The+Golden+Apple+of+Discordant+Religion

=The Golden Apple of Discordant Religion= Mathwe Hunter 3A



The Golden Apple of Discord is a myth from Greek mythology. In the myth, Nemesis, the goddess of Revenge threw a golden apple into the hall of the gods and cried out, "This apple belongs to the greatest Goddess." The end result was the kidnapping of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War. In this case the golden apple is not for the greatest goddess, but rather the greatest religion, because it seems that all of the worlds religions are competing to be seen as the best religion because their way is "the true way". As the golden apple cause wars between the goddesses of Greek mythology, so the golden apple of religion has cause countless wars amongst various religions. The wires running to and from the apple are meant to simulate a bomb, because these days religious wars are fought with roadside bombs and IED's.

The religious symbols on the CD represent what literature often presents religious figure as. They exist above the common man because of the fact that man is bound to the earth while those who have achieved religious enlightenment are no longer bound by the chains of mortality. The fact that the religious symbols are hanging by a thread shows just how fragile their hold on to their claim to fame is, once you are holy, it is hard to maintain that holiness and not fall back to earth and become part of the apple again. The apple represents mankind, because all religious groups are fighting to control the destiny of mankind. The philosophy is that whoever controls the most people controls the world in a sense. This archetypal portrayal of mankind as the thing that causes religious conflict is important because it initially portrays religion as a good thing, but then the viewer realizes that there are problems with religion. Another aspect of this is the fact that when the CD turns to the side with the religious symbols, the peace sign on the other side is hidden.

The wires that make the box look like a bomb, and the hidden egg timer that ticks, represent conflict. These days many people, particularly Americans and other Westerners associate religious conflict with the fact that many religious resistance groups use suicide or suitcase bombs on mainly civilian populations. The egg timer particularly represents this assciation, because in many movies and books, bombs that the main or supporting characters have to beat tick themselves or someone starts making a ticking sound, or says tick tock your time is running out. This representation of conflict is coupled to the religious symbols on the CD with the words, "to the best Religion".

The religious symbols connect the work to the Shakespearean play "Othello" because Othello converted from Islam to Christianity and became one of the leading fighters for Venice against the Turkish tide. Also all of the religious allegory in the play couple the two works. The conflict aspect of the box is linked to Brave New World because in Brave New World, John the Savage tries to incite a revolution amongst the working and lower classes of the society, the members of society who are most entranced by Soma and the religion of Ford. Both the Soma and religion of Ford are the opiates of the society, just as religion today is viewed as the opiate of most societies. Particularly those that have a state sanctioned religion.

This project started out with the painting of the box and the CD, and the the addition of the icons and the peace sign to the CD. Next the wires were separated out and measured, as well as the distance from where the apple would be to the edges of the box. Once the apple was glued down, the next step was to attach the CD to the beam, and the beam was glued to the box. Wires were then added at random locations to give the box a slight haphazard yet planned look.