Satan From Orbit

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

Cruising along LJ today I saw a couple people wondering what the title of Kubo's latest chapter could possibly refer to.

Oooh, ooh! *raises hand* I know this one.

When I first read the title, I thought I know this song, isn't it HEAVY METAL?  Nope, "Satan From Orbit" tunes didn't start spinning in this old head--and I know my 80s rock like I know my English lit sooooo it was Milton who I thought of next, because in Paradise Lost, Satan is the hero in a journey from Heaven to Hell. As a character Satan spends some time literally orbiting the planets and being snakey, a la Nnoitra (I know everyone's predicting a snake release from our dear Spoony but I honestly hope the guy's dead. If not, like I was telling a friend, his release could be anything from an egg-timer to a SOUP LADLE. No telling with Kubo these days).

I mention Milton not just because I'm on a literary nerd buzz since the call for fandom papers from Transformative Works and Cultures but because Kubo-sensei really is playing hardball with the religious imagery.  Paradise Lost is a satirical work full of religious motifs and Satan is its sympathetic protagonist. Yeah, Satan.....

Kenpachi? Nnoitra? Now which one could be Satan? Milton's Satan is the literary forerunner of the Byronic hero--the original "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" type. His story frames the issues of free will, predestination, and what's WRONG with the universe.

I dunno. I was reminded of Aizen's complaint that the throne in heaven had been empty for too long. Milton's Heaven, like Kubo's Soul Society, is a strict hierarchal government, while Hell, not unlike Hueco Mundo, is a place where rebels rule.

As it happens, my husband is on a Milton kick at the moment (he's teaching Hobbes--Milton's Paradise Lost is supposed to be critique of Hobbes' Leviathan). Honest to G-D, there was a print-out  article in the house recently called "Satan From Orbit" that I remembered seeing next to Max's motorcycle magazines.  After I realized that Bleach was long past the Grimmjow fight and I didn't need to be looking up old glam-rock lyrics anymore, I just HAD to have this essay. It wasn't around. I googled for it and when I asked the husband for his log-in identification to the Milton Quarterly, he said, "don't tell me.... this has something to do with Bleach?"

Yeah.

Maybe I need a vacation more than Kubo does.

Comments

[tangerine-haze.livejournal.com]

Milton's Paradise Lost, good call. You officially rock for catching that reference! I'd lean more towards Kenpachi as the sympathetic hero than Noitra. Or perhaps they are both meant to be representations of the same being? Both opposite sides of the same coin so to speak.

There are so many similarities between the two when you stop and think about it.
1) Both arrogant brutes relying on leader of the pack, survival of the fittest mentality. Though I don't see Kenpachi jumping into the middle of someone elses battle to claim a kill. (Even though he did step in the fight for Ichigo it's more of a savior/ hero role than Noitra's bloodlust & glory motivation.)

2) Neither of the two can get cut/ killed. Ok, in reality that's not quite true. But both of them are so impervious that they each make the claim that they can't be injured.

3) Then there's Kenpachi's eye-patch vs. Noitra's missing eye. Yes we know K really has an eye, but on the surface, first glance it appears to represent a missing eye. And N's missing eye and K's eye-patch are not handicaps or sources of weaknesses which on average people they would be. In fact they are the opposite, they are strengths.

Ok, enough of my late night ramblings. I'll probably read this tomorrow and think boy did I really get this all wrong! :)

There's just no way Noitra can be dead yet. Not when Kenpachi's eyepatch just came off! And N's empty eye socket brings to mind bleached (no pun intended) skulls with snakes slithering through the eye holes. Though my vote is for a spork release! You know the plastic spoon/fork combo they put in cafeteria's. :P

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

If a little trident pops out of his spoonhead, I will choke myself laughing!

[laurie-bunter.livejournal.com]

What will be the spork release command words? My bet is on Mystery Meat.

[tangerine-haze.livejournal.com]

LOL! Would his release uniform have a hairnet too? :)

True story...many, many years ago...I once saw one kid(A) piss another kid(B) off so much that he(B) chased him(A) around the cafeteria with a spork. I nearly died laughing when he(b) stabbed him(a) in the back with it! But it worked spork boy didn't get picked on again.