Gladiator. Aliens. Saving Private Ryan. The Matrix. The Bourne Identity. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Every once in a while, the Hollywood* machine manages to produce a film that manages to effectively meld spectacular action and drama. It's not an easy task; I really believe that the two together tend to dilute one another. Drama is dependant on drawing the audience's heart, soul and mind into a story. Action is about getting their hearts racing. They are like nitro and glycerin; it takes an accomplished director to put the two together.
I think superhero movies are great examples of this difficulty. I really enjoyed the X-Men and Spiderman movies, but mostly on a surface level. They were a lot of fun; but the superb action tended to dilute the drama for me.
But sometimes, just sometimes, someone gets it right. Maximus asking his fellow captors if any of them have been in the army; "Then you can help me." Or Tom Hanks' "See you on the beach."
Batman Begins is another of those movies. It just... it just kicked ass. This is without a doubt the best superhero movie ever made; more than that, it's going to be on of the best movies of the year. It's on my radar the way no other superhero movie ever has been before. I loved Spiderman 2, but I'd rather watch Lost in Translation. The former I remember as a particularily tasty treat; the latter I harbour as a warm memory.
See Joel's blog for a description of the characters. They were fantastic. The action was great. it was just... yeah, it was ALL great.
It's fighting The Life Aquatic and Revenge of the Sith in my mind for favourite movie of the year. RotS, I believe, will slowly lose luster as I view it more critically.
So right now, Batman Begins is either the best or second best movie I've seen this year. That's a first for an action movie, nevermind a superhero movie. That's how good it was. I'm blown away.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Monday, June 13, 2005
Magical Language 2
I could very well have just made one post, but as I said, after that huge excerpt I was tired of typing.
I think everyone needs to be aware of how language can be used to manipulate. Many have pointed this out; Amanda's comment below reminds us that George Orwell was thinking along the same lines in the year 1949. As Cassirer says, "language is the medium in which man lives and moves and has his being," and so someone seeking to control people needs to affect their language.
I think one of the more obvious contemporary examples is the phrase "the war on terror." This phrase twines together two of the basic elemants of propaganda: ambiguity and outrage. This is a "war" in which the enemies are chosen on an ad-hoc basis, and then given a label that is international politics' equivilent to "baby raper."
I hate the phrase, and what really makes me cringe is that I hear reflective dissenters using it from time to time. Even Jon Stewart, King's Fool extraordinaire, uses it without irony.
I'll refer to language and its many uses more in later posts.
I think everyone needs to be aware of how language can be used to manipulate. Many have pointed this out; Amanda's comment below reminds us that George Orwell was thinking along the same lines in the year 1949. As Cassirer says, "language is the medium in which man lives and moves and has his being," and so someone seeking to control people needs to affect their language.
I think one of the more obvious contemporary examples is the phrase "the war on terror." This phrase twines together two of the basic elemants of propaganda: ambiguity and outrage. This is a "war" in which the enemies are chosen on an ad-hoc basis, and then given a label that is international politics' equivilent to "baby raper."
I hate the phrase, and what really makes me cringe is that I hear reflective dissenters using it from time to time. Even Jon Stewart, King's Fool extraordinaire, uses it without irony.
I'll refer to language and its many uses more in later posts.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Magical Language
I just finished reading The Myth of the State by Ernst Cassirer, and learned a good bit. It's partly a discussion of the nature of myth and it's place in man's social life, partly a history of the mythic aspects of various political systems, and partly a discussion of 20th century political myths.
Cassirer was a German Jew that fled Hitler's regime in 1933; he died in the U.S. in 1945. There is a particular passage in Myth that sends shivers down my spine. I'm going to quote it at length.
"It was in 1933 that the political world began to worry somewhat about Germany's rearmament. . . . But as a matter of fact this rearmament had begun many years before but had passed almost unnoticed. The real rearmament began with the origin and rise of the political myths. . . .
