An impressive roundup! Thank you! I had already read Louis Perry's essay, and it is indeed epic. I haven't engaged much with Ted Gioia's "culture is stagnating" grandstand; my hunch is that we are instead seeing the gradual end of a cycle of the youth- and novelty-obsessed cultural paradigm. Every so often it seems that the new enjoys a magnified importance (in the baroque era, for instance), but at the moment we seem to be rediscovering the value of engagement with old thinkers and cultural products. Whether this is stagnation, "stuck culture," or simply an investment in tradition is up for debate and always will be, but I don't see the cultural landscape in as dismal a light as Gioia tends to see it.
I've thought similar things about movies; perhaps it is time for a genre of ambient film, which can be displayed in the background without requiring focused attention, like ambient music. Malick's "Days of Heaven," Lynch's "The Straight Story," and "2001: A Space Odyssey" would be my picks for this new kind of film aesthetic.
Wish I could join you at Morphe Arts—sounds exactly like the kind of thing I would want to be a part of. Have fun!
Love it. What about watching movies because you care about the character(s)? I can't say that I watch movies to be immersed in a creative production (which is why I don't love marvel, etc.) nor am I interested in plot-driven movies, necessarily... but when a movie/series makes me care deeply about the character-- I'm all in. I take the same approach with novels.
An impressive roundup! Thank you! I had already read Louis Perry's essay, and it is indeed epic. I haven't engaged much with Ted Gioia's "culture is stagnating" grandstand; my hunch is that we are instead seeing the gradual end of a cycle of the youth- and novelty-obsessed cultural paradigm. Every so often it seems that the new enjoys a magnified importance (in the baroque era, for instance), but at the moment we seem to be rediscovering the value of engagement with old thinkers and cultural products. Whether this is stagnation, "stuck culture," or simply an investment in tradition is up for debate and always will be, but I don't see the cultural landscape in as dismal a light as Gioia tends to see it.
I've thought similar things about movies; perhaps it is time for a genre of ambient film, which can be displayed in the background without requiring focused attention, like ambient music. Malick's "Days of Heaven," Lynch's "The Straight Story," and "2001: A Space Odyssey" would be my picks for this new kind of film aesthetic.
Wish I could join you at Morphe Arts—sounds exactly like the kind of thing I would want to be a part of. Have fun!
Love it. What about watching movies because you care about the character(s)? I can't say that I watch movies to be immersed in a creative production (which is why I don't love marvel, etc.) nor am I interested in plot-driven movies, necessarily... but when a movie/series makes me care deeply about the character-- I'm all in. I take the same approach with novels.