Sex and Violence

WARNING:  This is a reposting of a blog that I write awhile back on my old page.  I was thinking about this again and just decided to edit and repost this thing that I wrote.  Don't worry, new posts are still coming!

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I have meditated and written often in the past on sex, so really this writing will be about the other, our good friend violence.

I have been contemplating violence quite a bit lately, watching a bunch of violent films and reading graphic literature.  Finally tonight I realized it and asked myself "Why?"

So I thought about it.  Violence is so prevalent in our society, in both reality and fiction, that we take is with a grain of salt, even entertaining.  Our movie theaters and televisions today are our new version of the ancient arenas and coliseums  of yore.  The only difference is that we are (usually) not actually harming anyone or thing. 

Is this a good idea? 

That may seem like a strange question, but a valid one I think, something worth asking.  Why, you might ask?

The more and more that we remove humanity from acts of rape, murder, torture, and war, the more we condone and accept it as just life and entertainment.  Should we be entertained by human suffering?  I am entertained by some shows and some violent acts, but that is because no one actually gets hurt and usually because the violence is understated.  It exists for a purpose, to force us to feel a certain emotion.  This is one of the reasons that I hate big hollywood films.  To glorified.  They use violence nowadays instead of dialogue or character.  It is weak...

Anyway, the more and more that we remove humanity from our inhumanities toward other men, the more accepting and desensitized to it we become.  I mean, do not get me wrong, I am a full believer in the first amendment and our right to say what we want to say, and show what we want to show without censorship.  I am not claiming that we need to censor any of this.  I am just asking, what is it for and is it a positive thing? 

Artists are people who try to communicate, try to reach out to themselves or others, reach for human connection through some form of media.  They tent to do these things to express an emotion or force their audience to feel a certain emotion.  In doing so, they are usually attempting to heal this world in some way, to force us to see something in the big or small picture about us all.  To sum it up, I see artists as asking us to evolve somehow.

Some people use the nature argument for violence, and that is an argument that you cannot win.  Yes it is natural to have violence, human on human or human on nature, or whatever.  Yes it exists in the wild and has existed for as long as we know, we cannot really argue that fact, so don't even try.  But...what we can argue is this question:  Does that mean we have to perpetuate violence?  Does that give us just cause?  These same people that tend to use the nature argument, tend to do very unnatural things.  Watching tv and movies is not natural, so does that mean we need to do away with it?  Having one life mate is VERY unnatural, so why do we do it?  Poly-amorous lifestyles are very natural, but frowned upon, and often by the same people who argue that natural violence is okay.

The point being that we are humans.  We are evolved, even though you watch reality tv and you would think that we are still apes.  With rights and great power comes great responsibility.  I know it might seem antiquated, but I still believe that.  This means that I feel that we have a responsibility to one another.  We are all connected on this orb we call Earth and helping each other through this thing...well, I will stop there and cease being preachy or trying to place my own beliefs out there.  The point is that, well John Donne said it best when he said that no man is an island.

So I decided to watch a movie that seems to sum up human violence better than anything I know of, Julie Taymor's version of "Titus" by Shakespeare. 

This film studies violence, man's inhumanity toward man.  It really shows the brilliance of Shakespeare better than any of his plays.  It covers every type of violence, almost all possible motivations, and forces us to ask certain questions:
What is Justice?
What is Revenge?
and
What are justifications of War?

Type of violence and motivations:
Personal revenge, avengement, sibling rivalry, cold blooded crimes of passion, premeditated murder, war, torture, self-sacrifice, sex, sense of duty, religous piety, ritual, rape, lust, racism, love, hatred, pride, use of all sorts of weapons, killing one with your own hands, guilt, appealing, and one of the most real: Becuase we feel there is no other choice.

The two sons of Tamara rape Titus's beauitful daughter Lavinia, a symbol of love and purity, then cut out her tongue and chop off her hands so she can tell no one who did this.  Then they made her live. It tortures her to know whom is guilty, but she cannot do anything about it.  How horrible! 

Titus willingly gives up his own hand, cuts it off for the belief that by doing so, two of his son's lives would be spared.  He would have gladly give his life for his sons if they asked for it, but they didn't.  They wanted to torture him as well.  Only then to not give him his sons back, but only their heads along with his hand sent back to him!  Wow. 

