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Heroes and Villains and Heroes
Sep. 8th, 2016 08:56 amLeave it leave it leave it... I am having problems letting the project be for a while. Went down into Blackheath just to look around, had a pointless meal, came back feeling slightly dizzy. I passed a garden with an overpowering smell of flowers, lavender in particular, and it reminded me of the wild sage that filled the air, especially in Savuti. Felt a bit better.
Had an old friend over for dinner in the garden. He has started his teacher training proper and is full of enthusiasm, it's good to see. He's been through a lot. Life getting on with living, I like that.
The trouble with life is that if you don't absolutely stuff it with diversions, it is impossible to overlook stuff that is going on. Theresa May's comment in the HoC yesterday, saying 'We won't let Labour near power again,' is the stuff of totalitarian nightmares.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/07/theresa-may-brexit-confusion-jeremy-corbyn-pmqs-live/ This unelected official has decided that her party will be the ones who decide who gets into government. But that's not her job or her mandate, or her party's mandate; it's ours.
All over, parallels with the 30s are being raised and I suppose this is part of my momentary interest in German Expressionism. We do not have great movements in Art, what we have are superheroes. Facile perhaps, but true... Superman manifested in full cape-and-tights glory in 1938, his best friend Batman turned up in 1939, and the years just before the start of World War II saw the emergence of all the grandstand heroes from DC and Marvel. The desire for safety and big powerful protectors will not have been the only driver in the growth of the genre, but it can't be discounted. The wane of superhero popularity after the end of that war is a telling factor.
Superheroes are back now, edgy and darker. It's interesting to see them again, reminding us of how much we need looking after, often by illegal means. There are exceptions of course, but the bad guys are seldom aliens per se; they are us.
Here's a real superhero. He is also a king, which would normally incur my distaste, but if Kingship is ever really anything, it is this: https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10154035213361939/
Had an old friend over for dinner in the garden. He has started his teacher training proper and is full of enthusiasm, it's good to see. He's been through a lot. Life getting on with living, I like that.
The trouble with life is that if you don't absolutely stuff it with diversions, it is impossible to overlook stuff that is going on. Theresa May's comment in the HoC yesterday, saying 'We won't let Labour near power again,' is the stuff of totalitarian nightmares.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/07/theresa-may-brexit-confusion-jeremy-corbyn-pmqs-live/ This unelected official has decided that her party will be the ones who decide who gets into government. But that's not her job or her mandate, or her party's mandate; it's ours.
All over, parallels with the 30s are being raised and I suppose this is part of my momentary interest in German Expressionism. We do not have great movements in Art, what we have are superheroes. Facile perhaps, but true... Superman manifested in full cape-and-tights glory in 1938, his best friend Batman turned up in 1939, and the years just before the start of World War II saw the emergence of all the grandstand heroes from DC and Marvel. The desire for safety and big powerful protectors will not have been the only driver in the growth of the genre, but it can't be discounted. The wane of superhero popularity after the end of that war is a telling factor.
Superheroes are back now, edgy and darker. It's interesting to see them again, reminding us of how much we need looking after, often by illegal means. There are exceptions of course, but the bad guys are seldom aliens per se; they are us.
Here's a real superhero. He is also a king, which would normally incur my distaste, but if Kingship is ever really anything, it is this: https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10154035213361939/
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