Some art is meaningless. That's called post modern formalist trash. Some art reflects deeper truths of the human soul in a beautiful way. That is good art. You just have no taste.
It really was quite a bit more radical than I thought. The story hinges on Eve eating the apple of knowledge being a good thing, and a God that appointed himself and reigns in tyranny over everyone else and tries to eradicate all knowledge.
But like Narnia, it's best whenever the author doesn't try to bash you over the head with his theology. And it is really no more anti-Christian than Narnia was anti-atheist. You all have to admit that the last of the Narnia series, where C.S. Lewis sentences Sarah to hell for becoming a women and being interested in guys and sex and blesses everyone else by killing them in a trainwreck, was by far the worst of the series. It took no imagination, it was all hellfire, brimstone, and Lewis's personal philosophy. The rest of the books were much better, because if you ignore the theology, you see an extremely creative mind. Similarly, the best part of Pullman's books isn't the theology.
It's absolutely idiotic to try and mix art and reason. Art is meaningless.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
Some art is meaningless. That's called post modern formalist trash. Some art reflects deeper truths of the human soul in a beautiful way. That is good art. You just have no taste.
I like the books. They aren't bad at all. I look forward to the next movie, if they ever make it.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
- -- Aristotle
Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
- -- The Buddha
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- -- Aristotle
How can something be post modern and formalist at the same time?
"Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
The movie is an extremely diluted version of the book. It's has dialogue that's basically just a bunch of Hollywood soundbites that summarize and simplify Pullman's message* until it's acceptable to evangelicals.
That's a problem. They also needed at least three hours to make a film from such a large movie, and they tried to fit the movie into two.
*Not an original WM opinion.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
Art moves you. Art stirs something inside you.
If it doesn't, it isn't art. No matter how pretty or pretentious it is.
You seem to be in the same stage my son is in. He wants so much to understand the world arround him and is unsatiable in his efforts to learn things about the world that he in the process tries to ignore a part of the mystery which is the human experience "emotions".
They are not your enemy they are a tool to navigate the world of humans. Music is Art, it is emotion expressed with math, sound and technical skill.
Now are you going to tell me Music is meaningless?
And what did he mean by that my friend?
He meant the expressing happened by means of communication between the human writing the music and the listener and that was the important thing.
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