my family and i recently attended the Japanese Cultural and Lantern Festival in Clearwater. The experience (especially of the tea ceremony) has encouraged me to continue down a path that i had already been intuitively traveling. if you guys have some time, please check out this link (at least the first 3 paragraphs) as it states more succinctly some of the things i have hinted at in previous posts.
How might these philosophies inform an aesthetic that is thoroughly rooted in the life of following Jesus?
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14 comments:
Checked out the link. Read the 3 paragraphs. Liked this quote:
"the emphasis on process rather than product, [...], the length of time involved in creativity (usually a lifetime, but at least “a thousand times” or “ten years”), and the relation of the artistic process to the self, which is seen as a development or construction of the self, rather than self-expression"
This makes me think of art as it used to be thought of in the West; as work. Maybe even a life's work. I know that I want it to be my approach as an artist that I have a purpose and I work it out through my art over the course of my life as a disciple of Christ. (See my comment on your previous post for details.) Art was no different from farming, smithing or even ruling. It was all work that those who did it could find purpose in, not something that could be used to elevate the worker higher than those around them, not something that offered prestige because it was better than someone else's work.
I love that it's a process, a life in progress.
I forgot to mention that work was seen as a burden. Which is not a bad thing. But the more people you cared for the greater the burden. Maybe "responsibility" jives better with us. An artist saw it as their responsibility to create works that lead people to worship. Once upon a time kings understood it was a great responsibility that was placed on their heads not a privilege. A man knew he had a responsibility to provide for his family, etc.
That's not something you walk away from. It is a life's work.
I found the 3rd paragraph most interesting partly because the vocabulary this woman uses is way above my own.
But more importantly i am fascinated with the idea that for the japanese artist a creation can take up a lifetime. I think in the west we have more of an idea that you jump onto one project, complete and then move onto the next idea you get. I dont think its wrong necessarrily, but this difference in approach is fascinating.
I am curious to know what that would look like for a filmmaker to take that approach with their film. Take a look at any DVD extras and you'll hear the director talk about how this project was so hard and grueling and it changed them in some ways but at the end of the day, it's over for them and they're totally done with that project. So, again I just wonder what it would mean for a filmmaker to cultivate and (grow?) a project throughtout his lifetime.
hmmm...quick note. I realize the beginning of my post is misleading. the 3rd paragraph is most interesting because the language of the first 2 was so eloquent.
Dan,
I love everything you said. and i think it can be taken even further: the most beautiful art is a life lived in Christ so that even the most rote and banal becomes imbued with spiritual integrity--ecstasy, even. I'm thinking of things like washing dishes and picking the fleas off of my dogs. This, of course, is the hallmark of servanthood and poverty. the japanese have this wonderful concept for it: wabi-sabi. yo: google it.
matt,
great question. i've asked myself this many times. and i think that's why i'm not actively pursuing any films right now. i think the best way to answer it might be some of those avant-garde filmmakers you've never heard of that our continually working day in and day out and what little of it that hits the public eye is but a fraction of his productivity, but you know dude's a serious genius. then they do museum retrospectives of his archives after he's dead. for the christian, this might mean having no concern for the success, promotion, or cultural (or even spiritual) impact of his creation. Rather, all of his energy is focused on allowing the Spirit to move through him as He wills. You (or Dan) might say, "well isn't it our responsibility to make sure the message is heard?" and i would reply, "no. it is our responsibility to be faithful. this may or may not entail the message being heard."
hmmm, yea i hear what you're saying but actually im not sure that's what i would say. ive been struggling for a while with what i am supposed to with my art since im a Christian. For example, i am a poet as well as a filmmaker and i am always wondering about what and how i should write when it comes to my faith. I do not want to do the "encouraging, hey God is with you and He's really great and this is how powerful He is and i said it with beautiful language and sin is bad so fight it and God'll help you with that too". while those things may be true, the world begs to hear us connect with them on their level to some degree and im sorry, but i am not only thinking about the Lord when i write poetry. sigh...to be honest most of the time i don't even know how to write about the Lord. this is kind of a rant and maybe i just need to grow in my relationship with the Lord so i can understand how and what i should be writing. But all this to say aka bottom line: im not sure i would say shouldnt the message be heard because in all honesty, i dont know exactly what TO say. whew...
wow matt. your authenticity is not only inspiring but deeply crucial. we should not be afraid of the reality that we are wretched sinners, and we should not be afraid to share that with the world. THAT IS GOOD NEWS. i, too, write some poetry. I came up with this little ditty today:
All is false.
