Ellen Crabbe- Cold Fever

Cold Fever was a perfect example of finding the meaning of a journey in the journey. With Ewert Cousins’ idea of journey symbols and the idea of journeys Cold Fever does fit the criteria for a journey. While watching the movie, if you do identify with the main character-Hirata- you will be able to follow his journey and be able to identify it. He meets helpers and obstacles and goes through a plethora of purification tests before he does get to his destination. Hirata was not for the ritual and due to the fact that he was not open to the experience as well he missed out on a lot of experiences. At the beginning of his trip he gets his first chance to cleanse himself in the blue lagoon and refuses to do so. Then he meets his first helper, the cab driver, on the trip who he sees as an obstacle. The cab driver tries to introduce him to ritual but he refuses to partake in the ritual, hence he shunned his second indication that the ritual was to be a sacred one.
Later on he meets his first recognizable helper - the lady that sold him the car. She comes to him while he is in the bar of the hotel and tells him that she can help him. I seemed like she was ripping him off but she really did help him to find a cheaper form of transport. That is when his journey really does begin because he is faced with the choice of whether he wants to continue with his trip or return home. He does continue with the trip and that is how it begins to be evident that Hirata is on the right track of his journey. Somehow it seems that he is now more open to the idea of the ritual. This is by the sheer fact that he bought a car to make the trip.
Ewert Cousins’ idea of journey and how they take place, and the motions one has to go through all of a sudden begin to be evident at this point in the movie. By Hirata acquiring the car he is able to meet all the helpers and obstacles that shape his purification process on his way to performing the ritual for his parents. The most influential of the helpers were two people, Laura-the funeral collector, and the old man who ends up helping him go through his final purification phase before he performs the ritual. Cousins’ idea of the purification process begins and ends with the two people. It begins with Laura and ends with the old man.
Cousins’ idea that the person does not fully understand the journey until the purification process is complete completely comes into play. Hirata does go through a thorough amount of purification and testing before he reaches the end of his journey. Laura introduces him to the sacred nature of rituals and how they are actually beneficial to the soul. Laura is the first person who helps Hirata to understand that his performing this ritual was not for about him but really something greater that he refused to acknowledge. The old man teaches him that he has to face whatever it is that he is trying to combat inside of him before he can perform the rituals for his dead parents. The helpers are few, but they do get to him and when they do help him he does seem to become more enlightened on what he is to do and how he is to achieve that goal.
The obstacles are what make Hirata’s experience a true test. With the main obstacle being the couple- Jack and Jill- who start out as his friends and ultimately try everything to hinder him from reaching his destination. His real test comes when he is asked to choose between going on their path and getting killed and he chooses to continue. That is when it is most evident that Hirata is just about ready for to perform the ritual. It is evident that he is physically, emotionally and spiritually prepared for the ritual. The fact that his car had broken down many times was also a factor but didn’t seem to be a real limiting factor. He kept persevering through all of those times. At those times it is evident he isn’t ready because even when the fairy does help him start his car back up he isn’t phased and continues with his journey.
Hirata does reach his destination eventually but all through his journey he is prevented and helped. When he is completely ready he is able to climb the mountain and purify himself physically one more time. This time he is ready hence he does cleanse himself in the ho t spring and after the old man-who takes care of him all the way to the top of the mountain- decides he cannot go, Hirata is not phased and proceeds to go over a treacherous bridge and reach his ultimate destination and perform the ritual. What he tells his grandfather in his letter is what does some up his journey.
“Sometimes a journey can take you to a place that is not on a map.”