Week 13

Greetings,

A short post following our penultimate session. It’s also the final post for this semester.

Everything I have to say you’ve already heard in the past 13 weeks. There’s still a lot to learn, but the best way to do it is to start writing and learn from your own mistakes.  It’s easy to give up and start writing a new story. What separates real writers from wannabe writers is that real writers cultivate patience and perseverance. There is such thing as luck, but most of it is hard work. As the great actor and acting teacher Konstantin Stanislavsky once said “Art is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” The quote is also attributed to Thomas Edison; but I don’t think he used the word “art”.

Since we’re on the subject of art, I want to elaborate a little on what I said in class regarding film as art.  What’s art and what’s entertainment is very subjective, of course.  I once read a column in The Huffington Post (the name of the writer escapes me) that said this:  ” Entertainment is for the folks who, when they get home from work, need to lie down and get their minds off of things. Art is for the folks who, at the end of the day, want to get their eyes and mind more fully engaged and stimulated. Almost the reverse is also a defining distinction. For a quick jolt of adrenaline, you can’t beat Six Flags or a well made action flick. By contrast, good art demands that you slow down and be patient.

“Since the time of Duchamp artists have been fond of calling upon their viewers to participate in completing their work. The greater the degree of genuine investment by both artist and viewer of heart and mind, the purer the aesthetic experience for both. So the distinction exists on a continuum with no absolutes, but is a rough equation of the fundamental intent or desire to achieve art by both artist and audience. What is absolute is that choosing art rather than entertainment is really about preferring substance to artifice.”

There’s nothing wrong with entertainment. I believe great films are always entertaining. What you consider entertainment at this stage in your life may not be true at a later stage, when you learn more, see more, and experience more. But you must be willing to learn new things and keep your eyes open. My rule of thumb is:  If a movie is considered a classic, say Ozu’s “Tokyo Story”, and is revered by many film scholars, I want to know why. So I see the film, then I read all the criticism and scholarly essays I can find on it, and I see the film again. If I still find the film boring, pretentious, or merely vulgar, I don’t care what the critics say. A lot of the times, however, I find interesting, often beautiful things, in the films that I have dismissed as boring or slow upon viewing them for  for the first time. An art film requires work and patience. But the rewards are far greater than what you get from a simple, accessible and entertaining movie that Hollywood churns out by the dozen every year.

Food would be a good analogy. As human beings we are biologically predisposed to liking fried and fatty foods because they give us energy and protein. But every nutritionist will tell you that fried and fatty foods are bad for your health. So we have to cultivate a taste for something that our taste buds may not respond to favorably right away. If you’re consistent and patient with you your new diet, you’ll begin to enjoy the taste, especially when you know that it’s good for you.

Here’s a simple, straightforward opinion about art vs. entertainment.

http://www.angelfire.com/movies/oc/tirades/artent.html

See you Monday,

ak

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