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| RTomens, 2021 |
It is raining but it's not cold and I do feel like an actor...in something written by Beckett and Pinter...
Will we ever be able to awaken from this lethargy imposed by domestic imprisonment, I wonder? I type to keep busy, I make pictures to keep busy...nothing new there, perhaps, but doing so now feels like the work of someone constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
If the 'action' taking place out there in The World seems crazy, home as the refuge feels more like a fragile construction, barely able to withstand the onslaught of mediated information we invite in via the internet - the world as a car crash we can't help looking at - so we watch and listen compulsively whilst knowing it's not doing our mental health much good. Unless, that is, you are some kind of 'warrior' for a cause, engaged in online battle. In which case, despite your 'victories', I suspect they may still prove detrimental to your state of mind.
Lockdowns have increased online engagement tenfold. Whilst some of it is no doubt beneficial (fitness classes, yoga, learning new craft skills etc) the battle of ideas and opinions has also grown. The Devil will find work for both idle hands and those working from home but constantly checking online to see if anyone has reacted to their political post.
Whilst it was once suggested that nobody talks politics over dinner, doing that today is almost impossible; firstly because we can't have dinner guests and secondly because Politics seems unavoidable. Whenever I spend a while watching something Political I reach a breaking point somewhere around the hour mark. Enough! Too much of it and I feel I need to cleanse myself by escaping into film, preferably a good Western, Film Noir or historical drama.
We recently watched an adaptation of J.B. Priestley's Summer Day's Dream. Despite (or because of, if you share Priestley's anti-progressive philosophy) the message, it's an enjoyable watch, if only to see Priestley's beliefs acted out by an impressive cast. Many of the lines are absurdly over the top romanticism to the point where, as the end nears, they sound like parody. But the topic is interesting since it questions the wisdom of science, along with 'progress'. In an age of Extinction Rebellion and new Green agendas, the question of how governments should manage industry and science is pertinent. What once looked like admirable causes in the name of cleaning up the planet have evolved into more -far-reaching beliefs that would drastically shape how we all live. There are now agendas behind the agendas.
Still, in Priestley's eyes, everything would be better if it were possible to live simple lives, reading Shakespeare, listening to bird song and dismissing 'progress' in favour of building a romantic, rural utopia. In such a world there would be no computers, smartphones or televisions. Since all three are the means by which governments dictate, perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.
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