Sunday, January 2, 2011

Janus, the God of Beginnings



Have you watched 'The Tourist' movie? Either you're a guy or a woman, you just simply have to watch it. I mean it's Johnny Deep and Angelina Jolie who play the cast of the movie, and they're both one of the greatest artists in Hollywood. It's a bit drama actually if you're hoping for more action, but with Jolie's and Deep's acting - who'd care?

I probably have mentioned it at my later posts - I'm more the lyrical person. I pay high attention to words, like lyrics in a song, dialogue in a movie, quotes in an article - details. That's why maybe, I'm better with words. Anyway, I'm not going to give you a fantastic movie review of The Tourist - but all I can say, is you HAVE TO watch the movie. You'll understand why then the movie was nominated for 3 Grammies. Their acting, was unblaffable.

One of the dialogue that catch my eyes, was this one. They're both were sitting on a dinner table, at one fine dining restaurant in Venice - Man, God must be happy when He created Venice, it's such a mere beauty! I just got to be there before 25. Now, Deep was watching her holding her charm bracelet with a locket on it. It has the face of Janus, one of Roman Greek's God.

Elise: It's the um...the Roman god, Janus. My mother gave it to me when I was little. She wanted to teach me that people have two sides. A good side, a bad side, a past, a future. And that we must embrace both in someone we love. And I tried.
Frank Tupelo: What's he like?
Elise: He's...different, from anybody I know.
Frank Tupelo: Different's good. Where I come from, the highest compliment they can offer a person is to say that they're down to earth, grounded. I hate it. It drives me nuts.


And five minutes ago, I was like running through google, looking for the information about this God, Janus. I've always been into this God and Goddess stuff from the ancient Roman Greek history anyway. This is merely new year, remember? And reading this, about God Janus is the rightest thing to do at new year.

Janus is the two-faced ancient Roman God as he represent the looks of the past and the future. It's kind of reminds me of the astrological sign, Gemini. But it's not representing neither past or the future, but it's representing a two-side in one person. That people can be hypocrite and easy to get influenced with. As Jolie said in the movie, "She wanted to teach me that people have two sides. A good side, a bad side; a past, a future. And that we must embrace both in someone we love."

Human is very complicated, and not to mention, tiring. Here, the Janus God is composite and obscure that he's associated with doorways, beginnings, and transitions. The concepts of January and janitor are both based on aspects of Janus - personally speaking I don't know is this should be a funny thing to be laughed at or not.

Quoted from an ancient history website, it says: Associated with doorways and gates, Janus is the god of beginnings. Since he looks both ways, the term Janus-faced is used to describe someone who is duplicitous. He is also considered the guardian of peace when the door to his shrine was closed.

Exactly. Welcoming the new year of 2011, may the God of Janus will watch us from above. He's the God of beginnings and also the guardian of peace. Everyone throughout the world wish for a better peace for the years ahead. "The most famous temple to Janus in Rome, on the Argiletum, is called the Ianus Geminus 'Twin Janus'. When its doors were open, neighboring cities knew that Rome was at war. When the doors were closed, Rome was at peace."

There's always two part inside of a human, each one only understand for its own.
Dear God of Janus, may this will be a great year of beginnings.

8 comments:

  1. Concerning your way of valuing films, in which words and lyrics take precedence over other aspects, I second you, Ra. You must have enjoyed 'The Social Network' I presume, for its witty, fast and sometimes convoluted conversations.

    And about Cleopatra, by the way, since you mentioned Janus: I've just read TIME Magazine's Top 10 non fictional books of the year (2010), and a new biography of Cleopatra written by a Pulitzer Prize winner has been launched. I bet you're in dire of it!

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  2. I never heard of Janus before and now after i watched the movie i got excited to know more about it..This what i always believed in and its the key for great relations!

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  3. that moment has captured my attention too ... i think, we have something in common ... good on you Duhita :)

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  4. After watching the movie, I started searching exactly what you were looking for. I loved the exact scene in Tourist movie and searched in Google, Viola ended up in your website.

    Interesting!!!!

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  5. Nicely written. I have written a blog about this dialogue too and about Janus (www.insightsfeelingsthoughts.blogspot.com).

    Your site is nice, white background, black letters - simple! but your writings are enough to make this site colourful. keep it up!

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  6. Just saw the movie too and looked for Janus as well and chanced upon your site...loved the movie! So awesome!!! Totally agree with everything

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  7. I am watching the movie right now! I watched some of it last night, and so far I like it! I seriously hope they market that bracelet, I would love to buy it! Except I bet it would be pricey!

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  8. I was watching the movie and I stoped watching it to search some information about Janous and I the first website that I found was this one...
    I don't konw nothing about you but I feel kind of love...

    CU and good luck!

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