Now I want to talk about the story of the film and its multiple moving parts; mostly in relation to the source material and the creative liberties provided and their relation to the structure and themes of the overall film. Before we begin, much criticism and controversy has been levied against the film because the director is an atheist. This fact can be used against the film to claim that it is blasphemous in regards to the source, and a possible vehicle for which the director aims to speak against religion. I contend to the contrary. Darren Aronofsky may be an atheist, but he was born Jewish and raised amongst the Jewish religion and teachings. It is helpful to remember that the story of Noah is not a Christian story, it is an Abrahamic one. This means that the Noah story is a part of all religions based on Abraham which includes Christianity, Judaism, and even the Muslim religion of Islam. Taking place within the Pentateuch of The Old Testament, The Torah in The Tanakh and also in the Qur’an, the story of Noah is part of the history of Abrahamic religions. So in order to dive deeper into Aronofsky’s interpretations and presentation of the story, we must look towards his personal body of influence: Jewish Literature.
Starting with the most curious of elements in the film, let’s take a look at The Watchers. The Watchers are described in The Bible, The Book of Daniel, as Angels sent to Earth from Heaven to look over the humans, and ultimately to punish those who fall from God – as in the story of Nebuchadnezzar. However, in the Jewish tome The Book of Enoch, The Watchers are Angels sent to Earth who ultimately began to lust for human women and began to mate with them. These matings result in the passing of advanced knowledge and technology to the humans as well as the birthing of Giants. This unholy matrimony ultimately ends in God banishing The Watchers, making them Fallen Ones. In the film, Aronofsky changes the Jewish teachings of The Watchers to be less traumatic, considering the direction of the film this was a wise choice. In Genesis 6:4 it is stated, “There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.” According to the Nelson Study Bible, the original Hebrew word for giants is literally translated as “fallen ones”. So by interpreting this verse and transliterating the word for giants, Aronofsky takes The Watcher and turns them into the giants themselves and places them as the overseers of mankind, helping them advance in knowledge and technology; without the rape. The Nelson Study Bible also mentions in the explanation of Genesis 6:4 that “many ancient cultures have legends of titans and demigods. This verse appears to be explaining this common memory of humankind.” One of the most vivid depictions of Titans in the human consciousness comes from Greek Mythology. For Noah, Aronofsky encases The Watchers in stone bodies, depicting both our most remembered conception of Titans, i.e. giants/fallen ones, and a literal manifestation of their binding to the Earth after being cast out of heaven for their disobedience. These are all connecting depictions of The Watchers throughout The Bible and Jewish tomes, and in the end something that allows Aronofsky to present complex attitudes about God’s disregard for His people and salvation through doing His work. By being encased in stone, The Watchers are literal captives; thus allowing their deaths while defending the Ark to function as metaphors for God’s love freeing us from our self-made prisons. Absolutely fascinating stuff is found throughout these characters’ presence.
Given The Watchers abandonment by God, they choose to assist Noah in the building of his Ark. This is a plot point in the film that is completely absent from his story in The Bible. In The Bible, Noah builds the Ark himself, with the aide of his family, over the course of about 52 years. The aide of The Watchers is not just a convenient method for Aronofsky to expedite his storytelling, but it is also an integration of more Jewish teachings. According to the rabbinical tome Sefer Noah, Noah was taught how to build the Ark and how to master various sciences from the Sefer Razi’el, the original book given to Adam by the angel Raziel, which was presented to Noah by the angel Raphael. So once again, we are presented with a teaching that an angel assisted Noah. Combining this with the lore of The Watchers who still existed upon the Earth, scorned from God and seeking redemption, is a clear and obvious choice that builds upon the character arc of The Watchers; an arc which culminates in an extremely satisfying manner.
Now, let’s investigate the elements of the film that take place before The Deluge that many have claimed to be Aronofsky taking the easy way out towards making a blockbuster but imitating The Lord of the Rings. In The Book of Enoch, Noah originally has a vision of The Flood instead of being directly told by God about the oncoming Deluge, which is depicted in the film verbatim. Upon having the vision, Noah seeks the answers to his vision from his ancestor Enoch, the only member of the Line of Seth to not die but to rather ascend up to the Lord. After getting confirmation of the coming Flood and that Noah is intended to survive The Deluge, Noah goes about the task of trying to reach out to the people of the world, seeking their repentance – these accounts are completely absent from The Bible. Instead of heeding Noah’s warning, the people “mocked at him, and used vile language; and Noah suffered violent persecution at their hands” (source). After the completion of the Ark and all the animals and Noah’s family loaded into it, according to the rabbinical literature Sefer ha-Yashar, the people left outside the Ark began begging for admittance, promising repentance. Noah refused them entry because they chose to not heed his words and continued in their wicked ways throughout the decades it took for Noah to complete the Ark. After his refusal, the Sefer ha-Yashar states that “The people then assembled in great numbers around the ark in order to break into it; but they were destroyed by the lions and other wild animals which also surrounded it” (source). These passages are exactly what Aronofsky presents in his film. However, instead of lions and other animals surrounding the Ark and killing the people as they attempt to take the Ark, he deposits The Watchers, successfully completing their character arc.
Now, according to rabbinical literature, “all the righteous sons of men were dead, except Methuselah and Noah himself” (source). This, by process of elimination, dictates that all the people of the world are descendants of Cain. In order to depict the events told in the Sefer ha-Yashar, Aronofsky gives the people within the vicinity of the Ark a leader. There is no leader that would stand in direct contrast to the remaining member of the righteous bloodline than the final member of the tainted one, Tubal-Cain. We also cannot fully believe the conceit of the Ark tale without witnessing the wickedness of man. Wickedness so great and vile that God himself chose to destroy the world. By implanting “the instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron” (Genesis 4:22), an obvious choice for a warlord as the direct descendant of Cain, as the rallying point behind the people’s rebellion and attempted takeover of the Ark, we are given extreme dramatic weight. This dramatic weight is big and bold, imploring upon the screen and the audience just how vile Man had become and the desperate situation Noah faces as the rains begin to pour. The final confrontation as The Flood begins, is not Aronofsky’s cheap attempt at implanting epic battle scenes into his film because modern Hollywood blockbusters demand it, it is a logical building of events that increase impact and depict events of the Noah story taken directly from rabbinical literature.
By injecting the film with horrors we choose to shield ourselves from, the realities of Man that are too disgusting to possibly be true, Aronofsky makes us believe that God has truly become disgusted with world that He created, in the Man that He birthed. We are shown events culled from all corners of religious text, mainly Jewish in origin, that show things as they are told by those teachings, and generating character arcs for The Watchers that provide sympathy and the hope for redemption. In other words, all the elements brought together in the build up to The Deluge are nothing short of masterstrokes from Aronofsky that terrifically setup the world in which the film resides and make its story truly epic in scope; without straying so far as to warrant outcries of blasphemy or such nonsense.
But how do all of these atrocities that we witness on screen affect Noah? We see the true wickedness of Man in this ancient era; how far Man had fallen. How lost from any resemblance of hope they’ve become. Surely this has to affect the main character of the story as much as it has affected us.
Chris Kirby
I’ve been writing for Chris for about 3 years now, since the Mania days. I just ramble and rant about things as the urge hits. No vision or focus, just stuff. I hope you enjoy it!!!