What is "The Master" Really About? It's About Farting

"The Master" is not an enjoyable film to sit and watch. I, along with most of America, like movies with stories. A plot. Twists. Turns. Endings. I'm kooky this way. "The Master" does not give us these things. It is not that kind of movie.

So why does it exist?

A movie like this only serves one good purpose: to talk about what it all means after seeing it. So that's why I'm here. "The Avengers" is fun to watch, but you don't need to dissect it for a second. There's no need to, that's not what it is for. 

But if we force ourselves to suffer through 2 and a 1/2 hours of "The Master", we are doing a complete disservice to our money and our time if we don't talk about it. Debating it is the only thing that makes the experience of it worthwhile.

The filmmaker is trying to convey something with this film. At least I hope he is, cause he is certainly not trying to entertain us. What is it? What is "The Master" about? I think I know the answer.

"The Master" is about farting, and our attitudes about what we should do with our farts.

I have not read a single thing about this movie. This is all coming from me just having seen it. In short, these flatulent opinions are my own. And there might be SPOILERS, so be aware.

"The Master" is a simple (non) story about two men. Two wildly different men who discover each other, become fascinated by their differences, fall in (man) love, and then realize that they are too different to be friends. They have contrasting life philosophies that simply cannot exist together.

And what is so "wildly different" about these two men? Well, a lot of things, but really only one thing:

One of them (Philip Seymour Hoffman) holds in his farts, and the other (Joaquin Phoenix) doesn't. 

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, aka The Master, who is the head of Scientology, er, a cult. Joaquin Phoenix plays Freddie Quell, a troubled World War II veteran who loves pussy and drinking and having a strange looking face.

The two are opposites. Dodd is in control of his life. Freddie is out of control. Dodd believes in searching the past for clues about the present. Or at least pretending to. He believes in thinking before doing things, and trying to understand and get others to understand. Dodd seeks to evolve and adapt and change. But above all, he seeks control. Of his life, and of others.

Freddie believes in living in the moment. He has no interest in the past or the future. He does things without thought. He doesn't want to change. He has no interest in controlling others, he can't even control himself or his urges. He is who he is.

How does this manifest itself? Dodd doesn't let his farts out, Quell does. And the farting life is the better life.

The message of this film is that all of this stuff: cults, psychiatry, religion to some extent, it's all hooey. We are not better than animals, we are animals. We can't help it. And we shouldn't help it.

Thinking about past lives, things that affected us in the womb, it's all silliness. And anyone who is trying to tell you that he knows more than you and can fix your life, is a bullshit artist. And likely their life is a whole lot worse than yours. They don't have the answers, they have the problems. They have unreleased farts. They want to control you, to take away your freedom, because they have no freedom themselves. They're as enslaved as the farts locked up in their ass.

Lancaster Dodd is The Master because he cannot imagine a life in which there are no masters. He doesn't want freedom. He doesn't want others to have freedom either. He seeks control. And deep down, there really is no control in life. Control is an illusion.

The movie is saying don't be like Lancaster Dodd. Let your farts fly.

At the end of the film, Dodd is left living his bullshit life. A house of cards that will eventually fall down on him. And even worse, he's bloated, a lifetime of gas tightly contained inside of him. 

Meanwhile, Quell is released back into the wild, as he was before, living in the moment, fucking mad chicks, drinking and having fun. An animal. A happy animal. He has no worries. No stress. No built up gas. He is home. A smelly, fart filled home.  

And with that, we learn that "The Master" is not Lancaster Dodd. It is Freddie "Let Your Farts Fly" Quell. He is The Master of his own life. The Master of his own farts.