On Tue, 20 Mar 2001 15:01:52 -0500 jacquispeel@netscape.net writes:
There does not seem to be much art in Federation areas - public or private (and dictatorships tend to go in for monumental art)
Perhaps, they're a little like Pakistan or some of the more uptight regimes history has cranked out now and then who demolished all the old monumental art and the artists so that, by the time they got around to wanting to build some of their own, there weren't any artists (or the surviving ones considered it too risky to identify themselves) and nothing significant left to take the old name off and put a new plaque on ("Yes, children, this is Travis Square. No, the stories that the statue resembles, in any way, an ancient by the name of Nelson are completely false, the kind of lies constantly circulated by people like Blake." [I am tempted to add something about "The Big, Bad, Blake will get you if you don't watch out," but that seems tasteless since, given the crimes he was accused off, that might have been a threat they really used in the Federation, Blake the Bogeyman (which may have accounted for some of his popularity, the thing where parents try to connect something to 'evil, bad, stay away,' and kids/teens connect it with 'powerful, tough, things the wimps can't handle,' that they then want to be associated with)]).
Then again, maybe I'm just missing the true significance of Servalan's wardrobe.
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-- "Ellynne G." wrote: >
On Tue, 20 Mar 2001 15:01:52 -0500 jacquispeel@netscape.net writes:
There does not seem to be much art in Federation
areas - public or
private (and dictatorships tend to go in for
monumental art)
Perhaps, they're a little like Pakistan or some of the more uptight regimes history has cranked out now and then who demolished all the old monumental art and the artists so that, by the time they got around to wanting to build some of their own, there weren't any artists (or the surviving ones considered it too risky to identify themselves) and nothing significant left to take the old name off and put a new plaque on ("Yes, children, this is Travis Square. No, the stories that the statue resembles, in any way, an ancient by the name of Nelson are completely false, the kind of lies constantly circulated by people like Blake."
All sorts of entertaining scenarios suggest themselves. Like the Federation A-Z that reads "Sleer Alley (formerly Servalan Boulevard, formerly Joban Road, formerly Travis Avenue)". I imagine the Federation probably has no interest in art (creativity and totalitarianism being unhappy bedfellows). But If they went for anything I imagine it would be of the Socialist Realist type that flourished under the Soviet Union. Or given the lack of dress sense shown by virtually everyone we see in the show, it could approximate to the brand of art favoured by the Iraqi regime which was once characterised as Totalitarian Kitsch.
Incidentally, I am reminded of the story about how the Soviet Union, in the Stalin era commissioned a statue of the poet Lermontov. A competition was announced and a number of sculptors sent in their designs. The winning entry was, of course, a statue of Stalin holding a copy of the works of Lermontov. I can just see that sort of thing happening a lot in the Federation.
Stephen.
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From: Stephen Date stephend999@yahoo.co.uk
I imagine the Federation probably has no interest in art (creativity and totalitarianism being unhappy bedfellows). But If they went for anything I imagine it would be of the Socialist Realist type that flourished under the Soviet Union.
Ah yes, those yummy murals of the united proletariat striving for the greater glory of the Revolution. I do like Soviet art; very .... inspiring.
I find it hard to believe the Federation being totally uninterested in art. All regimes make use of art to promote their ideological position (even democratic ones - take all those Victorian statues of national heroes), totalitarian ones being no exception. They can create their own - as in Soviet socialist realism - or place an ideological gloss over the artistic product of the past, as the Nazis did with Wagner. Creativity and totalitarianism are not completely unhappy bedfellows, so long as the creativity is constrained and directed in the 'right' direction.
As to why we didn't see any statues or the like, as Cheryl asked, there are good (external) reasons for this. Firstly, the action rarely took place in locales where such things could expect to be found. Secondly, there would be the question of what form it would take - statues of whom, for example. I suppose there could be some mileage in having Servalan stand under a statue of Mussolini or the like, but presumably Federation art would be focussed towards Federation icons, and without deliberate explication they would be meaningless to the audience. Thirdly, there is the inevitable cost. "Right, we want Servalan and Travis to speak this bit under a thirty foot bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher dressed as Boadicea but with a laser rifle instead of a spear. How much is in the kitty?" "Er, three quid..."
Neil
I should say that most art we would see in the context of the series would be 'office art'
I deliberately excluded the art of the non-Federation societies.
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From: jacquispeel@netscape.net
I should say that most art we would see in the context of the series would
be 'office art'
But that's not really proper art at all.
Hmm, suppose Sarkoff's collection was merely a reflection of a wider upsurge of interest in things 20th Century. Perhaps then Servalan's office might have been decorated with one or more of the following: *mock-Tyrolean weather houses. *pictures of bug-eyed weepy kids *a flight of heavily overglazed ceramic ducks scooting up the wall *miniature toby jugs *heavily overglazed ceramic lighthouses with egg-timers featuring all the different colours of sand you get on the Isle of Wight *pewter wizards staring into not-terribly-lustrous glass balls *a Pingu *lava lamps *Boyzone posters *Pirelli calendars *an oversized photo collage of pictures of all her senior staff with embarrassing expressions or just generally undignified poses
Neil
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Ellynne G. -
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Stephen Date