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What Are You Going to Do With That?
“In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce has Stephen Dedalus famously say, about growing up in Ireland in the late 19th century, “When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.”
Today there are other nets. One of those nets is a term that I’ve heard again and again as I’ve talked with students about these things. That term is “self-indulgent.” “Isn’t it self-indulgent to try to live the life of the mind when there are so many other things I could be doing with my degree?” “Wouldn’t it be self-indulgent to pursue painting after I graduate instead of getting a real job?”
These are the kinds of questions that young people find themselves being asked today if they even think about doing something a little bit different. Even worse, the kinds of questions they are made to feel compelled to ask themselves. Many students have spoken to me, as they navigated their senior years, about the pressure they felt from their peers—from their peers—to justify a creative or intellectual life. You’re made to feel like you’re crazy: crazy to forsake the sure thing, crazy to think it could work, crazy to imagine that you even have a right to try.
Think of what we’ve come to. It is one of the great testaments to the intellectual—and moral, and spiritual—poverty of American society that it makes its most intelligent young people feel like they’re being self-indulgent if they pursue their curiosity. You are all told that you’re supposed to go to college, but you’re also told that you’re being “self-indulgent” if you actually want to get an education. Or even worse, give yourself one. As opposed to what? Going into consulting isn’t self-indulgent? Going into finance isn’t self-indulgent? Going into law, like most of the people who do, in order to make yourself rich, isn’t self-indulgent? It’s not OK to play music, or write essays, because what good does that really do anyone, but it is OK to work for a hedge fund. It’s selfish to pursue your passion, unless it’s also going to make you a lot of money, in which case it’s not selfish at all.” -William Deresiewicz
Here’s a list of the Best Picture nominees, with links to reviews and other coverage from The New Yorker.
“The Artist”
Read Anthony Lane’s review. Tad Friend talks with writer-director Michel Hazanavicius on the challenges of getting audiences to watch a black-and-white silent French film. Richard Brody on how the film reflects our economic moment.
“The Descendants”
“The latest exhibit in Payne’s careful dissection of the beached male,” Anthony Lane writes in his review. Richard Brody traces the diverse lineage of Alexander Payne’s films and George Clooney’s cool acting style.
“Moneyball”
David Denby calls “Moneyball” “one of the most soulful of baseball movies.” Richard Brody anticipates European reviewers’ interpretations of the American pastime.
“Midnight in Paris”
“People just blurt out their identifying traits; the dialogue is so blunt that it’s a little embarrassing. But Allen is moving fast with a purpose: he’s setting up a fable of longing and satisfaction.” Read David Denby’s review of “Midnight in Paris.” Paul Goldberger writes that the film’s interpretations Paris’s present and past are “products of Allen’s imagination.” Richard Brody reviews PBS’s “American Masters” special on Woody Allen, with an exclusive clip of Allen and his trusty typewriter.
“The Tree of Life”
Anthony Lane’s review of “Tree of Life.” David Denby calls the film “insufferable” and “a considerable enlargement of the rhetoric of cinema.” Richard Brody surveys Malick’s career.
“The Help”
“‘The Help’… is, in some ways, crude and obvious, but it opens up a broad new swath of experience on the screen.” Read David Denby’s review.
“Hugo”
“In a flashback, Scorsese re-creates Méliès’s glass-walled studio and his films, with their exuberance of creatures, ‘natives’ with spears, nymphs hanging from the stars—sheer exultant zaniness, part magic show, part burlesque, and all cinema.” More from David Denby’s review of “Hugo.” Richard Brody discusses the film’s clockwork mechanisms and Scorsese’s approach to filmmaking.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
David Denby’s review of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” which is based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel about a young boy whose father died on 9/11. On the tenth anniversary of the attacks, Safran Foer writes about discussing 9/11 with his children.
“War Horse”
David Denby reviews “War Horse.” Susan Orlean comments on the spectacle and experience of the theatrical version of “War Horse.” Richard Brody writes, “The movie is—by design—a pile of clichés.”
Here’s the complete list of Academy Award nominees from the official Oscars site.
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![fotojournalismus:
A Dutch local resident watches floodwaters through his window, in Dordrecht on Jan. 5. Gale force winds and heavy rains are expected along the Dutch coast. About a quarter of the country sits below sea level.
[Credit : Robin Utrecht / AFP / Getty Images]](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxc0dv927q1r44q44o1_400.jpg)
A Dutch local resident watches floodwaters through his window, in Dordrecht on Jan. 5. Gale force winds and heavy rains are expected along the Dutch coast. About a quarter of the country sits below sea level.
[Credit : Robin Utrecht / AFP / Getty Images]
(via climateadaptation)
