Listen now | David and Walter talk about the surveillance state, beauty and intuition in the artistic process, and pessimism as the illusion of high art.
This episode really spoke to me! (And brought me back to college where I majored in English just so I could take every film class offered). Film Noir was a favorite. I’m really loving the fusion of politics with art and culture you bring to the podcast.
Interesting discussion. A lot of unpacking about American popular culture and arts. I always thought film noir was more about our human weaknesses like greed and envy wrapped up in a gritty crime drama with a femme fatale to coax those weaknesses out and egg on the protagonists. Art was once seen as the counter culture and now it has become just another vehicle which has been politicized by the left to gain conformity with their vision of society
Yeah! "Human weaknesses like greed and envy wrapped up in a gritty crime drama with a femme fatale" is a really good way to describe it. There's so much noir--and so many different sub-genres--that you've got a lot of variety. Add to it the noir from other places like France, and it kinda goes all over the place. Still, as you said, the ones with those elements are the ones we return to and love.
Sometimes I think a work of art is a device that help you stop wanting by looking at it. We will never break through by artistically grasping for some hill on this battlefield. The calling is to show how to live and believe and even die. I don’t feel like I have much training in doing that and so my efforts to show the way are weak.
This episode really spoke to me! (And brought me back to college where I majored in English just so I could take every film class offered). Film Noir was a favorite. I’m really loving the fusion of politics with art and culture you bring to the podcast.
Thanks! I need to do a Favorite Noir list. Maybe this week.
I would love that! It’s been a while since I’ve watched any.
Interesting discussion. A lot of unpacking about American popular culture and arts. I always thought film noir was more about our human weaknesses like greed and envy wrapped up in a gritty crime drama with a femme fatale to coax those weaknesses out and egg on the protagonists. Art was once seen as the counter culture and now it has become just another vehicle which has been politicized by the left to gain conformity with their vision of society
Yeah! "Human weaknesses like greed and envy wrapped up in a gritty crime drama with a femme fatale" is a really good way to describe it. There's so much noir--and so many different sub-genres--that you've got a lot of variety. Add to it the noir from other places like France, and it kinda goes all over the place. Still, as you said, the ones with those elements are the ones we return to and love.
Sometimes I think a work of art is a device that help you stop wanting by looking at it. We will never break through by artistically grasping for some hill on this battlefield. The calling is to show how to live and believe and even die. I don’t feel like I have much training in doing that and so my efforts to show the way are weak.