HOME TO A MARVELOUS EXISTENTIAL REALITY

60’s throwback architecture. Rundown storefronts. Semis roaring down main street. St. John’s is a place in need of fixing. But the magnificent St. John’s Bridge that connects it it to the outside world is mythical. Its Gothic arches soar like a cathedral 400 feet above the murky waters of the Willamette River. On a lonely night when the fog sets in, the bridge can feel like heaven’s gate (or the gates to hell). In fact, the bridge spans the river to a dark and mysterious forest on the ‘other side’.

It is from this other side that our handyman with the supernatural gift arrives in St. John's and begins a journey that will change its inhabitants forever. A soon as he hits town, his magic infects the world: a flurry of fireflies sparkle around him before he crosses the bridge; two characters on a Travel Bermuda billboard seem to come to life; bobble-head dolls on a UPS dashboard smile when he passes; even the handyman's fixing seems to burst with electricity.

This 'marvelous reality' helps express the story's existentialist theme: the idea that we humans tend to define ourselves in relation to that which is outside of us (the Other). When the Other seems inexplicable (like magic), our sense of self can be threatened or redefined. And so, with each escalation of our hero’s magical fixing, more and more people are drawn to his flame and forced to look the Other in the eye. They are desperate to find meaning and validation not from within, but in contrast to the Other embodied by our hero. But his message is: we each have the power within us to fix ourselves. Or as Kierkegaard argued, the Other (the mob) is untruth and the truth resides within the each of us.