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Wednesday, Dec 23rd 2009
In the 1700's, the French believed the theater was the most noble of all the arts. Why? Because it had a unique ability to instill virtue in its audiences.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau had written two plays and an opera at the time, but he didn't buy it. He noticed theater goers would sometimes attend plays that showcased virtue, but audiences left with the same virtues they had coming through the doors.
Why? Well, he believed what some of us intuitively know -- the acquisition of virtuous traits was arduous, hard, soul searching work. People didn't go to the theater to work... they went to the theater to get relief from work. While a play could offer lessons in virtue, people went to the theater to be entertained. They'd either reject, ignore, or -- at best -- leave feeling good about the virtues they already held.
As a result, he argued the theater did the opposite of instilling virtue. First, people left the theater feeling less urgent about their individual need to become better--because they felt they already had. Second, the theater had taken that person away from their home--the place that actually DID work to instill virtue.
My question is this: Could these arguments just as easily apply to film? Are there films that we can watch that will instill virtues we don't already possess? Or do they simply, at best, reinforce ideas, beliefs, habits we already have? If so, is it enough for a film or a video clip to simply appeal to the better angels of our nature?
Along those lines please consider the following clippity clip:
In the interest of full disclosure it is a commercial for an insurance company. Is this clip merely sentimental? Is it manipulative? Or is it somehow edifying?
Possibly, does it work to instill virtue?
Greg Whiteley is the producer of several films — most recently the award winning and Emmy-nominated documentary “Resolved.”
Greg Whiteley
Greg Whiteley is the producer of several films — most recently the award winning and Emmy-nominated documentary “Resolved”
Comments
by David French #
Ok, Nancy, I'll take the bait. Here's my fundamental problem with the commercial: the song, que sera sera is a crushingly fatalistic lament. It's a beautiful song, but it takes a truth ("the future's not ours to see") and turns it into fatalism in its purest form: "whatever will be, will be." But isn't that the exact opposite of how we live with our children, especially when they are sick? Don't we do everything we can to make sure that "whatever will be" is better than it would have been absent our intervention? And isn't the precise message of an insurance company that they're here to help us in case "whatever is" is horrifying, and we need help to heal or even improve just a bit? Perhaps they chose the song because it's beautiful. And it is. But it's the wrong song. When faced with a challenge like those faced by the parents and kids in that clip, the last thing they need is fatalism.
by Nancy French #
Greg,
What David didn't mention, but I wanted to point is the that the clip demonstrates a subservience to the notion of "fate" that is harmful...and just depressing. This is what the old Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said about fate:
"What is fate? Fate is this — Whatever is, must be. But there is a difference between that and Providence. Providence says, Whatever God ordains must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains any thing without a purpose. Every thing in this world is working for some one great end. Fate does not say that. Fate simply says that the thing must be; Providence says, God moves the wheels along, and there they are. If any thing would go wrong, God puts it right; and if there is any thing that would move awry, he puts his hand and alters it. It comes to the same thing; but there is a difference as to the object. There is all the difference between fate and Providence that there is between a man with good eyes and a blind man."
As a parent, the idea of fate separated from Providence is ultimately depressing... and just (IMHO) wrong.
That's why the clip is (ultimately) more haunting than edifying.
Nancy
What David didn't mention, but I wanted to point is the that the clip demonstrates a subservience to the notion of "fate" that is harmful...and just depressing. This is what the old Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said about fate:
"What is fate? Fate is this — Whatever is, must be. But there is a difference between that and Providence. Providence says, Whatever God ordains must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains any thing without a purpose. Every thing in this world is working for some one great end. Fate does not say that. Fate simply says that the thing must be; Providence says, God moves the wheels along, and there they are. If any thing would go wrong, God puts it right; and if there is any thing that would move awry, he puts his hand and alters it. It comes to the same thing; but there is a difference as to the object. There is all the difference between fate and Providence that there is between a man with good eyes and a blind man."
As a parent, the idea of fate separated from Providence is ultimately depressing... and just (IMHO) wrong.
That's why the clip is (ultimately) more haunting than edifying.
Nancy
by Greg Whiteley #
However, the net effect of this film as a whole is not a fatalistic one. I don't watch this clip and listen to their singing of the song and think "Oh, it is too bad nothing can be done for these kids." Instead, I am moved as I see the resiliency of their humanity. Their spirits are not diminished by their unfortunate physical situation or by the discouraging notion that "whatever will be will be." Instead, the camera reveals a buoyant, childlike determination to sing this song well. Further, and this is what I believe is the true transcendent moment of the clip, the director cuts to shots of the parents--wearied faces who have clearly born burdens of anxiety and worry who are visibly moved by the determined voices of their kids. In this moment the tension contained within the piece of music is resolved as the melody is redeemed from the fatalism of the lyrics. For a few brief moments it does not matter that they are handicapped. It does not matter that life will be hard for them or that they are singing a song made popular by Doris Day while presumably being paid by an insurance company to sing it. Instead, for a few moments, the fatalism of the lyrics and their handicaps are overcome by the beauty and abundance of their humanity. The net result is reverence and awe.
by David French #
If by "awe," you mean awwwwwww, then I'm with you. The cuteness of the kids cannot be denied, and the sweetness of their singing has its own power. But que sera sera? I'm still not buying it. How about harnessing that cuteness to the raw power of a montage of Rocky songs? "Gonna Fly Now" morphs into "Eye of the Tiger" and then into the Rocky IV tunda training song. I have a url for that, but the spam filter will catch me. Of course, we'd have to refrain from comment at the idea that it's the American training in the wilderness while the Russian is basically being chiseled in a lab, but doggone it, that's inspiration. That's a clip.
by Mike Kelley #
The video evoked a very strong and passionate response from me. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was an advertisement, as it probably should have since that is what I do for a living; for me it was all about the children. I know these children. I have seen these children in the orphanages in China and in Africa. I have looked into their eyes and have seen the desperate situation in which they find themselves. It disturbs me greatly that anyone would look at one of these beautiful children and say "whatever will be, will be" because there is no hope in that statement. Hope is what these children hang onto for their very life, their very existence. For anyone to say anything to one of these children that does not offer hope is absurd. The real sadness in this video is the truth associated with it, that throughout this world there are many, many children that are in desperate situations and all they are offered from their parents, caregivers and doctors is whatever will be, will be. Finally, I have adopted these children and am in process of adopting another and while it may be true that for a few moments a song may seem to make all okay, don"t bet on it. Even in those moments where they are singing their hearts out they are living with the knowledge of their handicap and their outlook. I will say it again, these children need to be given hope not whatever will be, will be. I would not buy insurance from this company. mike
by Greg Whiteley #
Did they let you carry loaded fire arms?
by Nancy French #
The video is amazing, in that it is very evocative, Mike.
I think the part that's moving is similar to the response you experience when you see little children who seem to love life and have hope in spite of the odds.
However, you can't hang your hat on destiny.
The adult response in the second half of the clip is the real consequence of the incorrect philosophy the children are singing about so beautifully.
Which is why it's not beautiful, after all.
Nancy
I think the part that's moving is similar to the response you experience when you see little children who seem to love life and have hope in spite of the odds.
However, you can't hang your hat on destiny.
The adult response in the second half of the clip is the real consequence of the incorrect philosophy the children are singing about so beautifully.
Which is why it's not beautiful, after all.
Nancy
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by Nancy French #
Nancy