Spielberg: Questionable themes and Symbolism

There's a funny scene in the 1994 film "Sleep with Me," in which Quentin Tarantino appears briefly. He's at a party talking to another guy about how the 1980s film "Top Gun" is all about a [seemingly] heterosexual man struggling with homosexuality. At first, it all sounds very absurd and hilarious. But when you go back and re-watch Top Gun, it turns out to be shockingly plausible - you might even wonder how you ever missed it to begin with!

Someone was so amused by this observation, they put together a compilation of scenes from the film [titled "Top Gay" on youtube] which undisputably demonstrates how "homoerotic" the film really is.

Now just before Tarantino's character launches into his "Top Gay" monologue, he's finishing a thought on the previous topic being discussed - which also seems to be film related. He's basically "schooling" the other guy on what makes a film great, exclaiming with cocaine infused confidence, "No! What is REALLY being said?...because the whole idea is subversion! You want subversion on a massive level!"

subversion: especially : a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within - merriam-webster

The very next thing he says is, "you know what one of the greatest fucking scripts ever written in the history of Hollywood is? Top Gun."

So if Top Gun is so great, Tarantino's character must believe that it is subversive in some profound way - since that seems to be his barometer of greatness in a movie. Following that line of thought, it must be that the film shoves masculine, testosterone fueled, hyper-heterosexuality into our faces to the point of irony - subverting the very stereotype nearly into it's opposite. A subtle, homoerotic fantasy that would probably never be detected by the naive young audience the film was aimed at.

I don't know about you, but I think there is a profound truth being revealed here, within a fictional context, regarding the motives behind Hollywood entertainment.

A

B

In Steven Spielberg's 1977 science fiction film "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind," the big climax involves the E.T.'s mothership landing at the end. First "alien" that comes out of it is of a tall/slender variety. It crouches down into a spider-like position [image "A" above] in order to exit, emphesizing his height in proportion to the exit hatch - which a group of humans had just walked out of in full upright position. The being then stands at full stature with arms out [image "B"], as if saying to the crowd "behold my tall, naked, alien physique!"

You'd think these "advanced beings" woulda built their entry/exit hatch to accomidate the height of this important looking Alien. But if we assume that SYMBOLISM is more important to the writers of these films than continuity and plot, the "sloppy" aspects of many blockbuster films we see often reveal covert messages, deliberately designed to be missed by your conscious mind. While your conscious mind is focused on the plot making sense, your subconscious mind takes in all the symbolism indescriminately.

After the tall, naked alien disappears, a large group of short naked aliens come streaming out of the ship like children. In fact, these appear to be nothing more than human children with LONG fingers and BULGING heads.

The contrast between the taller/slender/adult alien which appeared moments ago and this shorter "child-like" variety hints at the idea of "full grown adult" vs "child," in the sense that adults are tall and children are short. When we remember that they are all naked, suddenly this scene takes on an entirely different character. Just who or what are these "Aliens" supposed to represent in a metaphorical sense? Do they represent something much more literral than we might expect?

The film puts effort into showing the facial expressions in the crowd of people present. Lots of shock and awe. But nobody looks more excited than Richard Dreyfuss' character, Roy.

The nåked chi1dren - er uh, I mean "short naked Aliens" abruptly crowd around Roy and beckon him towards their ship. Roy enthusiastically goes along with them - like a groupie who just got invited backstage at a concert and can't believe his luck! He gets on the ship with them, leaving his family and friends behind. The film ends with this ship taking off into outer space. Is this a metaphor for a man abandoning his family and normal society in order to persue his sick, unlawful, ped0phi1iåc desires?

We tend to assume any deeper "symbolic meanings" found within blockbuster films are generally benevolent in intent. After all, if these films had such hidden filth contained within them, surely they wouldn't win oscars and get all of this critical acclaim, right?

One of the more iconic posters from Spielberg's 1982 film "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" features an image obviously inspired by Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam," one of the most classic paintings in European history and the Christian world.

God is in heaven, which is up in the sky. That is why he appears to be flying down to touch Adam's finger in the painting. E.T. is a space alien, also from the sky. So does this mean he represents God in the promotional poster? Elliot Taylor [E.T.?] is a human. Adam is a human. So Elliot must represent Adam here - who's depicted as more or less full grown in Michelangelo's painting, somewhat sensual in his pose, ding dong hanging out in full view. Elliot is supposed to be 10 years old in the film. That's kind of a wierd message, isn't it? Are we not supposed to try and interpret such heavy handed symbolism, or are we just supposed to see it and not talk about it?

E.T.'s finger is long and fat at the end. The fat end glows/pulses as he touches/heals Elliot's bleeding finger in one scene, where E.T.'s presence is being kept secret in the boy's house. E.T. says "ouch" when he heals. This scene directly correlates symbolically with the 2 fingers touching in the promotional poster, and ultimately Michelangelo's masterpiece. When you factor in the blood, the physical contact, the pulsing phallic [finger] symbology, the biblical reference, and the word "ouch," well you've got all the ingredients of a violent, sexual act of the most diabolically blasphemous nature! We just overlook it all because aspects are presented out of order and within the context of a heart warming plot and a comforting soundtrack. "It's all about subversion!"

In Speilberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," a man [Indy] befriends an orphaned street child whom he calls "Short Round." What is a short round, a cut of meat? Perhaps a certain body part that has not yet developed fully? They go on a quest for a sacred relic, which leads them directly into the lair of a demonic mind control death cult. This cult keeps children as slaves.

"Maybe he likes older woman?" - Short Round, in reference to Maharaja's decidedly young appearance...

