Joseph Campbell and the Movies

OK... Let me start by saying that I have not read any Campbell. I may some day. Haven't yet.

I was just watching a documentary about the making of The Poseidon Adventure (the Irwin Allen 1972 version) and all these Hollywood-types keep bringing up Joseph Campbell... Joseph Campbell this, Joseph Campbell that... on and on and on.

Now, the general impression I get about ol' Joe comes in part from this Wikipedia article, and in part from "Empire of Dreams" where he is mentioned almost ceaselessly. My understanding is that Campbells's big accomplishment was to take all these stories... myths from around the world and other "morality tales".. stories with a point.. and distill them down to essential elements, giving people a means of analyzing these stories against a template... It was basic abstraction. He basically took the combined work of all the greatest Blues musicians and said, "Ah-HA! I see what makes all these songs similar! I see how they work! I really doesn't matter what key you start in or what the song is about... you can construct a blues song using this formula I just jotted down! It's not so hard!" The bummer about this is that it really doesn't inform the experienced craftspeople in the field, and I think it tends to kill the joy of discovery for new people in the field.

This, to me, is teaching to the test. It's like when you want to put up a house and they have building codes... for plumbing and wiring and all that. If all you know are the building codes and have a few sample designs to work from, and are not particularly creative or whatever, you're probably going to build a house which minimally satisfies the building codes and closely follows a pre-existing design. Now, this is fine for houses, because everybody needs a place to live, but when you do that with a story, you likely end up with a plagiarism suit on your hands.

I think there is definately something to be said for trial and error. It seems important that Campbell's work was done.... but... when you start pointing to Campbell as your greatest influence.... the one who most informs the stories you tell... that's like saying the building codes were the greatest influence on the design of your house.

Really? Congratulations! It's nominally safe and blandly adequate!

Maybe I'll have a different opinion after I've read him.

Deathcare

NOTE: I've sat on this one for a while... This post states some unpopular views and does not regard dead people as being any better or worse than dead squirrels... so if this level of regard for mortal remains is unappealing to you, perhaps this post is not for you. Any comments which contain remarks like "You insensitive PRICK!" will be deleted. My blog. Don't like it? Start your own and bitch there. It's free. You have been warned.


I tried to think of a title for this post... Honest I did!

People die every day, and have been doing so for quite some time. In fact, people have been dying almost as long as there have been people. When people die, various cultures have a variety of activities and rituals which surround the disposal of human remains. The bottom line is the disposal of human remains. This is a topic which makes so many people so very uncomfortable and needs rational objective attention.

Being an atheist, I have no special regard for humanity. By that, I mean that people are living things, and, provided they conduct themselves with reasonable respect for other living things, should be treated with similar respect. I don't think that people are intrinsically any better or worse than lions or kudzu vines or jellyfish.

In fact, many people are awful. There are plently of mean, cruel and sadistic people out there who actually take pleasure in making other people miserable. They're in all cultures, too... Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq (under Hussein and US Control), Viet Nam, China (under Japanese occupation and under Maoist rule) and even the good ol' U.S. of A.... Remember the kindness with which the indigenous folks of the Americas were treated by the European invaders...

So people are really just bags of protoplasm... good, bad or indifferent. I mean each of us has "special people" in our lives. I can certainly respect having "special people" in our lives... I have "special people" in my life. The special people in my life are special to me because they have the personalities they have and are involved in my life in a significant way. I value these special people in life for their personalities and their roles in my life. I don't really value the protoplasm, except as a vessel and/or vehicle for the personality... or ... "spirit".

So... What does all this mean? What's my point? What got me going here? Um... Well...

OK... I've been to several funerals in my time. Most of them have been in some sort of Catholic-derived tradition, because I grew up in a mostly-Catholic family. I've been to a couple Protestant-Chrisitian funerals. I haven't been to an atheist funeral. ... or a Viking funeral. That would kick ass! ... or a Jedi funeral pyre... that would be pretty cool. ... but all these traditions (except atheism) are rooted in the sanctity of the mortal remains of the recently-passed. ...and by "recently-passed" we mean "recently-dead". That's right. Dead. Can we say that? Dead. It feels wierd, doesn't it? When you're talking about a squirrel that got tagged by a passing car, you don't mind saying, "dead"... but when we're talking about our Mom or Sister or baby, we don't dare say, "dead"... we say... "passed on" or "lost" or "no longer with us"... like... dead.

