Narcissus is a greek myth about a young man who falls in love with his own reflection. When he realizes his love is only his own reflection, he becomes so heartbroken that he commits suicide. He discovers his illusion could never become real and his despair leads to his own death. The myth is supposed to be about the dangers of self-obsession but for me the allure and loss of illusion is poignant to me.
Another version of this story surfaces in pop culture in Harry Potter with The Mirror or Erised. When someone looks into the mirror, their reflection shows what they desire most in the world, and the longing for the things people see in the mirror but can never have in real life, drives people into madness or suicide. In storytelling, mirrors and reflections are used to portray character introspection or reveal a psychological state. Self-reflections reveal alter personalities like in Black Swan, hidden desires like the magical mirror in Harry Potter, alternate dimensions, and passage of time like in 2001: A Space Oddessy. In visual art, mirrors distort reality or displace space like Anish Kapoor’s Sky mirrors.
Self-reflection started from distorted images in water to polished metal and then finally mirrors and photographs. Catoptomacy, which originates in ancient Greece, was a way to predict the future by interpreting reflections (originally in water) in polished metal disks to interpret patterns of moon beam reflections. This practice is most likely the origin of crystal ball fortune-telling. Mirrors are seen as portals or gateways into the spiritual realm, that the distorted images can give them glimpses into the other side.
Breaking mirrors or destroying a portrait is bad luck or an omen of death. In myths, vampires or evil creatures do not have reflections or shadows because they do not have souls at all. What is it about the human image that makes it “spiritually tethered” to its original owner? Ironically, instead of being afraid that getting your photo taken will steal your soul, people now want their “souls stolen” by images because that is how immortality is achieved. There are piles of family albums in most homes, social media documenting selfies, and even the hope of one day uploading consciousness into the cloud.
Anna Huff 