Apparantly this Maharaja character [played by Raj Singh] is supposed to be a 13 year old boy. Yet, he looks and sounds like a young girl in most of the scenes. Short Round comically suggests that he perhaps likes older women. This subtle comment specifically conjures the image of the young boy with an adult female. Also known as ped0phi1ia.

[Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh in 1875, aged 37]

If you look at old illustrations and actual pictures, the Maharajas are typically depicted as decidedly macho, often with facial hair. But when they inherit their roles at such a young age, they might look more boyish in certain depictions, even feminine.

[A young Duleep Singh]

As we can see, the child Maharajas look far more feminine, by today's western standards. The writers of "Temple of Doom" decided to include a boy Maharaja in this film for whatever reason, but also used an uncredited FEMALE for his voice-over. Was this done to exagerrate the feminine aspects of his character?

The film's use of child actors is often endearing, but at other times genuinely disturbing. Considering what we've been looking at so far, this all may be far more disturbing than we ever dared consider. Maybe we should consider it. Maybe we need to acknowledge the poison we've been fed over the years by the entertainment industry?

In "the Goonies," a bunch of kids go on a secret quest underground to find the treasure of "One Eyed Willie." The word "Willie" is slang for penis. The writers of this film made sure the innuendo was enforced by calling him ONE-EYED Willie. A penis has "one-eye." Get it?

Ke Huy Quan [Short Round] returns in this film, along with Corey Feldman, who recently blew the whistle on child m01estati0n in Hollywood - mainly via his self produced film "(My) Truth: The ®ape 0f tw0 C0reys." Although I want to believe Corey's intent was genuine with regard to that film, the fact he doesn't call out his "friend" Michael Jackson in it makes me suspicious. In fact, he seems to go out of his way to defend MJ. [Go watch "Leaving Neverland."] Feldman's also still breathing, which tells me he might be a "false whistleblower," put out there to deliberately mislead people and provide a "release valve" to those wanting justice for unpunished crimes against children year after year. But that's the problem with actors. How do you know when they AREN'T acting?

In "Back to the Future" Michael J Fox goes back in time, hangs out with his dad, and bumps into his mother - who has a mad crush on him. Now obviously, his mother doesn't know that "Marty" is her future child, and it's all very comedic. But at it's root, it's really just a clever way to titillate the audience with a little mother/son 1nçest fantasy.

In "Back to the Future 3" there is a very strange scene where Marty and "Doc" are parting ways, and in the background one of the 2 children literally beckons the viewer toward his crotch with a very clear hand gesture. The same boy then immediately POINTS at his crotch! I've showed this to several people, and almost everyone misses it the first few times. But once you see it, you've got to wonder why it's in there at all. Details like that are no accident! But for some reason you are considered a "conspiracy theorist nut" if you dare trust your own eyes and brain in pointing these things out...

“Every time I had a movie that made a lot of money, or somebody else had a movie that made a lot of money, Stanley would call and say ‘Gee, did you see the grosses of that--wow!’ He would ask you questions about why I thought a nerve might have been hit in America. I would say, ‘Darn if I know.’ And I don’t,” says the director, although he later admits he superstitiously avoids trying to know. “That’s the witchcraft of movies. You have to not ask those questions.” - Steven Spielberg, LA Times

The last Speilberg film we'll look at is A.I. [Artificial Intelligence.] This actually started off as a Stanley Kubrick film - something he wanted to do as far back as 1970, but felt the technology to depict robot characters was too primitive to be done convincingly at the time. If one spends a little time researching this, it's clear that A.I. almost seemed destined to be the climax of Kubrick's entire career - a lifelong passion even! So how the hell did Spielberg end up with it? The simple answer seems to be: Kubrick died.

"Spielberg had flown from New York, and was sitting at Kubrick’s kitchen table at St. Albans, when Kubrick announced, “Why don’t you direct ‘A.I.,’ and I’ll produce it for you?”’ recalls Spielberg. “He said, ‘The card will read great. It’ll say, “A Stanley Kubrick production of a Steven Spielberg film.” Don’t you think people will come to see that?”’ - LA Times 5.6.2001

Honestly, I hate the idea that Kubrick may have legitimately offered the director's chair of his lifelong film passion to someone like Spielberg. Although there are plenty of people backing the claim, I've yet to find an interview where Stanley confirms this himself. Being that he was not fond of the press and rarely did interviews, not so surprising. Still, it would be nice to have total confirmation of this presumed "fact" straight from the horse's mouth - especially considering what we have covered so far in this blog.

Setting aside my hesitance to believe Kubrick would put one of his potential masterpieces in the hands of Spielberg, it is fairly easy to believe the stories about how he was impressed with the special effects Spielberg achieved in Jurassic Park. After all, if an inability to achieve convincing special effects is what held back A.I. for so many years, it's quite logical that Kubrick would be in touch with those achieving the most cutting edge effects in film. And if it was Kubrick's intention to make sure A.I. reached a huge audience, well Spielberg obviously had a "knack" for that too.

H.A.L. was probably the first A.I. character ever included in a major motion picture, and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 Sci-Fi classic "2001: a Space Odyssey" is where it first appeared. If you take the letters H-A-L and look at the letters in the alphabet directly following them, you get I-B-M. IBM [International Business Machines] computers were used by the Nazis and developed some of the most widely used PCs in the 80s and 90s. I even read that IBM was involved with the production of the film! Not sure what they are up to these days, but Kubrick was obviously making a statement, perhaps issuing a warning, about the dangers of A.I. and computers at the time. Apparently Arthur C Clark disagreed with this theory, despite acknowledging the near mathematical impossibility that the HAL/IBM thing was a mere "coincidence."

