Monday, January 11, 2016
#1 Museum Visit– Omar Trejo
I believe there is an underlying commentary here. It might be easy to say, "it's impossible to smile all the time," or "eventually, we all succumb." A poet might approach this idea by describing the manner in which "wrinkles along the sides of the eyes dissipate," as a duchesne smile becomes less sincere, eventually becoming a frown. But this artist used video to illustrate it: to almost prove it in a way.
As a commentary on blackface actors, it is clear he finds that idea absurd. For any African American, racism and general adversity have been as common a theme in their history in America as the pursuit of liberty by those who founded this country.
Given that plight, I imagine he'd heard the advice throughout his life, "just keep smiling." He'd probably seen many eternal optimists attempt to abide those words, only to watch them fall, too. And in his own experience, perhaps he wanted to communicate happiness is only part of life. Happiness can exist in a difficult world, but it is not constant. The only constant is change.
That is perhaps the most jarring commentary in this film: once you can no longer smile, you're abandoned as the audience moves on to the next person.
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That's an interesting way of thinking about it: If things aren't going well, we're told to just keep on keepin' on and whatnot, when in reality it's just plain difficult to keep a smile going.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me think about all of us today, how we could be the ones holding the smile and at the same time the audience that moves on when we stop seeing the smiles.
ReplyDeleteIn media, men tend to find women who smile more attractive, even when the smile is subtle. It might be a product of the "bury your emotions" era of last century, but it seems we tend to dislike facing emotions that aren't especially happy.
DeleteThe thought that once we can longer smile we are abandoned to the next person who is smiling, was something that I totally agree with, as sad as it is. I agree that we as a society have grown accustom to hiding our emotions and only displaying the emotion of happiness. The more we have grown to rely on communication through electronic mediums, the more we have lost the ability to communicate through human emotion.
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