Blake and Black Swans

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the dark, new film Black Swan. The consensus seems to be that it is obviously artful but one wishes she had not watched it. Hmm… sounds like a Darren Aronofsky film all right. Last weekend I finally got a chance to see this much anticipated film. Be warned that, though I loved this movie, it contains very offensive sexual scenes. I do not believe that this movie is for everyone. Also, I spoil the ending ahead. At the beginning of the film, we immediately get a picture of innocence: a timid ballerina with devout discipline to the techniques of dance. From this point on I could not help but view the film through the lens of William Blake’s poetry (note: my Romantics professor never really agreed with my interpretation of Blake).

In the hot climate that this film has erupted, I am trying to find reasons that this film is valuable and significant outside of its artistic production. I believe that there is something spiritually significant in the film’s story. What we have here is Blake’s theme of innocence and its inevitable movement into experience, which ultimately leads to death. O.K. Too nerdy? Well, it is essentially the story of Eve. At the beginning of the story, the young dancer is a near perfect individual. She has a mastery of technique and a blameless personality that qualifies her to dance as the white swan. However, there is something missing that disqualifies her from embodying the black swan. The movie then chronicles her slow move into experience through sexual encounters, jealousy, and violence. She has eaten the apple, and it has changed her; this state of experience leads to her death. The movie asserts that while this transformation is inevitable, there is also something good, even perfect in it. Perfection is only achieved by first going through a state of experience. In my reading, Blake reaches this same conclusion. And this is what I believe most Christians will probably be offended by. Did we need to enter the state of sin or would it have been better to stay in Eden?

-Call of Duty: Black Ops (Xbox 360)
-The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot (or any book of his poetry)
-Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
-Scarf
-Wool Gloves
-Indoor Basketball
-Coffee Grinder
-Coffee Mugs

Stuff I need for my apartment:

-Shower Curtain
-Hand Towels
-Bath Towels
-Lazy Boy chair
-End Table
-basically any kitchen tools/supplies (cutting knife, silicone spatula, cutting board, anything really)

The Passion of Joan of Arc

The first movie on the Image's list that I decided to tackle was The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). It is a silent film directed by Carl Dreyer. The first thing that I noticed about the movie is that there seems to be a good reason that people don't watch 1920s silent films anymore. Its hard to watch a movie in complete silence. It actually takes effort to stay focused and follow the action of the movie. In the absence of sound, the viewer must glean all emotion from the sense of sight. I immediately had a new appreciation for music and the power it has to move an audiences emotional connection and reaction to a film. To convey the intense emotion that this film is famous for, Dreyer used stunning photography. Long, almost awkward, shots are held on the main actresses face, so that the viewer can examine and begin to experience every painful gesture of her saintly countenance. By the time she is being burned at the stake, I found that the silent film is the perfect medium to tell the story of Saint Joan. It allows the viewer to experience just a hint of the patience and resolve required of a martyr.

We see it all the time: "Top 100 Films of All-Time". We get excited until we realize we don't recognize the titles of seventy-five percent of the list. A closer look at the years of release of the films usually tells us why we don't recognize the list. Our culture doesn't really like to watch old movies. Many would rather *gasp* read a book than trudge through a black and white film that is "supposed to be really good". After being recruited to help with compiling Image's top 100 films list, I thought it might be time to explore some of these "great", old films. The list is decided by the journal's online forum community. It is essentially decided by a small group of cinephiles who have an interest in creating a list with their faith's development in mind. As a result, the list does not have all the typical top movies, but includes a long list of foreign and old films. Of their 2010 top 100 films I had heard of seven and seen five...not a great percentage. So I've decided to give some of these films a chance.

Ever since my brother has moved to Japan to study linguistics, I have been mildly intrigued by Japanese art and language. Consequently, many of my poems (a sparse handful at best to keep up the illusion that I am artistic) have been haikus. It also seems like a fitting form for the Autumn season.

Gnarled branches fight leaves
the bloody petals drip down
October has won

One of my theological, philosophical, and political musings this quarter has been what is known as the Euthyphro question. It is a question of morality as Socrates asks Euthyphro "is something right because the gods (or God) command it, or do the gods (or God) command it because it is right?" In my philosophy classes, the consensus seems to be that there must be something that right is that is the reason that God makes his commandments. If not, then his commandments are arbitrary and random which is something I find hard to believe. But a view like this could also seem to put something in authority over God. Uh Oh. Anyway, in my imaginative writing class I was assigned to write a poem streaming three entries from my writing journal. This was the result of trying to weave three articles with the Euthyphro question in mind. If this poem seems too cynical or harsh on God, keep in mind that I've been reading 17th and 18th century poetry all quarter and am trying to imitate some of their doubt to represent my own struggle.

Morality lies under sands of a private beach.
Many are sure it flows from the Divine Castle built
on the shore. But this cannot be where it forms.
To make these laws not arbitrary wishes of Being,
even God must be measured in His good.
We all are looking for a way to make sense
of life. Smashing politics into pieces,
trying to make it work for you and
for me.
Opposition falls on man,
clothing him in confusion,
tripping him short of the divine.


Still a work in progress as my workshop group pointed out to me this week (the consensus there was that the poem did not make much sense :))

For my Christianity and World Politics class this week, I was assigned passages from some of Martin Luther's letters. Martin Luther being such an influential figure in the Protestant Reformation I assumed that most of his teachings would seem simple and familiar coming from a Protestant background. However, I found the readings to challenge this view to some degree. We read a letter that Martin Luther wrote to the Princes of Germany explaining how far Christian are to be obedient to secular authority. This letter came after Martin Luther has been excommunicated by Rome and already urged the German princes to help reform the Catholic church. Martin Luther explains in this letter that he has waited long enough for the princes to act against Rome and their oppression has caused him to decide to resist the German government. Here, one might question Luther with verses where Paul tells Christians to submit to all earthly authorities. Luther acknowledges this argument and gets around it in an interesting way.
Luther reveals that there are two types of people in the world: those of the kingdom of God and those of the kingdom of the World. Furthermore, there are two governments including the spiritual which strives to make people just (believers in Christ) and the secular government which creates outward peace and prevents evildoing. Luther then argues that the law and "Sword" (the Old Testament idea of "eye for and eye") are for the benefit of the unbelievers governed by the secular government. Luther seemed to contend that just Christians do not need the law or Sword and that is why Jesus taught so much against the Sword and violence. The reason then that Christians submit to their authorities of earth not because they need it but because they must serve their neighbors who still need this authority to help them avoid evil. Luther's position of resistance against the German government seems to be justified as a service to his unsaved Christians.
The part that really seemed strange to me was Luther's idea that the Old Testament laws of eye for an eye should still apply to non Christians and our dealings with them. Also, he seems to assert that Jesus' teachings of "turn the other cheek" is for Christians only who are already just and do not need the law for the correction. Perhaps I am alone in feeling that this is a new teaching, but I do not recall Pastor Edgecomb ever phrasing it quite like this. Well, it also could be that I am completely misinterpreting what Luther is saying here.