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Nov. 30th, 2005 11:09 pmJust a quick update before heading to bed - because I really do desperately need sleep - and it has to do with The Watchmen. Or, more specifically, with an article about the comic (the article itself is at www.slate.com/id/2131269/). While I don't want to get into an analysis of the comic, or into a discussion about whether or not I agreed with the article ('cause, frankly, it's end of semester, I'm exhausted, and at this point, I really don't give a fuck)... one paragraph particularly struck me as relevant. Especially considering the mood I'm in:
Before Moore came along, comic books were not generally in the habit of quoting Nietzsche, or scrambling their time schemes, or berating their heroes for their crypto-fascist politics, or their readers for reading them. It was Moore's slightly self-negating triumph to have allowed it to do so. But did the comic book have to "grow up"? The last time I looked, the only ones reading Ulysses and quoting Nietzsche were teenagers. No adult has time for aesthetic "difficulty" or "self-consciousness." Life is too short. Frankly, we'd much rather be watching The Incredibles.
... and I have to say, THIS, I somewhat agree with. I'm tired of reading books only to critique, and I'm tired of reading books that only have relevance in the classroom, and that no one else has read or will read outside the university walls. I'm tired of fishing out 18th century women writers because they were pushed aside in the canon of English Lit in favor of male authors (frankly, I'm not all that sure I care). I don't really see the point of arguing the meaning of things that aren't meaningful to anyone, in a way that no one will ever read or care about, for a purpose that no one can see or distinguish. Frankly, if I'm going to be dealing with complex concepts, or with political ideas, or with personal relationships, or with WHATEVER might be relevant or important or somehow complicated... I'd rather deal with it in a way that makes sense, that is understandable, and that isn't trying to sound so self-important and walled-in that we lose all sense of perspective and reality. (That said, I don't think that easy is necessarily better. But I DO think that sometimes serious ideas can be expressed in ways that make it through to the audience without needing three university committees to comment on it first. I think that books have a lot to offer, but I also think that some fantasy has more to offer than some 'serious' and 'academic' books. Let's broaden our definition of what is worthwhile, people.)
... If that made any sense at all.
And now, going to bed. Wake me up when it gets light outside, I'm going to be essay-writing!
Before Moore came along, comic books were not generally in the habit of quoting Nietzsche, or scrambling their time schemes, or berating their heroes for their crypto-fascist politics, or their readers for reading them. It was Moore's slightly self-negating triumph to have allowed it to do so. But did the comic book have to "grow up"? The last time I looked, the only ones reading Ulysses and quoting Nietzsche were teenagers. No adult has time for aesthetic "difficulty" or "self-consciousness." Life is too short. Frankly, we'd much rather be watching The Incredibles.
... and I have to say, THIS, I somewhat agree with. I'm tired of reading books only to critique, and I'm tired of reading books that only have relevance in the classroom, and that no one else has read or will read outside the university walls. I'm tired of fishing out 18th century women writers because they were pushed aside in the canon of English Lit in favor of male authors (frankly, I'm not all that sure I care). I don't really see the point of arguing the meaning of things that aren't meaningful to anyone, in a way that no one will ever read or care about, for a purpose that no one can see or distinguish. Frankly, if I'm going to be dealing with complex concepts, or with political ideas, or with personal relationships, or with WHATEVER might be relevant or important or somehow complicated... I'd rather deal with it in a way that makes sense, that is understandable, and that isn't trying to sound so self-important and walled-in that we lose all sense of perspective and reality. (That said, I don't think that easy is necessarily better. But I DO think that sometimes serious ideas can be expressed in ways that make it through to the audience without needing three university committees to comment on it first. I think that books have a lot to offer, but I also think that some fantasy has more to offer than some 'serious' and 'academic' books. Let's broaden our definition of what is worthwhile, people.)
... If that made any sense at all.
And now, going to bed. Wake me up when it gets light outside, I'm going to be essay-writing!
