We would probably have a much higher (and more incorrect) opinion of ourselves. We’re all fools, and recognizing our own foolishness reflected in art doesn’t make it not so. Just makes it easier to think about.
Comment on How original. Fucking Shakespeare over here.
sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks agoAhhh yes, the old idiot plot. Where would we even be as a culture without it
queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Maybe? I don’t think that’s where I learned to introspect from. But maybe the stakes are lower learning to socialize from stories
queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
A lot of narrative stories (fiction and non) are in the format “person in situation X makes decision Y and experiences consequences Z” with the moral being “if you are in a situation like X, doing Y will have Z consequences” ("moral” in the sense of being a generalizable life lesson). I think they’re an important part of how we discuss life experiences as a community, both extraordinary and mundane. And it is a lot easier to learn from stories than to experience consequences in real life. The problem is that storytellers are all humans and sometimes bad at storytelling, so care must be taken when learning from stories, and they all have to be validated against real life experience.
And then before you know it, you’ve become an art critic.
sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
You’re probably right. I have grown up to be pretty pretentious about art, despite how little I understood it at formative years. Other people might be shaped by their experiences with it differently than I was
mika_mika@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
All scripts of Shakespeare’s comedy category that I’ve read are idiot plots. The characters constantly explain to the audience, but never to each other. It enables all the hijinks to unfold. So, it’s been around at least that long.
For example, twins separated at birth. If the twins in the Comedy of Errors explained who they were, or if the cast once questioned either of them on their strangeness, everything could be clarified.
It extends to outside comedies, even the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet could have been avoided if Romeo had confirmed Juliet and Friar’s plan, or had checked to see if she was still alive before offing himself.