CAPSLOCK FRIDAY: PUBLIC ART EDITION
Feb. 7th, 2014 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burnadette_dpdlAVOIDING PUTTING UP A WALL OF TEXT®©™ BY POSTING HERE, TOO.
SO ONE OF THE WINNING MONUMENTS IS HAN HAACKE'S "GIFT HORSE," CHECK IT OUT:
I, FOR ONE, WELCOME THIS, I LOVE ART THAT PUSHES THE ENVELOPE IN SUCH A SIMPLE WAY. I THINK LOUIS WOULD FIND THIS AS DISTASTEFUL AS THE MURALS UNDER THE THEATRE D.V., LESTAT WOULD FIND IT AMUSING (THIS IS THE GUY WHO CAN LAUGH FOR HOURS RE: CARPET PATTERNS, HE'D SEE A MONTY-PYTHON ANGLE HERE W/ THE LITTLE CAPITALISTIC STOCK-MARKET-TICKER-TAPE TOUCH).
DAVID COULD PROBABLY WRITE A WHOLE THESIS ON IT, FOCUSING ON THE FACT THAT A HORSE SKELETON IS MACABRE, IT'S A "MEMENTO MORI" (Wiki says: Latin 'remember that you will die,' an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death), ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE OTHER MONUMENTS IN THE AREA WITH FULLY-FLESHED HORSES WITH (I ASSUME) PRETTY FLOWING MANES, TAILS, AND DRESSAGE. THIS ONE HAS BEEN STRIPPED OF ALL THAT FLUFF IN STARK COMPARISON. SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT MORTALITY VS. BASIC NEEDS VS. EXCESSIVE MATERIALISM.
REMINDED ME OF THIS LINE, FROM IWTV: "'You're greedy, both of you!' [Lestat] said...'Immortality is not enough for you! No, you would look the Gift Horse of God in the mouth!' " (part I, ch. 11)
OBVIOUSLY, HE'S REFERRING TO THE IDIOM "TO LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH," WHICH, UNTIL THEN (REMEMBER I WAS 11), I THOUGHT MEANT A SANTA CLAUS-LIKE HORSE THAT DELIVERED GIFTS, TO LOOK IT IN THE MOUTH MEANT YOU RUDELY WANTED MORE THAN JUST WHAT THE HORSE HAD GIVEN!
IN ACTUALITY IT MEANT: YOU RECEIVE A HORSE AS A GIFT AND THE ACT OF INSPECTING IT'S MOUTH (TO DETERMINE QUALITY/AGE) IS ACTUALLY THE RUDE THING TO DO, RATHER THAN JUST BE GRATEFUL THAT YOU JUST GOT A FUCKIN' HORSE FOR FREE.
ULTIMATELY, MY INCORRECT INTERPRETATION AND THE ACTUAL MEANING BOTH GET THE SAME POINT: BEING UNGRATEFUL TO THE GIVER OF THE GIFT IS QUITE PAINFUL TO THE GIVER. GIFT-GIVING IS A BIG DEAL FOR LESTAT, IT'S A RECURRING THEME IN FIC, FOR SURE... CLAUDIA HERSELF WAS A GIFT FROM HIM TO LOUIS. THE ULTIMATE GIFT IS THE "DARK GIFT," AFTER ALL...
I HAD A FRIEND WHOSE FATHER WAS RARELY AROUND AND SHE HAD THE MOST AMAZING TOY CLOSET, JUST JAM-PACKED WITH ALL THE HOTTEST DOLLS AND STUFFED ANIMALS, ETC. SHE GOT LITTLE JOY OUT OF IT, AND WE OFTEN SPENT OUR VISIT TALKING ABOUT SOME 15 MINUTE WINDOW IN WHICH HER FATHER HAD TAKEN HER FOR A WALK OR SMTG. THESE PHYSICAL OBJECTS WERE HIS WAY OF APOLOGIZING, WHEN SHE ONLY WANTED HIS TIME.
SO ONE OF THE WINNING MONUMENTS IS HAN HAACKE'S "GIFT HORSE," CHECK IT OUT:
I, FOR ONE, WELCOME THIS, I LOVE ART THAT PUSHES THE ENVELOPE IN SUCH A SIMPLE WAY. I THINK LOUIS WOULD FIND THIS AS DISTASTEFUL AS THE MURALS UNDER THE THEATRE D.V., LESTAT WOULD FIND IT AMUSING (THIS IS THE GUY WHO CAN LAUGH FOR HOURS RE: CARPET PATTERNS, HE'D SEE A MONTY-PYTHON ANGLE HERE W/ THE LITTLE CAPITALISTIC STOCK-MARKET-TICKER-TAPE TOUCH).
