Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Searching....

If you like violent movies, scary movies, bloody movies, or any other forms of entertainment along those lines, and you are reading this, please do not feel like I am attacking you. In what I am about to say, I am only presenting my point of view. I do not pretend to understand all of the reasons why people may like certain things. I only know what I see and think, and this is a presentation of just that.

Escalated violence, blood, horror, those things do not appeal to me. Even fake-looking things, because those fake-looking things represent something real. The idea of being entertained by these things is something that I cannot wrap my mind around. I have tried. Maybe I haven't tried so much to find entertainment in them, but more something valuable. Like an important lesson. But I have yet to find that valuable something in 99% of the cases.

The world is messy. The world is scary. The world is dangerous. The world is often ugly. I find evidence of this every day and I do not promote the idea of hiding reality. We don't need to live in a state of illusion.

I think those extreme horrors should be left in the world, though. There are plenty of them, real ones, already in existence. It's hard enough to stomach them when we encounter them in our lives and the lives of the people around us, what is the purpose in creating more?

I think that we should constantly be seeking good. We shouldn't ignore the bad when it comes to our attention and deny its existence, but there really is no need to go out looking for it. It makes itself known of its own accord. The good is often harder to spot. And the good is what is worth striving for. Art, then, should be a representation of good. I'm not saying that there can't within art exist a struggle. If there was no struggle, the point would be lost. How can good triumph if there is nothing for it to triumph over? But I don't go to art to get a full picture of the despair of the world. The world gives me a sufficient picture of the despair found within it, and it is therefore enough that art acknowledges its existence without having to display every gruesome detail. I can fill in the blanks. But like I have already said, good stuff is harder to find most of the time. Art reminds me that there is good, and it helps me to train my senses to better be able to find it in the world around me.

It seems to me most of the time that my thinking is in the minority. Maybe I'm just ultra sensitive. Maybe the majority of the population out there doesn't find themselves daily struggling beneath the weight of the horror and tragedy in the world. Maybe they're able to deal with it better. Maybe good things aren't so hard for them to find. Or maybe they're even more depressed than I've ever been, and don't know what to do about it. I really don't know.

What I do know is right now I feel a heavy burden of sadness over the tragic things of the world, and I need to be reminded that that's not all there is.

1 comment:

  1. This is good. I agree with you wholeheartedly. And you're giving me fresh inspiration for integrity in the art I'll be creating soon.

    ReplyDelete

I like conversation. Your comments promote conversation. You know what to do. Vielen Dank.