Notice how phallic the above image is.

This is the story of a boy robot programmed to love his mother, who apparently never fully returns his affections. The boy is depicted in the above film logo, clearly made to resemble an outline of a phallus, forming the .I. in "A.I." An association is then made between the word "intelligence" and "phallus." The "A" has an outline of the boy/phallus image inserted inside of it, which could symbolically be represented as the female sex organ recieving a phallus. This is augmented in the promotional poster shown earlier by a large female head in the background, mouth open, to form a tunnel which cars drive through. This mixes mother/son relations with sexual symbolism in ways that are questionable, at the very least! What is the purpose of all of this sexual symbolism and why does it go completely unexamined by film critics and viewers?

The statement from Warner Bros. was released during pre-production for 'Eyes Wide Shut' and states:

"...Kubrick's previously announced sci-fi film, 'A.I.', believed to be one of the most technically challenging and innovative special effects films yet attempted, is in the final stages of set design and special effects development, and will follow Eyes Wide Shut". - http://www.visual-memory.co.uk

"Jan Harlan Kubrick brother in law said to Steve Rose of the Guardian "He and Spielberg spoke all the time," he continues. "I have six or seven years' worth of correspondence between them over AI, which I recently passed over to Spielberg along with over 1,000 drawings." Harlan told Paul Joyce, "He said on more than one case - "I think the ideal director for this may be Steven Spielberg. If I do it, it may be too stark. I may emphasise too much the philosophical side."

"Harlan maintains that Kubrick would certainly have returned to AI after Eyes Wide Shut. "He had no intention of dying, I assure you. But at one point, Stanley actually said to Spielberg: 'You would be the best guy to direct this film, I'll be the producer.' I can't tell you whether he would have directed it himself or given it to Spielberg. That was still very much a possibility." - http://www.visual-memory.co.uk

Again, everything we find regarding key details to do with Kubrick's development of A.I. comes from everyone BUT Kubrick himself! So I think it is important to take all of this with a grain of salt. Jan Harlan Kubrick at least has the distinction of being related to Stanley, so when he makes statements confirming that Stanley was at least INTERESTED in Spielberg directing A.I., I'd say that carries some weight. However, that last sentence in the last quote above reads "I can't tell you whether he would have directed it himself or given it to Spielberg." Given that, I don't see any reason to assume Stanley ever officially designated Spielberg as the film's director. But notice how that basic assumption was repeatedly re-enforced in the media coverage surrounding A.I. - as if it was cut and dry.

"After shooting had been completed, Kubrick entered a prolonged post-production process and on March 1, 1999, Kubrick showed a cut to Cruise, Kidman and the Warner Bros. executives. The director died six days later" - wiki entry for Kubrick's final film "Eyes Wide Shut."

Much mystery surrounds the death of Stanley Kubrick, and many believe he was murdered for what he attempted to reveal in the film "Eyes Wide Shut," [perhaps even what he planned to release in the film "A.I."] Among other things, E.W.S. deals with the upper elite in society and their secret sex cults - which is an aspect of the film the media interestingly avoids almost unilaterally, choosing to interpret the film as being about relationships and the psychological issues that can arise - which is a level that is legitimately there. But the occult/ritualistic secret society element plays a huge role in the plot as well. Why gloss over it? This was Kubrick's last film, you'd think critics would be putting a microscope over every aspect of it!

Perhaps Kubrick was "blowing the whistle" in a way with his film. Could this be related to the alleged heavy re-editing of it by Warner Bros previous to it's release and just after the sudden, unexpected death of Kubrick? These are just interesting details contributing to the idea that Kubrick simply went too far with the film, and those in power of Hollywood needed to reign things in. If they couldn't prevent it from being released, at least they could edit out the most incriminating aspects. Many people have cited this as the reason the film was not as good as it should have been. And yet, it remains too powerful to be ignored or forgotten.

Kubrick allegedly died on March 7th, 1999. Looking at a 1999 calandar, we find some interesting numbers...January had 30 days, February had 28 days. Total = 58. March 1-7th = 7 days. Ad 58 to 7 and you get 65. There are 365 days in a year, so if we subtract the 65 days that's 300. There were 365 days in the year 2000, so add that to 300 and you get 665. January 1st, 2001 is 1 day after the last day in 2000. Add that 1 day to 665 and you get 666. Stanley Kubrick died exactly 666 days before the year 2001. "2001: The Space Odyssey" was the name of one of his most famous films, and one which some believe was the precurser to his filming of the FAKE moon landing in 1969. [see Jay Weidner's "Kubrick's Odyssey" series]

Is this 666 number a message from the very elite satanic cult Kubrick was attempting to expose through film? Was this a sort of "pre crime" judgement, ala Speilberg's "Minority Report," [which came out the following year after A.I.] punishing Kubrick for what he had planned for his last film?

Stanley Kubrick was clearly a very smart and perceptive man. Given his lifelong love for films, and the study of them - he had to have noticed the symbolism in Spielberg's stuff that I have pointed out here. So why on earth would he even consider Spielberg for A.I.? Perhaps it wasn't just his "knack" for creating blockbuster successes that Kubrick was after, but his diabolical talent in creating films sexua1izing children in ways that go largely undetected. Perhaps Kubrick was going to use Spielberg as an unwitting participant in some sort of self incriminating "whistle blowing" production. How diabolically brilliant, and yet, madly ambitious!