Lavinia submits herself to death by her father, who both felt it was just to do so!  What will they had?!

Titus kills the two sons that raped his daughter, cooks them into mince meat pies, and feed them to their mother!!  My god!

These are just a few of the most grevious acts of violence in the play/film.  It makes me think, these acts of violence are rather over the top, not normal, but they are not unheard of in life.  Mercy killings for purity (Chastity) by loving family members are still practiced in some parts of the world.  People still sacrifice themselves for ideals and rituals.  It still happens.

What does it take?  Why do we submit ourselves to certain things?  How much will does it actually take for someone to wrap their hands, skin to skin, around a loving family member's warm neck and strangle or break it?  I cannot even begin to imagine.  To know that some people can perform that act is a scary thought.  To think that we as humans have the ability to feel such feelings, do such things, and some of us can do it so sociopathically, so disconnected, that we can do them without even raising our heartrates.

Maybe, to sum that thought up, that is why we created the idea of the devil and of demons.  By dehumanizing those people, we can sleep a little better at night...

I do not think that is a justified answer...but it is the only one I got.

End of a Decade (Part III)

I am a huge fan of comics and graphic novels.  Since the nineties we have seen a new golden age dawn in the medium, while at the same time sales are dropping.  The smallest percentage of people/kids now read comics than have ever read them in the past 75 years and a lot of that is due to this strange monopoly that is in place with the "single distributor system" as well as the squabbling between Marvel and DC that continues to this day.  Although the new rise in comic-based movies is helping some, it will hopefully never take over.  At least people like Jeff Smith, Dave Sim, Terry Moore, and many others have proven that this is an art form and one can be successful without the mainstream system.

Here are my picks for the decade.  This with yet another hard list to compile due to all of the great young writers and cartoonists that have emerged as well as the ending of some of the most iconic series's.

5. Marvel Civil War.

This is the only book from the mainstream Marvel/DC companies to make my list.  Although overall I despise these all-encompassing, multi-title crossovers because for the most part they are a plot just to sell more comics and not about the story, they actually did a decent job with this one.  Some of the most unthinkable things happened to the Marvel Universe and we got to see characters in situations that were thought of as impossible at the time.  I will give credit to Marvel for not totally messing this one up.





4. Bill Watterson - The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.

This is the first of two of me choices that are 90's based, which I know is kind of cheating, but this collection is the definitive edition of the work of Bill Watterson.  He only created comic strips for ten years, but in that time graced the world with some of the most influential strips along with fun and lovable characters.  The collection here also earned the distinction of being the heaviest and one of the most expensive books to grace the New York Times Best-Seller list.






3. Craig Thompson - Blankets.

Blankets was first printed in 2003 with the 9th printing edition coming out this year.  This piece by Craig Thompson is autobiographical and shows some wonderful cartooning designs.  A sweet story about growing up and finding one's first love while questioning faith and the meaning to life, Blankets is a great mix of story and illustration.







2. Alex Robinson - Too Cool to be Forgotten.

When I first saw the cover to this, I thought it was silly and looked interesting.  I knew Alex's work and knew that this was going to be good, but I was blown away by what I found.  This story starts of silly, almost comical, quickly falls into reminders of high school and being kid, only to hit you hard at the end like a punch to the gut.  I have read it a few times and wept at the end each time.  Alex has proven himself as one of the premier graphic novelists of our age.






1. Jeff Smith - Bone.

This is the other 90's cheat coming in at number 1, but I would not have felt right with myself if I left it off.  This series, started in '91, ended in '04, but since it's end and the subsequent color editions that were released in the recent years, Bone has been one of the most successful publications in the past few years.  Not only has the big (1300 page) "One Volume Edition" been through like 14 printings, the Scholastic reprints have gone on to change the way that parents and teachers can use comic books as a learning tool.  Thanks Jeff!





That is the end of my "Best of the Decade" series.  I almost wanted to do a list on televisions, but then I saw some again recently and was reminded why I didn't.

Any questions, comments, or suggestions, please comment or contact me directly.  I will start working on the lists for this decade and it comes along and hope to find more creativity and brilliance.

End of a Decade (Part II)

In my last post I went over my top 5 films of the decade and, as promised, this time I am going to cover music.  This has been a strange decade for music as a whole with the progress of compressed music, the decline (even more) of radio and Mtv domination, and the increase of garbage Disney music.

