BUCK — By: Cindy Meehl

Buck:
WARNING: This post is going to be anecdotal and highly existential.
The main question that I keep asking myself is – why did this movie make me cry?
Is it because one of my ultimate desires in life is to raise a horse? Or is it because of the Buck’s reasons to why he became a horse-whisperer were revealed?
But what if I had no emotional connection?
I still think that I would have had watery eyes simply because Buck was such a compassionate person. The director did a beautiful job of capturing Buck’s genuine features and connection to horses. The main thing I took away from this film is Buck’s tactic to getting the horse to trust him. Buck tuned into the horses wants and needs not by being aggressive but rather by really understanding the horse’s emotions. It’s as if he asked himself: What would the horse feel? Natural empathy was seen by the audience as opposed to forced empathy.
I believe that there was no hierarchy made between Buck and the horse for a moment because for a split second the horse becomes a mirror of Buck and Buck becomes a mirror of the horse.

The Baby in the Well — By: Paul Bloom

Although I agreed with certain things that Bloom posed in his case against empathy — there were many MORE things I saw flawed with his argument. He begins his essay by pointing  out the power that empathy has on humanity which is — the passive act of  “feeling into… those who are different from [you].” Paul’s main concern is that people are using empathy as a moral outlet when thinking about the lives of others or as he puts it “individuals.”  He states, “empathy has some unfortunate features — it is parochial, narrow-minded, and innumertae. We’re often at our best when we’re smart enough not to rely on it.”   BASICALLY, he is concluding that reason is better to use than empathy. Paul’s way of justifying his argument is by stating how empathy is not appropriate to use because it causes people to draw more attention to “the identifiable victim” as opposed to a “crises that will harm countless of people.”

Sure, his argument seems logical on the surface however, notice how he only uses visual examples throughout his argument. I am more than sure that Paul is confusing empathy with what I want to call:  mapped out empathy that the media creates. The issue here is not empathy — it is capitalism’s control of the media thereby, mapping out when and for who one should feel empathy for. For example, the death of Paul Walker brought an uproar in social media. Many people felt empathy when hearing about his death and began recycling pictures of him in the internet. Did this happen when a trans-woman of color was beat to death in new-york city a month before? NO. WHY? Because the media brainwashes people since birth (okay, that’s dramatic) but really the point is that the media fetishes certain bodies over others whether it is one person or 10,000. Media is driven by capitalisms FLAWED IDEAS therefore, the people that come across it end up believing that they should feel empathy for certain bodies.

INSTEAD, of dismissing empathy — one should use it along with reason to make active choices that will be better humanity.

The Antiquity of Empathy — By: Frans B.M. de Waal

In the Antiquity of Empathy — de Waal offers an interesting approach to empathy. He uses animals, more specifically apes, as a device when thinking about the evolution of empathy. Frans states that, “the idea of empathy translates into altruism and helping is widely assumed for humans and has also been proposed for other mammals” — it is easy to agree with Frans after seeing the video in which two apes are put side by side while they are being fed. One is being fed cucumber while the other one is being fed grapes. Once, the one being fed cucumber realizes that there is not an equal distribution of food — it throws a fit. In essence, the message is that when there is unequal pay, benefits and favoritism it becomes visible — this happens with humans as well.
Frans points out at the end of the essay that, “to better understand the power of empathy requires investigation of the neurological basis as well as its evolutionary antiquity.”

The Sublime and the Good — BY: Iris Murdoch

 

Murdoch begins her essay with a complaint by Tolstoy “All the existing aesthetic standards are built on this plan. Instead of of giving a definition of true art and then deciding what is and what is not good art by judging whether a work conforms or does not conform to this definition, a certain class of works which for some reason pleases a certain circle of people is accepted as being art, and a definition of art is then devised to cover all these productions”

 

Murdoch responds with “our aesthetic must stand to be judges by great works of art which we know to be such independently; and it right that our faith in Kant and in Tolstoy should be shaken when we discover shocking eccentricities in their direct judgment in merit in art.”

 

In other words, ones idea of what makes good art is productive in its own way. The rest of  her essay uses different philosophers idea on moral and aesthetic in art. She thinks through them critically to reach her conclusion that love is an important element in the definition of art. a kind of love that is not known the common use of the word but more in the sense where love is used as a tool to be conscious and expressive of form and social morality.

The Apology

 

Brief Summary:

To begin with, The Apology is not actually an apology but a defense speech written by Plato. It is supposed to be Socrates defense before his death. The reason that he has been sentenced to death is because he was accused of not believing in God and corrupting the youth. Throughout his speech Socrates explains how his behavior was triggered by Delphi’s prophecy: that Socrates was the wisest man in Athens. In order to understand this Socrates begins to question people that he knows to be wise. He concludes through his investigation that those who thought they were wise were actually not so wise. The fact that Socrates is consciously aware that he doesn’t know everything makes his wise or in this context wiser. According to Socrates, the people he questioned felt offended that he doubted their reputation for wisdom which why they were against him. Next, he begins to talk about how the young men that followed him and tried reenacting his behavior at their own will. This is when Meletus comes in. Socrates points at “Meletus is guilty of dealing frivolously with serious matter, of irresponsibly bringing people into court, and of professing to be seriously concerned with things about none of which he has ever cared…” (Pg.23) In other words, Meletus is guilty of something that actually matters as opposed to Socrates whose accusation was driven by foolish reasons. The rest of the speech Socrates talks about improvement of the youth, knowledge, death, his poverty, and public affairs. In the end, his defense wasn’t enough to save him.