So... what do we do? More specifically, what does Mr. Ursuspacificus think we should do? We always hear that funerals are not really for the dead, they're for the living... they're for the survivors. If it's not really for the dead, why are they even involved? What's the point of having a taxidermied human corpse in the room while we talk about how nice and kind and wonderful and funny the dead guy or gal was? Could we dispense with the corpse? ... and if so, why do we have to put it in a steel box, sealed in a concrete crypt under six feet of dirt? Couldn't we just blow 'em up?... or leave 'em to the raccoons?... I mean ... it's just a bag of protoplasm, after all. I realize this is not a popular viewpoint, but... Even if you believe in an immortal soul, if the body was its vessel in life, that life is over now... the vessel is an empty shell. We love the soul and it's moved on. The shell is just a carcass.

You want to have a ceremonial disposition of that carcass? So be it... but don't eat valuable real estate and lock up valuable organic compounds and minerals in a concrete and steel vault. Give the body back to nature. Burn it, bury it without a casket or dump it in the ocean. The world needs the minerals, organics and protein. Think globally, act locally.

So you've already asked this once already... where did this all come from?! OK.. blame it on Penn and Teller. Their show, "Bullshit," is marvelous. Midway through season 2, they did a show on "deathcare". "Penn&Teller's Bullshit" is a wonderful show, and this episode is particularly fantastic. I recently watched a few episodes, including the "Deathcare" one, from my DVD collection... and... it got me thinking.

Death works the same for squirrels, kudzu vines, lions, jellyfish and people.

Penn had a lot to say in the episode on "Deathcare", but, to me, the most poignent bit was, "The time to treat people right is now, when they're alive." This is an important point. This is the truth. As much as I might find it tough to be kind or gentle or polite to someone, the truth of the matter is that do so while that person is alive is the way, and really the only time to let that person know that he or she is loved. To pray to the god-du-jour asking that he/she favor your recently departed friend/relative is a little foolish, as the god-du-jour will not do anything to comfort your living friend or relative. Instead, tell your living friened or relative that you appreciate him or her.. maybe even that you love him or her.


So... how ever you might feel about death or what happens to you after death, please respect my wish:

My final wish is that my mortal remains be placed in the cockpit of a sea kayak, such that the kayak float upright irrespective of how my remains might slump, and that that kayak, be loaded with flammabale and/or explosive materials in its cargo spaces, such that, once it has reached a safe distance from shore, it be ignited , that all on shore may know that I was and will be no more.

What is done with my computers, guitars and drums is up to those of you with opposable thumbs, who can make use of them.

Stephen, how can you walk?

Stephen Colbert.... Wow.

I guess I'm not surprised that "The Mainstream NewsMedia" has completely ignored Stephen Colbert's lambasting of the Bush Administration and the White House Press Corps on Saturday, April 29th.

I did not see it live. Now, I have an excuse. I don't watch TV. Fortunately, there's Slashdot. Their pointer to more detailed coverage did the trick. I read a transcript. I saw an edited video.

It was good stuff. His delivery was a bit slow... as though pedantic.... perhaps, for the benefit of the President.

Clearly, the bulk of his remarks were not really for the benefit of the audience present. Laughs from those in attendance were sparse. I suspect this is because most of the folks in attendance realized they were the butts of Colbert's cutting jokes. They were funny for his Comedy Central audience... and any other not-fast-asleep Americans out there.

He had plenty to go around. Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, McCain, McClellan, Snow, Rove... all got jabs from Colbert... and some non-government figures got a poke... Jessie Jackson, for one. When commenting on his interview with Jackson, Colbert said, "[it was] like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor because you grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is." That to me is brilliant. Using a metaphoric jab at an irrelevant, washed-up windbag as a segue to a HHOS remark about a global issue that would otherwise have not gotten coverage, and, in doing so, take another jab at the Bush administration. Sweet. It was like Neo fighting off a hundred Smiths, using one of them to pummel fifty others.

...but I digress.

I first became aware of Stephen Colbert in the book, "America: The Book (Democracy Inaction)", which I thoroughly enjoyed, but, since I was unaware of Colbert's TV Pundit personna, ... well.. let's just say there was something lost in translation.

My next exposure came with the DVD release of The Daily Show's 2004 election coverage. There, Colbert shined through. His commentary on the first night of the RNC convention was brilliant. Stewart asked, "Aren't all conventions manipulative?" To which, Colbert replied, "No, Jon. To call this convention manipulative is to call Marcell Marceau a little quitet. These people are artists, operating at the peak of their abilities. Take Thursday night's theme: 'Fuck you! What're you ganna do about it?'" It was beautiful. I cried. He had me at Marcel Marceau.

While Colbert did not get the laughs he paused for in the room, I'm confident he got them at home. He can still take a dismal and frightening situation (the Bush administration) and find deep, rich, dark nuggets of black comedy in it. He is one of my heroes.

Thank you Stephen Colbert. Thank you, for the love.