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Acid, Music, Mindcrime [PT III]

REGARDING HANK

"He reminded me of a professor giving a lecture to young beatnik types… From their enthralled gazes, I assumed he must have been saying something compelling. He wore an Irish Cable Knit sweater, its wool the same brown as his hair. I thought he looked like a scarab beetle: heavy-bodied and oval shaped, with glittering eyes…Drawing closer, I heard him talking about his job as a psychologist and his years studying esoteric literature. He claimed he had “occult wisdom,” knowledge that could save the world."

"Hank had the uncanny ability to take a tidbit of information he’d picked up somewhere and turn it into a full-blown discourse, sounding so expert that it was difficult to separate fact from fantasy...His favorite topic was William Blake’s idea that our social conditioning blocks true perception. …”brainwashing,” he called it."

""This isn’t a drug - it’s a sacramental medicine.” He described the psychedelic drug as if he were both it’s creator and priest."

[Above: Linda Carroll]

"Yet, I began to see glimpses of other sides of him. I caught him lying: bragging about knowing somebody he didn’t know or about having a job I knew he never had. He rarely carried cash, and he let other people buy him coffee, meals, or tickets to events. “Money is coming,” was his mantra, and usually the money came from me. He stole, too, from the homes of friends, at parties and get togethers…Despite the connections and talents he boasted about, Hank could not maintain most of his friendships or find a job. Worse, his history of bad debts began to catch up with him."

"Hank wasn’t at the hospital when Courtney was born; he said he was “doing business,” his mysterious phrase for activities I knew not to ask him about."

"One day a check arrived in the mail from the New American Mental Health Center. “I applied for a grant. I’m going to open a center for people on bad LSD trips. “ Later that day, I imagined an LSD center in our house, people hallucinating around my baby daughter."

"It was his eyes that scared me the most - hot embers of pure rage."

The above quotes were taken from Linda Carroll's book "Her Mother's Daughter," in which she speaks about her experiences in the San Francisco 60s Haight/Ashbury scene - meeting Hank Harrison, and giving birth to Courtney Love. Although I did not quote the section where she describes how Courtney was "conceived," I will say that Linda verifies in fairly painful detail, how she was in fact raped by Hank, just as she was planning on breaking it off with him. Her wording is very delicate regarding this, but specific.

Linda's description of Harrison during their somewhat brief time together paints a picture of a man who is perhaps well meaning, but with sociopathic tendencies. At best. At worst, he comes off as a sadistic narcissist, con man, possible member of a secret society and/or a participant in clandestine operations.

"When I was young I was a juvenile delinquent. I stole cars, I ran away a lot. I went into my dad’s pockets and stole money. My dad went to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. [laughs] My uncle invented the talking baby doll!"

"…he [my dad] was doing infiltration training, and he blew his shoulder up on purpose so he wouldn't have to go to Europe to kill Germans…"

"I studied with a guy named Saul Alinsky…Alynsky taught me a lot and he taught Obama alot too, so we’re in the same framework organizing."

"I’ve always thought of myself as a rich beatnick, a minor member of a royal San Francisco caste."

"I had to tell all of Courtney’s friends, “don’t go near Tom Grant man, he’s a cop! If you’re a hippie, or a old beatnik or a black guy…and you wanna get prejudice…it’s cops!”...Grant spent a lot of time trying to screw me up man. Career wise. Grant was really upset about my criminal record. Grant is a real conservative guy. I won’t use the “N” word but…Racist? Somewhat, I guess..."

Harrison downplays his criminal past in recent interviews - repeatedly expressing annoyance at what he perceives to be Detective Tom Grant's exagerrations of his early criminal record. [Grant was hired initially by Courtney Love to "find" Kurt Cobain, but he quickly began to realize that Courtney may have been involved herself in his disappearance/death.] At times, Hank goes out of his way to characterize Grant as some sort of far right stereotypical racist white supremacist type - which comes across more like an attempt to "character assassinate" an opponent than it does an honest assessment of his personality. Does Tom Grant know things about Hank that make him uncomfortable? If I didn't know better, I'd say Hank feels a little threatened by Grant - who comes off as far less full of shit than Hank does in interviews.

Harrison's reference to Saul Alinsky's influence is not to be taken lightly. Alinsky's book "Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals" is considered highly influential among those on the far left. Take a look at what a few reviewers on Amazon have said about this book...

"Taking a knee" is a great example of what this book is all about. "Hope and Change" really means "divide and conquer". Now I understand why race relations have never improved."

"It's always nice to have the enemies play Book. If you don't believe it, just read this, the far left radicals have been using these tactics on us for 40 years."

"I think that Saul Alinsky is disingenuous when he represents the views of communities that he was never a part of."

"a scary view into a warped mind. a must read too."

"Read the book and burned it. If you want to know what is really going on in this country..read the book. "

These were not "cherry picked" reviews, all were copied from the first 10 or so results on the Amazon page book listing. Alinsky was someone clearly dedicated to radicalizing people in order to cause changes in society and politics, but obviously not everyone agrees that his intensions were benevolent or constructive. What does Hank do, or what has he done that he feels emualtes the work of Alinsky exactly?

"Some people got shot at Altamont (see "Gimme Shelter") so I moved back to California to see if I could apply some of Alynsky's principals to the Rock and Roll world."

THE BRAINWASHING OF COURTNEY LOVE

"I saw that I could not reverse whatever brainwashing she suffered, so I just made my piece with it."