 

What I got out of the defense:

There are many things to get out of Socrates defense but a few that stood out to me on the surface were:

Different levels of Knowledge

Question to understand

LEAVE ROOM TO GROW

Look at ones actions critically

Skills are more valuable than money

A different way to view Death

BLUE (BLEU)

Krzysztof Kieslowski’s film, BLUE is beautiful in its own way.

I had no prior knowledge about this film. As I watched it – it was the first time I came in contact with it. I was not sure what to expect other that it might have something to do with depression because of the title Blue (Bleu). In a sense the film did deal with depression since it is centered on Julie, a wife that becomes widowed after her daughter and husband die in a horrible car accident. Her husband is a famous composer in Paris, where the film is set. It turns out that he was writing a new concerto that could not be finished since he died. Julie did not plan to further his last concerto instead, she wanted to cut off all ties she had with her life with him and her daughter. She sells the house they lived in along with the things in it except a chandelier that is formed by blue crystal buds that flow down luminously. She disconnects with everyone expect her mom which in a sense she is disconnected from her as well since she hardly remembers who Julie is. She burns her husband’s only copy of his unfinished concerto but then finds out that the person who held it made a copy and mailed it to her Olivier. Julie discovers this while watching an interview of Olivier on T.V. she also sees that Olivier took things from her former house such as, photographs of not just her but another woman. When she confronts Olivier she finds out that the other woman was her husband’s mistress that is now pregnant with her child. She also decides to finish the concerto with Olivier.

It appears that Julie wanted to get away from all the madness but it caught up to her through connections with people she knew and did not know. Kieslowski depicts Julie struggle vividly though his cinematic techniques. Since the beginning of the film there were many close up shots and it stayed that way throughout. By doing this – he enhanced the human connections in the film and off the screen for the audience. 

Testament of Mary

Fiona Shaw in the Broadway version of Testament of Mary:

Testament of Mary 

By: Colm Toibin

Toibin takes his readers into a place that is not given proper attention — Mary’s mind. Many people often forget the importance of Mary when thinking about the crucifixion of Jesus that is learned through the Bible, a creative piece of literature.

This is going to be slightly anecdotal but it is necessary to my understanding of the short book. Being that I grew up Catholic in a Mexican community — I always knew that Mary was an important character. In our culture — Mary is highly idolized.  Not only do we have prayers dedicated to her but we also have many sculptures of her in Catholic churches. “El virgin de la Guadalupe” — “The Virgin Mary”  is praised almost as much as Dios (God). Other than in my culture — I have never seen any other space dedicated to Mary until reading The Testament of Mary. In fact, even this was new to me because it is a fictitious insight into her mind through words as opposed to a visual of her facial expression which you see presented with such intensity in paintings, photographs and sculptures.

From I understand and know not even the Bible offers Mary’s perspective of what happened — there are only versus and prayers like I mentioned before.

This makes Toibin’s book unique because it is a perplexing portrayal of Mary’s thoughts. I enjoyed that the character of Mary questioned events that seemed peculiar. For example, when her son turned water into wine — she thought to herself that the first bowl had water and the rest actually had wine. She forces the reader to think about how the stories known about Jesus — were learned through talk as opposed to first hand experience. Another moment where the reader is triggered to think in this fashion is when Mary points out that Miriam and other people recounted the story of Lazarus as if everything they knew was true when in fact “neither of them had actually been there.’ (Pg.29)

I don’t want to label Mary as a skeptic in this written version of her but rather as an honest critical thinker. Toibin painted Mary as a strong yet emotional woman that was in fact scared for her own sake and her son’s. The last few pages are not the easiest to swallow but they are also the most open about Mary’s emotions as she is watching her son be crucified. The reader can almost feel the impatience and pain that she shares with her son at the end of the story where she is isolated beneath the stars.

The Liberating Quaility of Avant- Garde Art

Meyer Schapiro

“Painter, Alice Neels depiction of art historian Meyer Schapiro” – (http://ow.ly/h6STG)

 

In Meyer Schapiro’s short essay, The Liberating Quality of Avant-Garde Art”  he poses that “painting and sculptures contribute qualities and values less evident in poetry, music and architecture.” (Pg.1) He describes the qualities as revolutionary change in “social and political life.” (pg.2) According to Meyer, sculptures and paintings showed “freedom” and “sincerity of expression.” Although his argument holds truth and is executed with such thought — it did not convenience me to believe that paintings and sculptures hold a higher value than music, poetry and architecture. If you are going to think about revolutionary change in terms of culture, society and politics through art — one cannot dismis the impact Jazz had in the 1920’s. Jazz music was adopted within the African American culture and used a political tool to express social issues at the time. Because of “fixed ideas of the laws and boundaries of the arts”  Jazz musicians thought of new and innovative ways to play music. In fact, if you look at Jazz’s note scales —  it does not structurally make sense BUT once you hear it — it makes perfect sense. The invention of Jazz shows freedom! 

