Meaning of frogs in the movie “Magnolia”
So today’s Daily Dialogue post was from the movie Magnolia. When I Tweeted that, I received a question on Twitter from @cscboston:
The frogs…wtf was with the frogs???
A key aspect to interpreting the true meaning of this film lies in its many references of Exodus 8:2 from the bible. The most obvious reference was in the scene right before the start of the Quiz show. A woman is seen holding a sign that clearly has the words “Exodus 8:2” written on it, but is promptly escorted out of the audience by security.
Below are other examples of references to the numbers 8 and 2 in the movie, as listed in the trivia section of imdb.com
o weather forecast: 82% chance of rain
o a gambler needs a 2 in blackjack but gets an 8
o the coil of rope when the boy commits suicide
o the first temperature reading
o the movie poster at the bus stop on Magnolia Blvd
o the placard on the hanged convicts
o Jim Kurring’s box number at the date hotline
o Sydney Barringer’s mother and father’s apartment number is 682
o the forensic science convention starts at 8:20
o Delmer Darion flips over a stack of cards to reveal the 8 through 2 of diamonds
o right after Jim Kurring sees Donnie Smith climbing up the building, you can see a flash of a sign on the side of the road that says “Exodus 8:2? (it’s visible again when the frogs fall and hit Kurring’s car)
o the number on the firefighter’s plane.
o in Marcy’s mugshots, her criminal record number is 82082082082
o in the bar scene there is a chalkboard with two teams, the frog and the clouds, the score is 8 to 2
o spray painted on the cement as graffiti next to the boy.
o member of the game show crowd holds a placard with Exodus 8:2 written on it
o the kids were two days away from entering their eighth week as champions.
o Quiz Kid Donnie Smith won his 100 000 dollars on 28 April 1968
o The first two numbers of the Seduce and Destroy Hotline (1–877-TAME-HER) are 82.
o one of the hanged men has the 82 on his clothes
o Jim says he gets off work at 8:00, and Claudia suggests they meet 2 hours later for a date
And here is Exodus 8:2 -
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.”
Which leads to three possibilities:
* The analysis above is wrong and the evidence cited is just totally random.
* Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson consciously did use Exodus 8:2 as a thematic touchstone for the movie.
* As PTA immersed himself in his story universe and wrote the script, he tapped into the ‘collective unconscious’. As C.G. Jung put it:
“My thesis then, is as follows: in addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche (even if we tack on the personal unconscious as an appendix), there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents.”. — “The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious” (London 1996) p. 43
Maybe Anderson tapped into the number “82” unconsciously. Maybe he didn’t consciously make the connection between a plague of frogs and Exodus 8:2, but his unconsciousness did.
Beyond the specific analysis of the movie Magnolia, it raises the larger point about the creative and writing process, where the sum of what we put down onto the page is greater than the parts, that we do tap into something bigger and greater. People find meaning in our words that we may not have intended to put there. Part of that can simply be about each script reader or moviegoer bringing their own conscious life-history to the reading or viewing experience, their own take on the material. But part of it — I believe — does have something to do with what Jung describes. Either that or magic, grace, however else you would describe the ineffable and intangible mysteries that emerge when we write stories.
I don’t know about you, but that’s one of the most sublime and satisfying experiences of writing a story, somehow tapping into That Which Is Bigger Than Ourselves, and seeing what emerges through that creative experience.
For more of the analysis of Magnolia, go here.
How do you interpret the frogstorm in Magnolia?
Do you believe in the collective unconscious?
Have you ever had an experience of tapping into something bigger than yourself when writing a story?