Just a quick word in favor of Entourage.
Excellent show, very addictive and very funny.
And one of the new brand of TV shows with the admirable quality that they can be watched as either a drama, a soap, or a comedy. The humor is there, but it's not being pushed in your face with gratuitous jokes and laugh tracks.
I have come to the conclusion that humor in art is not an optional extra. There should be no "genre" called comedy. A film, book, play, or TV show without humor is like a person without it: it can function, but a vital ingredient is missing. It will not be whole. Humor is perspective on life, it is the ability to see the absurdity of this world. Without it we are victims, and we needn't be.
"The humor is there, but it's not being pushed in your face with gratuitous jokes and laugh tracks."
ReplyDeleteSweet justice would demand that the guy who invented an intellectual abomination like the laugh track have canned weeping be broadcast at his funeral...
(I'm assuming it was a guy. Somehow I can't picture a woman being so narrow.)
"His fame is their fortune"
With such a cleverly thought tagline, so right on the spot, you KNOW this show should be good. And sharp.
"Without it we are victims, and we needn't be."
Which is why even the Shoah couldn't break the jewish spirit. They have developed self-derision for centuries, it might even have become a genetic adaptation. Forces the admiration.
I once read on a jewish humour site a joke about God giving the Law to Moses, and how it was immediately bound to spawn some absurdity. Respect, but fully compatible with humour.
A pity the traditional muslims have no notion at all of being similarly laid back about their beliefs. Would be invaluable to world peace. As one muslim reformist said it: "The Jewish people faced extermination very recently, it's still vivid in their memory, and yet you don't see one Jew becoming a terrorist and blowing up random innocents to vent off. Not one, not even the extremists. Because they are civilized, like we should be too."
You're so right: we needn't be victims. One can fall and start crying and whining, Or cast the blame around, or one can stand up again.
The secret is to stand up no less times than you fell. It's that simple.
There can't be humour in all things, sometimes it would be inappropriate. There must still be a genre called comedy if only for the sub-genre of slapstick comedy. You can't really work that in to a "serious" work and expect it to be dignified.
ReplyDelete"You can't really work that in to a "serious" work and expect it to be dignified."
ReplyDeleteSee the film V for Vendetta. I'm not sure the scene I'm thinking of qualifies as slap-stick but you get the idea. The point is that practically anything can be done, it just takes a creative (and perhaps slightly demented) mind to pull it off. Mixing sci-fi and comedy was unthinkable prior to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for instance.
I wouldn't put slap-stick into something intended to be mostly serious, but I do agree with Eolake's point. I would go so far as to say that there is no dignity in the work unless there's an element of humor, even if it's a small one. When something's deathly serious it tends to drain one's spirit and it often heralds victimhood as a virtue. This is not dignified, although it can be a road to dignity if it lets the creator or the audience work through some of their emotional troubles.
In a way, I'm arguing against my own point because I see where grim works have a place and I admit they can serve a positive end. It would be more accurate to say that for me, personally, I get little out of them and I would not watch, read, or create stories along those lines. Even my current project about a man become angel, fallen from heaven for slaying a god, contains a character with a sense of humor about wandering the depths of hell. One of the challenges I've given myself while writing this is to take time out and find a way to laugh at the situations playing out in the story, however deathly serious they may be. In finding the absurdity inherent to any scenario I'm able to be far more creative as I'm not dragged down by the emotions I need to convey within the text, and I'm able to stay conscious enough to throw in a smidge of light hearted material every now and then to keep it from becoming too weighty.
After all, the end of the world is as good a time as any to laugh and dance. It's the best time, in fact. Our experience here ends one way or another and I should think going out on a high note mentally and emotionally has no drawbacks on the other side. In my story that's something mankind will face repeatedly until it actually occurs. The good news is renewal follows the end.
The good news is renewal follows the end. blade said.
ReplyDeleteagreed. some will totally enjoy their renewal while others will hate their own.
you don't see one Jew becoming a terrorist and blowing up random innocents to vent off. Not one, not even the extremists. Because they are civilized, like we should be too."
i agree with you also pascal. very good point. we should all learn something by this. seems like that of all people in the world that the jewish folk would be terrorist because of the way they were and are treated but they are not.
you're very perceptive pascal. i tip my hat to you in deepest respect for your wise comment.
There is no renewal. There is no sanctuary.
ReplyDelete"There is no renewal. There is no sanctuary."
