Writer's Block: Revolutionary Thought
Nov. 10th, 2008 02:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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This isn't a tough question to answer, but it is one to explain. Without a doubt, I believe that the new "opiate of the masses" is media. Not "the" media, though they certainly play a part. It's the rise of entertainment in almost everything -- the increasing number and scope of spectacle in our movies and TV shows through special effects and CGI and the like, the greater number of outlets for escapism, the misuses and questionable applications of technology, even the cynical idea that even our news and politics must become epic and monumental in order to engage anyone's interest.
Certainly there are many upsides to the growing, intertwined role of media and technology in our daily lives, don't get me wrong. Special effects and CGI have certainly expanded what we can do with various media of artistic expression, allowing visionaries to better meet their visions (see: Wall-E or Finding Nemo). The Internet has certainly made it easier for people to connect with other people around the world, as well as to discover fresh ideas about anything under the sun. It has also certainly made it possible to create home-grown entertainment. Musicians on independent labels have been able to become better-known, and I for one am certainly grateful for that. And I certainly do not agree with the implication by various critics, like Hal Niedzviecki in his book Hello, I'm Special, that media has made us akin to walking zombies, unengaged with the world unless it's a spectacle bigger and better than the last. (For the record, Niedzviecki never said it outright, but if you read it, it is very much implied.)
But there are huge problems as well. Style has seemed to replace substance in many movies and TV shows -- I'm not saying they were better before CGI came around, but in many of the best movies ever made, their style was unique, mesmerizing every time you looked at it, and didn't hinge on some technological oddity, but rather on the tools -- and the people -- you had. I'm reminded of the opening scene in the uncut version of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, in which we see the thug plant the bomb in the car, and then two people getting in the car and driving around Tijuana, darting behind buildings and moving closer and further away from the camera, with the music and background noise constantly changing in a pure sensory mess. All in one long, continuous shot, too. Would any run-of-the-mill Hollywood film, even a "legacy" film intended for the Oscars, do this today? That scene was intense and disorienting, and no amount of impossible acrobatics or "bullet time" could make it better.
Not to mention that so-called "social networking" sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are ultimately pointless are are extremely ineffective in order to get new people to actually communicate with one another. Or that the rise of blogging and Internet media and "watchdogs" means we get to be our own news networks, with all our biases intact and any notion of fairness and responsible journalism thrown out the window. Or that the Internet in general is fostering a sort of tribalism, where the barrage of ideas and opinions creates a "white noise," causing people to block out everything but that which they like and is tried-and-true, form loose associations (not "communities") of people who share those opinions and tastes, and attack anyone else who isn't a part of this "tribe" all the while not realizing there are real human beings just like them behind those usernames and avatars. Or that it can be that easy to forget that. Or that having a blog on Blogger or WordPress or even LiveJournal that, I believe, fosters a sense of entitlement and self-importance (guilty as charged). Or the amount of porn, shock sites, hacking, phishing, identity theft, and trolling on the Internet. Or that all of these things -- movies, music, TV shows, Internet culture -- and more have become distractions, lowering our average overall attention span, hindering both productivity and individual growth. Or that the news crawls, flashy graphics, dramatic music, holograms, and instructions regarding "iReports" and podcasts and Twitter are injecting entertainment in news and politics on TV, with disastrous consequences. (Not that Obama's elections wasn't worthy of at least some pomp, but that's besides the point.)
Has anybody really enjoyed a movie recently? Like, in the last five years or so? One that really blew you away, made you think, went straight to your gut, and will stay with you for the rest of your life without a doubt? (Not counting The Dark Knight, of course, since that movie was pure and utter horse shit.) Or have a TV show that you absolutely must watch every week, not because you simply got suckered into a convoluted story line (I'm looking at you, Lost fans), but because it's actually good? You couple this with an ever-increasing workload for workers and students overall, and you breed a culture that works hard, plays hard, and enjoys neither.
So in more than just one way, media and entertainment and "infotainment" have become the new opiates of the masses, because when they first emerged after World War II they were fun and exciting, but as time went on and the spectacles got bigger and bigger and our cultural landscape became more and more saturated with stuff coming from a media industry increasingly consolidated in a few large corporations, our society as a whole became addicted to it. Now it almost seems as if we stop we get some rather painful withdrawal. I ought to know -- I don't watch any TV at all while I'm at college, but I know that whenever I come home I will invariably watch it at least somewhat, usually late at night when all the repeats and utter trash are on. And like all addictions, eventually it becomes unhealthy to the point of needing rehab.
I know that I probably made those "mindless zombie" implications I just talked about, but let me say that whatever misgivings I have about the state and role of the media-entertainment complex today doesn't equate with criticizing other people's tastes. Many people have no "deeper needs" that would be fulfilled through alternative media or independent/foreign films or an intense study of Eastern religions or the appreciation of certain styles of art (e.g. Kandinsky over Kinkade, or Moby over Toby [Keith]). Beauty and eyes of beholders and all that good stuff. And, at least in my humble and admittedly worthless opinion, there are certainly plenty of good "mainstream" movies and TV shows and music out there, even recently (Wall-E, anyone?). And there are plenty of people who don't like musicians on independent labels or movies made by some Romanian guy they've never heard of. That doesn't mean they're automatically less intelligent, less sympathetic, less friendly, less beautiful, less moral, less whatever.
