Entertaining ourselves to death

As I take breaks from editing DVD 3 of “Mastering Color”:http://www.artistsessentials.com I have been reading some interesting books. I’m on a kick right now on books that are critical of American culture and consumerism. I’m working my way through “The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think For Themselves”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060730595/qid=1120054705/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9265583-4590566?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 which is probably the most scholarly and well thought-out book I’ve read on the subject.

Another book I’ve read and been thinking a lot about lately are “The Culture of Fear”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465014909/qid=1120054809/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9265583-4590566?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 – this book was apparently a big hit while I was away in Japan, but I first heard of it after seeing the author interviewed in Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/ , which Bich and I first saw at a little art theater in Japan. If you’ve never lived overseas for a significant amount of time, then it’s a little hard to describe the “outside of yourself” sort of feeling you get when you begin reexamining the country you just left. Or maybe it’s just because 9/11 hit only a month after we arrived, and we lived under the shadow of that event for three years, amidst an international community. Most of our friends were either Japanese, Australian, French, Canadian, British, or fellow Americans. It led to some very interesting — and sometimes uncomfortable — conversations. Sometimes I feel that, if every American could have been exposed to the viewpoints and way of life that we were exposed to all that time, that maybe we’d have a different mentality as a whole.

Another great book I read is “The De-Voicing of Society: Why We Don’t Talk to Each Other Anymore”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684855747/qid=1120055414/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9265583-4590566?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 , which explores a problem that’s been bothering me for some time. I really feel like we Americans are shunning community to move to the suburbs and lock ourselves into our own homes. I moved from spending most of my time around Japanese teenagers to working among college students. Although the age difference isn’t that great (I’m only 27), I feel increasingly alone in my attitude and dissatisfaction toward “progress” — or at least how it’s defined today. It bothers me that kids seem to socialize more and more through machines, whether that be gaming consoles, cell phones, instant messaging, email, watching TV, or whatever tomorrow might bring.

Are we raising a generation of people that doesn’t see the benefits and importance of face-to-face? Of sitting down over dinner or just enjoying someone’s company without external distractions? These may seem like tired old arguments and ideas, but they weigh heavily on my conscience. During our last year in Nara, one of our favorite restaurants installed touchscreen TVs on all the tables that would display ads, allow you to play simple games, and order food or goods right there at the table. They were extremely distracting — excuse me, I came here to eat and talk. And you couldn’t turn them off, so we had to prop a menu over them.

When finally returned to Warrensburg, Missouri, it seemed like all the restaurants in town now had televisions installed over the dining areas. Bich would be talking to me, and finally say, “Excuse me. Are you even paying attention?” And I would find that, no matter how much I tried to fight it, my eyes eventually wandered to the television. Maybe because it’s there, or it was moving, or something interesting was on, or maybe it is just too hypnotic to ignore. We actually had trouble finding seats that didn’t face any screens.

And now, as Dakota and I discuss what project we’re going to work on next, the inevitable question keeps nagging my mind: Am I contributing to this problem? Is my art doing what art should do — challenging the system, posing tough questions, bucking the status quo? I want to do more than fill two hours of someone’s time with some relaxing entertainment. This isn’t the Great Depression — there’s no lack of entertainment floating around. What void can I possibly fill that isn’t already overflowing thanks to Hollywood, pop culture, and all the other consumable, money-making corporate crap out there?

I’m a subversive at heart. Just ask my wife. I want my art to be just as subversive, and I wonder, as we come up on the next project, if I’m being led astray by trying to be too commercial. Not only that, but I yearn for the organic — to make things with my hands again, to be engaged in the real world, not this false, fleeting reality of bits and bytes and glowing screens. Is this where our destiny ultimately lies?

Sorry for the rambling. And I’m just now getting a good handle on this new job, hence the long break since the last post. In only two weeks, we’ll be moving into our new house, and I’m anxious to tackle the unpacking, the organizing, the painting, and the general “making” of our first real house. I’m already gathering some tools together because I’m planning to try my hand at woodworking, something I’ve always wanted to try until now.

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