Emily Dickinson- "The Soul selects her own Society"

A bit more concerning interpretation: The study of arts-- specifically film-- has been infiltrated by those with cultural, psychological, and sociological intentions. The problem with these approaches is that they deny the complexity of the individual self, while championing films on the basis of their historical accurateness, cultural sensitivity etc. Art has become a text-book. Going back to my previous post, Susan Sontag explains that it’s a way of folding the narrative world back into the real world. But art is not a form of representation. Artists create. To use painting as an example, do you look at a Monet painting for an accurate depiction of landscapes, or Degas for ballerinas?

At the same time there are innumerable artists-- including Hitchcock and Lynch-- who go about their work by infusing symbols into their work, opening the door for cavernous interpretations. Beware-- great artists avoid this at all costs because life is not filled with answers. Going back to painting, some say that Picasso's use of cubism was a direct denial of such interpretation, and an often-repeated story reveals his disdain for 'realism.' One day, a perplexed man asked him why his paintings weren't realistic. Picasso curiously asked the man to show him what reality looked like. When the man revealed a photograph of his wife, Picasso replied, "But, is she really so small and flat."

Taking a sociological spin on art denies the idiosyncratic uniqueness of the individual. Sure, we all have similar thoughts and aspirations, are subjected to similar events, and participate in the same culture. But what separates all of us is how we react to these things. Our individual complexity lays in our indescribable actions. Great artists are smarter than the rest of us because they realize this. As Emily Dickenson wrote, "The soul selects her own society."

"303"

The Soul selects her own Society -
Then - Shuts the Door -
To her divine Majority -
Present no more -

Unmoved - she notes the Chariots - pausing -
At her low Gate -
Unmoved - an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat -

I've known her - from an ample nation -
Choose One -
Then - close the Valves of her attention -
Like Stone