Bleatings from the Sheep

"The Man Who Planted Trees" & other fun commentary from your friendly neighborhood capitalist....

I really should be working on other homework. I have a vast plethora of projects due for other classes, and the deadlines are all fast approaching. Or at the very least, I should finish up posting about the other groups' class films. But I’m not. Instead, I’m blogging about what we saw and discussed in class today.

I suppose that first I should write about the film we saw...“The Man Who Planted Trees.”




I definitely thought it was interesting, and I enjoyed it a lot. First of all, the style of animation was really nice. The “sketchy” kind of look to it was something that I found very appealing. The plot was also pretty amazing, and inspiring, and hopeful even. To think that one person could accomplish so much good simply by following his purpose is an amazing concept, and one I find to be particularly stirring. He wasn’t doing anything that stood out, and he wasn’t aiming for fame and fortune. He just wanted to bring life to a region where only death and fear existed, and by persevering in his work and his mission, he was successful. That is an incredibly hopeful story.

The thing that scares me the most is that process of discovering purpose. Actually, change that “scares” to “terrifies” and it would be a more truthful statement. I don’t know, I guess I just wonder...What questions do I ask? What happens if I can’t find an answer, or what happens if the answer conflicts with something I thought I already knew? There’s just so much involved. But I should stop there, lest I accidentally bear too much of my soul. After all, blog or no blog, I’ve still only known you all for a relatively short period of time. ;)

Now for the part of this post I’ve been dreading the most -- the part where I single myself out as just another “brainwashed” Republican who believes in the (gasp) American Dream.

Before you make any assumptions, let me say this: No, I did not grow up in an ultra-conservative neighborhood. In fact, I pretty much grew up in Liberalsville, but that’s beside the point. I’m used to daggers and cheap shots that hold no real merit to them other than causing pain, and I’m not used to the civil and reasonable discussion that, thankfully, I’ve been witness to here. I promise to put forward my best efforts to keep myself in check here, and I hope that you’ll correct and forgive me if I get carried away at some point.

So where was I? Ah, yes, capitalism versus socialism. Now I don’t know what Professor Leeper’s political views are, nor do I particularly want to know right now, nor is it vital to this post. I just wanted to express my absolute love of the system of capitalism. Yeah, I know, it’s flawed. But it’s a creation of humanity, so it’s pretty much guaranteed to be. I still think it’s the best system we have out there, though. I doubt that there’s any other system that encourages people to work as hard as capitalism does. Does this climate discourage artists to make works based on truth and importance, as was hinted in class? Maybe. I don’t really know. Even if it does, I’d rather take a dull entertainment industry then, oh, say, having to wait three months for an “emergency” procedure at a public hospital...But I digress. Even if it does tempt the artist into submission for the sake of the almighty dollar, we all have to face temptation. That’s just a sad fact of life. If an artist’s message is truly worth saying, then he can grow a backbone and say it, regardless of how it might go over. What’s that saying? “Stand for something or else you’ll fall for anything.” The only person I want telling me a message is someone who will be willing to fight for that message with their life. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: The only battles worth fighting are those you’ll fight even in the face of defeat. And it the artist doesn’t view his battle as something worth fighting for at all costs, then I don’t entirely trust that the artist has something valid to fight for in the first place.

Alrighty, that’s my rant for this evening. Yikes, how do these always end up being so long?

posted by Caitlynn @ 10:27 PM