Spoiler Alert
Bliss Beyond The Edge of Time is a colourful animated anthology that aims to deliver a powerful set of stories about the state of humanity. To paraphrase the official synopsis, the film draws inspiration from six of the I Ching’s 64 hexagrams, also known as the “Book of Changes.” It brings together six original animated shorts that are not simple at all. Here, memories can be erased, identities rewritten and fate re-engineered. The nature of humanity is well explored in context to work which functions as a tool for divination.
The six symbols explored are ䷗, ䷝, ䷑, ䷋, ䷘ and ䷣. Presented in that order, they can be interpreted as Return, Illumination or Fire, Decay, Stagnation, Innocence and The Darkening of the Light. With the last hexagram, not even the most dedicated can decipher what portent it brings if cast. At its heart, this glyph concerns protecting or concealing one’s inner light when faced with a hostile system. Within the context of science fiction, that idea can also extend to suppressed memories, forbidden knowledge and people hiding parts of themselves from systems that aren’t ready to accept them.