That said, I think we can use some cultural rehab. Creating our own entertainment instead of relying on what other people do. Refusing to believe that pumping your fists at punk concerts is somehow more rebellious than civil disobedience. Spending more time with friends or family, or out in nature, or someplace completely unknown, thereby creating our own meaningful experiences rather than living through fictional ones vicariously. Learning how to explore new ideas with an open mind rather than attacking them without second thought. Learning how to form meaningful relationships with other people and with society, rather than cursory ones based on the shared liking of a TV series or band or political ideology. Encouraging fairness and not sensationalism in journalism. And probably most importantly, shielding our children from the media as much as possible and allowing them to express themselves creatively and come up with their own ideas. Much of our entertainment today may be the fulfillment of some deep personal fantasies we all share, but the media has become so pervasive today that their stories have become our fantasies, replacing whatever we may have had before. As a result, all our deepest longings and wishes become homogenous -- almost everybody shares them.
Why is this such a bad thing? You see, I've been watching a good number of Hayao Miyazaki films recently, and the first thing I notice about them is that there's always something different about them from other, more "typical" animated or fantasy movies. Not just in their settings or characters, though they certainly play a part. It's their sheer refusal to follow convention, to give the audience what they expect and then applauding them for knowing. Characters that seem evil at first but later turn out to have their friendlier and more humorous sides show up (and vice versa), a sort of sublime Victor Erice-like quality throughout, the indescribable way in which they avoid archetypal characters and situations and places -- I could go on and on. To put it all together, I get the impression that Miyazaki was hardly affected by the same old plots told only slightly differently each time, characters that seem implausibly "cool," or letting CGI or special effects to affect his movies in a way that would hurt rather than help his vision. I would venture to say that this is the main reason why his movies are acclaimed so highly, and that he is considered one of the greatest directors of our time. If we don't allow ourselves to tell the stories we want to tell -- the ones in our dreams, our daydreams, our nightmares, our wishes, our longings, our fantasies, our experiences, our ideas, our identities -- there's no way we can truly affect other people, make them think, make them feel something deep inside them, make them inspired to speak up against the problems and injustices of the world. Instead, we have people like the ones I've seen while lurking here on LJ: people who have let celebrities and other fictional characters created by others invade their thoughts and dreams, leading them to live lives at least somewhat unengaged with the rest of the universe (much like a drug addict disconnecting from the world the minute he gets his daily hit) and to churn out mediocre works of "creativity." I can't say I know what's best for people I hardly know, but I'm fairly certain the pervasive media culture today can't have at least some negative effect on our psyches. If we really don't want this to progress any further, it's about time we checked ourselves in to rehab.
Certainly there are many upsides to the growing, intertwined role of media and technology in our daily lives, don't get me wrong. Special effects and CGI have certainly expanded what we can do with various media of artistic expression, allowing visionaries to better meet their visions (see: Wall-E or Finding Nemo). The Internet has certainly made it easier for people to connect with other people around the world, as well as to discover fresh ideas about anything under the sun. It has also certainly made it possible to create home-grown entertainment. Musicians on independent labels have been able to become better-known, and I for one am certainly grateful for that. And I certainly do not agree with the implication by various critics, like Hal Niedzviecki in his book Hello, I'm Special, that media has made us akin to walking zombies, unengaged with the world unless it's a spectacle bigger and better than the last. (For the record, Niedzviecki never said it outright, but if you read it, it is very much implied.)
But there are huge problems as well. Style has seemed to replace substance in many movies and TV shows -- I'm not saying they were better before CGI came around, but in many of the best movies ever made, their style was unique, mesmerizing every time you looked at it, and didn't hinge on some technological oddity, but rather on the tools -- and the people -- you had. I'm reminded of the opening scene in the uncut version of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, in which we see the thug plant the bomb in the car, and then two people getting in the car and driving around Tijuana, darting behind buildings and moving closer and further away from the camera, with the music and background noise constantly changing in a pure sensory mess. All in one long, continuous shot, too. Would any run-of-the-mill Hollywood film, even a "legacy" film intended for the Oscars, do this today? That scene was intense and disorienting, and no amount of impossible acrobatics or "bullet time" could make it better.
Not to mention that so-called "social networking" sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are ultimately pointless are are extremely ineffective in order to get new people to actually communicate with one another. Or that the rise of blogging and Internet media and "watchdogs" means we get to be our own news networks, with all our biases intact and any notion of fairness and responsible journalism thrown out the window. Or that the Internet in general is fostering a sort of tribalism, where the barrage of ideas and opinions creates a "white noise," causing people to block out everything but that which they like and is tried-and-true, form loose associations (not "communities") of people who share those opinions and tastes, and attack anyone else who isn't a part of this "tribe" all the while not realizing there are real human beings just like them behind those usernames and avatars. Or that it can be that easy to forget that. Or that having a blog on Blogger or WordPress or even LiveJournal that, I believe, fosters a sense of entitlement and self-importance (guilty as charged). Or the amount of porn, shock sites, hacking, phishing, identity theft, and trolling on the Internet. Or that all of these things -- movies, music, TV shows, Internet culture -- and more have become distractions, lowering our average overall attention span, hindering both productivity and individual growth. Or that the news crawls, flashy graphics, dramatic music, holograms, and instructions regarding "iReports" and podcasts and Twitter are injecting entertainment in news and politics on TV, with disastrous consequences. (Not that Obama's elections wasn't worthy of at least some pomp, but that's besides the point.)
