Iran Is Not Film School
by Scott GravesOkay Class, stop sniffing your Sharpies in a futile attempt to reach a state of intoxication and try to take notes using that writing instrument and what brain cells you have left. Remember, if you can, that information you believe to be useless is, indeed, of no value whatsoever if you are unable to apply it in real-life situations, or at the very least for pc gaming “cheats.” Otherwise your very existence is no better than a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any human being, past or present, living or dead. (Or in your cases, “living dead” or zombie, if you prefer, or the more inclusive term “differently animated.”)
Aristotle, in Poetics, slops the pearl that “art” is a “representation of reality.” By this definition, presentations of the creative sort contain something, if only a je ne sais quois, that can be recognized as a reflection of the human condition and the historical present. Reach back in time to The Epic of Gilgamesh, and out of the cuneiform pressed in clay comes the tale of a king’s hubris, lust for immortality, and ultimate understanding of his place in the world. Fast forward and select at random. “The Counsels of the Bird” by Rumi, Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Eliot’s “Quartets,” “The Short Happy Life Of Francis MacComber” by Hemingway. Consider Andy Warhol’s body of work as a commentary on the superficiality of modern culture; look at the content of films, popular songs and television programs, comic strips and “illustrated novels,” with their wide diversity of theme and thought. All these arts, of varying degrees of cultural significance, may be seen to generally adhere to Aristotle’s commentary.
They represent reality. They do not create reality; they are not a direct experience of reality; they do not encompass the fullness and mystery of reality, or of life and death. They are not meant to serve as a replacement for reality.
Yet some may not be aware of this subtle distinction between Art and Life. Therefore, we find a warning label sewn into the famous Superman costume admonishing those who can read that the garment does not confer upon the wearer the ability of physical flight. Further, this type of error in understanding may be seen in other scenarios that demand a degree of discrimination in determining that which is likely fact from the absurd. In ancient times, for example, some viewers tended to to believe the “daytime dramas” they received on black and white screens were what are now called “Reality TV” programs; others were convinced that there was actually a sport known as “championship wrestling,” as opposed to the acrobatic entertainments now designated by similar names.
Human perception being what it is, an audience may be neurologically disposed to “believe its eyes,” as legends of audience reaction surrounding the first screening of the Lumiere brothers’ “Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat” attest. One might also consider that reaction– a screaming rush to the exits– as giving the lie to the idea that “perception is reality.” Nonetheless, subsequent manipulation of media and the exploitation of its consumers for social and political purposes remains a constant.
Anti-war films portraying American efforts in a negative light may fail at the box-office, but they are viewed, and color perceptions, globally. Potty-mouth humor encourages the same. Celebrity glamour promotes superficial ideas of beauty. Novelty wears thin. Longing for something more interesting to fill the existential void in everyday life, many are attracted to acting out pointless fantasies and other futile, chaotic behaviors. Stoked with the belief that lack of responsibility equates to freedom, men remain in suspended adolescence long after they belong to a “youth culture,” and women are left to deal with it.
Parents insist perpetually that their children know the difference between such things as movies and real life, yet experience as well as education impacts character and a moral sense. One need not be a neurologist to speculate that vicarious experiences that permeate consciousness through a saturation accumulated over time have telling effects as well, if only in the ways the world is perceived. As is often suggested, one of these effects is a “numbing” of awareness and empathy in terms of viewing genuine violence and acts of evil perpetrated against others.
That said, if such children and adults do indeed understand the differences between those things which are staged and contrived to represent reality and those which are directly recorded as actual events in progress, sans commentary and for all practical purposes impossible to manipulate, there can be no equivocation over the facts brought to light by the “underground” media coming out of the immediate crisis in Iran via internet resources.
Such communications are as close to naked truth as media technology can deliver, in a revolution that will be televised, whether it fails or succeeds, without stage blood or the kind of editing designed to evoke a predetermined emotional reaction.
This is information that demands a response to be applied in a real-life situation; the stakes are genuine, and human freedom and dignity hang in the balance. The whole world is, as always, watching, while the response so far from the American Executive Office is most generously described as “measured.”
Train’s coming…
–SG
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18 Comments
Such communications are as close to naked truth as media technology can deliver, in a revolution that will be televised, whether it fails or succeeds, without stage blood or the kind of editing designed to evoke a predetermined emotional reaction.
It's more than ironic that this is the very information that we are told by the media we can not trust, simply because it hasn't been edited prior to our consumption…
interesting post- the illusion, or perception of reality is much more important than the actual history itself- the Tet offensive in Vietnam is a classic example. It is why the Left so totally wants to control the dialectic. Also, too it is why they do not tolerate dissent. If you control the flow of media you can shape the perception.
Only problem is sometimes it's hard to control…
"They represent reality. They do not create reality; they are not a direct experience of reality; they do not encompass the fullness and mystery of reality, or of life and death. They are not meant to serve as a replacement for reality."
While the examples you gave might correspond to this, I really have – for many, many years – viewed the pinnacle of art as a kind of super-reality: A pluperfect aspiration of the human soul. Some examples of super-reality in art would be – in my opinion, of course – Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and his late string quartets, J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue, Musical Offering and B Minor Mass (And just gobs of other music he wrote!), Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, 21st Piano Concerto, and Requiem, Haydn's 104th (!!!) Symphony… OK, I could go on like this all day.
Of course, I'm a musician, so I picked a lot of music there, but the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts – all of those – depict, to me, a kind of pluperfect heroic ideal. Then there's Van Gogh's Starry Night, Michangelo's Pieta and David… Again, I could continue.
