MBELDOG BLOG

I've been unsure how to tackle this movie, it's ended up as just being a chronological narrative with me emphasizing the mind control aspects of the film. I enjoyed it quite a bit, obviously not the fact that they're putting this stuff in but it was entertaining (in the same way Labyrinth is). It was made by the Jim Henson company, who also did Labyrinth, Neil Gaiman says that it was their intention to create a new one like Labyrinth (which was also originally a failure at box office). The original concept title was called 'Curse of the Goblin King' if anymore evidence was needed that this was to be the new Labyrinth (the seminal mind control film for a generation). The Jazz and circus music was weird and didn't really feel right but it was unique and interesting to listen to, a lot of it was quite hypnotizing, it was composed by "Jazz luminary" Iain Ballamy. It stars Stephanie Leonidas (she plays a 15 year old in MM) who was in the BBC's adaptation of Dracula, both her brother and sister are actors too. The film has the burned out West Pier in the background at various points. There are all the things present I've been discussing in my recent posts, masks, use of individual parts of the face, all seeing eyes, towers, loss of identity, dual personalities and all that kind of stuff which we'll come too soon. The film blurs the distinction between what is real and what is a dream (like Labyrinth, Oz etc.), it is based around her drawings so this is perfect fodder for subliminal seekers. Feel free to correct any mistakes or if you have any of your own interpretations in the comments (haven't checked grammar, or read through just wanted to get the damn thing posted!). Also, I get that this is an insanely long post so please just skim through it and look at the symbolic images pulled from the film which most people reading will recognise. If you don't, or if you are new to this please check this link out.


The film opens with duality symbolism as Helena (the protagonist) uses her imagination fantasizing about a white queen and a black one symbolised by the white sock/black sock. The black queen attacks the white one's eye with a "black magic marker". Her parents work in a circus where she acts as a juggler wearing a green shiney costume. Like in Labyrinth, the protagonist is a bratty kid who is portrayed as being selfish by her mother because she isn't dressed to act as a performing Circus act, symbolising how some mind control slaves are used by the media in real life. Then the mother says "I don't think you could handle real life." whilst the screen is split in two down the middle, symbolising the split personality. Straight after this, the same type of symbolism, as it shows Helena putting a black/white mask on; as well as some of her drawings which is the fantasy world she escapes to.

We are then taken from the colourful, fantastical nature of the Circus to a dreary, run-down block of flats, angels in stone seem to be used a lot in these type of mind control movies/shows. The filmmakers have used a filter or something in these sections to make 'real life' look as grey and as boring as possible. Her nan is speaking to her dad, but she does not let Helena speak to him like Helena wanted; symbolising the total control they have over her. She goes off to visit her sick mum in hospital where she is seen walking past broken glass and bars symbolising the fragmented/compartmentalized mind and the bars symbolising the mental prison (I don't know if I should keep repeating what these things symbolise).

As she enters the hospital, in a rush to see her potentially dying mother the receptionist hands her a hairbrush... I don't know if that's generally what people do before seeing ill relatives. Perhaps this ties in with altering your hair in mind control, which I've spoken of in relation to hair dye, shaving your head (Britney) and other things. Joanne (the mother) has writing on her hospital overalls which I'm not sure what they say but it is probably a subliminal, different colours are seen, purple, yellow, black, and green I think. Then some bulimia programming is introduced as Helena asks her mum about the green grapes she brought for her, which a woman has stolen. Joanne explains: "They've put it away, I'm not to eat anything today. It's just routine ye'know" which to me was probably a trigger for all those potentially programmed kids to go bulimic or something. Joanne also asks how Helena's nan is getting along, she responds: "She lost her teeth yesterday" then the mum says "They'll be staring her in the face, they always are." Which is a phrase that is used again/mirrored later on in the movie a couple of times. When Helena tries to apologize for being a bit selfish, the mum responds oddly, "There was a little girl... She had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good she was very, very good..." Then a nurse comes in and says "Helena". As she walks out the tune for "Why do birds suddenly appear?" is heard over the speaker which seemed pretty random. The card she drew for her mother isn't exactly pleasing on the eye... perhaps subliminal head injuries and confusion? The tower with the chicken leg comes up later in the alter-reality, as do all the drawings because that is what the fantasy world she escapes to is based on.


