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Post by eljedicolombiano on Feb 3, 2024 15:39:56 GMT
“beauty is an ultimate value—something that we pursue for its own sake, and for the pursuit of which no further reason need be given. Beauty should therefore be compared to truth and goodness, one member of a trio of ultimate values which justify our rational inclinations.”"Art turned its back on beauty. It became a slave to the consumer culture, feeding our pleasures and addictions, and wallowing in self-disgust. That, it seems to me, is the lesson of the ugliest forms of art and architecture. They do not show reality but take revenge on it"-Sir Roger Scruton
For myself, and perhaps a lot of you; one of the reasons why we keep going back to Star Wars is that the movies are beautiful- beautiful to look at, to listen to, to experience. What do you find most beautiful about George Lucas's Star Wars?
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Post by smittysgelato on Feb 4, 2024 6:05:22 GMT
Padme is precisely the correct icon for this discussion.
What I find most beautiful about Star Wars is the fact it has a very beautiful spirit. An appropriate name for this spirit would be the spirit of compassion. The core of Star Wars seems to reiterate again and again that compassion is what can set humanity free from all of its self-created prisons. At the same time, there is an acknowledgment that this is incredibly difficult to achieve because all of humanity's fear and greed is going to make it as appealing as possible to remain imprisoned. In that sense, Star Wars is beautiful because it sets the bar pretty high. Beauty isn't easy.
That being said, I have never been entirely sure what the Neo-Platonic definition of truth, beauty, and goodness are exactly. Beauty can be used to mislead people away from the good, after all (eg. really effective propaganda). This is precisely what happens to Anakin. He gets so caught up in Padme's beauty that he wants to possess it. So Star Wars is pretty nuanced that way. Anakin's approach to Padme suggests that beauty may indeed be good, but if approached the wrong way it can become ugly. Although, sometimes I get the impression that the Neo-Platonists might be trying to say that beauty shouldn't be conflated with that which is aesthetically pleasing or attractive. Beauty and attractiveness can coincide, but beauty isn't limited to attractiveness. Perhaps this is why some pieces of art can be horrifying but beautiful at the same time?
Anyways, these are just some of my brief thoughts on the matter. It will be exciting to say what others have to say about this one.
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Post by eljedicolombiano on Feb 4, 2024 11:46:50 GMT
Well the transcendentals where I believe best developed in the Middle Ages; this post from Reddit helps to clarify things a bit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/rm8afa/were_platos_ideas_of_love_and_beauty_practical/
Also yes I agree with you that certain forms of art can play with the grotesque and the horrible but still be beautiful, like the depiction of Christ on the cross for example.
One interesting aspect that Star Wars plays with is the idea that being seduced by the dark side corrupts not only your soul, but can also corrupt you physically as well, as with Palpatine and Vader (or even Dooku whose eyes turn yellow when using the dark side). In a sense the evil characters have a tendency towards the ugly and decrepit, while the good guys are usually very beautiful, perhaps even pure of heart as with Padme, Luke, Leia and young Anakin. This kind of trope is very common in fairy tales i.e. Snow White.
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Post by smittysgelato on Feb 14, 2024 5:50:30 GMT
Yes, Star Wars does play with the ugly/beautiful in terms of physicality. Of course, one thing I have never been able to resolve about beauty being equivalent to goodness is best exemplified by the Siren's song. The Siren's song is technically beautiful, but because it lures sailors to their doom, it can't exactly be called good, now can it? So it really does make me wonder what exactly The Neo-Platonists mean by beautiful. I will have to read the reddit post.
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Post by Seeker of the Whills on Mar 12, 2024 13:20:41 GMT
For me the most beautiful thing about SW is the human story at the center of it, the tragedy and triumph of Anakin Skywalker. I always related a lot to his struggles, even when I was younger. As I get older, I look more to the wisdom of Qui-Gon, but Anakin remains for me the heart and soul of the saga. The ghost in the machine of it all. No other story moves me like Star Wars Ep I-VI. The vision of young Anakin's spirit appearing to Luke at the end of RotJ is the most gratifyingly beautiful moment in cinematic history. Still to this day I get chills and almost tear up when watching it.
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Post by smittysgelato on Mar 12, 2024 20:38:12 GMT
For me the most beautiful thing about SW is the human story at the center of it, the tragedy and triumph of Anakin Skywalker. I always related a lot to his struggles, even when I was younger. As I get older, I look more to the wisdom of Qui-Gon, but Anakin remains for me the heart and soul of the saga. The ghost in the machine of it all. No other story moves me like Star Wars Ep I-VI. The vision of young Anakin's spirit appearing to Luke at the end of RotJ is the most gratifyingly beautiful moment in cinematic history. Still to this day I get chills and almost tear up when watching it. Based. |
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