Broken Weltanschauungen
Please, no one hate me.
From time to time, I come across a worldview, that just seems broken to me. I feel slightly bad using that terminology, but there it is. (Many feel that worldviews are something that can not be inherently “broken”, just different… If you choose to view things that way, then the worldview I am about to describe is just so contrary to my own worldview, that I have to describe it as broken to make my own worldview seem self consistent. There. Feel better? Anyway…)
So, I have heard phrases like, “Oh, I am really excited about seeing this new French film, you should see it.” When I inquire as the subject matter of the film, I merely get “I don’t know… it’s French” as the only response.
For all I know, the film could be great. Or it could suck. But this has nothing to do with its “Frenchness”. Or it shouldn’t have anything to do with it. But if someone uses “Frenchness” as the only reason for seeing a movie, (or “Japaneseness”, or “German”, or what-have-you) then the worldview of that person seems a bit broken to me. I think the movie should be judged on its own merits.
What’s ironic is that such Weltanschauungen are likely caused as a backlash of an older worldview that some people call “Nationalism”. By deciding that America is such an evil nation, or run by evil people, or whatever, then deciding that all things not-American are obviously better than all things American. Its a simple leap from that point to saying that because it is “French” it is more worthy of being seen than another movie that is “American”. A further irony is that most movies made in America are made by people with a similar worldview as those not wanting to watch American movies because they are American.
Anyway, maybe I’m wrong. Certainly there are degrees here, but if ever you start thinking about how you’d like to do something merely because its French, then maybe you should rethink things a bit, and start objectively analyzing your motivations. Unless you happen to be French. Then its OK. =)
I don’t mean to offend anybody with this, just making an observation about people, and I was trying to figure out why I got mad when such people made such statements. I think I know why. Their Weltanschauungen are broken, and it makes me sad to see a broken Weltanschauung.
Tags: french movies, nationalism, weltanschauung, worldview
From "That which probably should not be said, Tripe. Utter tripe."
Darcy said,
August 1, 2007 at 8:45 pm
So I saw this french film the other day and it was totally fabulous. You should totally watch it.
Darcy said,
August 1, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Oh! How embarrassing! I shouldn’t go around randomly adding comments to people’s blogs. This was just an unfortunate coincidence.
Jeremiah said,
August 4, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I think we often classify things we don’t understand as being broken.
For instance, seeing a movie just because it is French probably isn’t the best thing in the world. But there really isn’t anything wrong with seeing a movie based on the recommendations of a friend and past exposure to the works of the director and writer.
Perhaps using “Its French” is an indication of some nationalist or anti-nationalist Weltanschauung. Perhaps its just a quip meant to get a laugh. Perhaps its a way of summing up all the reasons to watch a film without going through all the boring details.
But what do I know? I really don’t like knowing what the movie is about before I see it anways. (And I wrote about it here :http://learn-live.blogspot.com/2007/07/what-you-dont-know-can-make-things-so.html )