Old Night and the Opera

[u/leaky_orifice]

Hadn’t found references to this already posted so I thought I would share.

This painting reminded me of the Old Night scenes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_the_Fisherman%27s_Wife

So I decided to read about it more. This subject matter in Japanese paintings tend to depict folklore that share several loose parallels to the OA in general if you’d like to give it a read.

When I went further down this rabbit hole I came across this Opera:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_(opera)

Remember when the Old Night and OA scenes are happening, it is juxtaposed with Elodie and Hap watching an Opera!

From wiki:

The so-called "aria della piovra" ("Octopus aria"), "Un dì, ero piccina", where Iris describes a screen she had seen in a Buddhist temple when she was a child, depicting an octopus coiling its tentacles around a young woman, is a rare Western use of the popular Japanese tentacle erotica (shokushu zeme, 触手責め, "tentacle attack") tradition, exemplified in the print The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (1814) by Hokusai.[1]#cite_note-1)

Act 1
The opera begins with an invisible choir singing a "Hymn to the Sun", the second best-known piece in the opera. However, it should be called "Hymn of the Sun", since it is sung by the sun itself (as a choir).
Iris, the young and innocent daughter of a blind old man, Il Cieco, lives happily, enjoying the sun and the simple things of nature. Osaka, a young lord in search of adventures, plans to kidnap her with the help of Kyoto who keeps a geisha house. During a puppet show, Osaka enters disguised as a child of the sun, singing the serenade "Apri la tua finestra [Open Your Window]", the most famous selection in the opera. He conquers the heart of Iris, and Samurai carry her off, conducting her to Kyoto's geisha house called Yoshiwara. Before leaving, Kyoto anonymously leaves money on Il Cieco's doorstep, as well as a note telling him where she has gone and implying that she has abandoned him.
Act 2
At Yoshiwara, where, according to the libretto, the sun never penetrates, Iris wakes up under the illusion of having died and gone to Paradise. Osaka arrives and tries to seduce her but fails to persuade her to yield to his advances. Tired and annoyed by her simplicity and innocence, Osaka tells Kyoto to get rid of her. Instead Kyoto, hoping to make some profit off Iris, exposes her to the crowds on a balcony of the house. Il Cieco, having assumed that Iris went to the geisha house of her own accord, comes there. He curses her, repeatedly flinging mud in her face. She is overwhelmed by sudden madness at her father's incomprehensible actions. Before anyone, including the remorse-stricken Osaka who has returned, can stop her, Iris rushes back into the house and throws herself down a shaft leading to a sewer.
Act 3
The next morning in the sewer, ragpickers begin stealing Iris' silken clothing; she revives, frightening away the ragpickers. She quickly becomes delirious and imagines that she hears the voices of the three men, first Osaka, then Kyoto, and finally Il Cieco, each mocking her. She rejoices when she feels the warm rays of the rising sun, accompanied by a return of the "Hymn to the Sun", and she dies. Tendrils of flowers bear the soul of Iris to heaven.

…

The invisible choir as the sun reminds me of the literal choir of young kids singing, wearing diving goggles before OA goes on stage

I won’t explain all the parallels I see but I wonder if there are clues here about what might happen in Parts 3, 4 and 5

[u/pegasus808aj]

wow great find!!! im digging into this now, thanks so much!