Life Imitates Art
Let me say upfront - this is not a stone throwing post - just some things rattling around in my brain.
It seems the sixteen year old actress that portrays Mary in the upcoming film Nativity is pregnant. She, and her boyfriend, recently announced the news. While being interviewed, the director of the film gushed and said "just a classic example of life imitating art."
Did I miss something? I just don’t see this as an example of life imitating art.
Last night on CSI two "victims" met their demise via a chainsaw. One of the investigators said it was an example of life imitating art.
Did I miss something? I just don’t see this reference as an example of art.
When teenagers put on trench coats and open fire on classmates is that life imitating art?
Why do we blame the bizarre on art?
Can anyone give me a healthy example of life imitating art or art imitating life?
9 Responses to “Life Imitates Art”
Robin Hood: Men in Tights??
I heard about these two gangs that had rival members fall in love and then they sang the whole way through and died at the end. I think they were imitating Shakespeare (not the fishing rods). I am not making this up. I saw it on TV.
They really sang well, too.
Excellent thoughts. Thanks for sharing
Randy, I think Greg may be ill. Would you see what you can do for him? It’s either guitars or RH: Men in Tights. I’m worried about him………………….
I don’t really know what “life imitating art” really means and I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything, but I saw this Garrison Keillor quote on Mike Cope’s blog today, and hey, it’s about art and life, so I thought it might fit here!
“Christmas is an artistic performance, and art, by and large, is not made by contented people. It is made by wounded recluses, freaks, the absurdly self-conscious, the haunted and guilty, the humiliated, the outcasts…”
You can blame Greg for starting this but I’ll offer the movie, “Christmas Vacation.”
Actually, that movie is more like “art imitating life.”
Books have written about this question and philosophers have wrestled with this specific issue for the last two centuries. Let’s surmise and call it an exchange of perception and reality.
Norman Rockwell’s paintings of mid-20th century America elicit thoughts and memories of how things used to be, the good old days. But do those images imitate life, and if so, whose life? I wasn’t born pre-1950 neither was I raised in new England or on the east coast. What I have found is that most times when art is imitating life, it is usually through a soft-focus lense.
Conversely, what I have found is that when life imitates art, it tends to be more focused, even cruel. When Ol’ Yeller meets his demise in the movie, it is sad. When I was 10 years old and my dog was poisoned by a local rancher, that was cruel. The early 20th century theater actor, director and playwright Antonin Artaud called life The Theater of Cruelty.
These are very limited examples. But the question does life imitate art or art imitate life doesn’t have an either/or answer. Like good/evil and yin/yang, the two exist in tandem, one with the other. The two creating an exchange of ideas and energies, each perpetuating the other through an eternal discourse.
How about the Sistine Chapel?
Peace.
The first thing that came to mind is the number of technology advances that have been inspired by the writing and production of science fiction. The movie Minority Report , for instance, is often shown/quoted/referenced in technology conferences when referencing the future of information management tools and consumer electronics. If some of these come to market, is it life imitating art?
Photography is the ultimate example of art imitating life, I suppose.
It is ironic that the Nativity actress is pregnant, but unless there was some miraculous conception and an angel visit, I think the parallel stops there.
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