John Steppling

I'm fond of the word snark. Its not really a word. In the United States, most serious artwork and culture is met with a snarkiness. Meaning it is met with a snide, sarcastic, ironic, and self consciously insincere attitude. It is met with attitude. It is met with "attitude". This connects in my brain with a certain class of liberal accepting, even welcoming, of fascism. It is almost embarrassing, it seems, to express deep enthusiasm for an artwork. I think its permitted to be enthusiastic yourself, even love the work, experience it with great enthusiasm, but keep it to yourself However, there is also a sort of dovetailing of this snark with a the new liberal fascists. … [Read more...]

I posted a long interview with Molly Klein a couple days ago....on theatre, on my work specifically, and on an engagement with the spectacle. I wanted to write some random sort of addendums to that, and to some recent film criticism, and on audience creation. I find an awful lot of film writing to be woefully short on actual film history. I suppose this raises issues about how influence works within a medium that is, first, so mediated by economics, and secondly, so new ---- a medium with a history of a hundred years or less, really. The mediation by capital is the more acute issue. While I think the auteur theory a bit strained at this point, it remains useful as a touchstone for … [Read more...]

The second part of our discussion of theatre....of my work....and of the spectacle. http://john-steppling.com/interview-on-theatre-with-molly-klein-part-2-space-and-spectacle/ … [Read more...]

Chris Dorner was incinerated last night. Well, the assumption is, Chris Dorner was incinerated. The cabin the police say he was in burnt to the ground. Max Blumenthal used a PD scanner to monitor police transmissions, and its clear burning the cabin down was the goal. WACO redux http://bigeye.com/pentwaco.htm Here is Mike Davis on Chris Dorner: http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2013/02/11/mike-davis/exterminating-angels/ So as Barack Obama delivers the state of the whatever --- Chris Dorner (we assume) is roasted to death off old Highway 38 near Big Bear, CA. I know that road. I know that area. The backside leads down to Lucerne Valley, crack central, and then down toward Yucca … [Read more...]

One of the nagging aesthetic issues in our commodity saturated society of ever greater surrender to societal domination is the question of *realism* -- or, naturalism, a term pretty much used interchangeably. I suspect the ascension of marketing and advertising has created an even greater focus on this idea of what is realistic. For selling things it is useful to avoid ambiguity, either perceptual or narratively. If we go back to Plato and Aristotle we find the origin of modern Western ideas of realism .. of the conventional notion of mimesis. Plato was concerned with art's ability to mirror the material world. Aristotle more concerned with the logic of plots and with probability in … [Read more...]

I have spent this week watching a good many films nominated for Academy Awards. Now, the so called 'oscars' have never had any importance outside of studio marketing departments and the halls of big entertainment agencies, but a friend happened to have 'screeners' and wanted to watch and so we did. I want to write an entire post on Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, because I think it's one of the best three or films of the last ten years. But I will say a few things here before linking to a couple other topics. Anderson is something of an engima, for he both works within a studio system, and far outside it. Having paid dues with acceptable films such as Boogie Nights, and the dreadful … [Read more...]

It seems to me that another thing marketing does, when applied to mass entertainment narratives, is teach and normalize all the skills and expertise of the used-car salesmen. How to ingratiate. I see this in actors all the time. It's always been there, but it has become more prevalent these days. In fact, I see it in once very good actors who have plugged themselves into the mass entertainment system. In that respect, it's interesting to ponder the effect of agents on all levels of culture. I often wonder at why promising actors will accept some of the projects they do --- and simply to say *money* is not enough of an answer -- although it raises a secondary question (again) about … [Read more...]