Chakra #3: Power

How does your character make his way in the world?  And the first three levels combined make up the “Belly Brain,” the realm of the physical.  It is time to be very certain that you know the PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND BODY COMPOSITION OF your character.  Is this person athletic?  Stoop-shouldered?  Physically confident?  And what exactly are your theories of how people become this way?  Genetic gift?  Training?  What combination of these?  How about other factors?  Where do you believe that emotions interact with the body?  Does her body display anger?  Fear?  Lust?  And speaking of that, let’s take a look at the way that physical power interacts with the previous two arenas: sex and survival.  When a human being has been brutalized, or pushed to an extreme physically, they can easily develop a shell around the “wounds”.  That shell can be fat…or it can be muscle.  There are (literally!) tons of body-builders who have plated armor around a small, frightened child.  Martial arts skills can function much the same way (ever wonder why martial artists don’t seem to be able to act?  Here’s the reason.  They have learned to hide their real emotions, while actors must learn to express them).
Movies dealing strongly with these first three chakras, with an emphasis on “body” would be:
1) Almost anything by Stallone (except the 1st Rocky, which strongly engaged the Heart chakra)
2) “Basic Instinct” uses survival, sex, and physicality.  Does anyone mistake those sexual bouts for love scenes?  No…this is sex as an extreme sport, with the danger just adding spice.  No heart engagement at all.
3) “La Femme Nikita” roots in these first chakras, but ultimately creates a context in which Nikita can explore her damaged emotions a bit.
4) Most James Bond movies.  There is little intellectual action, and very little emotion going on.  It’s all flash and tease, with sex substituting for heart.  Pierce Brosnan added a touch of genuine longing to the role—Bond is a man who cannot have a real relationship, and knows he will die alone.  But in general, adolescent boys are encouraged to believe in the fantasy of a self-sufficient man who can walk through hell untouched.  Whatever Bond is, he is not a human being.

What other films have you seen that deal with these first three chakras?