Excellent insight. And for what it’s worth I think you’re totally right - a lot of storytelling today tries to universalize the suffering of a particular group in the fear that we won’t know how to empathize if we can’t feel it could also have happened to us personally.
But to their defense, I don’t think they’re wrong? If you look at society right now there is an extremely strong vibe of ‘if anyone Unlike Us is suffering unspeakable injustice, it’s unfortunate but ultimately meh, not that big of a deal, as long as no part of that horror splashes back to affect us personally.’ We’re actively in the process of sweeping multiple genocides under the Collective Carpet, because we like a strong stock market, identity politics and affordable tech. And every genocide is deeply ethnically personal. (This from a person hailing from a country that committed one).
But yeah, the west literally does not care. So people do what they think will sell their story better.
Ah, thanks. But yeah, I mean, we both know that of course it *works*. I'd just rather see a film that came out swinging the other way to go "this didn't happen to people like you. That shouldn't matter". Even if that misses, you know? And there was such a good vehicle for doing that here, because for Lee Miller it was clearly a matter of principle to share the reality of what was happening in the world. I get the desire to link that to a personal imperative - and maybe that was what spurred her; it's too late to ask - but it feels frustratingly pat and self-centered.
I often wonder if it’s maybe us regular peeps who have to sufficiently show we are actually human so the creatives can have enough faith to make things that actually have meaning.
Excellent insight. And for what it’s worth I think you’re totally right - a lot of storytelling today tries to universalize the suffering of a particular group in the fear that we won’t know how to empathize if we can’t feel it could also have happened to us personally.
But to their defense, I don’t think they’re wrong? If you look at society right now there is an extremely strong vibe of ‘if anyone Unlike Us is suffering unspeakable injustice, it’s unfortunate but ultimately meh, not that big of a deal, as long as no part of that horror splashes back to affect us personally.’ We’re actively in the process of sweeping multiple genocides under the Collective Carpet, because we like a strong stock market, identity politics and affordable tech. And every genocide is deeply ethnically personal. (This from a person hailing from a country that committed one).
But yeah, the west literally does not care. So people do what they think will sell their story better.
Ah, thanks. But yeah, I mean, we both know that of course it *works*. I'd just rather see a film that came out swinging the other way to go "this didn't happen to people like you. That shouldn't matter". Even if that misses, you know? And there was such a good vehicle for doing that here, because for Lee Miller it was clearly a matter of principle to share the reality of what was happening in the world. I get the desire to link that to a personal imperative - and maybe that was what spurred her; it's too late to ask - but it feels frustratingly pat and self-centered.
Absolutely.
I often wonder if it’s maybe us regular peeps who have to sufficiently show we are actually human so the creatives can have enough faith to make things that actually have meaning.
Though probably not.
I love reading your reviews Alex