This blog was moved and updated.
Our Universe is constant exchange of energy, and finite cycle of creation ad destruction. Celestials use energy. Celestials use energy. Gathered form host plants to create suns, generating gravity, heat and light form new galaxy … without us. Our universe will fall into darkness. All life will die.
Eternals
Arishem telling Sersi about how the Galaxy was formed by Celestials. Marvel always has this way of drawing from mythology whether it is making a character based off of a mythical character, the story structure, or the purpose of myth like how something came to be. Since this is Arishem’s explain to Sersi, it is an example of a cosmology myth.
From Britannica, Cosmology is “creation myth, also called cosmogonic myth, philosophical and theological elaboration of the primal myth of creation within a religious community. The term myth here refers to the imaginative expression in narrative form of what is experienced or apprehended as basic reality…. The term creation refers to the beginning of things, whether by the will and act of a transcendent being, by emanation from some ultimate source, or in any other way”.
Charles H. Long
Arishem is using his story to propagate this idea that the Celestials are at the top of the food hierarchy, therefore it is also justified the death of billions because they create life. Arishem presents himself and the Celestials as transcendent beings, even explains the creation of the Eternals. In some senses, it makes them their God/ creators.This power dynamic between the creator and the created being is inherently baked in when he states Sersi’s purpose. It is similar to the situation in turns of power dynamic where the Celestial, creator, expresses to Sersi, who is created. There is an expectation of the other Eternals to carry out their duties for them because they are their creators. In addition, he talks about how it is a constant exchange of energies through cycles of creation and destruction. It is pulling from some laws of physics, which explains how you get gravity or the Sun because of them. Something else that I found interesting is like a reversal of the Norse creation myth, which the gods killed a giant to make the earth. It is very interesting that the body of the transcendent being created on Earth, but this world it is the opposite it is that the planet giving birth to a transcendent being. It indirectly plays with the concept of God or creator because often times they seem so far removed at least in a Christian worldview, God is a transcendent being that doesn’t need anything from us and separate from us, but within this movie, the transcendent beings like the Celestials need something from the humans which is their life force. Overall, it is very interesting to see how Marvel is building their world, and part of their way of doing that is making their own myths within their world. They are trying to make it believable to us so they have to mimic some of the things within our world into theirs. That is one of the examples of how they are doing it.
Works Cited
Long, Charles H.. “creation myth”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Oct. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/creation-myth. Accessed 10 September 2022.
Zhao, Chloe. “Arishem Explains | IMAX | 60FPS.” Www.youtube.com, 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fowfq_0Z4MU. Accessed 10 Sept. 2022.
Zhao, Chloé. “Arishem Explains Birth of Celestials, Deviants and Eternals || Birth of Celestial Tiamut || Eternals.” Www.youtube.com, 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=csxs6p9qHUE. Accessed 10 Sept. 2022.