It is worth mentioning that the 'Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear' song is by the Carpenters, this may have something to do with bulimia programming/eating disorders as Karen Carpenter, (double Kish) died from cardiac arrest due to her eating disorder. According to wikipedia: "Karen's death brought lasting media attention to anorexia nervosa and also to bulimia. Karen's death encouraged celebrities to go public about their eating disorders, among them Tracey Gold and Diana, Princess of Wales." She died of exactly the same thing as Keira Knightly did in The Hole to me suggesting this is a genuine part of mind control. It is known that "illuminati" mind control slaves are generally killed off in their 30's (diana, anna nicole etc.). Karen Carpenter died at age 32, the same age as Mark Saunders, who was ritualistically killed by the Freemasonic police as a blood sacrifice for the forthcoming events. I mention the song in detail because it comes up in a ridiculously symbolic mind control scene later on.


She arrives back at her flat/apartment and the entire circus act is squeezed into a small flat, which could symbolise the many alter-personalities squeezed into one brain. Here we can see in the living room, between the sunflowers are octagons on the rug which could give us some clue as to where a mind control scene in the fantasy world (later on) is taking place in reality. Also a girl in a rainbow top. She draws outside on the roof (this is where the burned out West Pier can be seen, which burned in 2003) a subliminal eye with triangular eye lashes and a spiral that could also be a 6 as the eyeball, spirals feature heavily in this film in various different forms (drawing, staircase), confirming the mind control aspect of it. In this scene, outside she breaks down crying, blaming her mother's illness on herself being selfish at the start. This type of "everything is my fault" thinking keeps the mind control victim in a constant state of anxiety and guilt, stopping them from breaking out of the programming.

As they exit the balcony/roof place, the door with images of masks around it is focused on, then interlaced with an image of Helena. Doors represent compartments of the mind, having masks around it is deeply symbolic as it symbolises the masking of said compartments/alters from each other, then showing her face with this symbolism doesn't require me to say anymore about it. Then the serious mind control starts to happen as she goes to sleep, her father ironically says "Sweet dreams." An image of a purple drawing of her face on a mirror is shown, she appears in the reflection. She rubs out one eye, then the camera changes it's focus from the purple image to the reflection of Helena in the mirror.



Continuing the mind control sequence, the following scenes are shown. A lot of them are self explanatory or I've already explained the meanings behind the motifs/symbols. This scene symbolises her splitting into an alter-personality/reality, I will not pick out every detail from it (screen made to look like fractured glass, reflections, face covered, eye focused on, face split in half by 'black magic marker' etc.). The trauma is symbolised by her mother dying (you hear the flat-line noise go from beeping, to one continuous noise, as if she died) on an operating table in the middle of the circus (which Helena is shown to be walking through, wearing shiney green), then the bit with the screen appearing as fractured glass or mirror before she looks in a mirror and the mirror laughs at her symbolising dual personalities, by the end of it (last picture below) she is completely traumatized and looks dejected and in a trance-like state. The blue line over it changes between each eye throughout the scene, again symbolising the mirrored alter-personalities.

After the mind control scene, everything changes and she enters the "dream-world". She exits her flat on hearing a violin playing and meets a few masked people in the street, but not before putting on her rabbit slippers. The other mind control victim is Valentine who asks her "what's wrong with your face?". She thinks there is someone that she knows from the Circus playing the violin. He asks her "I know you, or someone like you.." this type of thing, seeing someone who they are unsure if they know or not can be seen in other mind control movies like in Inland Empire many times as it symbolises the confused state of those under mind control. Shadow comes and consumes the other two people as well as her block of flats/apartments. The guy who looks like the person with the eye drawn his face near the top of this post throws spheres at the shadow, which produces light (makes the same sound as those heard in the previous mind control scene) and he fends it off for a while, before it consumes him. They both manage to escape through a door just in time (below). Later Valentine says, "How do you know if you're happy or sad without a mask?" as Valentine has 'porcelain mask programming', Helena responds "I've got a face."


