Sunday, December 23, 2018
Merry Kaiju and a Happy New Year
The 12 Kaiju's of Christmas for me include monsters, guardians, robots, prehistoric beasts and protectors of his people. These are treasured moments and memories in my life, and I have to say, if you look closely, most of these creatures came about a long time ago. I am told by my son, who I love, that I am old. Well perhaps.
But recently, I have great hope. I've loved movies about the beasts and ideas and genres of my past, but, recently, Pacific Rim, Godzilla 2014, and Kong Skull Island give me as much or more joy as those of my childhood. And while some people hated, or did not like any of these, I am not saying they are fucking greatest movies in the cinematic history of mankind. Movies by Tim Burton, Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang, Ridley Scott, and precious few directors don't just appear out of the blue. We have to enjoy some movies for what they are, others for what they did with what they were, and enjoy those few gems we have a chance to see.
Tim Burton once referred to Godzilla Versus King Kong as a cathartic experience, or even, a joyful experience to his sensitivities as a child. I so agree.
And while it happens that not every movie that gets a series continues to be great, I like the movies I've seen recently and have great vast expectations for the future.
LONG LIVE KAIJU. ALL HAIL OUR PROTECTORS FROM THE MONSTERS WHO WANT TO DESTROY THE EARTH!
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Art and the propaganda to build a new society
“All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescabably propaganda; sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda.” Upton Sinclair
(All images are public domain, click upon them to see them in larger form.)
Art is a means of expression. Creative ways of presentation can draw new ideas, and new perspectives. Or art can serve the corporate state and allow and encourage the state to dictate values, ideas, and desires, or more, create a new version of the history of that state. Beyond that, the corporate state can cause a false memory to grow.
“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is
small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of
these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few
points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the
public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”
Adolf Hitler
Human minds wander, gathering recollections and beliefs, and a disciplined presentation of a certain few points can cause the mind of an individual to believe in, but actually remember falsehood.
Not every piece of propaganda by a state is wrong, necessarily, but causing people to believe in space exploration isn't an enormous or great thing. Most consider exploration and space to be a fine thing. But add space exploration which is a far off desire to that of the presentation that the state can only grow and serve more people if you accept its version of reality, means, getting people to agree that space exploration is great is not the point, but, the concept is, only by following the Soviet leadership can we achieve this great goal. Of course we think the environment deserves saving, we only have one planet. But, saying such through the auspices of the Soviet state means, only by supporting the state can we save the planet.
The Soviet Union was not, necessarily aimed at evil goals. The rise of the collective state is meant, at least in the theoretical, to be a beneficial spreading of the resources to all the people, rather than to the wealthy, the elite or the powerful. In practice we know that the truth was quite different. The state served the political elite. Does that mean we should declare all of the state bad? In this case, we should at the very least recognize that the corporate state killed anyone who disagreed with it. It starved 5-8 million Ukranians who refused to go along with farm collectivism.
"Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both." Martin Luther King, Jr.
I might
here be accused of suggesting I think Communism is evil. I think how it
was practiced was evil. Do I throw in Socialism with the Communist
failures? No, but, I think we have ignored the mass insanity it
often requires to make it work. If you tore the theories apart as people tear
apart capitalism, you might end up thinking nothing works. And the
truth is, there are reasons why capitalism works that are often
ignored. Did the US grow economically due to pure capitalism? No. It
grew upon the backs of tobacco and cotton farmers and the availability
of cheap, indeed, even slave labor. If you think slavery would have
been removed if it wasn't a waning economic boon, well, you need to
reassess your view.