What do we want out of  music?  Most people are happy with a simple melody a "nice, clean-cut image" it seems.  Image, for the most part means dick.  I am always reminded of the late, great Bill Hicks who stated "I want my rock stars dead, damnit!"  Who cares if they choked on their own vomit?!  At least they jammed and played from the heart.

There were still a ton of great albums, just most of them were outside of the mainstream section.  Well, here we go:

5. The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas.

This fan favorite was the last real lo-fi album created by one of the Gods of lo-fi, but not only did it cement his fan base but showed that with nothing more than brilliant songwriting you can still make a name for yourself in this generation.









4. Tom Waits - Orphans.

Tom has been recognized as one of the most amazing musicians for the past thirty years, but in 2006 he topped himself by releasing a folio of new and unheard music separated into three disks, one of rockin' blues stuff, one of slower jazz stuff, and one of stuff that really does not fit into any category.   I linked the vinyl version which was just released this year.  It is a must-own.







3. Tool - Lateralus.

One the heavier side of things, post-alt, art-rock band Tool made two albums in the 90's and showed that you can play hard rock and still know a thing or two about music theory and songwriting.  In 2001 they came out with this effort, Lateralus, which just showed that after a five year hiatus they could still make one of the most rockin' albums of all time.  With the album art by Alex Grey, Tool demanded that the format of the album is still alive and well in some form today.






2. Bright Eyes - Lifted, of The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground.

I was a reluctant Bright Eyes fan for a long time due to his earlier stuff that consisted more of whining than anything else, but when Conor, Mike, and the rest of the Saddle Creek guys got together to build, what in my mind is one of the last great concept albums, they hit the nail on the head.  I found myself compelled to listen in awe thinking that he was able to write every song that I had been wanting to write for years while backing it with some arrangements that are sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but always wonderful.





1. Radiohead - Kid A

What can we say about this?  Was it the last hurrah of a great 90's band or the start of something new and beautiful at the same time?  Radiohead were not afraid to find out, risk everything, and change the face of pop music.  Not only, from the very first note did you realize that this was something new, it was strange, smart, and sometimes scary as well.  Because of this masterpiece Radiohead became one of the largest bands in the world, fought for free music for everyone, and have since made more great music that is still just as weird and scary.  Long Live Radiohead and may they continue to write for many years to come.  I am hoping that their next album will make my decade list again.



If you feel that I missed something or are way off base on any of these, contact me or comment.  I am always ready to go with a musical argument.  Listen well!

Next Posting: Part III, Comics/Graphic Novels.

End of a Decade

So, like a bunch of other bloggers, the time has come to start naming the best of the decade lists.  This is a hard think to do, especially for me.  Anything that I think is remotely great becomes my favorite ever.  To top it all off, I have limited myself to only 5 for each category.

The categories that I have chosen are mine, and many others, favorite art mediums.  Also, I know that while compiling my lists I have forgotten a few here and there, but this is what I got.


Movies:
5. Kill Bill (Vol. 1 and 2). 

Tarantino does it again with this amazing ability to mix ultra-violence with beautiful dialog while crafting a wonderful 70's homage.










4. No Country For Old Men.

The Coen Brothers have proven themselves as a couple of the best storytellers of the modern era.  In this chase movie they show a character of great morality and evil in a time of change.









3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 

This makes the list for many reasons, but mostly because Peter Jackson took this feat head on and created the definitive film version of one of the most beloved stories in the English language.  Not only that, but all three were nominated for Best Picture.  The only other trilogy to do that was The Godfather.








2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

This is it.  Charles Kaufman had already won my heart with Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, but here he connected with the brilliant director Michel Gondry to put together a tale of pain, loss, and the persistence of memory.  I still weep when I watch this.








...and my favorite movie of the decade...


1. Lost in Translation.  Not only did this earn Scarlett Johnansson an nod from the Academy, a Golden Globe Win, and launched her career, but even Bill Murray got some must deserved respect from this one.  Sofia Coppola had already shown she could make a film with The Virgin Suicides, but she proved that she could create a story that was so smooth and sweet.  I love it.












In the next post I will work on my top 5 albums...expect that one soon.