Coming from my background, I was always somewhat fascinated by the normal, suburban families. I remember spending the night with one of my friends on a Saturday and being dragged to church the next morning. It was the first and only time I've ever been, and I was horrified by the experience. This is such a brilliant piece, Gael. It's too bad the people who really need this message will never read it.
I have to admit when I read your book Christine I was a little envious of all the color and drama in your life. But it’s easy to look across the fence and think it’s better. The French Canadian friends I knew when I was younger said they still felt guilty when they had sex as single women. I was lucky to be at least free of that programming. Thank you for your kind words.
I wouldn't change my childhood if I could, except for maybe that shit with my mother and the cult. But even that made me stronger and highly independent.
I read this line in a poem (on Medium) recently, "I can be out of the box, as long as I quickly jump into another," and I've been thinking about it ever since.
There are so many layers here, and art is always open, I think, without a definitive conclusion. But when it comes to reality and things happening in the world, re-examining ourselves, our thoughts, and beliefs is one of the most powerful things we can do. What many need to do.
I like that box analogy. We have that split second when we are born that we are boxless. And then it’s one box after another until the final box :) Socrates had it right, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Thanks for being here.
While others were taking and viewing photographs and being philosophical and stuff, I was raising three kids and working 40 to 60 hours a week to support them. So, I missed out on art. However, I know better than to neglect an article on art by Gael Maclean, so I did read this one. What it reminded me of was a movie titled "The World's Fastest Indian." Anthony Hopkins plays a character who looks at others with ... perhaps "acceptance" is the most appropriate word. One of the characters he meets, who is accustomed to being othered, returns his acceptance of her with kindness and becomes a friend. If you read a synopsis of that movie, you won't find my description of it; nonethess, that simple path from acceptance to kindness is what I found most important. (How different from the path MAGA takes today: from rejection to malice!)
Bravo, Gael. Sorry, you inspired a mini-rant. Again.
Arbus's subjects were as human, relevant, and worthy as anyone I've met in Corporate America discussing their stock options and business deals, dressed to impress. Beyond that, her subjects were brave enough to telegraph, "This is what I feel like." They didn't mask their authenticity.
Most of us can pass as 'normal' and conform. But we're not. Over 8 billion unique people inhabit the planet. We don't think, feel, and process our senses the same. Why should we wrap ourselves up in packaging that pretends otherwise? It's dishonest.
Rejection and disgust of different people are often governed by fear. Some fear they're not strong enough to risk questioning their beliefs. Empathy might change their identity and make them unacceptable to the tribe.
But Neanderthal tribes no longer serve us.
What if the whole point is to increase the number of people who are so weak that they'll obey without question, and villainize those who think and feel differently? What if these bills are simply steps in normalizing restrictions and ensuring absolute control?
What if preventing questions is the point?
Can you imagine a White House press conference where reporters are called pigs and told their questions are stupid? Or that only loyalists could speak, and must compliment instead of question?
The real freaks align themselves with the most serious threat to whatever scares them. What if they were afraid of the wrong thing? We all make mistakes. These days, questioning why we have problems and trying to fix them is called dissent. The administration asks conformists to reject science, the lessons of history, and what's made our country successful.
This isn't normal. It isn't progress. It's freaky.
Dammit, Gael - you did it again! Made me think! Good job.
Pretty spot on Lizzie. Who are the real freaks? A lack of humanity, a lack of conscience, this is normal? People who choose to live outside of the suburban gulag are the ones who question authority. The ones who see the emperor has no clothes and shrug and say whatever, just leave me alone to live my life. But they can’t. Today they stripped protection away from transgendered kids in school. While they decimate the economy and bomb muslims. Making the world a safer place.
Great essay, Gael, with many facets to consider. The endurance of time, whether it’s Arbus waiting years to gain trust or the intensity of time as two people look one another in the eyes. I’ve been thinking about how natural and normal have become interchangeable in Western culture, unable to recognise the anti-naturalistic shape normal has taken. Dogmatic morality always ends up contradicting itself, careering into immorality, while as you say the moral ambiguity of the characters in Carnivale is closer to reality just for the simple fact that it is honest.
I like that expression—dogmatic morality—in itself an oxymoron but that is the whole point isn't it? It's like Ouroboros, the serpent that eats its own tail. You have a way of framing the world I can relate to. Thank you Robert.
Coming from my background, I was always somewhat fascinated by the normal, suburban families. I remember spending the night with one of my friends on a Saturday and being dragged to church the next morning. It was the first and only time I've ever been, and I was horrified by the experience. This is such a brilliant piece, Gael. It's too bad the people who really need this message will never read it.
