Thanks Robert, for this challenging post - as usual.
What if we introduce the dimension of the collective and the community, bot at the artist and audience level?
Does the artists 'help', or create space so that...?
Not sure I share that truth is a precondition for beauty. I find trust very much entrenched in the Western paradigm and ego-oriented in societal terms. I prefer referring to principles, actually like the Eastern way of looking at things.
On the moral aspects of the pandemic, non availability of vaccines in poor countries constitute a global moral problem, rightly denounced by the WHO.
What is necessary for people to do in moments of crises? I like the position of the Swedish governement who sustains that the first priority is to klnow your neighbors. Again the community dimension...
Thank you for your response about the question of ‘truth’ being a precondition for beauty to exist.
I believe, perhaps as do you, that ‘truth’ is too deeply entrenched in the ego oriented Western paradigm. For me, this me-centred culture is a consequence of the emphasis on the individual which arose in the Renaissance, much to the benefit of humanity, gaining for us the beginning of a sense of personhood liberated from the controlling hand of the church. It allowed human beings to see themselves not only as a reflection of God’s will.
But under the continuing development of capitalism, and especially because of its on-going political and cultural assault on democracy over the last 40 years, the Neoliberals have cleverly displaced our natural tendency toward communal unity (natural according to new studies by numerous neurologists), and as the important consequence of that to rot our understanding of trade unions providing methods of organization that working people have used to defend themselves from the always present exploitation of their labour. Instead, the Neoliberals, their educators and cultural managers have lured us towards the notion that our identity is tied to the ‘quality’ (price and style) of our consumption, and towards us rejecting understanding who we are via history rather than as it has become, via psychology. A businessman told me that he and his associates appreciate the unstable relationships and high level of divorces in society, as they lead to two mortgages, two refrigerators, two insurance policies etc., all good for sales.
Thus this soulless world of profits, fame and overt sexuality leaves a terrible hole at the centre of Anglo-American culture, and our souls, filled with racism, sexism, fascism and so many other hateful and divisive ideas, half-ideas, myths and straight-up nonsense.
When I teach people about storytelling via film or stills, I begin by asking them ‘who owns their truth?’ This is important in that before they can use these media to address others, they need to understand their relation to power and wealth. Later, I speak about the relationship between subject matter - that which is in front of the camera), content - the underlying social/historical seem in which the subject matter lives out its life, and the theme - the underlying and most profound concerns of the photographer/film-maker.
When I refer to this subtext or Ur foundation (the most basic consideration) as ‘theme’, your response suggests that I am referring to ‘principals’ being the correct way to describe this category of the creative process.
The crux of your question revolves around whether ‘truth’ is an intrinsic component of beauty. I know this is a very long discussion but let me make two points. The first is this: lets distinguish beauty from ‘satisfying’, ‘nice’, ‘pretty’, ‘entertaining’. Beauty is far beyond those routine responses. It is the thing that shakes and shimmers our souls, that admits us to others and our own deepest sense of what it is to be human. It has relevance to our lives, it intersects our conscious or unconscious concerns, plights, misapprehensions, insecurities, and addresses, perhaps as metaphor, the most profound questions of existence. And second, it can only do this if it is delivered in an appropriate and surprising form that awakens us to what it’s concerns are. This is beauty: a conjunction of a narrative we construe as real and true, inside a form, which together create that which makes us gasp, or brings on tears, or opens us to the deeper depths of our existence. That is beauty. Without a component of truth, it has little meaning for us. Truth must be present within the narrative and its form to create beauty.
During the early months of the pandemic, when everything was pretty much locked down, musician friends of ours, as well as nationally known artists started live streaming from homes and empty clubs in New York and Chicago and San Francisco. Our local art house streamed movies. Pretty much saved our souls during those dark times. Thanks for your words on the necessity of our human connections thru the various arts
so important to consider the nature of beauty, how to define and also to be able to except that what I find beautiful others may not. Loved watching and listening to the film again x
Thanks Robert, for this challenging post - as usual.