"...when she was little she was wonderful. Very very intelligent I gave her an IQ test, she has a 150 IQ...her IQs higher than I, because her mom’s is higher than I. I have a thing called photographic memory…well, I passed that on the Courtney. She can remember stuff that she told the cops, or that she told A,B,or C, 10 years ago. Verbatim! And I told her about it when she was a kid."

"I have no doubt she was put through some kind of “new age” brainwashing…Frank didn’t understand her deeper levels…she had a high IQ and a photographic memory and Frank was grading on a class curve."

"It was only years later that I learned they were brainwashing her."

"I always knew Jack Risi…was manipulating events from behind the scenes. He liked doing that. He was after all Sicillian., but whatever they were doing they didn’t want me to know about it…At the time I had no idea they had already been using the baby for a hedge fund worth millions."

"....they brainwashed her immediately after they got her!…She was told that I was dead…but the real motive behind it was they thought I had some claim to the money…it turns out…the lawyers that were running the adoption…it wasn’t really an adoption it was a “take away” - they were Catholics too."

"I tried to probe her memory, to see if she recalled any fragments of the days when she and I were allowed to be happy."

"I did grab Courtney more than once and it didn’t work! I’m a failure at that. Courtney’s a pure sociopath. It runs in our family by the way, I’m not saying I’m not either. ..you know, I didn’t do anything evil...My kid got screwed up, and she grew up to be kind of a witch! I’m not putting her down but…witches are necessary too I guess?"

"During the time she was estranged from me, her mother had completely programmed her. She told her I gave her LSD. She told her I was dead.”…

"He was alleged in court -- I don't know if it actually happened -- to have given me acid," she said, "and gone around boasting about it, like some biological experiment.”

"Jack Risi knew a judge named Raymond J O’Conner who helped me land a job at juvenile hall. But it was a dreary gig, especially the orphanage. I won a grant from NIMH and started planning the LSD Rescue project…"

"I was in graduate school in psychology at Sf State and working as a night counselor at juvenile hall when Linda and I filed for what was supposed to be an amicable divorce….as part of the psych program, I was working with concepts of crisis intervention and was rescuing people from bad acid trips as well as hanging out with a bunch of starving rock musicians who turned out to be the Grateful Dead….In weeks I became the first psychedelic ambulance driver."

"When she was a toddler I let her run around San Francisco State University free as a bird. (With me watching of course)."

According to Hank, Linda's adopted sexually abusive alcoholic father Jack got him a job at juvenile hall, via some judge he knew. Linda mentions nothing about this in her book. He mentions that an orphanage is involved as well - which is all very strange considering Courtney ends up in juvy years later, and in and out of orphanage type establishments where she encounters all sorts of creepy "molester" types.

Hank gets very defensive regarding suggestions that he "dosed" Courtney as a child. And yet, he speaks about society and everyone in it as though it is one big laboratory experiment. To quote Linda Carroll, "He spoke to me like one speaks to a patient in a mental hospital." In his own words, he seems to have had direct connections with those producing LSD in the 60s, those distributing it, controlling the public perception of the drug and it's culture [via CBS documentary "Etched in Acid"] and then personally laying hands on those "overdosing" from it! [which he innocuously called "LSD Rescue"]

One story he tells as an "example" of what a loving, normal father he was - is how he brought Courtney to SF State to run around "free as a bird," where he was getting his graduate degree in psychology. So, was this WHILE he was taking classes, or did he show her off to students and faculty in his free time, while maybe giving her a tour of his psychology lab in between? Maybe little hippy kids were running all around College campuses in the 60s, I don't know. Just sounds kind of "off" to me.

Again, Hank continues this narrative of his, where the Risis leave money to Courtney, and Linda tries to "erase" her memory of Hank to prevent him from getting a piece. Although Linda corroborates Courtney's inheritance to a degree, there's nothing in her book about keeping money from Hank and such - although she wouldn't incriminate herself would she? I tend to think this story is Hank's "damage control" coverup for Courtney's mental abuse. Basically, he's blaming Linda and taking no responsibility for it. Total projection.

Projection: Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. For example, if someone continuously bullies and ridicules a peer about his insecurities, the bully might be projecting his own struggle with self-esteem onto the other person. - www.psychologytoday.com

"Hank had Courtney one night a week and every other weekend. One day she came home with psychedelic magic marker drawings covering her arms and legs. And I was horror struck by her nightmares after the visits with him. She woke up screaming “no, daddy no!” It was virtually impossible to soothe her afterward. The more I tried, the more she would stiffen, arching her back and resisting as though my touch were painful."

"Courtney grew from a toddler into a little girl, and became adamant about not wanting to see Hank. She came home from their visits looking pale and exhausted. ..I went back to my lawyer. “Is he still writing all over her?” He asked. “Yes, and her nightmares are even worse now.”

The above quotes from Linda Carroll's book suggest that Courtney was being abused while visiting her father as a child. Here is Hank's response, taken from his book "Love Kills"...

"She felt I would harm my child because I brought her home in an agitated condition. This was true, we played hard, but also Courtney never freaked out when I came to pick her up, only when I brought her back. What does that tell you?"

Well, it sounds to me like Hank flat out admits that he abused his daughter in the above quote, and that he seems to be unaware of how incriminating his statement is. Is this part of his self diagnosed "sociopathic" condition, or perhaps a bit of cognative dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other. The clashing cognitions may include ideas, beliefs, or the knowledge that one has behaved in a certain way. - www.psychologytoday.com

While Linda's writing style comes off as restrained - she knows how to make a point without ambiguity. Hank is a bit more blunt in his accusations...