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has repeatedly faced his own demise, both literally and philosophically, beginning the day he was born, I beg to differ. ;)
Hope vanishes when it is told to vanish and only then. It's surprising how many would welcome destruction, but I understand seeing as I walked in their shoes so long I wore them down to a piece of cloth and some tattered laces. There's a certain appeal to it. Who doesn't love cutting themselves off from the light and bragging about how long they can bear it? Who doesn't find joy in suffering worse than the next guy? And what of the comfort that comes with knowing you're not as bad off as those suffering worse? It is a state of constant contradiction that only grows more complicated and confusing the further down you delve.
We have a martyr complex. The problem is not that there IS a problem, it's that we create problems in order to satiate these deep seated psychological anomalies. I guarantee that our troubles would be nigh non-existent if we weren't so enamored with our own pain. I am not saying there should be no sympathy for the wounded, no tears shed for the lost. If we are hurt there's no dishonor in expressing it. It is a continued focus on it that perpetuates suffering. We don't experience and let go, we experience and put it in a stranglehold, keeping it near to our hearts so we can relive it whenever our minds care to bring up old hurts.
Our sanctuary never disappears, however it is impossible to understand this when we think we are blind. All we've done is clench our eyes shut. We've scared ourselves into thinking something worse will come if we try to open them. We've tossed quite a few more lies on top of it to further reinforce our insanity but the fact remains that returning home is as simple as opening your eyes.
This story of yours seems "damn" interesting, Peaceful Blade (pun intended). Be sure to inform us here on the blog when it gets published.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll make the same for my very personal approach on the Oliver Twist theme. (In brief, it should be utterly depressing, but it's essentially the opposite, with courage, optimism, and humor. And some sci-fi. And magic. And several other stuff. Both absurd and VERY serious.)
You could say this complements your idea, of dramatic circumstances being compatible with some form of humor. Not slapstick, of course, but there are many kinds of laughter. When a little child is irresistibly cute, you laugh, even though it's not necessarily FUNNY, but on the contrary moving.
Laughter is a multi-faceted reaction. It can be a form of agression: mockery, or while enjoying cruelty. It can be raw relief after danger. Or ironic sadness when realizing the absurdity of a situation. And I've seen people in completely desperate situations make a joke which otherwise would/could perhaps have been funny; with the result of mixed tears and laughter. It can have the very precious effect of giving either some last minute comfort, or even some lost courage back, which sometimes is all it takes to survive or find a way out.
They say God gave us laughter to make life bearable, and gave mothers tears for when love is too much to hold inside.
"After all, the end of the world is as good a time as any to laugh and dance. It's the best time, in fact."
Well, there's definitely no point in putting it back any longer!
"I should think going out on a high note mentally and emotionally has no drawbacks on the other side."
Such an attitude feels offensive to some, but they mistake their own motives and say something in the likeness of "Have you no decency?".
Well, death in itself, as an absolute, feels dramatic to US HUMANS, for understandable reasons. It is a frightening notion. But if it felt so negative to God, He wouldn't have made it to happen. Or, at least, He would have mercifully made us oblivious to this unescapable moment looming on us since the moment we're born. Taking one's own end either peacefully, serenely, or lightly, doesn't seem like a sin in any religion I know of. Only in cultures.
So I believe you're right, it shouldn't have any drawbacks on the other side.
I read a very deep wisdom in Harry Potter, book #5, after he's lost a loved one. Harry's in denial, refusing to accept what is accomplished, and goes ask a friend ghost whether his loved one can become a ghost too and thus remain "present" at his side. The ghost answered: "One becomes a ghost when they are so afraid of dying, that they forever fear crossing to the other side and going on with their soul's destiny."
In a way, dreading a normal fate only brings torment to the soul. When the time comes, the time comes, period.
I know I would react the same as Harry toward the departure of a loved one. But only if it is premature (as was the case in the story). When the normal time comes, it's in the order of things. Three of my grandparents departed after a long and painful illness. Their suffering was very difficult to witness. The end of it felt like a relief, a relief to them first of all. An earthly eternity of life AND suffering would have been supremely cruel. By giving us death in the end of our existence, God showed mercy.
Not to mention wisdom, because death is a gear in the mechanism of renewal. Every dead body sees its substance recycled by Nature to create new life, every departed life makes room for a new one. Renewal is for all: those who leave, and those who stay.
Again, I speak about normal death, not a premature one. And yet, this also is relative. A young man, age 22, named Gregory Lemarchal, moved all of France when he won the national Star Academy award. It was an impressive feat, because he was an awesome singer with a great voice, in spite of being born with mucoviscidosis. A few months later, he died. Was it premature, because he was so young, or normal, because he was naturally born with a shortened life expectancy? I cannot say for sure. I only know he lived life to the fullest, until the last moment, and this is a priceless lesson for all of us. Vaya con Dios, Greg, it was good knowing you.
"As someone who has repeatedly faced his own demise, both literally and philosophically, beginning the day he was born, I beg to differ."
