12-13-2016 Redefining Creepy
The hypocrisy of the media never ceases to fascinate
me. In early October (2016) the national
news outlets began running a small cache of stories related to “creepy clowns.” They were practically ready to call out the
National Guard to defend us against these villains. They were “sighted” here and “sighted
there.” I don’t think they robbed any
banks. They just appeared (costumed
young adults, no doubt) on the sides of roads and disappeared as quickly as
they came. That, in a nutshell, defines
the craze: hasty disappearance. Three college-aged kids in Buffalo, New York,
went online and apologized for making people nervous.
Three weeks later (Halloween time), the local newspaper ran
a front page story on a woman in suburbia who decorated her lawn for
Halloween. It had the usual scary
fare: caskets, cobwebs, and Count
Dracula…. Or whomever. Oh, and by the
way, she included some “creepy clowns.”
She was treated as if she was a down-home artist making her much-awaited
debut. No National Guard was invited;
just a veiled encouragement for people to drive by and see her creative
efforts. See what I mean about “media
hypocrisy”? If it sells their newspaper
or gets hits to their website, it’s all kosher.
They say that “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder.” Can we say, by extension, that so is
hideousness? Five years ago I wrote some
veiled sarcasm under the moniker of “ATFC:
Ask the Fat Chick.” I basically
took headlines from NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and any other source of
fodder for my literary flaming arrows. I
want to share one of those with you today as it links in nicely with our Creepy
clown phenomenon:
Dear Devoted
fans of online sarcasm, wit, and commentary on life:
Interesting
article in NY times about auctioning of the famous (and arguably ugly and
basic) painting called, “The Scream.”
In the
midst of the article they compare it to the other most recognizable creepy/ugly
painting that people seem inexplicably enchanted with: Mona Lisa. I ask
you, would you let this woman babysit your kids if she lived next door? I
think not. Is it really a woman, or a man with bad bohemian hair posing
for a picture that he figures may disturb his mother and all his
relatives. And the movie about it with Julia Roberts was wasteful as
well.
Regarding
The Scream’s auction, ATFC wants to recommend they redistribute this incredible
amount of money to the Social Security Department OR the US Deficit fund
instead of adorning their Rodeo Drive mansions with grotesque (and I use this
term professionally) paintings by dead guys. Really, aren’t Monet and RC
Gorman the only ones who had a good handle on how lovely life should be:
abstract beauty of lilies and flowers OR well-fed women shaped like South
Western gourds contemplating the simplicity of life. Or even GE Mullen’s
clever rendering of religious art in a way that is modern, yet not smacking of
any cheapening by the process.
But maybe
I’m not really an art critic. If you disagree, then file my thoughts in
the file “for entertainment purposes only”
Ask the
Fat Chick
Excerpts
from NY Times:
“It
took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The
Scream” to sell for $119.9 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of
art ever to sell at auction.
Bidders
could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and, some said, Norwegian), but
the mystery winner bid over the phone, through Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s
executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist,
modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be heard as the bidding
climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99 million, prompting
Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I have all the time
in the world.” When $100 million was bid, the audience began to applaud.
….
The image has been reproduced endlessly in popular culture in
recent decades, becoming a universal symbol of angst and existential dread and
nearly as famous as the Mona Lisa.”
(Like we need one more
symbol of angst and existential dread in our world).
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