If you think my idea of human beings is dark, it's nothing compared to that of the Coen brothers Ethan and Joel. Whether its comedy or tragedy, the Coens are describing the Human Condition, which has both in great abundance. When such darkness is expressed in art, it is a lot easier to swallow than when you take great pains to describe it in words as I do.
Specifically, I was thinking about The Big Lebowski, one of the greatest movies of all time. I thought I would play some clips from this classic, though I also threw one in from No Country For Old Men which is very dark indeed.
- Jesus
- "new shit has come to light"
- "I'll suck your cock for a thousand dollars"
- "this is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!" (hide the annotations)
- "I got here the same way the coin did" (hide the annotations)
On the subject of the human condition, nothing amuses me more than the idea that, soon after mankind coalesced into societies, these ancient civilizations created alcoholic intoxicants. This is surely no accident, whatever historians say about accidental fermentation. The conclusion we can make is that since time immemorial, we have occupied our skins in major discomfort, and constantly sought ways to escape the cold reality of what it is to be human.
Religions serve the same purpose as booze, which makes me belly laugh. I thank Karl Marx for his one-liner that says it all: "Die Religion ist das Opium des Volkes".
Lately, pharmacological hallucinogens have added to the smorgasbord of denial, but basically the same process is at work: we hominids have a basic and persistent need to forget misery. We can of course do this by indulging in all manner of other numbing diversions, from porn to Fox News. What to do, what to do? It seems that madness beckons if we find no way to at least temporarily unchain ourselves from the torturous human condition that predominates on Planet Stupid.
Posted by: Oliver | 04/20/2013 at 05:20 PM