Cinema - If It Affects You, It Means Something
Thoughts On: Small Blog Changes
I've recently changed the blog description, so we'll take a moment to talk about why.
As you may know, by way of the numerous times I reference him, I watch many of Jordan Peterson's lectures. There is an idea that runs through many of his talks that encapsulates much of what I attempt to express on this blog, and that is, in the simplest terms I can manage: stories are the expression of thousands upon thousands, if not millions upon millions, of years of human evolution. In exploring religious and mythological texts, Peterson then combines an understanding of philosophical works such as Nietzsche's with history, for example, through the work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn; literature, Dostoevsky; and psychology, Freud, Jung and Piaget. Peterson thus attacks the concept of meaning, and the question of proper action, in life from innumerable angles, utilising a biological, psychological and cultural frame-work through which to structure his expression. And so, to reiterate, what he attempts to express, from my understanding, is the crux of human understanding by tracing the evolutionary functions of stories (which are themselves expressions of evolution). This is an idea that I'm besmitten by as it not only seems to set up a paradigm through which nature reveals itself, but it begins to give resolution to the road below, and maybe even ahead, of yourself - rather, possibly, us as a species.
It is in my view that cinema is the ultimate form of expressing narratives that we, in the modern day, have at our finger tips. This is because cinema is not just an amalgam of all other arts, but is an art that is mapped around the human body and mind better than any other art - and this is why children can watch movies as soon as--or maybe even before--they begin to understand the world around them. In the future, technology such as virtual reality may take over cinema as the best form of expression, but this will be after it is developed properly as a technology and then spent at least a couple of decades evolving into an art with its own language like cinema had to. So, eventually, all of this may be an antiquated way of thinking about things, but, for now, it isn't.
What we are then doing on this blog is a distilled, specified and, in my view, a much more naive and uninformed version of what Peterson does. As the blog develops, maybe its reliability will too. But, I think that is besides the point at this moment. With cinema as the greatest form of expression that people are still figuring out and are still analysing on a rather surface level - compare the effect and perceived connotations of religious texts on, and to, society to that of cinema and you will understand what I imply - we need to focus on taking what little cinema we have (only 120-odd years of it) and understanding its mythos that, like great stories that are told throughout time, reflect where we came from and what we've learnt (or not) on the path to our current position. This is important as it allows us to understand ourselves and to create better stories and push on forwards with expressions from the highest level of human evolution into the pitch and looming future.
Cinema, as we have talked about before, is then a modern religious text that I am trying to sort through as to find the best stories from all regions of the world and decipher what they are expressing. This is an unperceivably gigantic task, but, I believe that it can be confronted with what David Lynch may call "think-feeling". If it affects you, if it resonates with your biology and psychology, is must mean something about the bigger picture of human nature and purpose. So, as you may have noticed, I've distilled such an idea down to the new blog title/description: Thoughts On: Cinema. If It Affects You, It Means Something.
This is, in my view, a very rudimentary title that has a bit too much rhythm in it to be taken seriously, but, it stands for now and so it will stay at the top of these pages. So, what I'm ultimately trying to re-define to you here is what you and I are doing by being apart of this blog. With this understanding, maybe we can both move forward with wider eyes and greater sense.
Thanks for reading.
Previous post:
Apocalypse, CA - Attack Of The 50 Inch Wide Mole
Next post:
Laputa: Castle In The Sky - Atlantis Calls
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
I've recently changed the blog description, so we'll take a moment to talk about why.
As you may know, by way of the numerous times I reference him, I watch many of Jordan Peterson's lectures. There is an idea that runs through many of his talks that encapsulates much of what I attempt to express on this blog, and that is, in the simplest terms I can manage: stories are the expression of thousands upon thousands, if not millions upon millions, of years of human evolution. In exploring religious and mythological texts, Peterson then combines an understanding of philosophical works such as Nietzsche's with history, for example, through the work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn; literature, Dostoevsky; and psychology, Freud, Jung and Piaget. Peterson thus attacks the concept of meaning, and the question of proper action, in life from innumerable angles, utilising a biological, psychological and cultural frame-work through which to structure his expression. And so, to reiterate, what he attempts to express, from my understanding, is the crux of human understanding by tracing the evolutionary functions of stories (which are themselves expressions of evolution). This is an idea that I'm besmitten by as it not only seems to set up a paradigm through which nature reveals itself, but it begins to give resolution to the road below, and maybe even ahead, of yourself - rather, possibly, us as a species.
It is in my view that cinema is the ultimate form of expressing narratives that we, in the modern day, have at our finger tips. This is because cinema is not just an amalgam of all other arts, but is an art that is mapped around the human body and mind better than any other art - and this is why children can watch movies as soon as--or maybe even before--they begin to understand the world around them. In the future, technology such as virtual reality may take over cinema as the best form of expression, but this will be after it is developed properly as a technology and then spent at least a couple of decades evolving into an art with its own language like cinema had to. So, eventually, all of this may be an antiquated way of thinking about things, but, for now, it isn't.
What we are then doing on this blog is a distilled, specified and, in my view, a much more naive and uninformed version of what Peterson does. As the blog develops, maybe its reliability will too. But, I think that is besides the point at this moment. With cinema as the greatest form of expression that people are still figuring out and are still analysing on a rather surface level - compare the effect and perceived connotations of religious texts on, and to, society to that of cinema and you will understand what I imply - we need to focus on taking what little cinema we have (only 120-odd years of it) and understanding its mythos that, like great stories that are told throughout time, reflect where we came from and what we've learnt (or not) on the path to our current position. This is important as it allows us to understand ourselves and to create better stories and push on forwards with expressions from the highest level of human evolution into the pitch and looming future.
Cinema, as we have talked about before, is then a modern religious text that I am trying to sort through as to find the best stories from all regions of the world and decipher what they are expressing. This is an unperceivably gigantic task, but, I believe that it can be confronted with what David Lynch may call "think-feeling". If it affects you, if it resonates with your biology and psychology, is must mean something about the bigger picture of human nature and purpose. So, as you may have noticed, I've distilled such an idea down to the new blog title/description: Thoughts On: Cinema. If It Affects You, It Means Something.
This is, in my view, a very rudimentary title that has a bit too much rhythm in it to be taken seriously, but, it stands for now and so it will stay at the top of these pages. So, what I'm ultimately trying to re-define to you here is what you and I are doing by being apart of this blog. With this understanding, maybe we can both move forward with wider eyes and greater sense.
Thanks for reading.
Previous post:
Apocalypse, CA - Attack Of The 50 Inch Wide Mole
Next post:
Laputa: Castle In The Sky - Atlantis Calls
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
