An Unholy Fascination With Filth – Disgusting. Read.

November 18, 2012 12 Comments


It is difficult to consider morality when you are in the business of creating art… but I want to at least ask a few of questions.

Is art not the “honest expression” of one’s view of the world?

Why then do so many young writers create films about guns, prostitutes and extreme violence? Most of the writers that I know who write this way, know nothing of this world… yet they are drawn to it.

Why are we so attracted to the carnal, the dark and the hopeless; when at our core we are so unfamiliar with this world?

This is a very big problem… but not so much for its dark effects it may have upon our audience, but because of the terribly devastating effects it has upon our art.

When we write about something we know nothing about, we cannot hope to find any semblance of real truth; instead we end up creating an ambivalent caricature of nothingness.

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2012 Seven Sentences Copyright – Violence In Films

About GeoffTalbot: Geoff Talbot is the founder of this Creative Blog. He loves writing words that encourage creative people.

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  • Linda

    Well said. I am currently working on a screenplay designed to bring a little joy back into the world. There are too many dark themes in our midst – both on the big screen and in the real world. We really don’t need any more darkness on this planet.

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      Write from you own wonderfully unique truthful perspective Linda, there needs to be tension in this… Joy is found in overcoming obstacles (darkness) don’t you think?

  • bigbutchboy

    You’re getting this the wrong way round. It’s precisely because there’s so much ‘darkness’ in real life, that there’s so much of it in fiction. Young people are just reflecting that, responding to what they see around them (and it’s not a particularly young phenomenon either. Everyone knows about the darkness in the world, it’s on the TV News everyday.) Also it’s short-sighted to characterise dark films as inherently downbeat, some are ultimately uplifting (I’m reminded of a quote by Jean Genet ‘To escape horror, bury yourself in it.’).. and so-called joyful films can be just as depressing in their depictions of a spurious ‘happiness’, ‘fun’ and ‘normality’.

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      I agree with you in one sense BUT what I am suggesting is that there is joy in the darkness and human truth in the darkness… it’s the uninformed (researched) all consuming focus upon it by many filmmakers trying to break into the market

  • NY bard

    Great dramatic conflict arises in the world of prostitutes, guns and extreme violence. It is extremely basic (and base) as it so often deals with life and death, heavily engaging the most basic instinct of animals, survival. Writers thrive (or at least should) in processing conflict into narrative. And it can sell tickets, so often the highest priority, certainly before the need or desire to create art.

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      So is it just about money? I’m not saying dark themes should never be addressed; without them we would have no human truth and no conflict.

  • http://www.facebook.com/weedouthate1 Marc Daniels

    We talk about peace as an utopian ideal but get caught up in the darker aspects of like. The missing link to attaining this ideal is the recognition of our own individual weed seeds of hatred. After years of research and analysis, I have develop a method and a campaign called “weed out hate, sow the seeds of peace”. It empowers children to relate weeding the garden as a symbolic gesture for rooting out inner weeds. This is the kind of idea that needs to be utillized to wage war on hatred itself.

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      Hi Marc,

      Very interesting comment and analogy… I feel as though as creative people we must examine the truth in our characters through our lens… that should be the focus of our emotional research. Asking the question? How would I feel if I did that or experienced that? How would I act if I was them?

      Agree?
      Geoff

  • http://twitter.com/donsimko Don Simkovich

    Capturing the struggle between good and evil is inspiring when good triumphs. When the darkness has no counterpoint in art then it is dark and heavy.

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      Hey Don,

      Great comment, this is the essence of the point I was trying to make in only seven sentences AND you did it in one!

      G

  • http://twitter.com/GregorySLamb Gregory S. Lamb

    Writing in a way that conveys truth is a halmark. Anything less is trash. Strive for truth!

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      Great stuff Gregory… thanks for your comment. Geoff