Under The Dome

I stumbled across this gem while on one of the social media channels. I

guess i was interested in the idea of a dome. If you are in the Middle

East, then you have probably heard of the Iron Dome. It is An Israeli

Defense System against Missiles. Then there was a discussion about a

system that was discussed in the Reagan Years but that one was referred

to as Star Wars. It is hard therefore to see the distinction between

life and art but these two are mingling with each other in profound

ways. There is also the Simpsons which many feel like has been

predicting the future. There is an episode in the animated show where

an actual dome descends or appears on the city.

The Dome was written by Stephen King...no surprise. My first

interaction with his work was with Shawshank Redemption. An amazing 

project with great story telling. There was so much to learn about

patience, diligence, planning and the importance of skills. It has

tragic moments and others of triumph. There is an interesting insights

into the concern shared by many about just how much rehabilitation

takes place in traditional prison systems. In our days we have heard of

the Prison Industrial Complex (slightly less popular than the Military

Industrial Complex), and its effects on the minorities in the US. One

of the characters after so many appearances before the Parole Board and

rejections finally just expresses his exhaustion after trying to give

the standard answers. There are explorations of life after so many

years behind bars and how difficult the men that have been in the

system find it to adjust to regular life. 

Other works based on books by Stephen King are a little too frightening

for me but it is great to see the adoption and use of the series model

where you spread out the experience to last longer. 

While it is not always possible to see into the writer's mind, i had a

mainly spiritual lens while viewing this work. Without trying to ruin

the process for those of you who have not seen this work, the dome

seems to have some spiritual significance. It reminds me of the domes

that are used to represent most sites that many view as Holy. There are

also quite a number of theorists who claim that we are under a dome and

that most of the stories about  lunar exploration are really just

mythical. At times it feels like the dome represents God's dominion (i

think that the word dominion comes from the word dome). Is this why

some staunch believers in male contraception are against Condoms?

Because of the shape that is used and what that represents? I don't

know. There is also an egg that is connected to the dome which is

interesting because the egg presents quite a lot of mystery. We are

still having difficulty deciding what came first. Is it the egg or is

it the chicken? 

Is the Dome a reference to a struggle between adherents to the Judeo

Christian Beliefs? The most complex relationship to explore in what we

know of a the Old Testament is that of the chosen people and their God

who was at one time friend and at another foe.  

Then there are the challenges of resource scarcity as the community

begins to struggle with a limit on what they can make use of. First it

is food, then fuel and then a series of issues concerning the weather.

The community is also forced to deal with security and production as

well as registration both of populations and weapons. Suddenly the

parts of the population that were responsible for agriculture see

themselves increase in importance and value. 

There is also a question about the nature of the Dome. Is it a

representation of God? Is it conscious? Is it access to an alternate

universe?      

Dean Norris from Breaking Bad plays the role of Big Jim. While Natalie Martinez

from I-land plays a sherrif’s deputy. Alexandar Koch is the ever emotional 

Junior who is pulled back and forth by a manipulative father.