I have to admit when I read your book Christine I was a little envious of all the color and drama in your life. But it’s easy to look across the fence and think it’s better. The French Canadian friends I knew when I was younger said they still felt guilty when they had sex as single women. I was lucky to be at least free of that programming. Thank you for your kind words.
I wouldn't change my childhood if I could, except for maybe that shit with my mother and the cult. But even that made me stronger and highly independent.
I read this line in a poem (on Medium) recently, "I can be out of the box, as long as I quickly jump into another," and I've been thinking about it ever since.
There are so many layers here, and art is always open, I think, without a definitive conclusion. But when it comes to reality and things happening in the world, re-examining ourselves, our thoughts, and beliefs is one of the most powerful things we can do. What many need to do.
Thank you for this brilliant essay.
I like that box analogy. We have that split second when we are born that we are boxless. And then it’s one box after another until the final box :) Socrates had it right, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Thanks for being here.
While others were taking and viewing photographs and being philosophical and stuff, I was raising three kids and working 40 to 60 hours a week to support them. So, I missed out on art. However, I know better than to neglect an article on art by Gael Maclean, so I did read this one. What it reminded me of was a movie titled "The World's Fastest Indian." Anthony Hopkins plays a character who looks at others with ... perhaps "acceptance" is the most appropriate word. One of the characters he meets, who is accustomed to being othered, returns his acceptance of her with kindness and becomes a friend. If you read a synopsis of that movie, you won't find my description of it; nonethess, that simple path from acceptance to kindness is what I found most important. (How different from the path MAGA takes today: from rejection to malice!)
Creating life is the most powerful form of art there is Katharine. You were there. I haven’t seen that film, I will add to my watch list, thank you.
Bravo, Gael. Sorry, you inspired a mini-rant. Again.
Arbus's subjects were as human, relevant, and worthy as anyone I've met in Corporate America discussing their stock options and business deals, dressed to impress. Beyond that, her subjects were brave enough to telegraph, "This is what I feel like." They didn't mask their authenticity.
Most of us can pass as 'normal' and conform. But we're not. Over 8 billion unique people inhabit the planet. We don't think, feel, and process our senses the same. Why should we wrap ourselves up in packaging that pretends otherwise? It's dishonest.
Rejection and disgust of different people are often governed by fear. Some fear they're not strong enough to risk questioning their beliefs. Empathy might change their identity and make them unacceptable to the tribe.
But Neanderthal tribes no longer serve us.
What if the whole point is to increase the number of people who are so weak that they'll obey without question, and villainize those who think and feel differently? What if these bills are simply steps in normalizing restrictions and ensuring absolute control?
What if preventing questions is the point?
Can you imagine a White House press conference where reporters are called pigs and told their questions are stupid? Or that only loyalists could speak, and must compliment instead of question?
The real freaks align themselves with the most serious threat to whatever scares them. What if they were afraid of the wrong thing? We all make mistakes. These days, questioning why we have problems and trying to fix them is called dissent. The administration asks conformists to reject science, the lessons of history, and what's made our country successful.
This isn't normal. It isn't progress. It's freaky.
Dammit, Gael - you did it again! Made me think! Good job.
Pretty spot on Lizzie. Who are the real freaks? A lack of humanity, a lack of conscience, this is normal? People who choose to live outside of the suburban gulag are the ones who question authority. The ones who see the emperor has no clothes and shrug and say whatever, just leave me alone to live my life. But they can’t. Today they stripped protection away from transgendered kids in school. While they decimate the economy and bomb muslims. Making the world a safer place.
Great essay, Gael, with many facets to consider. The endurance of time, whether it’s Arbus waiting years to gain trust or the intensity of time as two people look one another in the eyes. I’ve been thinking about how natural and normal have become interchangeable in Western culture, unable to recognise the anti-naturalistic shape normal has taken. Dogmatic morality always ends up contradicting itself, careering into immorality, while as you say the moral ambiguity of the characters in Carnivale is closer to reality just for the simple fact that it is honest.
I like that expression—dogmatic morality—in itself an oxymoron but that is the whole point isn't it? It's like Ouroboros, the serpent that eats its own tail. You have a way of framing the world I can relate to. Thank you Robert.
Haunting. And so much is because we are products of our upbringing. What we were and are exposed to.
And we have choices every moment of our lives to shed the programming and see the human in front of us. And in the mirror.
Yes we do. It’s called a conscience.
Not enough of it going around these days.
Wow!!!
💕