"The first step that had to be taken was a change in the function of language. If we study the development of human speech we find that in the history of civilization the word fulfils two entirely different functions. To put it briefly we may term these functions the semantic and the magical use of the word. Even among the so-called primitive languages the semantic function of the word is never missing; without it there could be no human speech. But in primitive societies the magic word has a predominant and overwhelming influence. It does not describe things or relations of things; it tries to produce effects and to change the course of nature. . . .
"Curiously enough all this recurs in our modern world. . . . If nowadays I happen to read a German book, published in these last ten years. . . I find to my amazement that I no longer understand the German language. New words have been coined, and even the old ones are used in a new sense. . . . This change of meaning depends upon the fact that those words which formerly used in a descriptive, logical or semantic sense, are now used as magic words that are destined to produce certain effects and to stir up emotions. Our ordinary words are charged with meanings, but these new-fangled words are charged with feelings and violent passions.
"[In a recently published German dictionary] there was a sharp difference between the two terms Siefriede and Siegerfriede. . . . The two words sound exactly alike, and seem to denote the same thing. Sieg means victory, and Friede means peace; how can the combination of two words produce entirely different meanings? Nevertheless we are told that, in modern German usage, there is all the difference in the world between the two terms. For a Siegfriede is a peace through German victory; whereas a Siegerfriede means the very opposite; it is used to denote a peace which would be dictated by the allied conquerors. It is the same with other terms. The men who coined these terms were masters of their art of political propaganda. They attained their end, the stirring up of violent political passions, by the simplest means. A word, or even the change of a syllable in a word, was often good enough to serve this purpose. If we hear these new words we feel in them the whole gamut of human emotions - of hatred, fury, anger, haughtiness, contempt, arrogance, and disdain."
So why does this scare me? I won't say yet, because I'm sick of typing.
And to the ghost of Ernst Cassirer... please don't sue me for copyright infringement.
Cassirer was a German Jew that fled Hitler's regime in 1933; he died in the U.S. in 1945. There is a particular passage in Myth that sends shivers down my spine. I'm going to quote it at length.
"It was in 1933 that the political world began to worry somewhat about Germany's rearmament. . . . But as a matter of fact this rearmament had begun many years before but had passed almost unnoticed. The real rearmament began with the origin and rise of the political myths. . . .
"The first step that had to be taken was a change in the function of language. If we study the development of human speech we find that in the history of civilization the word fulfils two entirely different functions. To put it briefly we may term these functions the semantic and the magical use of the word. Even among the so-called primitive languages the semantic function of the word is never missing; without it there could be no human speech. But in primitive societies the magic word has a predominant and overwhelming influence. It does not describe things or relations of things; it tries to produce effects and to change the course of nature. . . .
"Curiously enough all this recurs in our modern world. . . . If nowadays I happen to read a German book, published in these last ten years. . . I find to my amazement that I no longer understand the German language. New words have been coined, and even the old ones are used in a new sense. . . . This change of meaning depends upon the fact that those words which formerly used in a descriptive, logical or semantic sense, are now used as magic words that are destined to produce certain effects and to stir up emotions. Our ordinary words are charged with meanings, but these new-fangled words are charged with feelings and violent passions.
"[In a recently published German dictionary] there was a sharp difference between the two terms Siefriede and Siegerfriede. . . . The two words sound exactly alike, and seem to denote the same thing. Sieg means victory, and Friede means peace; how can the combination of two words produce entirely different meanings? Nevertheless we are told that, in modern German usage, there is all the difference in the world between the two terms. For a Siegfriede is a peace through German victory; whereas a Siegerfriede means the very opposite; it is used to denote a peace which would be dictated by the allied conquerors. It is the same with other terms. The men who coined these terms were masters of their art of political propaganda. They attained their end, the stirring up of violent political passions, by the simplest means. A word, or even the change of a syllable in a word, was often good enough to serve this purpose. If we hear these new words we feel in them the whole gamut of human emotions - of hatred, fury, anger, haughtiness, contempt, arrogance, and disdain."
