tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416983732847060845.post5847925803139395337..comments2024-03-05T10:14:38.181+00:00Comments on CLASSICAL ICONOCLAST: Wake - opera about the Enschede disasterDoundou Tchilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07469682216179706743noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416983732847060845.post-50398474301442642142010-05-16T14:17:18.704+01:002010-05-16T14:17:18.704+01:00You maker very thoughtful points, Worldbeater. Why...You maker very thoughtful points, Worldbeater. Why is it that people are interested in death and disaster in art ? It's a profound question. None of us know how we are going to react in extreme circumstances, so maybe through art we can imagine through the "eyes" of other people. Part of being human is thinking of feelings, and extreme situations concentrate the mind on essentials. Maybe that's why people read about Hitler so much, what would we have done if we'd been there? <br /><br />Yesterday I was at an opera "After Life".If we had only one memory to take with us into eternity, as a symbol of our lives, what would it be ? It is a way of assessing what our lives have meant to us, in the face of that most extreme situation, the end of life. Review coming up soon here.<br /><br />With the Rape of Nanking, there's another level, specific to China, where it's part of national identity. Thank goodness this film isn't standard nationalistic, but treats the Japanese as human, too. For that reason perhaps it needs to be purified, if the aim is to get past the horror and reach greater understanding of "why", beyond the facts of what happened. Maybe emotional distance is something that can only come with time and the passing of those who were involved. And yet, it is also wrong that the real extent of horrors is covered up, because if people don't know how horrible war is, they keep doing it. In many ways, I think it is important to know the full horror of war in order to respect those who suffered, so maybe it will stop such things happening again. Though maybe that's better in a documentary or a book than in a movie ? I don't know. <br /><br />Have you seen the movie or read the book "Empire of the Sun"? My Dad lived through exactly that kind of thing. But when he saw the movie, it was traumatic, he was crying. "Are you moved" I asked. "NO!" he shouted, crying with pain. "That kid had it much too easy". The sanitization in the book/movie made my Dad physically sick with frustration. To him it felt that all the people who really experienced such things were forgotten, dismissed as if they didn't count. He could deal with the original pain, but the new pain of seeing the events prettified was too much to bear.Doundou Tchilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07469682216179706743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416983732847060845.post-82610879172926043402010-05-16T13:19:28.406+01:002010-05-16T13:19:28.406+01:00I found this very interesting, and moving, especia...I found this very interesting, and moving, especially the last sentence. But. If the writer found the film of the rape of Nanking 'depressing' because it was too sanitized,while recognising that we could not bear a more realistic portrayal, does the question not arise why films of this sort - depicting war and disasters - are made and marketed as entertainment? What in short is wrong with us that we evidently want to see such spectacles?worldbeaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06880193008846411913noreply@blogger.com