In this palace of mediocrity that our culture is quickly becoming, there are no Kings and Queens. That is to say there are no masters. No masters of any craft. “No more fun of any kind!” (Dean Wormer, Animal House 1978) I know it’s an overused metaphor but The Dean Wormers have officially taken over.
“Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.”
-David Mamet (Playwright, Screenwriter, and now Political Philosopher)
When the new religion becomes The State i.e. structural conformity, no one reaches for the sky. The highest level of mastery previously not thought to be possible is quite often a direct threat to The Statist way of life. In more practical terms; everyday workers, and artists stop dreaming, and attempting the unachievable. But, why? Why has a once bedrock like mantra for the American way been put out to pasture? Because this current generation no longer believes it to exist. A man can’t reach for the stars, if the tenets of belief behind his God (The State) says to the man “The Stars don’t exist.” What a depressing starting point for our new highly secularized way of life.
This is not an abstract take promoting God exists versus Atheism. It’s simply pointing out a glaringly obvious wart on our contemporary culture. Most artists, politicians, and generals of the past struggled with the very idea of an existence of God. But, even with the great minds of the past who are linked to Atheism such as Thomas Jefferson, they still didn’t bow at the altar of an artificially imposed God-like State, or Federal government. They did not look at bureaucracy as a tonic for social and economic woes. It was a necessary cog in the wheel to maintain peace when needed. That's it. Certainly never to be looked at as a parental figure with God like infatuation.
Unfortunately we now are witnessing a new generation that worships boring government employees working in soulless office buildings in Washington D.C. led by focus grouped social media teams. Media teams where their primary focus is to exploit the followers who more specifically lack any belief bigger than a governing body, or themselves. I couldn’t imagine picking bureaucracy over divine and/or philosophical exceptionalism. If the newly accepted universal hierarchy only goes as far as starting with oneself, and then never thinking the structure goes any higher than rap moguls, activist celebrities, and legislative congressmen do-nothings, that’s a gravely sad existence. It also breeds a generation of creatively small minded people.
Put politics aside for a moment, and think about how sad of a result that is. I love literature, art, music, and movies. But this small minded secularized way of thinking has now seeped into creative culture. The worlds of movies, the sound of albums, and the depths of novels are all increasingly lacking in heart, soul, and imagination. When the generation’s comedy God is Judd Apatow, who believes in rule following democratic-socialism, and thinks God worshiping is intellectually silly if you’re older than 5 years old; how big and daring can his movies possibly be? When the new John Ford is considered to be Steven Spielberg who is “internally embarrassed,” but outwardly accepting of his 24 year old adopted daughter becoming a sex-worker, there's a problem. A public relations like concern for proper social discourse over right and wrong is always a red flag for artistic integrity. And, if that is the case, how risky and interesting can his new movies still be? When the new music Gods are the likes of overly produced nothing to say artists such as Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Juice WRLD; how can an angsty kid ever have a proper outlet again? Or become a deep thinking individual through song at a young age?
Artists of the past, Atheists or God worshiping, it did not matter. They were not constrained by a societal dogmatic belief of The State, confined and working within its restrictive creative parameters. The major problem of this subtle conscious, or unconscious replacement belief in The State over religion or intellectual atheism, is that the government is a slave to shallowly minded social trends. Conversely intellectualism whether it be religious or not, has no bounds. It has, and always will be an exercise in historically mammoth sized mental gymnastics. The new Socrates and Saints this generation listens to on Instagram all day are not timeless religious warriors or philosophers, they are greedy power hungry paper pushers. Pelosi said this, Schumer said that, AOC thinks that. And, everyone falls right in line. Enough. From the gas station attendant, to the tech world project manager- they are all better, and more interesting. Become atheistic towards these nobodies. Tune them out, and shut them off. That will be the moment for true freedom, and the real creativity will begin to flourish in our society, and culture again.
Where is this all coming from? The origin of this hot take on mediocrity, culture, and our beliefs is not nearly as interesting as one would think. But I love movies, and in culture it’s the little things that matter. I watched Doctor Sleep, directed by Mike Flanagan (the sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining) last night, and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I’m tired of craving for a deep, and aesthetically beautiful cinematic experience that grabs at my heart; and brings me on an equally emotional, and philosophical meditative journey. And, instead as of late I am consistently getting a stylized turd; reminiscent of poorly made TV movies from my youth in the 80s and 90s. Kubrick, the man behind movies that would make studio suit’s heads spin today, must be rolling over in his grave over how small and safe Doctor Sleep is comparatively to the canon of endless possibilities that is celluloid storytelling. Not to mention it’s insulting PSA announcement it ends on. Watch it, and you’ll see what I mean.
We once lived in a culture where at one point our comedy minds created Animal House, the new big budget kid on the block made Jaws (before he publicly accepted his children going into sex work), and an Aussie trouble making kid with zero nepotistic connections to Hollywood made perhaps the most perfect, and heartfelt period piece of all time, Braveheart. None of these movies would be made today. For when you believe in limitations, and your dogma comes from unimpressive humans working under fluorescent lights in D.C. your imagination is officially dead. How sad.
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