverse paradigm of Christ bringing the gift of Eternal Life to
people who otherwise cannot live forever. The Eternals, after only a
couple centuries of "eternal" life, can't STAND living anymore; it
isn't in their nature -- in Man's nature -- to live forever.
Spiritually, we NEED to complete the cycle of Life, and Death is the
completion of it. We aren't cut out for eternal life, and those who
are afraid of Death, of dying, and who think that they'd like to live
forever, are probably fooling themselves. When you've read every book
there is to read... seen every movie there is to see... had every
sort of conversation there is to have with everybody else who -- like
you -- is living forever... eventually, you will run out of the will
to live.

And Zed help you if you are FORCED to keep on living an unbearable
life!

Patrick
_______________________________________________________________

--- In zardozthemovie@yahoogroups.com, "Tiziano" <apecalypsenow@...>
wrote:
>
> I think Frayn didn't give a shit about evolution. He KNEW -
> or "SENSED" - tha only a super-human being could have helped the
> ETERNALS to escape from their endless state.
> The main problem was the TABERNACLE. Frayn was conscious that EVEN
> an Eternal wasn't able to defeat the Tabernacle. Eternals were
> puppets in the "almost-blind" and "automatic" head of the
> Tabernacle, so to speak.
>
> So, he chose to "generate" a super-human being (or "to design him
by
> inbreeding", if you want) because only having access to the full
> potential of human being could have led to the annihilation of the
> Tabernacle.
>
> He wasn't an evolutionary, a scientist. That's why the drawnings in
> his house were so POOR... I mean "elementary". He was more an
artist
> and a self-teached science man. His biggest skill was intuition.
>
> (and Zed saw even more than that behind his actions... GOD?)
>
>
> T.C.
>
> --- In zardozthemovie@yahoogroups.com, Worov@ wrote:
> >
> > <<<Frayne's method . . .was a personal project and not the norm
> across the
> > vortex system>>>
> >
> > Absolutely agree with that one which is, as you demonstrate with
> your
> > quotes, precisely what's communicated by the film. Though I think
> you'll agree we
> > may extrapolate (thanks to the film's purely visual narrative and
> the story's
> > various implications, not to mention what we learn of Arthur's
> individual
> > personality) that he also had something extra in mind. I don't
> know if it's the
> > precise bloodbath that ends the film. But remember he begins it
by
> saying, " .
> > . . I long for death, but death is no longer possible." He also
> wistfully
> > berates Zed, after being shot and floating out of the head, in
> something like
> > this wise: "I could have shown you."
> >
> > So Arthur's up to something more than just a simple breeding
> scheme, I'd say.
> >
>