A all seeing eye spider emerges from the shadow, it follows them and reports back to the Queen (below) symbolising the total control the handler has over his/her subjects (her face is inside the eye). A "sphinx" is seen which represents the Cheshire cat for those with 'Alice in Wonderland programming' (a later one tells riddles). Valentine is always talking about how he has a tower and that he is a very important person. He first says this in the scene pictured below where Helena is taken by twin pillars resonating (because of the stilts) creatures. To further confirm the twin pillars resonance, there are 11 of these creatures that symbolically imprison her then carry her off. She sees herself sleeping in her bedroom through a window so assumes she is having a dream before arriving at a tower of light. Her father is present (with a red line on his face) acting as the Prime Minister of the city looking for the charm that will destroy the Queen of Shadows and wake the Queen of Light (both Queens are her mother). A hexagonal brick is put forward as one of the charms by a little person (there are 7 dwarfs, like in Southland Tales) with a subliminal on his head... (you see it is actually two horns) He also rocks his lower body back and forth as if he were doing something... Then a chicken is presented to him, the chicken speaks and says (with a red target on his stomach) in reference to Helena, "Look at that face. Gives you the willies!" Which apparently means feeling a sense of unease, but can have the subliminal meaning of the thing pictured below on the little person's head as 'willy' is also slang for the male genitalia. Her rabbit slippers are mentioned and focused on before moving into the tower.

The Queen of Light is passed out in the room pictured below where the father Rob Brydon says she chose it because it is where "She could see the sun from here. We used to have a marvelous sun, shone like anything, all over the place. Once we had days, nights... with suns and moons and all those little twinkly things." Then he says "The balance was broken." And removes a red cube from his crown which produces other compartments containing rabbits playing brass instruments.


In the library (with a subliminal vagina on it... or I just have a sick mind), the librarian is made up of books and other things (pictured below), he has a human mouth which I've said is something used in mind control, as are all parts of the face (when used on their own, and/or during a specific sequence). The mouth is also on a subliminal blade. Just before they ascend a spiral staircase the mind controlled Valentine says to Helena in response to her asking about the princess that visited in the past (which people originally think Helena is), "To be honest, all you people look alike to me. With no proper faces, you could be anybody." She comes back with, "Hang on! I've got a proper face. Can you do this?" (goes cross-eyed) Valentine responds "That's disgusting" (looking genuinely disgusted, porcelain mask programming). As they ascend the spiral staircase an image of an eye/looking glass is interlaced with it which is where the spiral stairecase leads (top of the library). There are strange, what sounded to me like owl noises going on at this point. Helena looks at the books and tries to grab one but they all fly out, at her. This is seen in Alice in Wonderland probably (it featured HEAVILY in the macabre Alice PC game when I played it back in the day). Perhaps this could also be symbolic of a butterfly-like transformation? Then the kicker, when she tries to catch one in her net she says "Valentine, I had no idea books had such different personalities." The nets are given to them by two ominous looking figures wearing robes and masks similar to the one that took the sacrifice away in Eyes Wide Shut (shown in darkness to avoid nudity, you can see it is long and pointy, this is also similar to those doctors in the plague who wore that kind of stuff). The other mask in that photo comes up later for comparison also.


She catches her desired book, The Complete History of Everything which relates to encyclopedias, it certainly felt like her mind was being encircled in this section. The book flies away but is caught by the librarian (somehow, isn't he all the way down the spiral staircase?). He begins to read it, "In the beginning, she found herself in a new and empty space..." this sequence, full of potential mind control triggers, symbolises the creation of a void in the mind (through trauma, drugs etc.) which is then filled by an alter personality (based on her drawings) to cope with said trauma.

Upon hearing this she conjectures that "The Queen's sign is the Sun" And then an illuminated X is pointed out as she looks through the looking glass showing them the way (above), continuing her path along the yellow brick road/down the rabbit hole (the tragic Valentine only sees a junk room, which is all he ever sees in every single window ((completely lost in his alter personality)) Valentines story is very sad in my opinion). They then arrive at a random place filled with endless spiral staircases and symbolic twin giants lying across each other, symbolising dual personalities. It speaks incredibly slowly and makes for a very humorous scene. There is another sphinx here that gives them riddles to solve. This is obviously a reference to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland programming and also the ancient Egyptian mystery cults (I presume, "priests of ISIS" in Wizard of Oz) which some of this stuff apparently dates back to.