Apart for the fact that my first serious close call (to my knowledge) was probably at the age of four, I totally understand you. Anybody who's ever come very close to death savours life with a new appetite. NOT doing so WOULD be a sin.
To poke irony once more at muslims ("forgive me, Lord, for I am about to sin"), a muslim colleague of my father once had a cardiac arrest. He was revived, but after what is defined as a Near-Death Experience. For a short time, he was climically dead. My father later asked him, half-seriously: "So, did you see Muhammad and the Houris while you were away?"
The colleague said, word for word: "Man, I was dead, really dead, for a while. And I saw nothing. Zilch. There was NOTHING of what they said awaiting there." And since this day, the man happily started enjoying the islamically prohibited pleasure of drinking alcohol.
Oh, he didn't dive into vice or anything! He just became aware of the inanity of some religion-justified pointless folklore, and now relies on his own common sense.
Not that I'm denying the NDE phenomenon and all the testimonies. Just pointing out that it doesn't happen all the time, and that still, in a way, seeing nothing (either good or bad) can also bring a form of renewal.
It is also very interesting to note, rationally, that not all NDEs bring visions of a Beyond. (While some also witness something, but something very scary.) This means that it cannot be considered as a universal phenomenon with definite conclusions to trust. From over here we still cannot KNOW the Truth, only sense or believe.
Which is fine by me. Faith MUST remain a free individual choice.
"Who doesn't love cutting themselves off from the light and bragging about how long they can bear it? Who doesn't find joy in suffering worse than the next guy?"
I never was a big fan of those macho-style contests. Feels too immature. :-)
"We have a martyr complex."
Right on target, soldier. Bullseye.
Too bad that was the HQ building, eh? ;-)
Now, because of you, the war may very well be over.
[Is this a good or a bad thing, I wonder?]
"Our sanctuary never disappears, however it is impossible to understand this when we think we are blind."
A drunk, out cold, walks into a cathedral without even knowing where he's going. He staggers until he comes by a big round pillar. Feeling with his hand, he starts following it, hendim-pendim. Eventually, even he realizes that he's already been in the same place where he stands. Terrified, he starts screaming: "Help! I'm stuck in a well!"
Perspective. It can be such a tricky thing.
In an episode of the Street Fighter anime, best friends Ken and Ryu are forced to enter a "cursed cave" to retrieve an idol because bandits have their friends hostage. Once inside, they get separated in an unreal world. Then, each of them is confronted with a terrible mysterious foe, tall, dark and silent, and deadly apt at martial arts. Their greatest and most dangerous challenge ever. It's almost a fight to the death for the two heroes. Until they pierce the cursed cave's secret: it creates deadly illusions. They'd been fighting each other all that time, unable to hear and recognize the other. So ironic: the cave defended its treasure by confronting would-be thieves against themselves and it would destroy them. Only their pure intentions narrowly saved Ken and Ryu.
Later, when the bandits are defeated (of course they are!), the gold idol is brought back to its sanctuary... by a small child, smiling and unafraid. An innocent child can meet no peril in such a place. Because there's none coming from inside her.
We must be careful not to build ourselves our own deadly inescapable traps, or they just might work.
I've heard say, many times, that one's faith is always with him, and will protect him from harm anywhere. It's not just about Jesus, or Buddha, or the spirits of the Ancients. Firstly and mostly, it's about one's own soul. Heaven and Hell are nowhere and everywhere. It is we who bring them into existence.
Would they exist if humans didn't? Probably not. What would be the point? Like putting a CD filled with poetry (or erotic images) on an ant-hill.
Heaven and Hell are nowhere and everywhere. It is we who bring them into existence.
ReplyDeleteWould they exist if humans didn't? Probably not.
Actually Pascal, they would still exist. For God dwells in Heaven and Hell was orginally created for the devil and his angels. Hell was never intended for people to begin with but that all changed after the fall of mankind and their lack of repentance.
Overall I enjoyed reading your post about humor. You made some good points my friend :)
Thanks Terry. I'll just expand on your reasoning by saying that maybe Hell (the way you describe it) became a fit place for human souls after some humans became themselves a new kind of demons.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I tend to accept the unverifiable existence of angels and demons, or similar entities. I mean, invisible intelligences? Why not? We do believe that a part of what WE are is an invisible spirit, after all.
I'm just not convinced that everybody who thinks to have seen one did actually more than imagine it, and that they're literally everywhere doing everything that's initially unexplained. Psychiatry's full of incorrect perceptions.
I'll just summarize my attitude about religion with this new image that just came to me:
"Remember the boy who cried wolf?
- He was lying, wasn't he?
- Totally. But there WAS a wolf."