On 20/2/05 11:39 AM, "Rebecca Seiferle" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> There is no way to know
> from outside whether the one writing the story is intensely engaged,
> imaginatively engaged. If everything that is is holy, and it seems to me it
> is, then
> better to act out of that belief and measure one's own heart not everyone
> else's.
Yes, I think that one's integrity is one's own business. Nevertheless (I
mentioned the film industry as a glaring example, and I can think of many
other more subtle examples in all the arts) there are situations where
cynical pressures are applied to trump other more necessary imperatives.
There is a fair bit of genre writing that does exactly what it's accused of,
as well. There's no question that it's a complex question, but it's
probably clearer as an argument in collaborative art making. Brecht's
definition of "bourgeois theatre" - theatre that seeks only to confirm its
audience's complacent beliefs - strikes me as a useful one here. Also
Adorno's questions about the industrialisation of art, though I'd need to
reread a couple of essays again to develop that argument.
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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