The Lighthouse

yo did william dafoe really just farted? (BEFORE READING, I WANT YOU TO HAVE YOUR PERSONAL THEORY!!! i think it is important and fun to discover the movie for yourself.) jokes apart, this movie really tells an amazing story, which arises many questions: is this even real? first of all, we cant really know, we can suppose. The movie wasnt made to be explained in a single way. Even the actors dont know. Before i dig in this madness of a movie, i want to explore the way Eggers makes a movie. Eggers, to make a good work, first builds an atmosphere, then puts a story that fits. "The Lighthouse" prolly better shows this way of filmmaking by Eggers. He chose a special film, a black and white 35mm where the reds are swapped with black, making faces appear more defined and creepy. The way the "rock" (the island where they stay) appears is also much influenced by black and white film, making the sky appear empty, the sea appear mysterious. Also the format is pretty unique, being more squared. It kinda makes me feel trapped, if you know what i mean. But the music, the sounds! make this movie even more amazing. The anti-fog sound of the lighthouse, the wind, it feels like everything is driving you crazy. So, I want to let you know MY theory. I learned that to make this movie, Eggers studied the figures of greek mythology Proteus and Prometheus, being Old and Young, or Wake and Howard. Prometheus is a god whos job is to guard the LIGHTHOUSE of Alexandria. He can SHAPESHIFT and is pretty asocial and alone, as it appears. Proteus is a titan who stole the fire from the gods and gave it to human kind, but got sentenced to get his liver eaten by an EAGLE for eternity (kinda like the last scene). We can notice how they fit really well with the characters personality and attributes. We can also notice how the names are pretty similar, like the two Thomases. I think that what happens on the island is partially real or just all in the mind of Young And i think that what happens on the rock is all connected to Old. And yes, he is the siren too. Prolly why Old was trying to kiss him. In mythology, Proteus always speaks the truth, cuz he predicts future. So is it true that Young is experiencing everything in his mind during his exile (im refering the scene where Old says to Young that is all in his mind and he is still walking in Canada and shi) ?. Well we know Old can lie, he did about his leg, better, he wasnt really clear. Also we see at the end scene that the seagull who eats Young is in fact the one who got killed by Young. We see him multiple times during the movie, and one time we see him waking up Young by tapping on the window, cleary showing the seagull cant directly help him. The seagull is the old dead second man of Old (he misses one eye) and I think he is eating him to wake him up. So, what the fuck is the lighthouse? is it really a lighthouse or is it a little bit more? Well, i think there is some allegory here too. From my point of view, the Light represents power, heaven kinda. Old earned that position, so when we see him touching the light he enjoys it at the point to stroke his meat to it, like damn. But when Young touches it, he fucking screams in terror, and he falls to "hell". Maybe it is because before that, Old sentenced Young to hell with his monologue while being buried. We can also compare it to the steal of fire by Prometheus. A scene that sums up Old's ascession is the slow asf scene going up the stairs. So yeah, the lighthouse is more than just a lighthouse, from every point of view. (Or is it? There is also a little theory where the guardians where going mad for the light cuz it contained mercury. It is just not an Eggers thing.) There is another interesting theory, where Thomas Howard and Thomas Wake are the same person. Old and Young. Maybe Old is trying to rescue him from going to hell. We also see them changing smoking tools, we see them in identical clothes sometimes. And they get along only when drunk, maybe cuz Young hates itself? idk. Still I think this is my favorite film and Eggers one of my favorite directors, not to mention the absolute amazing cinematografy in this movie. There is so much to cover on theories that i cant phisically write it down. This review shows how I see it.