Pavlov's Blogs
The Importance of Being Earnest (In Art)
"What if the worst is true? What if there's no God, and you only go around once and that's it? Don't you want to be part of that experience? ... I should stop ruining my life searching for answers I'm never gonna get, and just enjoy it while it lasts." ~~ Woody Allen, 'Hannah and her Sisters'
So. I double-majored in zoology and journalism. Science, and journalism. Two fields that are arguable extremely important. Potentially, either could make people happier and healthier or even save lives. And despite this, I spend most of my time watching and making movies or listening to and playing music.
Friends in both fields often look down on this, and a few have even outright attacked it. How can I waste your time with that sort of thing, when I could be devoting my time to something more important?
Conceptually, they have a point. A movie will probably never save a life (unless you count Woody Allen’s character in Hannah and Her Sisters). Same goes for music. Furthermore, artists like Alanis Morissette may actually CAUSE deaths, whether they be traffic accidents or suicides.
SO. Why the fuck bother?
Well, hell. They're just damn fun! Moreover, paintings and film can be aesthetically pleasing. Writing can be lyrically intriguing. Plays, books, music and movies are entertainment, social activities, bonding experiences, escape from reality. They give us a chance to put ourselves in a time or place we might never otherwise witness. Documentaries and history books can tell us about early 19th Century London, but it won’t give us the flavor of the society, as a Dickens novel can. Same for Jack London’s Alaska. And part of Lawrence of Arabia’s popularity can be attributed to its exotic setting, and it started a trend of adventure films that still carries today. We can see Africa or Europe or New Zealand or outer space.
But for the true cynic, this isn’t enough. “Fuck all that. It’s not important. Go out and help with that AIDS relief President Bush keeps pretending we’re sending to Africa.”
And though that’s way more important, it’s not necessarily realistic. Not everyone is peace corps material. From an artist’s perspective, there are times when I just HAVE to write. I have to sit down at my computer, even though it’s 2:30 in the morning (like, for example, right now) and start punching those keys. This is not a choice; if I don’t write, I get frustrated and start to space out at inopportune moments. Say, when I’m driving. Or having sex. Or driving AND having sex. No matter what, sooner or later it becomes a health concern for myself and others around me.
I assume the same is true for other types of artists.
So, if we HAVE to do what we do, then why is it important? What rationale can we offer for our petty pursuits?
Ah, lucky you. I have an answer! And you’re going to read it. Because that other paragraph was a bitch to get through and if you’ve read this far you’re probably committed to finishing it. If not, eh, screw it.
So let’s say, forget that movies and paintings and music and books are hella fun. We’ve all seen or heard or read some that aren’t.
I argue that they can offer us much, much more. To be more specific, they can explore complexities in relationships and in ourselves that science can’t touch.
For example, let’s take the silly science of Sociology. What a goddamn waste of time. Here’s an entire SCIENCE founded on making ridiculous observations, and then putting a percentage on the results. Like, most middle-class white Christians with conservative parents are going to be Republican. Fuck that. I’M a middle-class white Christian with conservative parents, and I’m liberal as hell. As are many of my friends. So nuts to that. REAL science gets an accurate result. Take physics. If I drop an elephant off a 100-story building, it will speed toward the ground and liquefy on impact EVERY TIME I DO IT. 100%. How’s THAT for a statistic?
What disturbs me most about Sociology is that it takes things writers have said for YEARS and steals the credit for it. Another example: ages and ages ago, Dave Barry wrote a hilarious column about the social behavior of men in public restrooms. Most men, if possible, will leave at least one urinal between himself and another man, even if it means going to a toilet instead of using the urinal. They stare at the wall, don’t talk to one another, etc … I told everyone about it, because it was very insightful and very witty.
Years later, a friend of mine comes to me with a recent study done by a sociologist. He studied the behavior of men in urinals and found – GASP! – that most men will leave at least one urinal between himself and another man, even if it means going to a toilet instead of using the urinal. And was Dave Barry’s name credited anywhere in that piece? No. Because scientists are greedy whores.
Anyway, this wasn’t meant to be an attack on sociologists everywhere. My REAL point is that art is often light years ahead of science.
Science, in our lifetime, will NEVER be able to explain the jumbled, bittersweet feelings that ALL of us have after a break-up. Yet Woody Allen does it in an hour and a half in Annie Hall. Or the melancholy missing of a significant other, as in the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday.’ It can’t define teen angst better than Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” or Green Day’s “Burnout.” And I haven’t seen a convincing scientific argument as to why the human mind perceives three-dimensional shapes from mere dots or lines, as in the paintings of Seurat or Picasso or just about anyone else.
And this is the true glory of art. The master artist, no matter what the profession, can explore these relationships we all share. They can examine subjects far too complex for science, using methods equally outside the scientific realm. We may not agree as to the artists’ success, but that’s part of the fun. Perspectives and interpretations and opinions can shift over time – a phenomenon which in itself suggests science can't learn it all.
So all you too-serious bastards need to calm down. I believe a strong society understands the value of both science and art, and I encourage everyone to respect both pursuits.
Peace and love,
Nas-T
"What if the worst is true? What if there's no God, and you only go around once and that's it? Don't you want to be part of that experience? ... I should stop ruining my life searching for answers I'm never gonna get, and just enjoy it while it lasts." ~~ Woody Allen, 'Hannah and her Sisters'
So. I double-majored in zoology and journalism. Science, and journalism. Two fields that are arguable extremely important. Potentially, either could make people happier and healthier or even save lives. And despite this, I spend most of my time watching and making movies or listening to and playing music.
