Just Because They Seem To Understand The Way You Feel, It Doesn't Mean That They Feel The Same Way Too
--"Heavenly Nobodies (live)", Lush
speaking of music...
I've recently begun reading Nick Hornby's newest work, Juliet, Naked. I've read most of his other novels meaning it was pretty much a no-brainer that I would be picking this particular novel up. So far it hasn't disappointed.
Juliet, Naked, according to Wikipedia:
But more than that it's a gentle ribbing and exultation of the way music and musicians creep into our lives. You see, Duncan isn't just obsessed with Tucker Crowe; Duncan is fanatical about Tucker. The way he pores over the minutiae of Tucker's albums just about mirrors how every one of has looked to a particular song, a particular album, or maybe a particular musician for guidance. I mean--Providence knows I've been guilty of instilling meaning into songs that probably were accidental at best. One only has to look at my previous post to see that I imbue a good deal of significance in the soundtrack of my life. It's perfectly natural to want to believe that a song, as with any work of art, is speaking to you about your life. That's kind of the purpose of art.
Where the novel excels is showing how some of us take this idolatry too far. When certain people start losing the ability to see the significance elsewhere and start believing that the only messages that matter come from music, that's when the problem begins. Some of the best scenes in the book are where Duncan or others go through these great upheavals of fortune without so much losing sleep and yet practically throw themselves off cliffs when the hear the album in question, Juliet, Naked. It's a decent commentary about how the critic in all of us sometimes is stronger than the artist in all of us. It's far easier to react to somebody else's contribution to the world than to contribute something ourselves.
take no heroes, it's no good
they don't stand up to you
just take the bits you think that you can use
I know I'm a critic at heart. I like to review restaurants on Yelp! I like to review music, movies, and television shows here. A lot of the writing I do is in response to something else I've seen or heard. My process dictates that I glean as much truth as I can from the world of entertainment. Far more than the news or daily events in my life, I gain my insights from art. From these insights I post my own truths, I suppose. It's been the process I've worked by for as long as I can remember.
And in the course of growing to appreciate music and film and television, I freely admit that I've grown attached to certain entertainers. I too could be accused of a little hero worship by wanting to believe that certain singers or certain actors hold the answers to questions I've been asking myself for awhile now. My perspective is that I can't be the most intelligent or most intuitive person out there. Because of that, I'd like to believe that certain people who are more open about their ideas and who possess the intelligence to flesh these ideas out can become artists and can manage to share this knowledge with the rest of us. I'd like to believe that there are some among us that have all the answers that can make sense of our lives.
Because the truth is it's easier to believe someone can tell me all the answers in a four-minute ditty than spend the time discovering the answers myself. It's easier for someone to tell me how to do things right or wrong than spend the time absorbing the same knowledge through simple trial and error. It's easier for someone to feed me than cook for myself.
Yet, as the novel suggests, it would seem that there's a danger to getting all your insights from one person. When that one person is inevitably discovered to not have all the knowledge of the universe, there's a danger in believing that everything they've produced is a fraud. We're so hurt at the betrayal that we discount everything that has given us hope before.
But the way I see it, no, it isn't good to believe that an individual, a band, or a particular celebrity has all the answers. No one is that smart or in tune with the way the universe works. However, everybody has some things figured that we might not. Everybody we come across can fill in a little bit more of the puzzle for us. And while we shouldn't worship any man or woman as a god, I firmly believe all of us can learn a thing or two from everyone else. As long as we can keep doing that, learning as we meet and get to know people, I don't think we will be in any danger of growing dependent on someone else to guide us completely.
We can all be guides to everyone else, just as we can all be guided by everyone else. No one person knows everything, but between us all I don't think there isn't anything we can't come to understand or know.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
speaking of music...I've recently begun reading Nick Hornby's newest work, Juliet, Naked. I've read most of his other novels meaning it was pretty much a no-brainer that I would be picking this particular novel up. So far it hasn't disappointed.
Juliet, Naked, according to Wikipedia:
is a novel by the British author Nick Hornby, released on 29 September 2009 by Riverhead Books. It tells the story of Annie, the long-suffering girlfriend of obsessed music fan Duncan, and the object of his obsession, fictional reclusive singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe. The plot revolves around the release of Juliet, Naked, the first new Tucker Crowe release in over two decades.
But more than that it's a gentle ribbing and exultation of the way music and musicians creep into our lives. You see, Duncan isn't just obsessed with Tucker Crowe; Duncan is fanatical about Tucker. The way he pores over the minutiae of Tucker's albums just about mirrors how every one of has looked to a particular song, a particular album, or maybe a particular musician for guidance. I mean--Providence knows I've been guilty of instilling meaning into songs that probably were accidental at best. One only has to look at my previous post to see that I imbue a good deal of significance in the soundtrack of my life. It's perfectly natural to want to believe that a song, as with any work of art, is speaking to you about your life. That's kind of the purpose of art.
Where the novel excels is showing how some of us take this idolatry too far. When certain people start losing the ability to see the significance elsewhere and start believing that the only messages that matter come from music, that's when the problem begins. Some of the best scenes in the book are where Duncan or others go through these great upheavals of fortune without so much losing sleep and yet practically throw themselves off cliffs when the hear the album in question, Juliet, Naked. It's a decent commentary about how the critic in all of us sometimes is stronger than the artist in all of us. It's far easier to react to somebody else's contribution to the world than to contribute something ourselves.
take no heroes, it's no good
they don't stand up to you
just take the bits you think that you can use
I know I'm a critic at heart. I like to review restaurants on Yelp! I like to review music, movies, and television shows here. A lot of the writing I do is in response to something else I've seen or heard. My process dictates that I glean as much truth as I can from the world of entertainment. Far more than the news or daily events in my life, I gain my insights from art. From these insights I post my own truths, I suppose. It's been the process I've worked by for as long as I can remember.
And in the course of growing to appreciate music and film and television, I freely admit that I've grown attached to certain entertainers. I too could be accused of a little hero worship by wanting to believe that certain singers or certain actors hold the answers to questions I've been asking myself for awhile now. My perspective is that I can't be the most intelligent or most intuitive person out there. Because of that, I'd like to believe that certain people who are more open about their ideas and who possess the intelligence to flesh these ideas out can become artists and can manage to share this knowledge with the rest of us. I'd like to believe that there are some among us that have all the answers that can make sense of our lives.
Because the truth is it's easier to believe someone can tell me all the answers in a four-minute ditty than spend the time discovering the answers myself. It's easier for someone to tell me how to do things right or wrong than spend the time absorbing the same knowledge through simple trial and error. It's easier for someone to feed me than cook for myself.
Yet, as the novel suggests, it would seem that there's a danger to getting all your insights from one person. When that one person is inevitably discovered to not have all the knowledge of the universe, there's a danger in believing that everything they've produced is a fraud. We're so hurt at the betrayal that we discount everything that has given us hope before.
But the way I see it, no, it isn't good to believe that an individual, a band, or a particular celebrity has all the answers. No one is that smart or in tune with the way the universe works. However, everybody has some things figured that we might not. Everybody we come across can fill in a little bit more of the puzzle for us. And while we shouldn't worship any man or woman as a god, I firmly believe all of us can learn a thing or two from everyone else. As long as we can keep doing that, learning as we meet and get to know people, I don't think we will be in any danger of growing dependent on someone else to guide us completely.
We can all be guides to everyone else, just as we can all be guided by everyone else. No one person knows everything, but between us all I don't think there isn't anything we can't come to understand or know.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
posted by mojo shivers @ 2:49 AM
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