Upcoming exhibit.
For this reason I have conceived a desire to visit the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The thing that draws me to it -- apart from the chance to look at pretty pictures -- is actually the title. "Anime! High Art - Pop Culture" speaks to exactly the sort of ambiguity that I've been trying to resolve, off and on, as long as I've been watching this stuff, and I'm curious to see what they have to say about it.
After all, this is at the very citadel of the film industry, and film's been engaging in the same uncomfortable dialogue for its entire history, and I'm not sure that we're richer for the experience. I think, in film, the line between crass commercialism and inscrutable art is too broad, too insurmountable, too dependent on accident rather than substance. Some of what I like about anime is the way that it can let genuine art shine through its commercial bones and illuminate all it touches. But that, too, is a discussion for another time, and probably for someone else.
As for me, I'm just looking forward to seeing
Sailor Moon cels. Now
that is the poster child for "art in spite of itself."
words from chris, 2009-05-04 01:38:39, los angeles
