Agendas

Nothing in this world makes me want to hurl a string of profanity like the issue of social agendas in art. It's such a sticky situation and, if truth be told, it isn't the existence of the agenda that bothers me. It's the blatant lack of depth and skill that seems to so frequently accompany the agenda. Then the agenda becomes married to the piece of art making it impossible to criticize. Who is going to say "Schindler's List" has narrative problems or forced dialogue? What makes "Schinder's List" powerful is not the depth of the storytelling but the depth of human history. We cannot hold Spielberg responsible for the circumstances of history. So we need not make him a hero for them, either.

I'm not critiquing "Schindler's List". I actually have no substantial problems with the film, except that I found it less than extraordinary. Nor am I making any statements on the Holocaust. What is on my mind is the idea of perspective and intent. To continue with this lamentable example, "Schindler's List" was not made to explain how the Holocaust happened. It was not made to challenge any self righteous assumptions from its audience. It is fairly safe. You can walk away from "Schindler's List" with your ego intact. Yes, that was a horrible thing that happened and I am sad but I can feel content with myself that I would not fold so easily. I would do the right thing. I would risk my life and hide Anne Frank and her family. I would save as many people as I could. This film has great value in its ability to inspire empathy, but will it stop future genocides? Well, count how many are happening in the world today. I'll wait.

Finished counting? Or just feeling too sad to continue the exercise?

I don't just mean to pick on "Schindler's List". There are a myriad of other works that have no real informative or inspirational purpose just agendas. From "The Contender" to "Passion of the Christ" there are certain things that simply ellicit reactions from the human machine. Just give me five minutes. I can inspire you to feel sad. I can create an atmosphere to inspire love, moral outrage, hatred, you name it. That doesn't mean that I have achieved anything approaching greatness. It just means that I have pushed the right buttons to manipulate a response from you. Look! Puppies! Oh no! One of those puppies is in trouble! His mama is going to save him! Yay Mama! Watch out for that bear, Mama! NOOOOOOO!!!

Okay. Now I'm being flip, but there are tricks being used that are so pedestrian that it makes me angry. I cry every time and I cry on cue but I feel pissed for being used. I feel pissed and cheated because I know that feeling in my brain when I see something honest, skillful and undeniably true. I know that orgasmic feeling when a new or hardly ever used synapse fires, blazing a new pathway through my brain. I crave it. I hunger to share that firing with others. It isn't just emotional, it's intellectual, it's physical and it propels me to action. I know that pure emotion can do that for people, too. But I want more, because it forces me to see the world from outside myself. The more perspectives I have, the fuller, brighter and more present my world becomes. If I languish in pure emotion I am stuck only inside myself and have no hope of growing beyond my three feet of personal space.

I suppose it is long overdue that I give examples of agendas in art done well. The first that comes to mind is a dark and sad film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable called, "Strange Cargo". In this film a "tainted woman" and a group of convicts on an island prison escape with the help of a mysterious fellow inmate who does not seem to fit in with such a crowd. The answer of who this man really is stares you in the face from his very first frame. Like the characters in the film, you deny his presence and his great kindness. When Clark Gable finally discovers who this stranger is the moment is simultaneously liberating, terrifying, extatic and soul crushing. Although the film is heavily littered with Christian mythology it does not overplay its hand. The film trusts that you will understand its meaning and then silently fades from the screen. The ideas presented in the film were not new to me, having been raised Catholic. But the ideas were made PRESENT to me in a way that allowed me to remember why people choose to practice any religion. It made me more understanding. It made me aware. It made me consider going back to church, to be honest.

Another film that changed the way I veiwed myself and humanity in general is "Bridge on the River Kwai". I fell in love with Alec Guinness and cheered for him until the last 5 or 10 minutes of the film in which I ( just as passionately as I had loved him) wished for him to die. Humans are fickle and circumstances are everything. Although "Bridge on the River Kwai" was not really an agenda film, it caused me to reevaluate myself and how I could love and adore someone and still, cold heartedly, pray for their demise. That is some mad skill as a storyteller, my friend.

There is something fascinating about art that challenges the darker impulses present in all of us. Now, there's a distinct difference between challenging the darkness and wallowing in it. There is also something delusional about wallowing in the light. Children's films are full of this kind of crap.

What the hell was "Happy Feet" about? Every penguin has a 'heart song'? How corny is that? And I'm supposed to believe that the uplifting heart song of one penguin would be the super-horny "Kiss"? And when one baby penguin busts out "Don't push me cuz' I'm close to the edge, I'm tryin' not to lose my head..." I was just trying not to lose my lunch. This film was full of so many agendas it couldn't even focus on just one. First it had some ' be true to yourself' thing happening, then it had some message about humans' environmental impact, and then something about tolerance and then...I can't even go on it ticked me off so much.

Instead, I suggest watching "The Dark Crystal" which blew my little 8 year old mind. That was the first time I remember encountering the idea that light and dark are present in each one of us and that we must embrace both in order to be whole. Talk about not talking down to anyone. That's a deep concept for adults to grasp and yet, here it is with muppets. I know that sounds flip, but I actually mean that as a very high bit of praise. The journey Jen and Kira take to fulfill the prophey and heal their world is filled with the best of mythological tradition and without any hint of cendescension. Sure, some of the dialogue is corny and hyper dramatic, but that does not negate from the complex spiritual concepts presented here.

Clearly, at this point I am rambling, but I am deeply concerned about how stories are presented. I feel we are getting lazy and falling for gimmicks when we could be exploring ourselves and our world in a much deeper way. I fear that this trend is not the result of lack of talent, but the result of lack of will to ask questions without already having the answers prepared. Life should surprise us. If it doesn't, we're not doing it right.