What if we introduce the dimension of the collective and the community, bot at the artist and audience level?
Does the artists 'help', or create space so that...?
Not sure I share that truth is a precondition for beauty. I find trust very much entrenched in the Western paradigm and ego-oriented in societal terms. I prefer referring to principles, actually like the Eastern way of looking at things.
On the moral aspects of the pandemic, non availability of vaccines in poor countries constitute a global moral problem, rightly denounced by the WHO.
What is necessary for people to do in moments of crises? I like the position of the Swedish governement who sustains that the first priority is to klnow your neighbors. Again the community dimension...
The best for you further posts!
alain
Thank you for your response about the question of ‘truth’ being a precondition for beauty to exist.
I believe, perhaps as do you, that ‘truth’ is too deeply entrenched in the ego oriented Western paradigm. For me, this me-centred culture is a consequence of the emphasis on the individual which arose in the Renaissance, much to the benefit of humanity, gaining for us the beginning of a sense of personhood liberated from the controlling hand of the church. It allowed human beings to see themselves not only as a reflection of God’s will.
But under the continuing development of capitalism, and especially because of its on-going political and cultural assault on democracy over the last 40 years, the Neoliberals have cleverly displaced our natural tendency toward communal unity (natural according to new studies by numerous neurologists), and as the important consequence of that to rot our understanding of trade unions providing methods of organization that working people have used to defend themselves from the always present exploitation of their labour. Instead, the Neoliberals, their educators and cultural managers have lured us towards the notion that our identity is tied to the ‘quality’ (price and style) of our consumption, and towards us rejecting understanding who we are via history rather than as it has become, via psychology. A businessman told me that he and his associates appreciate the unstable relationships and high level of divorces in society, as they lead to two mortgages, two refrigerators, two insurance policies etc., all good for sales.
Thus this soulless world of profits, fame and overt sexuality leaves a terrible hole at the centre of Anglo-American culture, and our souls, filled with racism, sexism, fascism and so many other hateful and divisive ideas, half-ideas, myths and straight-up nonsense.
When I teach people about storytelling via film or stills, I begin by asking them ‘who owns their truth?’ This is important in that before they can use these media to address others, they need to understand their relation to power and wealth. Later, I speak about the relationship between subject matter - that which is in front of the camera), content - the underlying social/historical seem in which the subject matter lives out its life, and the theme - the underlying and most profound concerns of the photographer/film-maker.
When I refer to this subtext or Ur foundation (the most basic consideration) as ‘theme’, your response suggests that I am referring to ‘principals’ being the correct way to describe this category of the creative process.
The crux of your question revolves around whether ‘truth’ is an intrinsic component of beauty. I know this is a very long discussion but let me make two points. The first is this: lets distinguish beauty from ‘satisfying’, ‘nice’, ‘pretty’, ‘entertaining’. Beauty is far beyond those routine responses. It is the thing that shakes and shimmers our souls, that admits us to others and our own deepest sense of what it is to be human. It has relevance to our lives, it intersects our conscious or unconscious concerns, plights, misapprehensions, insecurities, and addresses, perhaps as metaphor, the most profound questions of existence. And second, it can only do this if it is delivered in an appropriate and surprising form that awakens us to what it’s concerns are. This is beauty: a conjunction of a narrative we construe as real and true, inside a form, which together create that which makes us gasp, or brings on tears, or opens us to the deeper depths of our existence. That is beauty. Without a component of truth, it has little meaning for us. Truth must be present within the narrative and its form to create beauty.
During the early months of the pandemic, when everything was pretty much locked down, musician friends of ours, as well as nationally known artists started live streaming from homes and empty clubs in New York and Chicago and San Francisco. Our local art house streamed movies. Pretty much saved our souls during those dark times. Thanks for your words on the necessity of our human connections thru the various arts
so important to consider the nature of beauty, how to define and also to be able to except that what I find beautiful others may not. Loved watching and listening to the film again x
THANK YOU…every comment, every like, helps…..