During this scene Valentine says, "open them up a bit, and then you're in" "The charges are laid, the fuse is lit." Which symbolises the mind being 'opened up' and an alter-personality being put 'in'. And the 'charges are laid, the fuse is lit.' could literally symbolise the electro-shock method, or just, like the last one the 'charges' creation of the alter and the fuse being lit symbolising the lighting (awakening) up of that alter. The twin giants eventually say they have a box which Helena describes as 'silvery'. A box symbolises a compartment of the mind (earlier red cube/box containing compartments showed this), to further symbolise this, inside the box is a key. The box is made to shine. This type of box/key symbolism is spelled out in Mulholland Drive where a blue key is used to open a blue box which the camera zooms inside of. Then everything changes and you find out we had just been experiencing an alternate dream world. The real personality only comes out after accessing that compartment in the mind (symbolised by the blue box/key being opened).


After escaping the Cthulhu-like tentacles made up of shadow that destroys the twin giants (symbolically splitting them apart, split personality). Trying to figure out what the giant just told her: "Get higher. What did she mean by that?" V: "It's just the interminable ravings of an unsound and enormous mind, I expect." "Very big. Not very bright." Just when Helena asks Valentine what a Mirrormask is (the giants just told them it was the charm) they synchronistically come across a mask shop, one of the masks winks at her. It is filled with sphinxes; she has "about 30", who have rainbow resonating wings (all "sphinxes" have them in the movie). The lady who works in the mask shop calls Valentine a Jester, he is offended by this and says "I'm not a Jester, I'm a very important man. I've got a tower." The phrase "Don't let them see your afraid" seems like a trigger to me, because first her "useful book" tells her this, which you think is in relation to the sphinxes, the music playing which has the Mirrormask logo on it gets stuck on a loop of "Don't let them see your afraid!" (which I originally thought was a foreign language) The mask lady repeats the same line just before they leave, at the same time as the music gets stuck on a loop repeating the phrase (showing mirrored use of phrases). Also note, in the mask shop the window is symbolic (second last picture), she looks out the window and sees her alter-personality arguing with her dad then looking at her. This is symbolic of mind control as many are trained to view only their alter when they look in a mirror, and not their own main personality.


Straight after this, a nail is hammered violently, square into the middle of the forehead of a WANTED sign of Helena's face made by the Queen of Shadows, it is pictured below with the Speyeder, showing who is responsible. There are so many of these pictures shown, jewels are offered as the reward for finding her. Helena asks Valentine about his elusive tower as they continue walking along the brick road. He says "The tower and I had a, minor disagreement and it left without me. I said something stupid and it just flew off without me." When he says 'flew off without me' he makes a wing motion and wings can be heard. He describes the tower as having "Hundreds of rooms. Stairs. Doorknobs. A scullery. Possibly more than one scullery, actually." Emphasizing a sublminal skull/head. They are ambushed by sphinxes/cheshire cats who she feeds pages from a book. The Queen of Shadows is also shown getting pissed off and creating a tree of life type thing with the shadow eminating from her mouth.


They arrive at more stairs, climbing up them on the basis that the building looks similar to the key. She falls into a hole, and is surrounded by these odd looking chicken like creatures (they have chicken sound effects going on). 13 of them are called Bob and 1 with a blue nose is called Malcolm, she points at them doing "the horns" hand sign (I consider that sign to be more twin pillars than some "devil horns" tbh). She sounds very confused at this point (as well as fantastical excitement it seems), almost as if she were under genuine mind control: "I'm looking for something. The charm. It's like a mask. Face? Yes. A face." Then the Queen of Shadows sends her version of the 'flying monkeys' from Oz (pictured below, they're like bat things that turn into those speyeders) The chicken things become more like monkeys as they leap across the scaffolding pictured below, they also have flying-squirrel type wings. She is dragged about like a rag doll and looks to be in a great deal of distress symbolising trauma based mind control, as she emerges on the other side looking all happy and having completely forgotten the trauma she just experienced having changed to this alter personality as she soars through the sky. This scene reminded me of Peter Pan, another fantasy based programming tool for mind control. The monkey/chicken thing that pulls her around for a while is the one with the blue nose. And is that another subliminal I see that the chicken/monkey is standing on, poised to pounce on the traumatized Valentine? They arrive at this one eyed face where she again looks through the window and her alter-personality is having relations with some guy (he looks like the real life Valentine seen at the end, so maybe they're both under mind control, instructed to have sex with eachother whilst their consciousness escapes together to this alter-reality), this naturally infuriates her (not being able to control her real life actions because of mind control).

