Ingmar Bergman (Or, The Greatest Director of All Time)

Although I think he deserved a little more space, I was very happy to find that Ingmar Bergman got a shout-out in the textbook. I'm of the opinion that Bergman is quite possibly the greatest director of all time. Placing the discussion of Bergman in the chapter "The Quest for Meaning" was, in my opinion, a fantastic decision.

Many of Bergman's movies were about a quest for meaning in a modern, meaningless world. Contrary to many other artistic works of the period, Bergman's works have a deeply entrancing meaning that takes much contemplation but (relatively to the other pieces of art) little digging. In looking at Bergman's work, a great example is The Seventh Seal. 

In short, the film is about (to quote the book) "a knight who returns home from the Crusades, only to confront widespread plague and human suffering. Disillusioned, he ultimately challenges Death to a game of chess, the stakes of which are life itself." I won't go much further into the storyline, as I think everyone should see the film and I don't want to give TOO much away. However, I'll take a brief look at some of the main themes.

Death is both a character (played here by Bengt Ekerot) and a major theme in the story. It is interesting to see how the various characters treat death throughout the film. While the Knight treats Death as an adversary, the Squire treats Death as if he is nothing more than a huge joke. Other characters react in fear or acceptance. It is interesting to see all of these viewpoints, knowing that this film came out less than 15 years after World War II. Man had not dealt with death in that capacity since the Black Plague, which is occurring during this film. Regardless of how one feels about Death, though, everyone will dance with him eventually.

Another theme is the silence of God (I disagree with the book calling it the "loss of God," though that was how some viewed it in that time period and even into the current one). The scene that sums this up for me is posted below. 

I don't think I've ever seen greater expression of doubt or desire for God. 

"Is it so cruelly inconceivable to grasp God with the senses? Why should He hide himself in a mist of half-spoken promises and unseen miracles?...What is going to happen to those of us who want to believe but aren't able to?" 

"Faith is a torment – did you know that? It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call." 

It is understandable for the Knight to be asking these questions during the Plague, much like it is understandable for Bergman to be asking the questions following World War II. It is an incredible view to have such stark insight into and personally hits me, because I knew how it felt when I asked some of those questions in the past. Bergman is an incredibly influential and expressive director and was perfect for his time and place and will continue to be perfect for as long as man remains what he is now.

Tagore's "The Man Had No Useful Work" (or, Why Haven't I Heard of This Guy Before?)

The literature featured in this chapter of the textbook includes some of my favorite novels, poems, and plays of all time (Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World, Beckett's Waiting For Godot, and the poetry of Dylan Thomas, for example). However, I found that, at the end of the reading assignment, I was confronted with a poet whom I had never heard of. I was very excited when, after reading his poem "The Man Had No Useful Work," I realized that I had found yet another author whose work I could fall in love with.

Tagore is known for being the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Tagore's poem reflects his idea that "the crisis of modern society lay in a set of mis-place values that prized the rush of business and the acquisition of material comforts at the expense of beauty, creativity, and spiritual harmony." Looking at the poem, this view is VERY evident.

A nameless man who "had no useful work" ends up in Paradise by mistake. This "Paradise" seems to be a commentary on what Tagore believes would be the "Paradise" embraced by his times (and, I believe, ours)- in this Paradise, only "good, busy souls" are allowed. The man is constantly in the way of people trying to quickly get places and do things (things that are never concretely defined).

At this point, he meets a "very busy girl" and attempts to take her pitcher from her. She is confused because, rather than wanting to use her pitcher for something useful, he wants to paint patterns on it. He presses on about this until she finally lets him. When it is returned to her, she notes that "it has no meaning." Does this make it useless to her? No.

When the girl returns home, she is faced with something meaningless having value, which is contrary to the bounds of "paradise" (and modern life). The man continues his loving revolt against meaning by weaving a colored ribbon for the girls hair. Again, she is presented with something beautiful without meaning.

It is at this point that those in charge of Paradise notice that time is starting to be wasted and send the man back to earth. The girl wishes to go with him. "For the first time the chief of the elders is faced with a situation which has no sense in it."

This story is an amazing commentary on the society both of Tangore's time and ours. It is a lesson on the beauty of the "meaningless," a love song to the arts that the workmanship attitude of the time threatens to stamp out on the grounds that it is useless. What is a Paradise without beauty? I think there is a big lesson to be learned and taken to heart from Tangore's poem.