Re: Savage Beasts and All That / I don my fez

[Elmer Elevator <bobmer@javanet.com>]

Here, let me put on my Snob Hat (a fez).

I didn't mention Hannibal Lecter because I'm trying to compare the
highest achievements of music with the highest achievements of
literature ... and I think the Hannibal Lecter books and movies are sort
of mass-midcult mall-movie crappy. I don't think there's anything in
them (exept perhaps recipes) that can really inform thoughtful, educated
people.

> Another question might be... Why are lovers of classical music so
often portrayed in a bad light in movies, plays, literature, etc.?

> Is it reverse snobbery of a sort?

That's an awfully good insight. I think it's Musical Xenophobia, a
resentment by people who, through their misfortunes of education, reach
adulthood believing that the doors to opera, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven,
Chopin etc., have been forever closed to them. And they resent it and so
enjoy these kinds of insults slung at lovers of classical music in the
movies.

There's plenty of room in the human brain to love both Bach and Janis
Joplin. It's our educational traditions (fez-wearing music teachers)
which suggest the two kinds of music are hostile to one another and
can't survive together in a cultured mind and heart. How many music
teachers have given the hairy eyeball to a student who got caught
bringing his/her beloved CD of Pop du Jour to class?

Bob

"Anne M. Marble" wrote:

> > I'm fascinated with literature that suggests that a deep
> > love of the world's greatest music has utterly no
> > predictable effect on the human soul, and is as likely to
> > produce ghastly human beings as lovely and enlightened
> > ones.
>
> > The most deeply shocking examples, to me, have been
> > * "A Clockwork Orange," where the brutal sadist Alex has
> > a deep and sincere appreciation and love for Beethoven.
>
> How can you forget Hannibal?! He'll be so disappointed. :->
>
> I think people who love great music are more likely to have
> the patience to deal with life. Listening to great music
> (particularly great classical music) requires intelligence,
> some patience, etc. That doesn't mean we don't have problems
> dealing with the world now and then. (You should hear me
> cuss my computer out.)
>
> Another question might be... Why are lovers of classical
> music so often portrayed in a bad light in movies, plays,
> literature, etc.?
>
> Is it reverse snobbery of a sort? Or are these potrayals
> really that frequent? Maybe we're more likely to stand up
> and take notice of them because while they're not as
> frequent, they are usually shocking when they occur. And
> because that type of character is usually portrayed as
> charismatic.