This is followed by a mind control scene (following on from the sexual trauma), with phrases said like Valentine: "We often confuse what we wish for with what is." "These are the dreamlands on the borders." Helena says straight after the first time the viewer gets to see the mirrormask (below): "It's all so familiar. I know all this.." Then her consciousness alters to experiencing a mixture of reality and dreamworld as she experiences an apparent 'shared dream' with her mother who appears as the the Queen of Light, they both claim the dream to be their own (though I'm sure the mother is fully aware what is going on). She says, "Maybe everyone gets dreams like this when they start poking around in your head." (she is supposed to be having surgery) The mother then tells her to keep looking for it (mirrormask), prolonging her journey down the rabbit hole, not letting her escape from this alter-reality. She then says, "I'll bet it's just like your nan's teeth, it's probably staring you right in the face." this is spoken as the camera focuses on half of her face. Throughout this reasonably long scene light flashes everywhere, hypnotizing the viewer which works along side the other themes and triggers directed at them. Images of her drawings, which the whole of the alter-reality is based on are interlaced with the image of Valentine constantly skimming stones over a circular pool, this creates ripples in the water which symbolises the fractured mind in a similar way to fractured/broken glass (the glass/water was smooth and calm until someone physically breaks it).


She is kidnapped by the Queen of Darkness who has subliminal blades/claws on her, which are also on the title at the top (on the image of her and the MirrorMask logo). It is significant to note that both the Queen of Darkness and the Queen of Light are her mother, she specifically states that the Queen of Darkness is not her mother, but she recognises the Queen of Light as her mother (as shown above). This shows the split personality portrayed by handlers who at one point seem like loving guardians and the next minute are evil child abusers leaving the child in a total state of confusion, this is all part of splitting their personality. Inside the Queen of Darkness' home we find out that Valentine betrayed her in this symbolic scene as he stands inside an arch with light coming from inside it wearing a symbolic looking hat. He is also called a coward here and had been before, showing Oz resonance. He receives loads of red jewels and exits.


The Queen of Darkness then says, "The Princess, will be going to her chambers." (compartmentalized mind). Then a total mind control scene (drugs based this time), as the camera descends down an octagonal stargate, for more on octagons and the number 8 see this humorous post from Hidden Agendas. 8 mannequins ascend out of reflective octagons, 1 also ascends from the centre of the room. This is symbolic of an octagon as well as a circle with a point in the centre which I mentioned in my last post as potentially being used in mind control (also seen a lot in a similar film: The Forbidden Kingdom), the same thing can also be seen in the pool as Helena imagines a point in the centre of the pool that Valentine was skimming stones over which creates the white room (symbolising a clear/empty head) with the keyholes in (symbolising the separate alters, only accessible by a specific key/trigger). The clocks surrounding the octagonal area also have this symbolism with a point in the centre of a circle. Some drug that looks like gold dust is spread across the room causing Helena to rub her eye. Remember back in the hospital room near the beginning when randomly "Why do birds suddenly appear?" is played over the speaker, well the whole song is sung in this sequence by the mannequins. Then human hands caress her head/face as she changes into an altered state due to the drugs. She slowly becomes like the dark side of her mother, Queen of Shadows. If I may quote this website: "B. Persecutors: These alter-personalities are designed to accept, hold, process and express forbidden negative emotions. They commonly make themselves as clones of the abuser, using the defense mechanism of "identification with the aggressor." As she becomes the clone of her abuser, in this case her mother/Queen of Shadows. Perhaps a clue to where this is actually taking place in their real life flat comes from the octagons as you clearly see octagons on the rug in the living room next to sun flowers. When the transformation is complete the mannequins descend back inside the octagons. And she sits by her abuser's side, who progessively looks more and more like something out of Eyes Wide Shut (with clothes though obviously, it's a kids film!).

