Myth Labs 2008

Directed by Martha Colburn

‘Myth Labs’ interweaves Puritan visions, folk art, religious allegories and victims of the current Methamphetamine epidemic. This is a film about fear, paranoia, faith and loss of faith and salvation. ‘Myth labs’ takes place in the American frontier and wilderness. Similarly to Meth addicts in rural America, for the Puritans the wilderness represented a place of their damnation and their ultimate resurrection synonymously. Through blending these two times in American history, I attempt to illuminate the idea that the lure of this drug for contemporary rural inhabitants is rooted in our earliest consciousness-forming experiences as settlers in a state of spiritual and physical emergency. Overly fervent faith and addiction alike, can change one from mere mortal to Superman to scarecrow. Just as a ‘wolf in sheeps clothing’ these two vices (or devices) of salvation can have devastating consequences.