Syncrisis
La belle Antiquité fut toujours vénérable;
Mais je ne crus jamais qu’elle fust adorable.
Je voy les Anciens sans plier les genoux,
Ils sont grands, il est vray, mais hommes comme nous;
Et l’on peut comparer sans craindre d’estre injuste
➡ Parallèle des anciens et des modernes en ce qui regarde les arts et les sciences, Charles Perrault, p. 1731
Slowly first. Faster then. Jerking off.
That’s basically Miyazaki‘s definition of the iPad culture.
Of any culture that doesn’t use a pencil.
To each his own. I prefer sex over the iPad or a pencil.
But I dislike arrogance.
Arrogance, that bastard child of the classic case of the old v. new quarrel. The old-fart quarrel.2
In 17th-century Renaissance Italy, paragone -or comparison- was the hottest debate around. Being able to compare was the new paradigm. It equaled freedom of thought.
Boileau and Perrault were leading the same argument in France.
In red shorts, The Ancients, led by the former, believed we were stuck at imitating the perfection in Arts that the Greeks and Romans had set. Rules had to be followed. Dues had to be given.
The Moderns, in blue shorts, thought that new forms of art had to be invented. Rules could be broken. Innovation spurred.
Authority v. Progress.
Syncrisis.3
You aren’t going out into the real world and pouring your creativity into something [...] nothing more than consumers.
➡ How dare he dislike my gadget!
While Miyazaki makes a valid point about cases of herd psychology shown by people wanting the latest gadgetery4, his prism is blocked by his ceteribus paribus assumptions.
The real world is his own5. Creativity is his own.
These are his rules. His Greeks. His Romans.
Ironically, they collide with the credence -or authority- his comments are getting, as it is derived from the same factor the Japanese director criticizes: a communion of opinions, i.e. a mass of people flocking to see his art and approving it. Let’s call that mass approval6.
Creativity is not measured by the level of old-schoolness -or authority, again- you’ve got. It’s not because you’re using a ballpoint pen that you’re a better writer than someone using a typewriter. The same goes between analog and digital photography. Or a pen versus an iPad.
Don’t blindly follow those who tell you how things should to be done. Don’t fall into that type of herd behavior: non-sensical collective worship of modern so-called creative Gods. Miyazaki, Jobs, Nolan or Gladwell.
he is coming from an “All I need are pencil and paper” point-of-view. That might be all he needs. He’s Hayao Miyazaki!
➡ Hayao Miyazaki Compares iPad Use To Masturbation7
Get a clue. The communion of opinions about Miyazaki -his authority, again and again- validates the bashing of the communion of opinions on the iPad -his old-fartiness. Non-sensical.
Expertise -authority, yes …again- gives an opinion more weight -authority, always. It doesn’t make it of higher value.
Learn from the Ancients, respect them, give dues if you wish, but don’t let them tell you what your path should be. How your creativity should be shaped.
Don’t mix the medium and the format. Don’t mix the goal and the means.
Use a pen, an iPad, whatever suits you. Define your world. Break the mould. Be a consumer. A prosumer. A producer. A watcher. A stroker.
You’re probably going to become an old-fart anyway.
- The great Ancient History always was venerable; But I never thought it was adorable. I see the Ancients without bending [my] knees, they are great, it’s true, but men like us; One care compare without fear of being unjust. Translation mine. [↩]
- I’ll readily disclaim it. Not even 35 and I’m somewhat in the former category already. Took me ages to go from film to digital. Will take me forever to accept 3D movie technology, the most idiotic & useless trend. I’m an old fart. [↩]
- Syncrisis [sin'-cri-sis]: from Greek syn ”with” and krinein, “to separate”/”to compare”. A comparison and contrast in parallel clauses. [↩]
- or willing to flock to the latest movie …even when as stupid, boring and dangerously backwards as Avatar. [↩]
- one which somewhat lacks introspection, the real world also meaning taking care of your son, in my humble opinion. The real world not being limited to staying in front of a piece of paper for hours. Again, to each his own. Maybe. [↩]
- don’t get me started: you’ve got to be delusional -or Ancient- to derive authority from the essence of his art. [↩]
- emphasis mine [↩]
