Society is a tricky thing. People talk
about society like it is just one, big, monolithic thing that has
intention and direction all its own. While I would be the first to
concede that there are those with intentions for the direction of
society – good and bad and indifferent – I just don't know how
unified society is. There is culture and then there is
counter-culture and then there is counter-counter-culture, with
turtles all the way down. What I do know is this: “The Man” is a
force that some of us have had to deal with.
Interestingly enough, Anna Deavere
Smith writes about “The Man,” taking a positive, proactive
approach to dealing with those of means who support us artists. She
writes, “Although the Man is not the same as a boss, he or she can
have other kinds of authority over you. The Man, after all, is trying
to make money with your talent” (70).
Remember those forces I started this
post by writing about? The ones with an intention or direction for
society? On a train, I happened to overhear an advertising executive
spell it out one time: “People are better consumers when they are
isolated.” In other words, we buy more stuff when we don't have
communal use of stuff. Take for instance the movie theater. Once
there were lines to see movies and people would talk AFTER the movie
about the movie. Now the ideal is a home theater where human
interaction is at a minimum. “The Man” is not content making
money off of our talent, but also the medium by which our talent is
transmitted.
Storytelling throws a wrench in that
plan. What does one need to tell stories, but a voice and a
community? I wonder how much the popularity of the “Moth”-style
stories that we have been telling is bucking this trend. As we
discussed the first day in class, if we – the storytellers – left
the planet, there would still be stories being told. “The Man”
can't stop that.
-Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment