I have not seen the other poster and will go look at it now, post haste.

Welcome back Pancake –
Marling is fascinating to me too. She has been creating stuff like this for a while now. Have you watched Sound Of My Voice? Or Another Earth? Both are really quite good. I liked voice better. But both deal with this same kind of metaphysical, cult, spiritual, space-time, craziness. Really good series.

Speaking of the bridge jump in the beginning of the film – there is a poster of her jumping, or standing on the edge – and across the way, there is a man in white ready to jump as well. Have you seen this thing of which I speak? Oh that’s right, I have it at the bottom of each post over top of the links for each episode? Notice the guy back there in white? Been trying to figure out what the heck he is all about. Definitely intentional. Hrmm. I have re-opened my copy of the Iliad to dig back through it for clues. I mean, besides war on Troy the Trojan Horse bits… which possibly seem relevant somehow? But not in a good way. Because what if Homer is actually guy? An impostor? hahah.

I noticed that Brit Marling, who plays Nina/Prairie/The OA, was the co-writer of the series and thought that was pretty nifty. If Hollywood isn’t giving you enough opportunity: Make Your Own. It made me wonder how the story came about and what it means to her. Her portrayal reminds me a bit of Elizabeth Mitchell, with a gentle but strong presence.

Also, is the teacher the same actress who voices Sadness in Inside Out?

Back to the story. So, why did Nina have nosebleeds every time she had a premonition? Is it useful to the plot or is it useful to tell the viewer to determine that what is happening to her is real and not made up?

I was shocked when Papa had little Nina sit in the frozen lake. Is this a cultural difference between Eastern and Western parenting? Is it unique to him because he was in business with mafia? Water winds up being a motif of the series and I wonder if it is her amorphous totem.

Parents are also a motif. Are you a parent because you give birth? Love? Keep safe? Let go? Are you a self-parent because you realize that the blindness actually is a feature of your sighted-parents?

Homer. That name alone is rich with meaning, and anyone who has ever taken a literature class first thinks of the Greek writer and his works. What was the purpose of naming Homer ‘Homer’? When N/P/OA watched the Youtube video to see if he was real, I wondered if Homer was Homer because of the Homeric Question: Was Homer actually the writer of the Odyssey or the Illiad? Did he exist and if he did, did he do what he is credited with doing?

Belief is powerful. It can shape what we perceive in real time and how we later view what we have experienced. So, my main question after the first episode: What are N/P/OA’s beliefs and is she a reliable narrator whom I should believe?