Valentine, feeling guilty goes back to the place with all the keyholes and finds out, unsurprisingly it fits into the keyhole with the butterfly wings either side of it, he marks every keyhole he tries with a black X (note previous X's randomly put on walls and whatnot). He finds out anti-Helena (as they call her, I'll call her alter-Helena, the one in the bedroom) used the mirrormask to switch places with Helena in the real world so he returns to Helena to find her changed, he says "I suppose that 'oops' and 'I promise not to do it again' isn't actually going to cut the mustard" (mustard is yellow) This reminded me of the Britney song 'Oops, I did it again' no doubt used in mind control. He also says "Look... whatever she's done to you... [points to his head] I know you're still in there." He juggles (Labyrinthian spheres) with her to trigger her back into normal Helena, the balls constantly change colour, red/green/white then her eyes slowly go from being completely blacked out (like a mask) to being normal human ones. Valentine drops a ball and she says "Butterfingers" which I took as a butterfly synch, showing the butterfly transformation back to her 'more-normal' personality (though still in the alter reality).

They figure out alter-Helena probably hid the mirrormask in her chambers, then Valentine tells us of his own real life personality as he recounts some of the things shouted at him in reference to a small red book (below, above her head, seems to be a symbolic position for red) that has only one page left that reads "Remember what your mother told you?" With a sublminal knife as the T, the same subliminal is seen throughout the movie. Valentine says, "Mine always said... It's a dog-eat-dog world, Son... You get them before they get you. Eat your greens! Don't do that. Don't embarass me in front of the neighbours. It will be best for everyone if you leave home and don't ever come back! She wasn't actually my mum, either. She bought me from a man. I miss my mum. She'd always have good advice. Like, when you lose something, she'd say, "Don't you give up. Most of the time it's just staring you right in the face." I found this scene to be somewhat upsetting as the things he says gets progressively more traumatic, ending with that ever-repeated quote about the face (showing mirrored symbolism). Also, this shows the type of people targeted for mind control, those without families, expendable people that no one would notice if they suddenly went missing. This revealing of who Valentine really is (another one that is mind controlled) comes up later also as he eats the 'future fruit' and sees what he will be in the future, but this is not what it is really showing, as I have said it is showing Valentine's true self of which he is horrified by and wants desperately to stay in the illusion/alter-reality which is one way they keep them trapped.


The mask is retrieved by putting her face up to the mirror, the mask is moulded around her face in a scene akin to the Matrix (above). They then run into the forest and arrive at the aforementioned 'future fruit' and another total mind control scene where his real life personality is revealed. Images below portray this scene, there is plenty of zooming inside his head then changing to another scene. The scene ends with him covering his face after dropping his trays of food and drink, his face is uncovered slowly by showing him to be back in the shared alter-reality and screams "I don't want to be a waiter!" (what is wrong with being a waiter?). But this just illustrates the method spoken of at the end of my last paragraph.


They then run from the shadow tentacles and a giant image of her mother's face appears and these lines are spoken, H: "She's not even a child anymore (referring to alter-Helena). You have to let her grow up." Mum: "You mean, let her choose her own food... her own clothes, make her own decisions. Love her, don't try to possess her...?" H: "That's exactly what I mean." Mum: "Absolutely out of the question." Symbolising the total control the parents have over Helena. Valentine uses the mirrormask to attract the attention of his 'tower' which is green (they've finally reached the Emerald City) and quite phallic. Unfortunately, the page with the tower drawn on it is destroyed by alter-Helena before she can put the mask on, but then alter-Helena goes outside to the area where she drew the eye on the ground, with the door that is pictured near the top allowing Helena to break through in another Matrix type scene and she awakens wearing a yellow t-shirt.


The ending sequence is quite strange as it has a little person inside a red cube with silver pentagrams all over it as the circus is back open following her mother's recovery. Helena synchronistically meets Valentine in real life, they appear not to recognise each other. He says, "I've always wanted to work in the Circus." H: "Good... You'd have made a lousy waiter!" They both laugh and he says "...what?" looking confused. Which I'm not sure how to interpret really, nice way to mess with the kids heads at the very end. Also, you never find out Valentine's real name throughout the whole film, which I thought was another somewhat depressing thing about his character.