Most motion pictures have a narrative, characters, and the illusion that the characters control the narrative. The formula entertains and encourages. In "The Bicycle Thief," circumstances---without forming a narrative---control the characters, who conform without the luxury to dissent. The picture articulates no lesson, but supplies a reading of a society's condition in the pre-sweatpants era. It reminds one to care about those whose lives do not add up to a poem, and whose interests are best served by a non-parochial community whose optimal design is still an open question.
The lucky able to be unable to conform have the option of advertising their deviation as the norm. Doing his own jokes and others' jokes, his own acting but without undoing that of the others (the film is directed by Herbert Ross), Woody Allen broadcasts a character who cannot be unless he sees himself reflected against the minds and bodies of others. He speculates in jokes to reap immediate returns (or embarrassments) instead of investing in ideas. His activity, however, helps his fellow characters appreciate their long-term goals.
26 December 2010
15 December 2010
"A Disappearing Number" by Simon McBurney (2007)
What makes the primeness of number 7 so real (to some) as to be comforting (to some) is the absolute and shared confidence in the law that 7 is a prime. Absolute confidence in a law is attainable when external consistency (i.e., applicability across time and space) is replaced by internal logical consistency, as occurs in mathematics. What constitutes the logical is a matter of instinct, and is perceived as the beautiful. By pursuing the beautiful one pursues knowledge---in addition to gratification---as the concepts of the logical and the beautiful share their aesthetic origins. In creative work, the acute sense of beauty can replace the foresight of the relevance of one's creations.
Individuals will acknowledge proved mathematical laws to be true as long as the individuals' inborn concepts of beauty are similar. The mathematical truth is a property of the brain in the same way as the physical truth is a property of the outside world. An individual has the sense of control over experiments in mathematics that does not apply to experiments in physics---which justifies the distinction between mathematics and physics, for now.
Individuals will acknowledge proved mathematical laws to be true as long as the individuals' inborn concepts of beauty are similar. The mathematical truth is a property of the brain in the same way as the physical truth is a property of the outside world. An individual has the sense of control over experiments in mathematics that does not apply to experiments in physics---which justifies the distinction between mathematics and physics, for now.
27 November 2010
"The Finkler Question" by Howard Jacobson (2010)
One island, one city, one employer, one way to succeed, and one way to perish leave only private ruminations to differentiate one failure from another. The novel's one-liners are funny at first, but wear off as they subordinate the narrative and substitute for substance, instead of being the inevitable expressions of wit. Jacobson's novel is as repetitive as its endorsement by Safran Foer, on the front cover. By page 107, the novel ceases to exist.
31 October 2010
Death of a Salesman
(Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 30 October 2010)
The Salesman mistakes the symptoms of others' successes (e.g., connections and popularity) for causes (e.g., perseverance, talent, and specialisation). He passes today's opportunities for tomorrow's deceptively certain uncertainties. His main accomplishment is in having raised a question. The search for an answer may require more than a single generation. One should recognise the significance of having raised the question enough so as not to kill oneself for a wrong reason.
What an odd habit of taking pride in one's children, instead of enjoying their companionship, when applicable, or, otherwise, discarding them, if legal. What an odd habit of looking up to one's parents instead of exercising one's own judgement. The main virtue of the state's social welfare system is in disengaging families and freeing individuals to develop their talents in the company of strangers.
How much like robots humans are. And yet, having appreciated that fact, one cares about them even more.
The players are uniformly competent. Joseph Ziegler does not invest his character, the "small man" salesman Willy, with excessive substance (e.g., an inkling of an answer). Ari Cohen has the versatility required for portraying Biff, who cannot be copied off a catalogued type.
The Salesman mistakes the symptoms of others' successes (e.g., connections and popularity) for causes (e.g., perseverance, talent, and specialisation). He passes today's opportunities for tomorrow's deceptively certain uncertainties. His main accomplishment is in having raised a question. The search for an answer may require more than a single generation. One should recognise the significance of having raised the question enough so as not to kill oneself for a wrong reason.
What an odd habit of taking pride in one's children, instead of enjoying their companionship, when applicable, or, otherwise, discarding them, if legal. What an odd habit of looking up to one's parents instead of exercising one's own judgement. The main virtue of the state's social welfare system is in disengaging families and freeing individuals to develop their talents in the company of strangers.
How much like robots humans are. And yet, having appreciated that fact, one cares about them even more.
The players are uniformly competent. Joseph Ziegler does not invest his character, the "small man" salesman Willy, with excessive substance (e.g., an inkling of an answer). Ari Cohen has the versatility required for portraying Biff, who cannot be copied off a catalogued type.
22 October 2010
Social Network, The (2010)
There is no greater impetus for creativity than anger, attests the latest picture from the land where all the women are good looking, all the men are accomplished, all the children are over eighteen, and all the animals contribute to human well-being without sustaining injuries. Nor is there a surer recipe for success than persevering, retaining friends, and remaining a gentleman.
"Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics" by Nick Herbert (1987)
One shall believe not that which is most comforting and not that which is most probable, but that which is most likely to generate those testable hypotheses that will facilitate the eventual discovery of truth. Believing otherwise is myopia and selfishness at the expense of posterity.
10 October 2010
ProArteDanza
(Harbourfront Centre, 9 October 2010)
Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek study ideas, expressed in the form whose beauty humans are best capable of appreciating---that of bodies, perceived as individuals, given meaning by their environment. Ideas migrate, individuals meet; ideas spread, groups form; ideas clash, individuals suffer the collateral damage. Ideas do not survive in a single individual for long; they are harnessed in competition with others' ideas.
Broadcasting ideas without an audience is the last resort in desperation, sad and ugly. Instead, the choreographers respectfully let their dancers listen to each other. The bodies realise that each of them is enslaved by an itinerant idea. An efficient carrier of ideas, an individual sometimes supports others only in order to crash them with greater glory in future. Mostly, however, an individual supports others when not recognising the difference between the others and himself. The dancers' bodies forgive and care for each other, as if conscious of each other's transience (humbled by the potential immortality of the ideas that they carry) and cherishing their moments of capacity. They respect by giving each other's ideas a chance.
Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek study ideas, expressed in the form whose beauty humans are best capable of appreciating---that of bodies, perceived as individuals, given meaning by their environment. Ideas migrate, individuals meet; ideas spread, groups form; ideas clash, individuals suffer the collateral damage. Ideas do not survive in a single individual for long; they are harnessed in competition with others' ideas.
Broadcasting ideas without an audience is the last resort in desperation, sad and ugly. Instead, the choreographers respectfully let their dancers listen to each other. The bodies realise that each of them is enslaved by an itinerant idea. An efficient carrier of ideas, an individual sometimes supports others only in order to crash them with greater glory in future. Mostly, however, an individual supports others when not recognising the difference between the others and himself. The dancers' bodies forgive and care for each other, as if conscious of each other's transience (humbled by the potential immortality of the ideas that they carry) and cherishing their moments of capacity. They respect by giving each other's ideas a chance.
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