Film Poster

By: Jay 

Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events represents a deeper attempt at “hidden in plain view” revealing of occult secrets, than anything you might find in the more popular Harry Potter series. Harry Potter is an overt kind of participation in witchcraft, but Lemony Snicket’s is something else. It presents, in fact, a much more realistic and subtle allegory for the modern intelligence panopticon-inspired control system. Harry Potter focuses on superstition, while Lemony Snicket’s focuses on the actual workings of the cryptocracy. 

Admittedly, I have not read the book series, but I have seen the film several times and read in depth analyses of both, and it’s pretty obvious what the message is, if you have eyes to see. The most prominent symbol in the film is the eye, and particularly the symbolism of the eye as the All-seeing Eye. The eye here is not so much an Egyptian or religious symbol, but rather in the sense of the panopticon of control by secret societies. The eye is the means by which the populace is watched, as well as by which information enters the mind.  In the film, the Baudelaire children, having been orphaned by their apparently dead parents.  From the beginning of the DVD, we see this imagery, as the kids are attached to the marionette strings of Count Olaf, the antagonist/evil genius. 

Count Olaf holds the Baudelaire children on a marionette string with panopticon All-seeing Eyes

There is endless speculation and pyschonautery concerning the meaning of the eye among the conspiraciologists, but we need not jump to the extreme for understanding its real esoteric significance. Yes, there is the evil eye and yes, there are All-seeing Eyes that had to do with Egypt, but when you consider the modern relevance of this symbol, it has much more to do with technological surveillance of all areas of life and thus a constructed control grid than it does necessarily with ancient Egyptian deities. Indeed, the symbol itself is just a symbol of divine providence or omniscience. What the referent for “divine” here, or whose “eye” is meant is entirely up for grabs. It could refer to intelligence agencies, such as the old MI-5 Logo or the proposed DARPA logo (which is probably the most likely reference), or perhaps to Satan. Count Olaf, as well will see, will have “devilish” and God-like characteristics. Read more of this post