So why does this scare me? I won't say yet, because I'm sick of typing.
And to the ghost of Ernst Cassirer... please don't sue me for copyright infringement.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Book Burnin'!
The good conservatives over at Human Events Online have helpfully provided us with a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
There's so much to comment on here, I don't know where to begin. The very idea of a dangerous books list is kind of laughable, and until I saw this video I suspected this was some kind of parody. But it's not.
So here are a few of the more amusing choices.
4. The Kinsey Report by Alfred Kinsey et al (aka Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male)
Right, all that scary sex talk. Let's all remain ignorant and scared! Sigh.
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes
One of the dominant economic theories of the 20th century, Keynes' basic idea was that governments should spend in lean times to prop up the economy, and reign in the budget during times of plenty. Consider the site's absurd claim: "FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and the U.S. government now has a $2.6-trillion annual budget and an $8-trillion dollar debt." FDR is responsible for the present deficit? Riiiight. Certainly not Reagan and Bush II's tax cut and spend ways.
Have a look at the rest of the list and chuckle. The honourable mentions are just as amusing:
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
What on earth...? This is one of the most classic and solid discussions of rights ever, and it's dangerous? I'm baffled.
Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
Ah yes, the book that taught us we're all just animals and have no moral constaints. I think I'll go throw a bagfull of kittens into the Thames now, just to appease my Darwinian gods...
There's so much to comment on here, I don't know where to begin. The very idea of a dangerous books list is kind of laughable, and until I saw this video I suspected this was some kind of parody. But it's not.
So here are a few of the more amusing choices.
4. The Kinsey Report by Alfred Kinsey et al (aka Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male)
Right, all that scary sex talk. Let's all remain ignorant and scared! Sigh.
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes
One of the dominant economic theories of the 20th century, Keynes' basic idea was that governments should spend in lean times to prop up the economy, and reign in the budget during times of plenty. Consider the site's absurd claim: "FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and the U.S. government now has a $2.6-trillion annual budget and an $8-trillion dollar debt." FDR is responsible for the present deficit? Riiiight. Certainly not Reagan and Bush II's tax cut and spend ways.
Have a look at the rest of the list and chuckle. The honourable mentions are just as amusing:
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
What on earth...? This is one of the most classic and solid discussions of rights ever, and it's dangerous? I'm baffled.
Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
Ah yes, the book that taught us we're all just animals and have no moral constaints. I think I'll go throw a bagfull of kittens into the Thames now, just to appease my Darwinian gods...
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Blogger Tag
This is one of those chain letter things. I think everyone who reads my blog will already know what they are, so without further explanation...
Number of Books That You Own
I own about 150. The other members of my family probably own about 150 collectively.
Last Book Bought: Three together on a spending spree at City Lights.
Twilight of the Idols / Anti-Christ - Frederich Nietzsche.
Left Behind vol. 1 - Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien
Last Book I Read:
The last book I finished was Ernst Cassirer: A Repetition of Modernity by Steve Lofts. It's Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms as seen through the eyes of contemporary continental philosophy. It finds a structure to hold language, myth, religion, science and art and explain their functions in human life.
Five Books that mean a lot to me: (In no particular order)
Basic Writings of Nietzsche - Trans. by Walter Kaufmann.
Particularily for The Genealogy of Morals contained therein. Nietzsche's reframing of the moral impulse was, to this rookie philosophy student, mind-blowing. It helps that Nietzsche is a bright and witty writer, and left me grinning madly more than once.
Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi.
Unfortunately, this book wins the award for most retarded title-change in the history of translations - Levi's title for it was If This Is A Man. But that's really neither here nor there. This is, to put it mildly, a work of humanistic scripture. Levi has wrestled a treatise on ethics, hope, dignity and evil out of the abyss, and he has the scars to prove it. Subsequent generations ignore this book at their peril.
