Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Ahh, the bittersweet

I just learned of Neutral Milk Hotel from a friend (thanks, Rani) who says that they're lyrics are wonderful. And i agree. I am struck by the bittersweet (hardly surprising for me) nature of this short piece. And i am once again amazed and enchanted by the human capacity to make beauty from pain and suffering. This is a complicated truth about us wordy creatures. The philosopher David Spangler catches some of this truth when he writes:
In telling stories, we obey certain principles and laws of drama and melodrama, of crisis and resolution, of impact and silence. We generate an energy through our stories that helps to define who we are and where we are going. We are all creatures of narrative, and these narratives are important to us even if they are tragic narratives. It certainly has been my observation for many years that individuals would much rather have a tragic narrative than no narrative at all, and they will cling to suffering in order to discover the material for such a narrative.
The person on YouTube who did the illustrations writes a small apology and claims "that this isn't funny at all". I hope by now he realizes that it is actually very funny. And the illustrations are perfect. The simplicity and silliness of them remind me of Corita Kent's work and approach to art and creativity and which was passed on to me by dian marino. (I just did a google image search using "corita kent" and it brings up many wonderful images of her work.)

I'm guessing that the illustrator also wrote the dialogue that accompanies the illustrations. And the dialogue on the "Secret Place" illustration kills me! There's something very touching about this video that reminds me sadly and sweetly of my childhood.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mine, too.

11:29 am

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