So
All is grace.
i should clarify the above all caps:
that is THE Good News, as in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[Sorry this is late but my internet connection crapped out and I had to go to work so this is the soonest I could get this up here. It pertains to one of Matt's earlier comments. I'll get caught up and comment further soon.]
wow, there's a lot going on here. I think Matt's hypothetical filmmaker misses something. Sure there are some people [artists] who do one great work over their lifetime (I can only think of a fictional example at the moment: Lethem's avant-garde filmmaker modeled after Brakhage in The Fortress of Solitude. Maybe there's some Buddhist monk out there who's worked on the same same sand painting his whole life.) but most filmmakers are like us as preachers & teachers. Josh you were at the Preaching Teaching Storytelling conference, remember Brian making the point that we all have one message and just one? His point was that we will give many sermons, teach many lessons & share the gospel many times but the story is so great (i.e. - epic) that we can only tell a certain part of it. I see artists similarly, Matt's filmmaker could say "The film is done, let me do something else." Or he could say, "This film is done, how else can I tell my story?"
Rothko was always painting his search for the infinite spirituality, Miyazaki is always showing us that strange and beautiful things forgotten by the modern world are just around the corner, Kurosawa was always fostering visual dialogue between the East & West, Van Sant is always showing us that gay people have complicated lives, Aronofsky is always trying to tell us that he's smarter than everyone else, the Wachowski brothers are always trying to create a fusion of Western & Eastern theologies, etc.
Josh,
re: wabi-sabi
Didn't Google it but I'm feeling what you wrote. Totally tracking. My only problem with it is the same one I have with people using Augustine's (I think it was him) dictum "Always preach the gospel and when necessary use words" as an excuse to never verbalize the gospel message. Meaning it could be abused to allow someone to not share gospel.
This is a small quibble because we're talking about life's calling which encompases and surpasses sharing the gospel.
PS - By "sharing" I mean "verbalizing." Wabi-sabi (in Christian context) & Augustine refer to life lived as gospel. That's cool.
I've sat here for a while and read more of the comments you guys have written and I'm really loving this conversation but I feel like we need something clarified before we move on.
Josh, you wrote:
all of his energy is focused on allowing the Spirit to move through him as He wills.
What does that mean? I ask because I've noticed we keep arguing the same points and I think they come from that point.
Maybe, maybe not but clarify for me please. Thanks.
dan--
wabi-sabi is very complicated. it's more than can be elaborated here... but the quick connection i am trying to make is how the gospel life is marked by an aesthetics of spiritual poverty: beauty in the poor and the base things of the world.
btw it was St. Francis not augustine. Augustine's was that other much abused line: Love God and do what you will...
i'm sure there's some truth to the fact that filmmakers are continually exploring the depths of their own soul, but nowadays much of it is also what script drops in their lap and how much $$$$$$$$. i.e. just saw Aronofsky's The Wrestler. Couldn't really show off his smarts there....;-)
wow, we're using blog comments like instant messenger.
by honing in on "all of his energy is focused on allowing the Spirit to move through him as He wills." you've reached the crux of our discussion. I'll save my response for the next post....
haha! surely Aronofsky's trying to say more than that, but i hear what you're saying. i was not at the P, T & S conference but what Brian said reminds me of a statement from Oscar Romero in the book "Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers" by Shaine Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. He says, "The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,it is even beyond our vision. We can accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work." The idea of the filmmaker having been assigned on small part of that task and trying to capture in different ways during his lifetime...very cool.
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