Arslan - MJ Engh.
My favourite novel, hands down. The crazy little scenario: a 3rd world dictator takes over the world, then sets up his HQ in a midwest American town. The best discussion of authority, fatherhood, masculinity and politics I've ever seen. The characters are engaging and the writing is excellent. At times, the writing simply becomes gorgeous.
We All Fall Down - Brian Caldwell
The perfect antidote to the mind numbing idiocy of the Left Behind series. The protagonist wakes up to discover that the rapture has occured, all the Christians are gone, and the Anti-Christ is taking over the world. Now surprisingly, this is not a Christian novel by any means. This is a novel about Christianity. The protagonist, understanding full well what is happening, refuses to either become a Christian or side with the Anti-Christ. I used to think this book was a brilliant portrayal of Christianity; now I see several limitations. And the writing doesn't necassarily hold up well. For a while, though, it capitivated my thinking and buried itself into my mind.
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
Yeah, politically speaking Card is a lunatic. And as a writer, he is hit and miss. But oh boy, when he hits, he hits. Speaker is a compelling story about truly good people, the type that only exist in fiction. Ender Wiggin's deep empathy had a major impact on the way I think about ethics.
As for my "tags," just look at the list of blogs I link to. Consider yourself tagged.
Number of Books That You Own
I own about 150. The other members of my family probably own about 150 collectively.
Last Book Bought: Three together on a spending spree at City Lights.
Twilight of the Idols / Anti-Christ - Frederich Nietzsche.
Left Behind vol. 1 - Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.
The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien
Last Book I Read:
The last book I finished was Ernst Cassirer: A Repetition of Modernity by Steve Lofts. It's Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms as seen through the eyes of contemporary continental philosophy. It finds a structure to hold language, myth, religion, science and art and explain their functions in human life.
Five Books that mean a lot to me: (In no particular order)
Basic Writings of Nietzsche - Trans. by Walter Kaufmann.
Particularily for The Genealogy of Morals contained therein. Nietzsche's reframing of the moral impulse was, to this rookie philosophy student, mind-blowing. It helps that Nietzsche is a bright and witty writer, and left me grinning madly more than once.
Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi.
Unfortunately, this book wins the award for most retarded title-change in the history of translations - Levi's title for it was If This Is A Man. But that's really neither here nor there. This is, to put it mildly, a work of humanistic scripture. Levi has wrestled a treatise on ethics, hope, dignity and evil out of the abyss, and he has the scars to prove it. Subsequent generations ignore this book at their peril.
Arslan - MJ Engh.
My favourite novel, hands down. The crazy little scenario: a 3rd world dictator takes over the world, then sets up his HQ in a midwest American town. The best discussion of authority, fatherhood, masculinity and politics I've ever seen. The characters are engaging and the writing is excellent. At times, the writing simply becomes gorgeous.
We All Fall Down - Brian Caldwell
The perfect antidote to the mind numbing idiocy of the Left Behind series. The protagonist wakes up to discover that the rapture has occured, all the Christians are gone, and the Anti-Christ is taking over the world. Now surprisingly, this is not a Christian novel by any means. This is a novel about Christianity. The protagonist, understanding full well what is happening, refuses to either become a Christian or side with the Anti-Christ. I used to think this book was a brilliant portrayal of Christianity; now I see several limitations. And the writing doesn't necassarily hold up well. For a while, though, it capitivated my thinking and buried itself into my mind.
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
Yeah, politically speaking Card is a lunatic. And as a writer, he is hit and miss. But oh boy, when he hits, he hits. Speaker is a compelling story about truly good people, the type that only exist in fiction. Ender Wiggin's deep empathy had a major impact on the way I think about ethics.
As for my "tags," just look at the list of blogs I link to. Consider yourself tagged.
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