Thursday, July 06, 2006
From the Beeb archives
The 2003 Reith Lectures were delivered by Vilayanur Ramachandran.
Of the many plattitudes that I find irritatingly misused, there is one that is understood to assert that analysis and enjoyment are somehow mutually exclusive. அனுபவிக்கணும், ஆராயக்கூடாது. It is a fallacy to think that art and the abstract are better off not dissected, and must only be superficially consumed.
Contrary to popular opinion, I enjoy a film more when I am able to go into its mechnics and workings, and am glad that I have access to an endless supply of films that provide me these thrills.
Ramachandran in his lectures, discussed the blurring between the sciences, the arts, and the humanities; when the 'methods' of science help understand the hitherto inviolable abstact areas of human faculty (as a corrollary, I suppose the 'madness' of art applied to the sciences is what are called 'inspiration' and 'genuis').
Of all the abstracts to analyse, Ramachandran's forte is the human mind: thought, emotion, even the human propensity for illogic.
Enjoy!
Comments to From the Beeb archives
Firstly I have not come across this distinction (as much as you have to call it a platitude).
Obviously, they are not mutually exclusive. Same can be said of Sciences and Arts.
But, I feel they are not the same either. There are so many pieces of art, which demanded no further* analysis or dissection (as in, dissection after the "consumption") than what we directly perceive out of it.
* - which layer is a "further analysis" is actually very subjective.
posted by 
Zero: My understanding of your comment might be limited, but I think you are agreeing with me?
posted by 
Anand
Yeah! :P
Well, I was also trying to say that there are some things - well, let me put it the way I connect to, some films - that do no need further analysis and can actually be relished without further* dissection. Romba olarren'no!
* - Subjective, again.
posted by
Zero: Yeah! You know what, In fact, in order to validate your assertion (which, is of course, as you say, very subjective) aarraaychiya niruthhidalama? :D
posted by Anand
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