Tash & I went to see Man of Steel. We had delayed seeing it for a few days but Tash was about to pop out of her skin with excitement, so before things got messy we went to the cinema last Friday. I enjoyed it. Tash thought it was incredible.
I have to say though, that it neatly follows the well-worn path of pretty much every action film. Basically, there is the good (looking) guy – the hero, and the bad guys – the villains. The bad guys do bad stuff (i.e. killing people). There is the battle between good and bad and ultimately the good guy wins and becomes our hero, a beacon of justice in our world.
It’s beautiful isn’t it?! Maybe a little obvious, but there is something attractive about this formula. It is nice to be able to look at the world with our neat little categories of “good” and “bad”. The good people do good stuff, the bad people do bad stuff. We know who to cheer for and how to feel about what happens.
I sometime (or often) wish that life worked like this. Unfortunately, there seems to be a whole lot of grey in life. A whole lot of good and bad at the same time.
We all remember the shock of the day we realised our parents didn’t have all the answers.
We remember the day we realised there were legitimate questions about our long-held beliefs or the day we were confronted with the fact that the person we wanted to hate was actually kinda nice. Then there is the day that our favourite and incorruptible star got locked up for getting drunk and punching someone. Or the day we gave our cat to our ever-helpful neighbours to look after only to discover that they ate it…
Life isn’t quite as clear-cut as the movies would have us believe. Yet, there is still a temptation to box things. To become wilfully blind about the things I don’t get or which don’t fit into my worldview.
Apparently Scott F. Fitzgerald (the guy who wrote The Great Gatsby) once said that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
That’s hard.
How do you stop yourself from oversimplifying? Or avoid the temptation to categorise people as heroes to love or villains to hate? I want to learn how to see “another” perspective well, though I guess you could say I am neither good nor bad at this. Just a bit of both.
Incidentally, Man of Steel is neither a good film, nor a bad one. It’s also a bit of both.
I had planned to blog about this on Friday though ironically I ended up keeping myself busy reading about violent protests and riots which were taking place around the world.
You have probably seen it on the news or read about it in the newspaper. An insensitive, short movie was created having a go at Islam and its prophet Mohammed. As news about the movie spread, so did the protests. As the protests grew, so did the violence.
I was surprised to read about the intensity of the protests even here in Sydney, just around the corner from where I work. That brought it much closer to home.
As I tried to think about this abstract notion of “world peace” on Friday I couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by the difficulties of the idea in practice – particularly as I watched the intensity of what seemed to be the uncontrolled anger of many protesters.
How can that be transformed? How do you teach a narrative of tolerance and peace to a child who is brought up carrying signs calling for the beheading of anyone who insults Mohammad? How do you reason with a person who is consumed with rage or “holy anger”?
I’m actually not really sure. Sometimes I have to admit that I don’t feel very optimistic about the state of the world! I’m even tempted to respond with anger at what seems to be a completely unreasonable response to the offence created. I wonder how many others felt the same way as they watched the news over the last few days?
Based on my very scientific Facebook survey, there are a lot who are angry or fearful about the protests.
Someone pointed out recently how skewed the news is
No surprises there I guess. It is generally just the stuff that seems shocking to the senses and which can be hyped up and dramatised which makes for good ratings. Reality is not quite as it first seems on the news.
It may be obvious, but is an important point to be mindful of. Take the recent news, for example.
In the midst of stories that sounded like the entire muslim world was up in arms, how many reports actually noted that the estimated participation in anti-film protests was between 0.001 and 0.007% of the world’s Muslims and that most major leaders, both Western and Muslim, have condemned any violent response to the film? In the midst of graphic images of angry protesters all over the world and signs promising killings for anyone who stood against Islam, how many reporters covered the protests where Muslims carried signs apologising for the small minority who turned to violence?
I was glad to see an interview with a young Australian Muslim who had angrily gotten involved in riots about 4 or 5 years ago. Despite the intensity of the emotions he had felt and the relatively short period of time which has passed, a few years of wisdom learnt and a University education has shifted his perspective radically. I can understand why they are angry (there is more behind this than just a silly film), he said, but I now see that violence is not the way.
Never believe anyone who tells you that people’s actions are just random or that they can’t change.
I couldn’t help but think of another man, arguably the most influential and celebrated person (apart from Jesus) in my own faith tradition. He was a man who out of a sense of holy duty had previously made it his goal to murder those with the very faith he came to call his own; the apostle Paul.