[Hank, in a recent youtube interview]

"I saw Linda swing the baby on the A-Train platform almost as if she wanted to toss the kid onto the tracks…She hated Courtney, the spawn of the only pagan she ever married."

[Youtube user scarycoyote] "I had read in your book that Linda had subjected Courtney to some Stanford Experiments?" [Harrison] "I don’t know if they were Standford per se. But there was some kinda Oregon State bunch too don’t forget, you know? Oregon box. You know, Reich? They had this thing about RE parenting. Reichian psychology. They put her…they were doing Tarot reading, fire walking, hatha yoga, raja yoga…running on no food, that kinda stuff…it was Portland...it was back in the day you know…they were just as bad as the Haight Ashbury. I mean wasn’t nothin different about it, 'cept it was Oregon…I don’t know what they were exposing her to but it was…oh yeah, they gave her pills…toolinahl. Tuinal. Which is the blue and the red pill. Sleeping pill. It’s a hypnotic. Truth serum type of thing. Seconal, tuinal...And they were getting her to try and ERASE me from her mind. And I found out that the reason they were doing that…they thought I was after their money! And at the time I didn’t even know they had the money!"

Ok, let's break this all down here...

Harrison first dodges the question regarding Courtney's alleged subjection to "Stanford Experiments." According to dailyentertainmentnews.com, Hank "has attended postgraduate classes in anthropology and various seminars at Stanford." Ken Kesey also had connections to Stanford.

"While a writing student at Stanford University, Ken Kesey undertook paid psychological experiments with mescaline and LSD. He also began working the night shift as an attendant at a psychiatric hospital. These experiences came together in his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which explored insidious ways society represses nonconformity." - https://exhibitions.lib.udel.edu

"Bill’s folks are attorneys, sure – of course, Bill was working when I first met him at Stanford research center." Hank Harrison, according to deadsources.blogspot.com

Does any of this prove Courtney was subjected to "Stanford experiments?" No, but considering what was happening there in the 60s and Hank's dodging of the question, there is probably something to it. And it wasn't enough for Hank to dodge the question, he then goes into GREAT DETAIL regarding Linda Carroll's brainwashing of Courtney in Oregon, which you may recall is where the family moved after Hank was out of the picture initially. Is he projecting in order to deflect attention away from his own role in Courtney's shattered personality? Is he telling the truth? Is he mixing truth with fiction?

He would press his thumb or the palm of his hand hard (and painfully) on their [his patients] jaws, necks, chests, backs, or thighs, aiming to dissolve their muscular, and thereby characterological, rigidity. He wrote that the purpose of the massage was to retrieve the repressed memory of the childhood situation that had caused the repression. If the session worked, he would see waves of pleasure move through their bodies, which he called the "orgasm reflex". According to Sharaf, the twin goals of Reichian therapy were the attainment of this orgasm reflex during sessions and orgastic potency during intercourse. Reich briefly considered calling it "orgasmotherapy", but thought better of it. - wiki

This "Reichian" psychology Hank mentions is a reference to Wilhelm Reich, and his "orgone accumilator" therapy. This is a fascinating topic to research, but as far as mainstream society is concerned - Reich was a nut and even a sexual deviant to some. The fact Hank claims Courtney was subjected to this is pretty wacky in and of itself. But he goes way beyond that!

Re-parenting, Tarot cards, fire walking, yoga, and all types of mind altering drugs, and lots of brainwashing of course. Now how does Harrison know that Courtney was subjected to all of this if Linda and her new husband fled out from under him, as he has characterized them of doing? While it's often difficult to sort fact from fiction, that is a LOT of detail, and very specific!

And why was Linda doing all this? To ERASE Harrison from Courtney's memory, so he couldn't get in on the money being passed on to her from Linda's adopted sexually abusive father, Jack Risi. At least, this is the case according to Harrison.

None of this is in Linda's book of course [except the part about Jack Risi sexually abusing her]. Although she does speak about Courtney's temper, sociopathic tendencies, hallucinations, and various therapies over the years. But nothing like what Hank describes! It is interesting to note though, that Courtney's half sister does recall the children being put through strange psychological treatments in Oregon, on the MTV/VH1 documentary. Again, nothing like what Hank speaks of - but this part of the story is conspicuously absent from Linda's book.

[Linda in Oregon 1971, with 2nd husband Frank Rodriguez. The tall girl is Courtney, the other 2 are her half sisters]

"...so Del Nan [Courtney's God mother?] shuttled her back to Oregon where she was placed in foster care supervised by Linda’s weird shrink friend Richard Pharr, the guy who, according to Courtney, broke up Linda’s 2nd marriage. She told me Dr Pharr molested her. But I doubt this because she once told me Frank Rodriguez molested her…by all accounts, this DR Pharr character, if that’s his real name, tried to brainwash my kid. He gave her tuinol, Seconal and other hypnotic downers. Moreover, he used marginal techniques on her...I believe exposure to so much pseudoscience broke her spirit and created , in her, a destructive and even homicidal personality."

Again, lots to unpack there! But let's start with this thing about Frank Rodriguez molesting Courtney. If you read PT 2, you may recall I suggested that Linda's 2nd husband Frank MAY have molested Courtney, and that it may even have been a consentual thing. I based this upon a couple assumptions, but I had not read Hank's book "Love Kills" yet at that point. Turns out that according to Hank himself, Courtney TOLD HIM that Frank molested her. So I guess this was not some wild leap of my imagination? Also, note the picture above, and Courtney's body language, Frank's hand on her chest.

