4 ms·
See how heartbreak is depicted, for instance in a masterpiece like Paris, Texas and in a random Venezuelan soap opera.
by chestertn 6y ago
See how heartbreak is depicted, for instance in a masterpiece like Paris, Texas and in a random Venezuelan soap opera.
- bobthepanda 6y agoPeople make distinctions between "high culture" and "low culture" in cultural analysis now, because it turns out that gatekeeping literature means we only really have an accurate picture of what elite culture in the past was like, not what the lower classes actually lived, perceived, and experienced. Also, some of our literature started off with not great origins one would really attribute to the "proper" form of literature today.
- chestertn 6y agoWell, I tried not to get into the "low culture" vs "high culture" debate by just trying to put an example that I thought it would be agreeable to most people. In Paris, Texas we see an slow but deep study of a character that has been broken and at the end we have a cathartic moment when we understand and maybe empathize with him. In Venezuelan soap operas (not all of them I guess, but many hilarious examples) you see characters that respond in unnatural and superficial ways to forced situations that are just created for the sake of melodrama and shock. You can might think that "low culture" and "high culture" is a product either of gatekeeping or there's some sort of socio-cultural relativism. I would disagree. I think that one can develop "taste" for good things over time by study, reflection, and criticism. TV shows that looked to me funny and enjoyable 10 years ago when I was in college now appear to me badly written, lazy, and vapid. So I do not think that good and bad in art is relative.
- bobthepanda 6y agoAs an example of overdramatic "high culture", Juliet fakes her death, Romeo sees her "dead" body and kills himself by drinking poison, Juliet wakes up and attempts to first kill herself by kissing him and receiving the poison, and when that fails stabs herself to death with his dagger.
- chestertn 6y agoAgain, I did not introduce the high culture vs low culture debate. I just said that there are better pieces of art and worse pieces of art. Is strange that there is such a debate when something like this is said about art but not about any other endeavor. I’m sure one could draw parallels to programmers or to chefs or to musicians. There’s just people that do things much better than others and the more time you spend in that particular endeavor the more you are able to discriminate. Is it classist to say that the guy who flips burgers doesn’t have the same skill as a top rated chef? Maybe he puts a lot of love doing it. Maybe you like the burger more than the fancy restaurant. But still... And... Shakespeare? I particularly don’t enjoy Shakespeare that much (I’m a Spaniard, we have Cervantes here) but I don’t see your point. Those are dramatic formulas from that time and period, nothing to do with the skill or genius of the writer.
- kryptiskt 6y agoYeah, high culture often loses in the long run. The first Swedish literature that survives in living form (that is, it's read outside of seminars) is Carl Michael Bellman's drinking songs. They have outlasted all the overwrought poems that his contemporaries put out. I guess it helps that they're really very good.
- chestertn 6y agoHey, I guess the Renaissance was a mistake. All those snobs reading Protagoras and Cicero, eh? Waste of time.