The point I'm trying to make is that art – at the very highest level – is no poor imitation of life, but rather it is the human spirit's longing for a more perfect one.
Dang, that's sappy. LOL!
Dang! With all the big words and obscure references in the story and comments, it's hard fer this ole redneck ta cypher.
We are witnessing hard video of a people revolting against our enemy whether we like it or not, Islamo-fascism and it’s being dismissed by the left as, “well that’s their problem. What do you want us to do about it?” We now have the ultimate pop president and as was so aptly put by Warhol is in the middle of his fifteen minutes of fame, a dangerous combination indeed. The opportunity for the overthrow of the mad Mullahs must not be squandered this could have positive ramifications for America and it’s allies and perhaps put the Genie back in the bottle that was released thirty years ago by another observer of events Jimmy Carter. The train is indeed coming brother and I fear Barry’s going to miss it.
[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOkay Class, stop sniffing your Sharpies in a futile attempt to reach a state of intoxication and try to take notes using that writing instrument and what brain cells you have left. Remember, if you can, that information you believe to be useless is, indeed, of no value whatsoever if you are unable to apply it in real-life situations, or at the very least for pc gaming “cheats.” Otherwise your very existence is no better than a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any human being, past or [...]
"The opportunity for the overthrow of the mad Mullahs must not be squandered this could have positive ramifications for America and it’s allies and perhaps put the Genie back in the bottle that was released thirty years ago by another observer of events Jimmy Carter."
If we intervene now, all we will get is dead American soldiers and even MORE dead Iranians. You think the protestors have it bad NOW? Wait until the Mullahs can plausibly re-frame this as "them" versus "American puppet-protestors" – it won't just be a firefight, it'll be a HOLOCAUST.
Whether you think it's "justly earned" or not (I do not, for the record) the fact is our poor standing in the Middle East makes our allegiance a TOXIC thing for even the most vibrant peoples-uprising. The only hope for the protestors – short of the Iranian Army to refuses to fight it's own people (which is already almost happening – the Ayatollahs are having to call independent militias to do the shooting), turning on their leaders and activating a coup – is for a neighboring Muslim nation unfriendly to Iran to come to their aid.
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If WE do it, we'll only be accelerating their destruction… do you honestly want to see these brave people massacred just so you can feel "heroic" about your country "standing up" to the Mullahs?
anti,
That is at once unhelpful, uncalled for and bordering on the slanderous. You owe the people you're speaking of, however indirectly, an apology.
You obviously think it's a waste of time arguing with us, Anti. Why don't you drop the straw men and ad-hominems and go do something more useful, like baking a pie?
Well, in the event that we find any Republicans who actually do eat children alive, we'll owe him an apology.
Bob, I’m not talking about invasion here, but in no uncertain terms let the freedom fighters in the streets of Iran know that we are on their side. We have an opportunity that may not appear for another generation to lance the theocracy of the mad Ayatollahs of Iran. It must not be squandered on the hope that somehow Akmadenanutjob and his present day fascist can be negotiated with and take a position somewhere sort of, “death to America,” maybe they’ll just let us bleed for a while?
Bob, also as far as Auntie is concerned no one takes him seriously, but I’m sure you know that. I wouldn’t want him on my team either.
The Mullahs already re-frame any problem as a "them versus foreign meddlers" issue all the time. All brutal regimes do it. You should not assume that Iranians are too stupid to know who is oppressing and impoverishing whom, and why.
If the Mullahs are holding back from ordering an all-out massacre they do so out of their own calculations. What holds them back is the hope that they can survive using other methods. Probably they prefer to pick off enough protestors after dark, out of sight, as they have been doing for many years. If they start the "holocaust" you are talking about – assuming they can – it will be because they have their backs to the wall, no matter how they got there. They do not buy on their own cover stories. Neither do their henchmen (they are already implicated in all kinds of crimes). And their victims certainly would not believe the excuses. But arabs and western liberals may.
So the question remains: should we want this regime to go down hard now or should we want it to survive to acquire nuclear weapons – holocaust postponed but not cancelled? Because it will not survive for ever.
And what do you live for, except hating conservatives and spreading your insane conspiracy theories? You don´t even care enough about Iranians to stop foaming at the mouth for a second.
Antifascist – you write as if you are the prototype Pavlov's dog of the leftist media. Conservatives want no such thing as to slaughter innocent Iranians. Do you honestly believe this? Conservatives of the American tradition support FREEDOM – let us get that little chimera of the left that conservatives want to oppress people out of the way right now.
By the way, did you read the article, or do you advocate the free world stand by and watch a Second Holocaust at the hands of a nuclear Iran?
If you think this is a frivolous charge, did you read the news that Al Qaeda would turn Pakistani nukes against the U.S.? Terrorists and their sponsors are not imaginary arch-villains created by conservatives. They are real and they kill people who do not accord with their ideology.
As for being "anti-fascist," I can't wait to read your critique of the Obama administration. Please do yourself a favor and learn the definition of fascism and stop applying it to American conservatives, for it is risible, to say the least.
I wish I could be on these protesters side I do. But these were the same people that praised 9/11 in the streets, the same people that if a book came out that offended them would be in the streets burning cars. Its not about democracy or a rigged election, its the protest of the day next week will be something else. This is just my opinion of a culture that hates everything american or western. They hated us for Iraq remember? So sorry if Im not sold. I say F!@K em let em burn.
[...] Iran Is Not Film School by Scott Graves [...]
no no no, would not want any of his pies as Boxer keeps sticking her thumbs in them.
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