Mythology of Carnivàle
The series traces the disparate storylines of a young carnival worker named Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin Crowe, a preacher in California.
[3] Most mythological elements in Carnivàle relate to so-called Avatars (or Creatures of Light and Darkness), fictional human-like beings with supernatural powers who embody good and evil.
Other than through the characters, the show's good-and-evil theme manifests in the series' contemporary religion, the Christian military order Knights Templar, tarot divination, and in historical events like the Dustbowl and humankind's first nuclear test.
This so-called Pitch Document, originally written to give HBO and Knauf's co-writers an overview of the intended storyline, backed up and expanded upon the assumed mythological rules.
These abilities may vary in type and strength, and include but are not limited to the manipulation and transfer of life force, spiritual healings, telekinesis and telepathy, and granting small measures of powers to a mortal.
[3][13] When Ben's good nature and Justin's dark heritage became clearer in Season 2, reviewers began to describe Carnivàle's underlying message as "essentially the opposite of spiritual belief: fatalism".
[12] Reviewers rarely focused on the significance of the mentioned Avataric terms and their implied characteristics in the story, despite detailed explanations by Knauf and the later public availability of Carnivàle's Pitch Document, setting out the complex mythological structure.
This creature is never mentioned in the series, but Knauf described her as a female who lived before the Flood and whose story was lost with the destruction of the Royal Library of Alexandria.
[41] Written in archaic English, reminiscent of the King James Bible translation, it contains parts of Samson's Season 1 prologue, mentions the Avatara, and alludes to an apocalyptic passage in the Book of Revelation.
While the carnival travels throughout the Southwestern United States, California preacher Brother Justin tends to the needs of Dust Bowl refugees, who slowly become his biggest supporters.
Although Carnivàle replaces the real sociological-scientific reasons for the drought conditions with fantasy elements and the presence of the Devil, it still addresses the Dust Bowl situation repeatedly.
[56] Samson's prologue in the pilot episode is based on a few introduction paragraphs on the Pitch Document's cover sheet that were initially not planned to be performed .
Historical figures like Father Coughlin, Aimee Semple McPherson and Brigham Young served as inspiration,[26] although the writers refrained from re-telling their particular stories.
[12] Carnivàle introduces the Knights Templar, a medieval Christian military order, in the late Season 1 episode "Lonnigan, TX", where Ben meets the freak finder Phineas Boffo.
When Ben comes in contact with Boffo's ring, he experiences a powerful series of visions of the Knights Templar practicing rituals, putting heads on spikes, and being burned at the stake.
The Lodge of the Benevolent Order of Templar has its last appearance in the mid-Season-2 episode "Old Cherry Blossom Road", where the escaped convict Varlyn Stroud uses it to track Ben.
When Ben opens his eyes from the blast of dust, Justin kneels in front of him and asks "Ye offspring of serpents, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
"[64][65] The Season 1 prologue already suggested this interpretation, mentioning "a false sun explod[ing] over Trinity," at which point "man forever traded away wonder for reason.
The ground effects and blowing dust were created with combinations of volumetric computer graphics smoke, and the fireball of the nuclear explosion was built from Hubble images of the Sun.
"[70][73] The creators offered a detailed interpretation of the tarot cards in the opening titles, and covered topics like good and bad, heaven and hell, wars, and the age of science as the antireligion in the 1930s.
The characters' stories were described as unfolding in "zig-zagging starts, moving back and forth in time and space, dropping oblique clues along the way.
[3] Ben and his healing powers led most reviewers to believe that he was the good creature,[2] and that Justin was a demon or at least a dangerous zealot who received instructions from either God or Satan.
[1][32] Some reviews described the question of Ben's parentage as one of the big puzzles and the show's driving mystery,[1][32] but refrained from defining further details of the series.
[64][65] The significance of the prologue was emphasized again,[66][78] while previous reviewers' character descriptions, the good-versus-evil theme and the assumed story merge were generally repeated.
[81] The events of early Season 2 were said to mark a shift in the story from mystery to journey, with Ben accepting and exploring his powers, while Brother Justin was seen completely embracing his evil nature.
[65] Carnivàle was often compared to David Lynch's 1990s mystery TV series Twin Peaks and John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath.
"[85] She argued that a "surreal Twin Peaks-style shockfest [...] hardly bears repeating," especially if it "avoid[s] the 'hugging and learning' of mainstream television [by serving up] such a steady diet of anguish and dashed hopes that viewers refuse to take the risk of making an emotional connection.
"[88] A reviewer admitted his temptation to dismiss the first season of Carnivàle as "too artsy and esoteric" because his lack of involvement prevented him from understanding "what the heck was going on, [which] can be a problem for a dramatic television series.
"[89] TV Zone however considered Carnivàle "a series like no other and [...] the fact that it is so open to interpretation surprisingly proves to be one of its greatest strengths.
[92] In 2008, Alessandra Stanley of the Australian newspaper The Age remembered Carnivàle as a "smart, ambitious series that move[s] unusual characters around an unfamiliar setting imaginatively,"[93] while The A.V.
