In every study and discipline there are shibboleths. In the Book of Judges from the Bible there is a story about the Gileadites blocking a river and requiring people to say the word shibboleth to cross. In that region the Ephraimites were the Gileadites’ biggest enemy, the Ephraimites’ language did not include a ‘sh’ sound so they would say it wrong and reveal their outsider status. There are unsourced, scattered stories of European Christians using shibboleth to identify their christianity. In a modern sense shibboleth means any word which works as a signifier of some insider status. For example, the word shibboleth is a shibboleth. Contemporary art is riddled with such shibboleths, with artists desperately attempting to find more and more complex ways to explain their work. I, myself, am guilty of participating in this trend. I am not saying that all terms associated with pretension are without value, there are certain terms that would take far to many words to be fully explained each time. All language exists and developed as shorthands for things, we collectively get tired of saying ‘long knife’ so the word ‘sword’ is developed. Similarly, terms like dada or metamodernism allow for extremely complex ideas to be distilled quickly in writing. The challenge starts when people will insert such technical terms into their writing to make the entire work seem more technical, the overuse of the words postmodern and construct are ideal examples of this. Through these linguistic formations, art has become more and more pretentious, particularly in more experimental scenes. There is a tendency for supposed high artists/filmmakers to look down on popular art, to great detriment. In this blogpost I will analyze the problems within pretension in the arts.
The Lines between High and Low art are blurred
Often the first and primary argument pretentious art people will give for dismissing popular art is by saying that it is not art. This is best expressed in Scorsese calling marvel movies theme parks, not cinema. However, it is hard for them to give real definitions on what cinema is.
If the marvel movies are not cinema because they are a series, then is The Godfather not cinema. If it is because they are too popular, is Jaws cinema? If certain movies have too high of a budget and commercial interest, does Christopher Nolan not make cinema. If TV is not cinema, what about breaking bad? I can go on and on about this. There are no longer clear lines between high and low art, so to dismiss something based purely on it not being cinema is an extremely flawed approach. Ironically, Scorsese's filmography is a perfect example of the lines between what is cinematic not existing. The Departed is both a piece of high art well deserving of best picture and a fun movie with popular accessibility. None of this is to say that you cannot criticize these movies, I’m not some Zach Snyder fan on Twitter, rather it is to say that dismissing ‘low art’ for simply being low would be a huge mistake.
Popular Movies Often Display a Great Deal of Technical Skill
“I think what [Walter] Keane has done is just terrific. It has to be good. If it were bad, so many people wouldn't like it” (Andy Warhol). To dismiss popular art is to dismiss a great deal of talent. Say what you want about Robert Zemeckis, but it is impossible to deny that he is a technical master. Just in effects and cinematography alone Who Framed Roger Rabbit displays some of the most detailed filmmaking imaginable. Furthermore, from the perspective of storytelling he makes fantastically interwoven stories. Back to the Future is a case study in efficient and effective storytelling. Popular films tap into something core within us. They are not necessarily challenging, however to ignore the skill that goes into making popular cinema would be an unforgivable mistake. The marvel movies are not in anyway an accident.
Art is Supposed to be Fun
Nobody gets into art because they really like studying form and composition. We become artists because making stuff is fun. Some of the reasons I hold such a high regard for the 70s masters and filmmakers from the 90s/2000s is because of their distinct ability to make the Avant Garde fun. Being John Malcovich is a fun movie. Tim and Eric make very fun sketches. When I make my weird music videos I try to make it look cool, not necessarily following rules of form, and funny, not being serious for the sake of being serious. When you view art from a pretentious perspective, you miss the entire point of art.
Work Log
Monday- editing
Tuesday- editing and finish Fishy Fishy
Wednesday- abandoned animation and started finding clips for The cat, my cat
Comments
Post a Comment