I don't recall this Dr Pharr being mentioned in Linda's book, but obviously Hank paints a pretty scummy image of the guy. Courtney does state in one interview, that she was sent to a "new" therapist who had pornography on his bathroom walls, and that he was a "pervert." Was she speaking about Dr Pharr? Just what in the hell happened to Courtney as a child???

Stangely, Hank states at least 2 more times in his book that Frank did NOT molest Courtney. Hank paints a cruel picture of Linda running off to Oregon with Frank and stripping away his legal rights as Courtney's father, handing legal guardianship over to Frank. And yet, Hank seems to have nothing but good things to say about Frank so many years later, and goes out of his way to make sure his name is cleared of any "molestation" rumors. Hank also seems to be in contact with Frank regularly over the years while Courtney is tossed around from here to there. It's strange how Hank paints himself as this poor misunderstood father being left in the dark by cruel Linda for years and years. Yet, he seems to know where Courtney is, who's abusing her, who isn't, what drugs she's being given - as if he's secretly monitoring her even when he isn't physically present!

All of this brainwashing and mental/physical abuse seems to create what Harrison decides is Courtney's shattered "homicidal personality." Do you see what he's doing here? He's building a narrative in which his daughter slowly turns into the monster who murdered her husband. This is why he must convince people that he didn't "dose" Courtney, or abuse her in any way. Because if that were the case, he begins to become implicated by his own narrative. So he must allocate all abuse of her onto other people and attribute her erratic tendencies to genetics.

"After we were reunited, when she was 14, Courtney often went to bed screaming into her pillows. At first I thought it was something I did or said, but when I confronted her she told me her mother put her through some kind of Whacky Jannoff regime. Around that same time,(1979) I started to realize that Courtney wanted to be a rockstar at any cost. She was trying to rebuild a shattered personality."

If you switch that last sentence to "I was trying to rebuild a shattered personality," this whole story falls into place much more neatly. Occam's razor?

[The repurposed "chicken coup" Courtney was kept in during part of her family's time in New Zealand]

THE ROCK AND ROLL MOB

If you recall Joe Pesci's character in the film "Goodfellas," he plays the stereotypical "little guy" with a big mouth and who seems to get away with anything and everything. At some point you might ask, "how does this little, ugly, chubby guy push people around and get away with it?" It's simple. He's a "made man." Which means, the mob will back him pretty much in any situation - even if he's not necesarily carrying out their will specifically. So he can kill someone, rob a jewelry store, collect protection money from locals, almost anything he wants! The only exception is that he may NOT cross another "made man" - which is what he does in the film that ends up getting him "whacked." I believe this is what explains how Courtney Love gets away with what she does through the years. She's a "made man" in the Rock and Roll mob, and she knows who NOT to cross. Or she is perhaps mentally programmed to the point where she is incapable of "crossing" the wrong people...

["Courtney Love with her best friend Robin Barbur in San Francisco, ca. April 1981. The photographs were taken by Jon Sievert when Love’s dad hired him to take photos of the girls." She'd be about 16 in the above picture]

"She was about 11 when she first entered the system and 16 when Ms Rubio helped me bust her out. From that point on, she knew she was going to wreak havoc on the world. I knew this because she told me, several times."

"In late 1979 I sprung Courtney out of Juvenile Hall in Salem, and she came to live with me on the houseboat in Kappas Marina in Sausalito. By Christmas she was running around San Francisco on her own…By Christmas 1979 she was commuting back and fourth from Sausalito…to her stepfather’s house in Portland, using friends and Green Tortoise druggie bus as her main x-urban transport. She also made a slight side trip to Japan where she danced in clubs, lost her passport and had to be rescued, but by that time I was on my way to Ireland…In the winter of 1979 Courtney arranged a deal with her mom and got a whole bunch of money paid out twice a year. After that I hardly saw her. Courtney and Frank stood me up for Christmas and New Years 1979 and it hurt."

"..but her first gig to Japan, the gig that resulted in several abortions, again by her own admission, took place in 1979."

"In Portland, and on the road, Courtney’s early traumas turned her into one of the worst kind of hookers…a “fag hag” or a “fruit fly.”

In 1979 Courtney was 15? 16? Clearly underage. So what was this "first gig" to Japan all about? Clearly, she was sent there to be a whore, resulting in "several abortions." Now think about the creepy, suggestive pictures we've seen of her and Robin around this time - which Hank commissioned! Why would a girl her age, with the recent inheritance, willfully fly down to Japan to get trafficked? And Hank just casually talks about this stuff, as if he's explaining the plot of a film he saw recently!

[Courtney walking the strip in China?]

[Courtney in England?]

[Punk/New Wave Groupie mode]

"Attracted, she said, by the prospect of attending Trinity College in Dublin, the 17- year-old traveled to Ireland in 1981 to visit her father again…He said they lived together there for seven months and got along fine. His daughter said the visit lasted barely longer than a couple of days…"He beat me up so badly I had to call the cops," she said."

"Courtney arrived in Ireland around her birthday in 1981. Robin’s arrival was a good thing. She was quiet, beautiful, and serene….I kept all of the ticket Stubbs. I have the exact day Courtney arrived, the exact day Robin arrived and the exact Day they left for liverpool...I had no idea they were bi-sexual."

"...Courtney took off to Letterkenney with Steve O'Leary of the Belfast CIA observers group, a nice guy she met at my Winter Solstice Party."