Has anybody really enjoyed a movie recently? Like, in the last five years or so? One that really blew you away, made you think, went straight to your gut, and will stay with you for the rest of your life without a doubt? (Not counting The Dark Knight, of course, since that movie was pure and utter horse shit.) Or have a TV show that you absolutely must watch every week, not because you simply got suckered into a convoluted story line (I'm looking at you, Lost fans), but because it's actually good? You couple this with an ever-increasing workload for workers and students overall, and you breed a culture that works hard, plays hard, and enjoys neither.
So in more than just one way, media and entertainment and "infotainment" have become the new opiates of the masses, because when they first emerged after World War II they were fun and exciting, but as time went on and the spectacles got bigger and bigger and our cultural landscape became more and more saturated with stuff coming from a media industry increasingly consolidated in a few large corporations, our society as a whole became addicted to it. Now it almost seems as if we stop we get some rather painful withdrawal. I ought to know -- I don't watch any TV at all while I'm at college, but I know that whenever I come home I will invariably watch it at least somewhat, usually late at night when all the repeats and utter trash are on. And like all addictions, eventually it becomes unhealthy to the point of needing rehab.
I know that I probably made those "mindless zombie" implications I just talked about, but let me say that whatever misgivings I have about the state and role of the media-entertainment complex today doesn't equate with criticizing other people's tastes. Many people have no "deeper needs" that would be fulfilled through alternative media or independent/foreign films or an intense study of Eastern religions or the appreciation of certain styles of art (e.g. Kandinsky over Kinkade, or Moby over Toby [Keith]). Beauty and eyes of beholders and all that good stuff. And, at least in my humble and admittedly worthless opinion, there are certainly plenty of good "mainstream" movies and TV shows and music out there, even recently (Wall-E, anyone?). And there are plenty of people who don't like musicians on independent labels or movies made by some Romanian guy they've never heard of. That doesn't mean they're automatically less intelligent, less sympathetic, less friendly, less beautiful, less moral, less whatever.
That said, I think we can use some cultural rehab. Creating our own entertainment instead of relying on what other people do. Refusing to believe that pumping your fists at punk concerts is somehow more rebellious than civil disobedience. Spending more time with friends or family, or out in nature, or someplace completely unknown, thereby creating our own meaningful experiences rather than living through fictional ones vicariously. Learning how to explore new ideas with an open mind rather than attacking them without second thought. Learning how to form meaningful relationships with other people and with society, rather than cursory ones based on the shared liking of a TV series or band or political ideology. Encouraging fairness and not sensationalism in journalism. And probably most importantly, shielding our children from the media as much as possible and allowing them to express themselves creatively and come up with their own ideas. Much of our entertainment today may be the fulfillment of some deep personal fantasies we all share, but the media has become so pervasive today that their stories have become our fantasies, replacing whatever we may have had before. As a result, all our deepest longings and wishes become homogenous -- almost everybody shares them.
Why is this such a bad thing? You see, I've been watching a good number of Hayao Miyazaki films recently, and the first thing I notice about them is that there's always something different about them from other, more "typical" animated or fantasy movies. Not just in their settings or characters, though they certainly play a part. It's their sheer refusal to follow convention, to give the audience what they expect and then applauding them for knowing. Characters that seem evil at first but later turn out to have their friendlier and more humorous sides show up (and vice versa), a sort of sublime Victor Erice-like quality throughout, the indescribable way in which they avoid archetypal characters and situations and places -- I could go on and on. To put it all together, I get the impression that Miyazaki was hardly affected by the same old plots told only slightly differently each time, characters that seem implausibly "cool," or letting CGI or special effects to affect his movies in a way that would hurt rather than help his vision. I would venture to say that this is the main reason why his movies are acclaimed so highly, and that he is considered one of the greatest directors of our time. If we don't allow ourselves to tell the stories we want to tell -- the ones in our dreams, our daydreams, our nightmares, our wishes, our longings, our fantasies, our experiences, our ideas, our identities -- there's no way we can truly affect other people, make them think, make them feel something deep inside them, make them inspired to speak up against the problems and injustices of the world. Instead, we have people like the ones I've seen while lurking here on LJ: people who have let celebrities and other fictional characters created by others invade their thoughts and dreams, leading them to live lives at least somewhat unengaged with the rest of the universe (much like a drug addict disconnecting from the world the minute he gets his daily hit) and to churn out mediocre works of "creativity." I can't say I know what's best for people I hardly know, but I'm fairly certain the pervasive media culture today can't have at least some negative effect on our psyches. If we really don't want this to progress any further, it's about time we checked ourselves in to rehab.
