I rented The AniMatrix the other day. Good stuff. But thinking about this (especially the ninth short, "Matriculated"), and the guy whose name I'm too lazy too look up right now, who did Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, and Akira, and Fooly Cooly (or FLCL, or whatever the hell it's called), and a whole bunch of anime out there...it made me think, "Why must a lot of beautiful art also be so disturbing?"

I mean, can't artists (and especially those who make anime) just tell a simple story without resorting to some kind of psychedelic acid trip thing? I would applaud a lot of things I just mentioned - at least the ones I've seen - but it's hard because I'm confused by it a lot of the time. And it might be why a lot of people have a kind of stigma about anime. I dunno.

It also reminds me of that artist that made that piece in New York that used elephant dung. More people were appalled by the medium rather that the whole artistic piece and the message it was trying to convey (unless he succeeded in the message of "disgust" or "shock").

I don't know. Am I one who isn't meant to understand that kind of subtlety? (Or correct spelling?)
posted by Tim at 2:48 AM