Mythology

Alright, better late than never. Now that I finally know what I want to say, here are some theories about House of Leaves, La Strada, and mythology.

Let's say Zampano, for the moment, is Theseus. He takes Gelsomina away from her home, and all that she knows, under the guise of giving her a better life. Gelsomina, then, is Ariadne, who helps Theseus thinking it will make her own life better. Of course, it doesn't, because in the myth, as in La Strada, Theseus/Zampano abandons Ariadne/Gelsomina as she's sleeping.

So, in the myth, Ariadne is made into the wife of Dionysus, who finds her sleeping on the island after she has been abandoned. In the movie, the abandonment drives Gelsomina crazy. We might say that the two outcomes are different, but consider one thing. Dionysus had followers, called the Maenads. They were crazy followers. I'm talking batshit-insane-will-tear-your-arms-off-because-they-feel-like-it crazy. And since Gelsomina goes insane, perhaps, if we want to follow the myth, we can say that it does, if Gelsomina becomes a follower of Dionysus, and loses her mind.

Something has been bothering me about all this, however. I keep wondering who The Fool is in all this, because I want to assign him a mythological character very badly, but am I trying too hard? I think the most logical choice would be Dionysus, because he wants to keep Gelsomina safe from Zampano. Of course, The Fool dies, but this could either prove or disprove his role. Since he's dead, we can say he can't be Dionysus, because he's not there to find Gelsomina and save her. But we can also say that he had to die in order to be elevated to the position of a god. And while we're at it, if we're liking Pelafina to Gelsomina and Johnny to The Fool, consider what Pelafina writes on page 592:

"I dreamt about you last night. You had long hands which glistened in the starlight. There was no moon, yet your arms and legs seemed made of water and changed with the tides. You were so beautiful and elegant and all blue and white and your eyes, like your father's eyes, were infused by strange magic.
"It was comforting to see you so strong. Gods assembled around you and paid their respects and doted on you and offered you gifts your mother could not begin to imagine let alone afford.
"There were some gods who were jealous of you, but I shooed them away. The rest kept close to you and said many great things about your future."

This presents a slight problem. If Pelafina is also Ariadne, what does that make Johnny in this context? His mother is elevating him to the position of god, which we could interpret to say that Johnny is Dionysus. Zampano of House of Leaves could also be Theseus, because if we say that he is Johnny's father and Pelafina's old lover or husband, it might be that he abandoned Pelafina in the mental hospital, especially since Pelafina seems to know who Zampano is.

So, is The Fool/Johnny Dionysus? It's difficult because of the family tree involved. For Johnny to be Dionysus, it would mean that he both Pelafina's son and lover, but from the Whalestoe Letters, where Pelafina says a lot of rather inappropriate things to her son, that doesn't seem like a huge stretch. Freud would love this one.

Who is who here? There's more than one correct answer, I'm sure, but this is just my take.