G'mork, servant of The Nothing...

G'mork: If you come any closer, I will rip you to shreds.
Atreyu: Who are you?
G'mork: I am G'mork. And you, whoever you are, can have the honor of being my last victim.
Atreyu: I will not die easily. I am a warrior!
G'mork: Ha! Brave warrior, then fight the Nothing.
Atreyu: But I can't! I can't get beyond the boundaries of Fantasia!
[G'mork laughs] What's so funny about that?
G'mork: Fantasia has no boundaries.
Atreyu: That's not true! You're lying.
G'mork: Foolish boy. Don't you know anything about Fantasia? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries.
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying, then?
G'mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control... has the power!
Atreyu: Who are you, really?
G'mork: I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing. I was sent to kill the only one who could have stopped the Nothing. I lost him in the Swamps of Sadness. His name... was Atreyu.
Atreyu: If we're about to die anyway, I'd rather die fighting! Come for me, G'mork! I am Atreyu!


I just watched The Neverending Story again, and it just keeps getting better. I told Julie that you could probably write a thesis on it. It becomes more obvious that not only is the dialogue and plot summary deep, but the characters are symbols themselves...which then makes the meaning deeper...and the characters deeper-er...and the meaning even more deeper...and so on. (OK, so maybe it can only go so deep...it isn't quantumphysics!)

Some things that caught my attention this time around:

-When Atreyu is called on by the Empress to find a cure for her sickness and save Fantasia, he is asked to lay down his weapons and go on the quest alone.
-Morla, The Ancient One, is the giant turtle in the Swamps of Sadness. He is supposed to be the 'wisest' being in all of Fantasia. However, the giant turtle is sick and says "We are allergic to youth", "We don't even care whether or not we care", and begins his sentences with "Not that it matters...". He symbolizes the myth that adults have all the answers, therefore they run the world...yet they have become complacent and lost their idealism. He is completely disinterested in (and allergic to) the youthful Atreyu's desire to save "Fantasia".

I will be back later to write some more...