Most modern pop-culture descends from something much older, sometimes going back even to ancient times. In the book “One Eternal Round” Hugh Nibley calls some rituals the world’s “oldest plays” and insinuates that the idea of plays originally came from the ancient mystery plays as part of being initiated into an ancient “mystery school.” These rituals gave birth to plays, which in our day gave birth to movies, and movies gave birth to even more immersive experiences like 3-D movies and theme park rides. With a theme park ride the storytelling entertainer has the ultimate opportunity to put the audience right in the middle of the story. Thus, the audience goes through the story much like the candidate did in ancient times when he would go from compartment to compartment advancing through the story, thus becoming initiated.
The theme park attraction that espouses the concept of initiation the most in my opinion is Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. If you think this concept is far-fetched, just hear me out: (Note: this essay is written from the standpoint of the original ride, not the current overlay with Johnny Depp to make the ride more like the movie.)
When the ride starts out we board a small boat and are given preliminary instructions to remain seated the whole time. This is reminiscent of the Druid initiation ceremonies where the candidate would board a small boat and had to survive a voyage to be considered initiated. Next, we cruise through a swamp and the first scene we come to is an old man rocking back and forth in a chair. He is engaged in deep thought and is looking fondly at the Blue Bayou restaurant across the river, remembering fondly his life and the times he enjoyed like the people he is watching. This is a reminder to us that we will all end up like this someday, and that we should live our life in a way that we can look back on it with fond memories, nothing we would be ashamed of. This brings to mind the Fifth Degree of the Scottish Rite where we are told to emulate Hiram Abiff in a way that when we die we can look back on a life well-lived full of good deeds.
Our next scene we come to a pitch-black room with nothing visible but a skull and crossbones, an emblem of death. This is a reminder of the Chamber of Reflection in the York Rite Knights Templar degree where the candidate is left for a time in a dark room with the skull and crossbones to reflect on the life he has lived up to that point and his own mortality. The skull and crossbones in the ride talks to us and gives us advice, to keep both hands inside the boat as being the best way to repel boarders. Here the dead is giving us advice that we are about to undergo a trial, and that to become initiated we should remember the advice the dead would give us if they could talk.
Next we come to the trial we were warned about, we fall down a waterfall, and after falling down the first waterfall we hear the famous “Yo-ho” pirate’s song, with pirates rejoicing about the loot they managed to accumulate, and then after our boat falls down another waterfall, we are in a cave with skeletons clutching treasure. Following our death trial we are given a reminder that crime doesn’t pay, that ultimately you can’t take wealth with you when you die. The skeletons remind us that only our deeds matter, not the wealth we accumulate in this life.
Our next scene is a vision of what happened in the life of the skeleton pirates we just saw. We see them take over a city, and loot the businesses in the town. However, something goes wrong and the city catches fire. We see a pirate teetering with one foot on land and the other in a boat, trying to escape with some of the goods. We are shown that ultimately our wealth will perish, whether by fire or if we die before enjoying it. We then are taken up a waterfall (rather than going down one) while given the charge “Dead men tell no tales.” True to the initiation experience, we are given a charge at the end that sums up the lessons we are supposed to learn. This is to remind us that death overtakes all men, and that our lifestyle now determines our fate in the future. We should live our lives not clutching riches that we cannot take with us when we die, but should live our lives in a way that will keep us out of “fires” and develop character.
The theme park attraction that espouses the concept of initiation the most in my opinion is Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. If you think this concept is far-fetched, just hear me out: (Note: this essay is written from the standpoint of the original ride, not the current overlay with Johnny Depp to make the ride more like the movie.)
When the ride starts out we board a small boat and are given preliminary instructions to remain seated the whole time. This is reminiscent of the Druid initiation ceremonies where the candidate would board a small boat and had to survive a voyage to be considered initiated. Next, we cruise through a swamp and the first scene we come to is an old man rocking back and forth in a chair. He is engaged in deep thought and is looking fondly at the Blue Bayou restaurant across the river, remembering fondly his life and the times he enjoyed like the people he is watching. This is a reminder to us that we will all end up like this someday, and that we should live our life in a way that we can look back on it with fond memories, nothing we would be ashamed of. This brings to mind the Fifth Degree of the Scottish Rite where we are told to emulate Hiram Abiff in a way that when we die we can look back on a life well-lived full of good deeds.
Our next scene we come to a pitch-black room with nothing visible but a skull and crossbones, an emblem of death. This is a reminder of the Chamber of Reflection in the York Rite Knights Templar degree where the candidate is left for a time in a dark room with the skull and crossbones to reflect on the life he has lived up to that point and his own mortality. The skull and crossbones in the ride talks to us and gives us advice, to keep both hands inside the boat as being the best way to repel boarders. Here the dead is giving us advice that we are about to undergo a trial, and that to become initiated we should remember the advice the dead would give us if they could talk.
Next we come to the trial we were warned about, we fall down a waterfall, and after falling down the first waterfall we hear the famous “Yo-ho” pirate’s song, with pirates rejoicing about the loot they managed to accumulate, and then after our boat falls down another waterfall, we are in a cave with skeletons clutching treasure. Following our death trial we are given a reminder that crime doesn’t pay, that ultimately you can’t take wealth with you when you die. The skeletons remind us that only our deeds matter, not the wealth we accumulate in this life.
Our next scene is a vision of what happened in the life of the skeleton pirates we just saw. We see them take over a city, and loot the businesses in the town. However, something goes wrong and the city catches fire. We see a pirate teetering with one foot on land and the other in a boat, trying to escape with some of the goods. We are shown that ultimately our wealth will perish, whether by fire or if we die before enjoying it. We then are taken up a waterfall (rather than going down one) while given the charge “Dead men tell no tales.” True to the initiation experience, we are given a charge at the end that sums up the lessons we are supposed to learn. This is to remind us that death overtakes all men, and that our lifestyle now determines our fate in the future. We should live our lives not clutching riches that we cannot take with us when we die, but should live our lives in a way that will keep us out of “fires” and develop character.
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