Open City —- By: Teju Cole

“I adore imaginary monsters, but I am terrified of real ones.” – Professor Saito (Pg.11)

Many sentences and short rants stood out to me in this novel. However, this specific sentence summed up an important theme in the book for me. The theme of: labyrinths of disconnect.

Teju Cole introduces his readers to a curious character named Julius. In the first half of the book the reader walks through New York City with Julius – he turns different places in New-York city into spaces. Spaces open for imagination and for cognitive thoughts. In chapter three he walks into the American Folk Art Museum and maps out an alluring view of the art work. Cole writes,

“The gallery was quiet and calm and, save for the guard who stood in a corner, I was the only person there. This heightened the feelings of quietness I got from almost all the portraits. The stillness of the people depicted was certainly part of it, as was the sober color palette of each panel, but there was something more, something harder to define: an air of hermeticism. Each of the portraits was a sealed-away world, visible from without impossible to enter.” (Pg.37)

Although Julius is describing an art gallery – this passage can be used to describe the feeling one can have living in New-York city. If you replace the portraits with the bodies that you pass by everyday on the sidewalks – it is easy to feel as if they are “sealed-away” worlds. Most of the time they are impossible to enter because people are so disconnected and connected at the same time in the city. You can imagine the world you could enter but are often scared to.

Access to the Experience of Another through Literature

Signs and Symbols

By: Vladimir Nabokov

It is interesting to remember that Nabokov also wrote the well-known book, Lolita.  Being that Lolita has a physiological aspect to it — It makes sense that he also wrote this short story. The “experience of another” that Nabokov gives us through his literature is the kind of experience many people don’t want to talk about. For example, in his book Lolita — Pedophilia is one of the main themes whereas in Signs and Symbols, he writes about mental illness. Both themes make you feel uncomfortable when reading about them it but the truth is — is that these are real experiences. For me, what stood out in this particular short story is how each character understood the experience of dealing with a “mental illness.” The reader doesn’t get a full account of the character that attempts suicide because the story is written mainly though the perspective of his parents.

The nurse lets the parents know that their son attempted suicide on his birthday. The reader doesn’t see how he parents interact with their son about it– therefore it affects how they experience the situation. Looking at this from a moral perceptive — their son could argue that it’s his choice to decide when his life can be taken away. Another perspective is that he might be depressed and he could change his mind about the meaning of his life after going to a psychiatrist. What I am trying to get at here — is that Nabokov offers many entry points to different human experiences. He forced me and perhaps many of his other readers to imagine a humble family dealing with a son that attempted suicide. He also forces you to think through questions like:  What does it say about how we read people? How do we interpret an experience of  someone that is mentally ill? How does we makes sense of it through a moral perspective?

Sometimes we don’t know how to make sense of unexpected things.

A Priest in the Family

By: Colm Toibin

A Priest in the Family, is also a story that forces one think about how one reacts to an uncomfortable topic such as: molestation. In this short story — Toibin introduces his reader to a character named Molly. It turns out that her son has been accused of abusing children when he was teaching in the parish. It appears that everyone in town, including her other children knew expect for her. Instead of being upset or depressed– she went on living as she had done before,  When Molly’s daughters come to visit her, they are appalled by how calm she is by the news. One daughter even gets teary eyed — Molly on the other hand is more concerned about her grandchildren. At the end of the story her son, the priest, comes to visit her to warn her about the papers will say. Again, her reaction was not to scold him or even question what had happened at the parish — she tells him that  to not worry about her at all.

The experience for me here is more directed to the reaction Molly had to her son. Molly seems like a stoic woman — perhaps it is part of her culture but does this mean that showing emotion is not the best thing to do in situations like these?  Personally, I am not sure what Toibin is trying to telling his readers by creating a character like Molly. Is he commenting on the difference between thinking and feeling? About the contrast between interior denial and exterior reactions?

A Dill Pickle

By: Katherine Mansfield 

Katherine Mansfield gave her readers access to complex-narcissist characters in her shorty story, The Dill Pickle. The title automatically leaves the story open into interpretation. A dill pickle could mean being trapped in any human condition however, in this story it is being used to describe feeling trapped in a lost love with oneself.

The story is constructed by two former lovers that catch up on old times by coincidence after not having seen each other in years.

He tells her: “I have really carried out all those journeys that we planned out.”  In response she feels “a strange beast that had slumbered so long within her bosom stir, stretch itself, yawn, prick up its ears, and suddenly bound to its feet and fix its longing, hungry stare upon those faraway places.” But she did not show how she really felt instead she smiled and said: “How I envy you.”

Through their exchange of dialogue you sense that Vera did not really love this person sitting right in front of her. She thinks back on the memories they had and only notices things that annoyed her about him whereas he remembers lovely moments. As a reader, you are not sure what it going on. You feel as if they are both so tangled up in themselves that they can’t even be honest with each other. You even feel as if you are in a dill pickle.