Friends in both fields often look down on this, and a few have even outright attacked it. How can I waste your time with that sort of thing, when I could be devoting my time to something more important?
Conceptually, they have a point. A movie will probably never save a life (unless you count Woody Allen’s character in Hannah and Her Sisters). Same goes for music. Furthermore, artists like Alanis Morissette may actually CAUSE deaths, whether they be traffic accidents or suicides.
SO. Why the fuck bother?
Well, hell. They're just damn fun! Moreover, paintings and film can be aesthetically pleasing. Writing can be lyrically intriguing. Plays, books, music and movies are entertainment, social activities, bonding experiences, escape from reality. They give us a chance to put ourselves in a time or place we might never otherwise witness. Documentaries and history books can tell us about early 19th Century London, but it won’t give us the flavor of the society, as a Dickens novel can. Same for Jack London’s Alaska. And part of Lawrence of Arabia’s popularity can be attributed to its exotic setting, and it started a trend of adventure films that still carries today. We can see Africa or Europe or New Zealand or outer space.
But for the true cynic, this isn’t enough. “Fuck all that. It’s not important. Go out and help with that AIDS relief President Bush keeps pretending we’re sending to Africa.”
And though that’s way more important, it’s not necessarily realistic. Not everyone is peace corps material. From an artist’s perspective, there are times when I just HAVE to write. I have to sit down at my computer, even though it’s 2:30 in the morning (like, for example, right now) and start punching those keys. This is not a choice; if I don’t write, I get frustrated and start to space out at inopportune moments. Say, when I’m driving. Or having sex. Or driving AND having sex. No matter what, sooner or later it becomes a health concern for myself and others around me.
I assume the same is true for other types of artists.
So, if we HAVE to do what we do, then why is it important? What rationale can we offer for our petty pursuits?
Ah, lucky you. I have an answer! And you’re going to read it. Because that other paragraph was a bitch to get through and if you’ve read this far you’re probably committed to finishing it. If not, eh, screw it.
So let’s say, forget that movies and paintings and music and books are hella fun. We’ve all seen or heard or read some that aren’t.
I argue that they can offer us much, much more. To be more specific, they can explore complexities in relationships and in ourselves that science can’t touch.
For example, let’s take the silly science of Sociology. What a goddamn waste of time. Here’s an entire SCIENCE founded on making ridiculous observations, and then putting a percentage on the results. Like, most middle-class white Christians with conservative parents are going to be Republican. Fuck that. I’M a middle-class white Christian with conservative parents, and I’m liberal as hell. As are many of my friends. So nuts to that. REAL science gets an accurate result. Take physics. If I drop an elephant off a 100-story building, it will speed toward the ground and liquefy on impact EVERY TIME I DO IT. 100%. How’s THAT for a statistic?
What disturbs me most about Sociology is that it takes things writers have said for YEARS and steals the credit for it. Another example: ages and ages ago, Dave Barry wrote a hilarious column about the social behavior of men in public restrooms. Most men, if possible, will leave at least one urinal between himself and another man, even if it means going to a toilet instead of using the urinal. They stare at the wall, don’t talk to one another, etc … I told everyone about it, because it was very insightful and very witty.
Years later, a friend of mine comes to me with a recent study done by a sociologist. He studied the behavior of men in urinals and found – GASP! – that most men will leave at least one urinal between himself and another man, even if it means going to a toilet instead of using the urinal. And was Dave Barry’s name credited anywhere in that piece? No. Because scientists are greedy whores.
Anyway, this wasn’t meant to be an attack on sociologists everywhere. My REAL point is that art is often light years ahead of science.
Science, in our lifetime, will NEVER be able to explain the jumbled, bittersweet feelings that ALL of us have after a break-up. Yet Woody Allen does it in an hour and a half in Annie Hall. Or the melancholy missing of a significant other, as in the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday.’ It can’t define teen angst better than Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” or Green Day’s “Burnout.” And I haven’t seen a convincing scientific argument as to why the human mind perceives three-dimensional shapes from mere dots or lines, as in the paintings of Seurat or Picasso or just about anyone else.
And this is the true glory of art. The master artist, no matter what the profession, can explore these relationships we all share. They can examine subjects far too complex for science, using methods equally outside the scientific realm. We may not agree as to the artists’ success, but that’s part of the fun. Perspectives and interpretations and opinions can shift over time – a phenomenon which in itself suggests science can't learn it all.
So all you too-serious bastards need to calm down. I believe a strong society understands the value of both science and art, and I encourage everyone to respect both pursuits.
Peace and love,
Nas-T
posted by Sketch E. at 4:03 AM
3 Comments:
As someone who sort of works as a journalist (ha! ha!), let me tell you -- while it can serve a wonderful public service or whatever, alot of the time it's gossip fodder and scandalous drivel.
So do what you want and what makes you happy -- an awesome movie that makes people think has more value to humanity than some article about a perv going to jail for 8 years.
In conclusion: don't let the bastards get you down :)
(And, your title kicks ass)
--Lisa
Phenomenal Trevor!
Haha, I guess journalists can be whores, too. Anything to titillate the public, even if it does little to inform them. Thanks for the compliments!
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