DAVID COULD PROBABLY WRITE A WHOLE THESIS ON IT, FOCUSING ON THE FACT THAT A HORSE SKELETON IS MACABRE, IT'S A "MEMENTO MORI" (Wiki says: Latin 'remember that you will die,' an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death), ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE OTHER MONUMENTS IN THE AREA WITH FULLY-FLESHED HORSES WITH (I ASSUME) PRETTY FLOWING MANES, TAILS, AND DRESSAGE. THIS ONE HAS BEEN STRIPPED OF ALL THAT FLUFF IN STARK COMPARISON. SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT MORTALITY VS. BASIC NEEDS VS. EXCESSIVE MATERIALISM.
REMINDED ME OF THIS LINE, FROM IWTV: "'You're greedy, both of you!' [Lestat] said...'Immortality is not enough for you! No, you would look the Gift Horse of God in the mouth!' " (part I, ch. 11)
OBVIOUSLY, HE'S REFERRING TO THE IDIOM "TO LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH," WHICH, UNTIL THEN (REMEMBER I WAS 11), I THOUGHT MEANT A SANTA CLAUS-LIKE HORSE THAT DELIVERED GIFTS, TO LOOK IT IN THE MOUTH MEANT YOU RUDELY WANTED MORE THAN JUST WHAT THE HORSE HAD GIVEN!
IN ACTUALITY IT MEANT: YOU RECEIVE A HORSE AS A GIFT AND THE ACT OF INSPECTING IT'S MOUTH (TO DETERMINE QUALITY/AGE) IS ACTUALLY THE RUDE THING TO DO, RATHER THAN JUST BE GRATEFUL THAT YOU JUST GOT A FUCKIN' HORSE FOR FREE.
ULTIMATELY, MY INCORRECT INTERPRETATION AND THE ACTUAL MEANING BOTH GET THE SAME POINT: BEING UNGRATEFUL TO THE GIVER OF THE GIFT IS QUITE PAINFUL TO THE GIVER. GIFT-GIVING IS A BIG DEAL FOR LESTAT, IT'S A RECURRING THEME IN FIC, FOR SURE... CLAUDIA HERSELF WAS A GIFT FROM HIM TO LOUIS. THE ULTIMATE GIFT IS THE "DARK GIFT," AFTER ALL...
I HAD A FRIEND WHOSE FATHER WAS RARELY AROUND AND SHE HAD THE MOST AMAZING TOY CLOSET, JUST JAM-PACKED WITH ALL THE HOTTEST DOLLS AND STUFFED ANIMALS, ETC. SHE GOT LITTLE JOY OUT OF IT, AND WE OFTEN SPENT OUR VISIT TALKING ABOUT SOME 15 MINUTE WINDOW IN WHICH HER FATHER HAD TAKEN HER FOR A WALK OR SMTG. THESE PHYSICAL OBJECTS WERE HIS WAY OF APOLOGIZING, WHEN SHE ONLY WANTED HIS TIME.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-08 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-10 02:44 am (UTC)I love your initial interpretation of the "gift horse" saying...:D Btw, the saying also exists in Polish, and my grandma often used it, so I have always been familiar with the expression. As well as memento mori (I had Latin in high school!... "old school" education, Europe, the eighties and all that jazz ;).
Really sad story about your childhood friend who got plenty of toys instead of a parent's affection... Reminds me of how my mom once made beautiful dresses for all my dolls (I had five dolls at the time, I think, which seemed like a lot), as a Christmas gift for me. I wish I had been able to see the gesture as undeniable proof of love and acceptance. I loved those dresses, and I loved my dolls. But I still would have preferred some sort of reassurance that it was OK to be me... Alas, my mom was entirely unaware that I needed this sort of reassurance, or that I felt she saw me as somehow flawed. And I obviously had no capacity to articulate this, even to myself at that point. But I think of those dresses now and wonder how or when things started to go wrong... *sigh*
Anyway... that was random and tangential. Just wanted to respond to your post. Because we clearly haven't communicated enough today... *snort*