Call me a fatalist, but what in contemporary culture speaks otherwise? It's like a religious apocalypse: a small, cloistered contingency may remain but the general public has gouged its eyes and stopped its ears to truth... irrevocably?
It hit me tonight as I walked through Borders and, once again, realized that I long ago exhausted the "classics" sections. I've actually begun to worry that there are no "classics" left. Christopher said, "well, you just have to read new books... the ones that will become classics." To which I replied, "there are none." The scary thing is, I really think there may not be.
BECAUSE of the following:
The goal of artistic expression in the form of literature, film, even music has become financial. As such, like some kind of modern amphitheater that shreds dignity and appeals to only the basest human impulses, these media have become vehicles for *shock value.* Instead of spending years shaping metaphors and gleaning insights, the writers and directors of our day are amalgamating the most shocking, perverse, graphic components they can....
-Graphic sexuality is now absolutely common in literature
-An R-rating for a romantic comedy is now completely acceptable... things like rape, foul language, overt references to genitalia, explicit sexual depictions, masturbation, cutting off human appendages, copious and explicit bloodshed, murder (point-blank shooting, etc.) are mainstream. They aren't becoming mainstream, they ARE mainstream.
Now, I don't speak as a prude... my caveat is this: shock-value for the sake of shock-value can only last so long before these things become no longer shocking. It's like running top-speed towards the edge of a cliff... I'm sure the unknown and the wind in your hair would be a rush but at the end of this short-lived trip you actually fall off the edge of the cliff. The rush runs out. Then what?
I do think there is an end-point to this kind of presentation: I'm not sure it will become mainstream to depict sex with animals or child pornography.... so, when nothing is shocking anymore, what substance is left?
There are only so many kinds of acceptable human perversion. There are only so many simple story-lines... only so many times I want to see a poorly-done pygmalion or a re-make of Romeo and Juliet. Who is writing something new?
Writers and filmmakers can toy with various human perversions to appeal to an uneducated audience... but pre-chewed food for thought has little nutritious value.... this "art" does not feed the multitudes, it only leaves them empty and hungry for more. This multiplies stupidity and ignorance... and ultimately creates an audience that will be easily entertained but never grow.
True art
and it surely still exists in corners
or chained and behind unfunded bars
of man's foolish inattention
Will shrivel and die
without the
PRODUCERS
and CONSUMERS
It requires
"Any 12 year old can pick up a camera and put something on You Tube and it's just garbage; Any 25 year old can pick up a camera and put something on You Tube and it's just slightly-better garbage. Nobody learns the skill anymore." -Chris Youell
"This is the opposite of art, this destroys art, this destroys souls... this is so much more offensive to me than hardcore pornography." Oscar from The Office