"In February 1981 Courtney sailed for Liverpool with a small group of weavers traveling home to Scotland for an early spring break. She wound up taking LSD with Steve and his brother at Okenden Venture, a CIA cut out acting as a refugee center In Surrey, near London. I think she also slept with Malcolm, the defrocked Anglican priest who ran the place… "

Hank's wacky stories about Courtney are seemingly endless. Yet, they are copiously detailed, as if he's got a huge file where all is documented. He names names, places, and events - many of which can be verified through research. You've just gotta wonder how much of this is truth and how much is embellishment. I mean, look up Okenden Venture, for example. A CIA cutout acting as a refugee center? That doesn't sound made up to me, that sounds like an insider "spilling the beans." And this LSD thing, which seems endlessly showered upon Hank and his daughter at all times!

"A young Courtney Love arrived in Liverpool in 1982…was just 17 when she travelled to Merseyside with her friend Robin…She had been invited by The Teardrop Explodes front man Julian Cope to stay in a house Devonshire Road in Toxteth, which was in some ways an epicentre for Liverpool's thriving 1980s music scene, after hooking up with the band at a gig in London and jumping on their tour bus home…Courtney would later describe the few months she spent living in Liverpool as the place where she learned "to be a rock and roll star”.."Courtney has been quite open that there was a lot of LSD in the world that she inhabited and a lot of it she brought into the city…"Bill Drummond said he was first aware of her in 1982 as this loud American girl with LSD.”…Dave said: "How long she was here is something that wasn't straightforward to pin down, she said she was here for two years, but it seems it was more like five months…”

I went over some of this in part 1, so I won't retread too much here regarding Courtney's time in England. But again, clearly there is a will coming from somewhere to INSERT her into the center of the music scene for purposes which are unclear - but are always assumed to be soley the will of Courtney herself, stemming from this early "obsession" she allegedly had with being famous. I don't doubt she had this obsession. I also don't doubt this obsession was PROGRAMMED into her brain by Hank, Linda, and/or whatever insane MK Ultra style mind scrambling operation was hovering over it all like the eye of Mordor...

"MK Ultra is pretty “future thinking” but I don’t think they got that much, that big a crystal ball." - Hank, when put to the question of MK Ultra involvement in Courtney's "brainwashing."

"Courtney didn’t have any place to live, she was broke. So she moved in with us…with Kat Bjellin [Babes in toyland]…Steve Jobs used to hang out - at my house. Dan Cobkey, who invented one of the keyboards for the original Macintosh. Every once in a while we’d run into that guy that looks like a Neanderthal [Wozniak] I hung out with all those people."

"She met Kat [Kathy Bjelland], up in Oregon and she brought her down with her. You know, Babes in Toyland? Babes in Toyland used to rehearse in our basement..."

"She used to live with us in 83. In Menlo Park. And the reason she moved to Menlo Park, Silicon Valley was because all of her hooker friends were balling rich money engineers…we had a nice house I worked for Honeywell, I worked for uh Lockheed, I worked for Applied Materials, I worked for Apple, I became señor editor of a magazine called Dr Dobbs Computer Journals."

So according to Hank, Courtney's base for her groupie/hooker activities was his house! All her friends were "balling" the type of individuals he brags were visiting. People like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak [the inventor of the first Desktop computer - which sold for $666 if you recall from my "Serpent Symbolism" blog. He was also a Freemason.] Was Hank running some type of prostitution ring from out of his house and pimping out his own daughter? I mean, what else do we make of his statements? If that's not what he was doing, he was at least knee deep in whatever was going on!

"In 1985 she led a continuous stream of junk addicted Riots Grrrls around and just set them up at my house, like it was a crash pad."

Well, wasn't that kind of you to put up with such mayhem, Hank! Enable much???

"She wanted to go to the Mabuhay Gardens all the time and she wanted to go up to a place called the Vats. You know get stoned on a thing called China White which turned out to be Fentrynil. We had to bring her down off of a couple bad acid trips. She would stay with us, we gave her a room upstairs in our attic. And she would bring her friends by and all of her friends were like already very famous…like L7…and they were busy digging up money on the side I won’t say how. They got into my wallet…they scammed me a little bit…but I was chauffeuring around, you know dad would drive them up to these obscure nightclubs in the city. Then they would not come home, and so I would go home…and the next day or 2, they’d show up at the house. And steal all my books and stuff like that."

..."She was always a groupie always on scene, and she always got me to drive her…whichever one of the clubs she was at…."

"The green tortoise became a sex drugs and rock and roll vending booth for Courtney and her pals…they would get on the bus with pills and pop off the other end with pockets full of cash."

"From 1982 to 1986 she stayed with us in various states of penury and consciousness…. During one of her visits in 1983, she told me she was on her way to LA to start a rock and roll band. That year she attended concerts at Mabuhay Gardens, hung out with the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag and usually had me chauffeur her around…by 1985 she was gone again."

Hmmm, Black Flag huh?

It seems pretty cut and dry here. Courtney is on some sort of mission to infiltrate the Punk/underground rock scene. Whether it's through drugs or sex. By his own account, Hank sets up her home base with her "hooker" friends, acts as her chauffeur, contributes financially [and probably collected as well]...Is this what he meant by applying "Alynsky's principals to the Rock and Roll world?" What was the purpose of all of this? Look where Courtney is today and perhaps you can fill in the rest...

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SOURCES:

Love Kills: The Assassination of Kurt Cobain
Her Mother's Daughter: A Memoir of the Mother I never Knew and of my Daughter, Courtney Love
MTV/VH1
https://deadsources.blogspot.com
Youtube Channel: Kyle and Jackie O
Sf Gate
Youtube Channel: scarycoyote
Youtube Channel: The Ochelli Effect
Amazon.com
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/