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Sunday 6 November 2016

Blavatsky, Theosophy & ’Doctor Strange’ (film, 2016) Scott Derrickson, Marvel


By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth, in the early days, Theosophists were actively cultivating ties to popular fiction writers and lately the study of theosophical influence on pop culture has been growing. See Theosophical Fiction and also, Zanoni. The well-received Doctor Strange movie inherits much of the theosophically-influenced orientalist-occult pop culture themes, as the reviews below point out. Praise the Vishanti! (Indeed, there has been a fairly extensive commentary on the mystical/pop culture intersection related to the character and the film. We've included a larger-than-usual sampling, sadly, not being in possession of the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, we cannot claim that this list is exhaustive):
 
Mainstream Mysticism: Doctor Strange Vs. Materialism
Jeff Wolfe - Symbol & Verse
This sets Strange off on a classic Hero's Journey, the first step of which is to set off to parts unknown. Is it any surprise he is directed to a hidden temple tucked in the Himalayan Mountains? As it goes, the teacher must first be found before the lessons can commence. Like so many other myth stories, the keys to the universe are held in secret by monks or priests, who obtained them through intense dedication and practice of physical and mental disciplines. 
https://symbolandverse.journoportfolio.com/essays/mainstream-mysticism-doctor-strange-vs-materialism/
 
A Brief History of Doctor Strange and His Relationship with Tibet, Occultism, and Buddhism - Joel Gruber (11/05/2016)
"From 1963 to the present day, Doctor Strange comics document a visual history of American pop-fascination with the “Orient,” and with Tibet in particular. During the early 1960s, Tibetans were more exoticized objects of wonder than actual persons, and thus the Ancient One better resembled Blavatsky’s Mahatmas than he did a cave-dwelling Tibetan yogi. As the counterculture critiqued America’s Protestant heritage and explored religions from the so-called “Orient,” Englehart and Brunner destroyed God and presented their own version of a Buddhist-esque occult philosophy, which they and their readers put into practice. "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-gruber/doctor-strange-a-brief-hi_b_12805350.html
 
 
Strange Tales #115, Dec. 1963, art: Steve Ditko
Doctor Strange (2016) – Revelation of the Illuminist Method - Jay Dyer:
"Lining up his chakras and mastering the “Key of Solomon,” Strange decides to delve into deeper, darker rites, taking it upon himself to don the All-Seeing Eye necklace that allows him to fast forward and rewind time itself, from the grimoires of his order’s ascended masters (call him Blavatsky Cumberbatch). "
https://jaysanalysis.com/2019/11/25/doctor-strange-2016-revelation-of-the-illuminist-method/
 
How Doctor Strange Helped Create Hippies - Charles Moss - Nov 2 2016 In Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America, Bradford W. Wright wrote, "Dr. Strange remarkably predicted the youth counterculture's fascination with Eastern mysticism and psychedelia. Never among Marvel's more popular or accessible characters, Dr. Strange still found a niche among an audience seeking a challenging alternative to more conventional superhero fare.
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/how-doctor-strange-helped-create-hippies


Breaking Saturn's Spell: Arrival & Doctor Strange - Chris Knowles 01-12-2016
Doctor Strange touched all the tentpole bases-- apocalypse-sized threat, cities aflame, multiculti heroes banding together under a militaristic regimen-- but added themes roughly parallel with the wilder expressions of Tibetan Buddhism and psychedelic culture (according to this writer, DMT culture, specifically.  
https://secretsun.blogspot.com/2016/12/arrival-and-doctor-strange-or-breaking.html
 
The Broken Hands of Doctor Strange Jeffrey Overstreet| 
The Theology of Dr. StrangeMike Beidler  November 30, 2016 

Doctor Strange Movie Cast Coached by Gelong Thubten, a Tibetan Monk

https://buddhaweekly.com/doctor-strange-movie-cast-coached-gelong-thubten-tibetan-monk-known-extensive-years-long-retreat/ 
Tibet Supporters Protest Marvel's 'Doctor Strange' over Changed Character
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/tibet-supporters-protest-marvel-s-dr-strange-over-changed-character-n677706 
 
