Jelliclaw
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The Everlasting Cat and the Heaviside Layer - Opinions?I've been wanting to make this thread, so here it is.
It seems to me that the majority of the CATS fandom considers The Everlasting Cat to be a sort of a God to the Jellicles, and the Heaviside Layer to be Heaven.
Personally, ever since I first saw CATS (when I was in 2nd grade) I thought differently. I see the Everlasting Cat as a species of sorts, another name for Jellicles. Perhaps meaning the cats are immortal.
I think the Heaviside Layer is a place to become reborn, but the Jellicles remain the same Cat, just young again, making them Everlasting. They repeat the process over and over, maybe it is possible for them to die if they cannot be reborn?
This could explain why Grizabella returned. Maybe she was near death and desperately needed to be young again.
I'd love to hear any opinions on the matter.
- Callysta
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Moongewl
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I find myself somewhat in agreement with you on the Everlasting Cat. It really seems like it shouldn't be "Everlasting Cat," but "everlasting Cat." That may not seem like much of a distinction, but the first is a name and the second refers to the cat as a species, as in "The Cat is a proud, semi-domesticated creature that enjoys clawing things up." The "everlasting" part could be a reflection of their unchanging natures--human empires have risen and fallen, the Cat has been worshipped as a godly creature and condemned as the carrier of plague or the familiars of evildoers, but the Cat has remained essentially the same.
As for the Heaviside Layer, I think it's more about the "nine lives" myth. They must be chosen to be reincarnated into the next of their nine lives without dying first--which might be the only way to retain your memories of the first life. That would feed nicely into Grizabella wanting to be chosen: she has made a lot of mistakes in this life, and wants to remember them so she doesn't make them again.
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Jelliclaw
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I really like that "9-lives" theory, it actually makes quite a lot of sense.
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MunkustrapQC
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The director of our Cats production explain us that every cat have 9 lives, and when you go to the Heaviside Layer, you get another one (a 10th life), so you can die one more time...
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Vice
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I've always thought that, yes, the Jellicles are reborn when they enter the Heaviside Layer, but more in the sense of reincarnation. They're of course the asme... "soul" if you please, but the way they are raised or they're experiences are enough of a variable to create a completely different Jellicle the second time around. I also think there is a set number of these Jellicle "souls", and they're cycled through... Old Deutoronomy being the exception. (I think Old D is immortal personally.)
But this also tends... to coincide with my personal religious beliefs.
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enkeli-kitten
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When I first heard the lyrics, I thought by everlasting cat they meant "cats forever!!!" sort of thing  but I also like the idea of a 'cat god', but I don't actually think that's what the lyrics intended ^^
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Rumblepurr
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Everlasting CatI could argue that the "Everlasting Cat" is an entity much like the Human concept of "Creator".
Reasons:
1. The title comes during the VIVAT!
2. The title is sung in a 'Cathedral'.
3. Sung during the "Angelical Choir" and in that style...
4. VIVAT ("Long Live") is Latin - a language long used in the Catholic Church for the Mass.
The reasons above seem to convey a reverent attitude in which the Everlasting Cat is the center.
Sidenote: Although the cat was revered by the Egyptians as being a demigod, the cat was protected by Bastet, goddess of marriage and the family as well that of war.
Respectfully submitted,
Rumblepurr 
The Writer Cat.
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Rallers
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I'm pretty sure ancient Egyptians revered cats for their association with Bastet and their handiness, and were treasured and mourned over, and those who killed one would be put to death...uuunless they were sacrificed. A lot of cats were killed as sacrifices, and weren't so much worshiped as they were honored, along with some other animals associated with their gods.
Anyway, I always had the impression that the Everlasting Cat was more of a spiritual divine being than a religious one- like the embodiment of all that is Feline and not so much something they'd view as a real god.
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MsJellicle
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I can see it both ways. In my fictions I tend to make "Everlasting Cat" as a deity. However, I can see them saying "Life to the everlasting cat" as meaning something akin to "Us cats will live forever." And that is in a more self-centered, type of attitude that one generally associates with cats. Everyone knows that cats always seem to think themselves better/above humans/other species. 
~MsJ
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santtu
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| Moongewl wrote: | | That may not seem like much of a distinction, but the first is a name and the second refers to the cat as a species, as in "The Cat is a proud, semi-domesticated creature that enjoys clawing things up." The "everlasting" part could be a reflection of their unchanging natures--human empires have risen and fallen, the Cat has been worshipped as a godly creature and condemned as the carrier of plague or the familiars of evildoers, but the Cat has remained essentially the same. |
That was very well put. Exactly how I see it.
"Everlasting Cat" as 'cat, as species, animal and pet, will always be around, no matter what', not so much as "Everlasting Cat" = "One Cat Individual Who Will Live Forever".
To me it becomes clear in "Invitation to the Jellicle Ball": "... announces the cat who can now be reborn / And come back to a different Jellicle life. / Because waiting up there is the Heaviside Layer / With wonders one Jellicle only will see..."
I see it as the chosen cat will die a beautiful, calm and painless death and the present form will remain in peace in the Heaviside Layer. The cat's spirit will be reborn to another 9 lives as another cat.
The death part sounds maybe grim, but hey, let's remember T.S. Eliot originally wrote these poems for his godchildren - in 1939 so death wasn't something you describe very realistically for kids. One'd use metaphores.
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