On a Second Level
A while back, I recommended a few movies and a TV show to friend of mine (Fight Club, Donnie Darko, Angel). He enjoyed them, but not for the same reasons I did. He found them confusing and certainly did not see the insights and nuances that I saw in them. This experience happens rather frequently to me. Whether it’s a metaphor, an insight or an irony, people often do not get what I get and do not see what I see. Sure, one could just arrogantly claim that one’s friends are not bright, but that is certainly not the case. What is worrisome is that there is the possibility that I am imagining complex order in what very well may be chaos.
There was an old episode of “227” where Mary takes a part time job as a cleaning lady at a museum. She leaves her rag and Windex on a podium and, as one could expect, it receives rave reviews as brilliant art. This plot has been repeated several times in other shows ad nauseam. The message and humor of the episode is that supposed “intellectuals”, because of their pedantry, are reading into things that are not really there and the rag and Windex is a comical extreme.
In opposition to people not seeing what I see, I do occasionally come across people who interpret things exactly as I see them. This is an incredible comfort perhaps because we discover that we are not alone in the universe or perhaps because two perspectives establish a more solid truth. Unfortunately, Jim Jones has shown us that just because many people see something, it does not mean it is really there. The intellectuals in the “227” episode all were in agreement, wrongly, that Mary’s art was great.
Perhaps what is more disturbing is that if one can read into something that is not there in art, one can read into something that is not there in life. We may all be searching for higher meanings, paths, destiny, morality and love that are not really there. Like a charlatan with Tarot cards or a horoscope, we may be finding order in complexity when there is actually only chaos and randomness. In fact, this is probably the case.
At least in the case of art, we can go to the artist, the creator, and ask what the intension of the piece was. Artist almost certainly had an intension when creating something or he would not have created it in the first place. If the viewer’s interpretation corresponds with the artists, than the interpretation was correct.
With life, we do not get that luxury.
There was an old episode of “227” where Mary takes a part time job as a cleaning lady at a museum. She leaves her rag and Windex on a podium and, as one could expect, it receives rave reviews as brilliant art. This plot has been repeated several times in other shows ad nauseam. The message and humor of the episode is that supposed “intellectuals”, because of their pedantry, are reading into things that are not really there and the rag and Windex is a comical extreme.
In opposition to people not seeing what I see, I do occasionally come across people who interpret things exactly as I see them. This is an incredible comfort perhaps because we discover that we are not alone in the universe or perhaps because two perspectives establish a more solid truth. Unfortunately, Jim Jones has shown us that just because many people see something, it does not mean it is really there. The intellectuals in the “227” episode all were in agreement, wrongly, that Mary’s art was great.
Perhaps what is more disturbing is that if one can read into something that is not there in art, one can read into something that is not there in life. We may all be searching for higher meanings, paths, destiny, morality and love that are not really there. Like a charlatan with Tarot cards or a horoscope, we may be finding order in complexity when there is actually only chaos and randomness. In fact, this is probably the case.
At least in the case of art, we can go to the artist, the creator, and ask what the intension of the piece was. Artist almost certainly had an intension when creating something or he would not have created it in the first place. If the viewer’s interpretation corresponds with the artists, than the interpretation was correct.
With life, we do not get that luxury.
posted by American Dilettante at
11:59 AM
2 Comments:
There's an old saw that if two people believe something, there's some truth to it, no matter how wrong it seems, while if only one person believes something, they're just crazy and/or wrong.
So, most likely you and your friend both are on target to some degree. Perhaps the material in some cases works on different levels for different people.
Major kudos for the "227" reference, very obscure, very on point.
And don't discount the chaotic mess that can result when two oddball, contrarian thinkers find they think differently about something.
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