Doctor Strange's Magical and Mystical Roots in Hindu Mythology
Amulya sai Inturi Nov.. 30 2016
https://www.fandom.com/articles/doctor-strange-magical-mystical-roots-hindu-mythology
 
Doctor Dtrange and the racial history of a Marvel icon - Zack Kruse - 19 March, 2019
https://www.popmatters.com/doctor-strange-and-race-2631242477.html
 
Orientalism (and disability) in in Scott Derrickson’s’Doctor Strange’ (2016) 
Rebecca Radillo 
https://thedailyfandom.org/orientalism-and-disability-doctor-strange/
 
Producing and Consuming the Posthuman Body in Superhero Narratives - Scott Jeffery - January 26, 2013
What is known by fans and scholars as the Golden Age of Comics dates from approximately 1938 to the late 1950s. 1938 marks the debut of Superman in Action Comics issue one but in order to understand the emergence of the comic book superhuman some context is necessary. The comic book superhuman was in fact preceded by what Coogan (2006) usefully describes as the Antediluvian Age. At the end of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century the posthuman was already manifesting itself in several seemingly disparate realms. In the fantastic fiction H. G. Wells for instance, which presented invisible men, human-animal hybrids and highly evolved (and de-evolved) relatives of humankind from the far future. The early science fiction author Edward Bulwer Lytton’s 1871 novel The Coming Race presented another vision of advanced humanity. Lytton’s work would go on to influence the fin de siècle interest in occultism (Knowles, 2007), particularly H. P. Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy, whose mystical writings are rife with highly evolved ‘ascended masters’ and whose occult theories emphasise a kind of evolutionary mysticism. Indeed, Badminton cites Blavatsky writing of the ‘post-human’ as early as 1888 (Badmington, 2004:133).
http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/01/26/producing-and-consuming-the-posthuman-body-in-superhero-narratives/
 
Doctor Strange: A Hero of the Mind 
Tristan Garcia
 
The links below document the pop culture “Tibetan lineage” of the good doctor:
 
The study of Theosophical influences on pop culture is quite a growing field, pioneered by:
The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Pop Culture - edited by B. J. Oropeza - 2005
 
Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes, 2007 - Chris Knowles
https://books.google.ca/books?id=93Mv-1R5yskC&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
 
Mutants and Mystics Science Fiction Superhero Comics and the Panormal, Jeffrey Kripal, 2011:
Google Books
 
Pseudoscience and Science Fiction, Andrew May, 2016 :
https://books.google.ca/books?id=2O0QDQAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions
 
The Assimilation of Yogic Religions Through Pop Culture
Editor, Paul G. Hackett, 2017  
 
Movie Magick: The Occult in Film, 2018
 
Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity - Zack Kruse, 2021
https://books.google.ca/books?id=Z_cQEAAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions 
 
Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination
BRILL, 2021
https://books.google.ca/books?id=NLJFEAAAQBAJ&dq=Blavatsky+review+of+Mr.+Isaacs+francis+marion+crawford&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
 
Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Michael D. Nichols McFarland, 2021 208 pages
 
For a more realistic use of theosophical adepts in popular fiction see FrancisMarion Crawford's Mr. Isaacs - a bestseller in Blavatsky's time (Crawford's uncle was a Theosophist), the book is still a good read:
https://archive.org/details/mrisaacsatalemo07crawgoog

Here's what Blavatsky thinks of such literary adaptations (review of Mr. Isaacs):
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v4/y1883_020.htm

The history of western use of Eastern mystical lore has deep roots, as early as Philostratos' Life of Apollonius of Tyana -  see Lee Irwin's broad overview Western Esotericism, Eastern Spirituality and the Global Future.
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeIII/HTML/Irwin.html

Thomas McEvilley's The Shape of Ancient Thought examines the ancient western accounts of Eastern influence, giving new life to the Eastern influence theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAiTfOSP_w&t=16s

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