How can we write-off or hold contempt for those who affront us in their rage while still celebrating heroes who, at one point, were little different?
People are not random. And, just as circumstances and experiences can change, so can people. It is a powerful reminder that, whatever faith tradition or spirituality we align with, that it is so important to approach each other with grace. To attempt to suspend our judgement and fear – whether we have been insulted by another or whether we are affronted by another’s anger.
While it is fair (or even important) to assert that violence is not okay, it is the process of dialogue, understanding and forgiveness which will become balms in these situations. Anger, fear and brash declarations only compound things.
I think it is important to celebrate the good
It is so easy to become captured by the dramatic, the bad, the things that cause fear. It takes work to reorient our perspective and realise that for every one of those stories there are numerous stories of hope and transformation which go unnoticed.
Every day around the world there are growing outbreaks of peace, tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation. Stories of things being transformed for the better in a dramatic way which is compelling and inspiring.
For me this year, International Day of Peace has been a chance to remember this reality and move my mind from the prevailing narratives of doom, fear and fatalism to ones of hope and celebration. When was the last time we went to a peace memorial or museum (yes, they do exist!) instead of just a war museum. When was the last time we read about stories of hope and reconciliation instead of just stories of fighting and destruction?
A bit of balance is good for the soul. Here are a couple of suggestions to check out in honour of Friday:
There is nothing quite like sitting down with good friends and chatting about life, the weather and of course, boobs and interest rates. The kind of stuff everybody talkes about, right? I should probably add that the context was a discussion about consumerism and the impact of the media on society.
I didn’t actually think this was exactly fodder for common conversation so I was more than a little surprised to discover some of the places these kinds of discussions are happening.
As I headed for the train after work last week my curiosity was piqued by the MX’s scattered through the station and I picked up a copy. Please don’t think less of me. For fear of imploding brain cells I skimmed quickly through the newspaper but was caught by an article entitled, “Some would argue that all this whining is the sound of a society slowly realising that consumerism has lied to us.” Yes, in the MX! In it the author goes on to describe the mass of complaining she hears over miniscule inconveniences as a “venting [of] our collective disillusionment at a social order that constantly assures us happiness is just a purchase away.”
Perhaps there is a growing disillusionment with the things that a capitalist, consumerist society seems to value? Either way, I’d like to open up the discussion more. In honour (and explanation) of my conversation with Nath Pearson about boobs and interest rates I wanted to share this song that he wrote. It is called “Boobs and Interest Rates”:
We’ll conserve as long as it won’t affect Consumption
We’ll Preserve if we can keep our Presumptions,
with Ivory swords we’ fight to save the Whales.
but if the share price drops , we quickly bail.
.
The Whole world is dying,
and we Ain’t even trying
All we want to know is …
Did she get a boob job
and the impact of her Nipples on Interest rates.
.
Get your share advice, Your Pills and a bigger dick
With that and a fake degree I’m sure you’ll pull the chicks,
oh you don’t need that, yes you’ve got a cool car
top Job, Good looks and a big cigar
.
buy a house six times bigger than you need
then vote the rest of your life based on greed
Slaves to the markets ebb and flow.
Your dreams on the hope your super will grow
.
Cut the crap we ain’t saving the world
we’re making so much money helping it burn
mesmerised by our plasma TVs
maybe in high-res we can see…
If she got a Boob Job
and the impact of her Nipples on Interest rates.
.
Looking for needles though the haystack is on fire
While we kill their kids their daddies won’t retire
stupid wars and based on bent mythology
all to fuel archaic technology
.
Boobs and Interest rates,
distracted as our world disintegrates
Boobs and Interest rates
Amuse us while the rich obliterate
Nath’s speil about it:
“the first verse may need some explaining…I arrived in America on my way to build houses in Mexico. When I got to my hotel room the toilet had this wrap around it “saying hygenically sealed for your protection,” which is the most overblown advertisement speak way of saying: “we cleaned your toilet after the last person used it.” It’s actually pretty common but at the time I thought it was a pretty stupid thing to say, but more broadly the stark difference between the poverty of mexico and, just 10 mins away across some line drawn a map, the wealth and hyper-consumerism of Americans made me see the world in really different ways… the kids I played soccer with in a garbage filled dirt street seemed happier than the kids I saw at disneyland days later. As for the title; well I thought it was an acurate summary of the news for one particular week… “
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