The Aesthetic Life
Banana Brain
by
Die Antwoord
“To continue the metaphor, the center is a point, and a point cannot be divided. A centered being can develop another being out of itself, or it can be deprived of some parts which belong to the whole [Gestalt]: but the center as such cannot be divided—it can only be destroyed”-- (Paul Tillich. Systematic Theology Vol. III. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1951, 1957 & 1963. page 32 ).
This form of consciousness is the “Aesthetic Life” The ruling ethical paradigm
is psychological egoism that prescribes, “We should try to maximize out own
intrinsic good and ignore everyone else’s...”and, “...people invariably do what
pleases them by a law of their own nature.”
The aesthetic life is often, but not necessarily the stance of a young person that lives by the senses and emotions in pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment as the sole goal of the self. Sense experience is penultimate and all situations are judged for their value in generating hedonistic pleasure. The aesthetic attitude can have many disguises from the cynical antisocial rebel to the sophisticated businessperson. The aesthetic existence has deep emotional conflict for there is a limit to hedonism--satiation mixed with boredom that is a kind of mithridatization to pleasure. The single-minded hedonistic search results in pain, dissatisfaction, and frustration. The Epicureans where philosophically hedonists, but would monastically fast before meals in order to maximize the pleasure of eating food. The self becomes fractured and dispersed over a wide range of possible objects of momentary pleasure. Kurt Cobaine's lyrics for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" succinctly states this form of consciousness as “I taste; therefore…. never mind.” This sense of unhappiness and dissatisfaction is a symptom of the meaninglessness of all finite objects.
Despair brings the self to a point of existential decision. Kierkegaard wrote of the aesthetic, "He has not chosen himself; like Narcissus he has fallen in love with himself. Such a situation has certainly ended not infrequently in suicide."
Kurt Cobaine's death is a great tragedy. A poet wrote, "Past events cannot be changed...but we can change what they mean."
The image of the drugged parents with a Christian cross hanging over their beds is saying the spiritual life is dead. “G-D” is only a brand name.The Christian Cross is visible throughout the story. However, religious symbolism is transubstantiated into gaudy commercialized blingism? The Cross as jewelry represents the de-sacralization of life in exchange for aesthetic sensation. There is no mystical tea of enlightenment, only chemically induced altered states of consciousness that is also directed toward hedonistic ends.
The aesthetic life is often, but not necessarily the stance of a young person that lives by the senses and emotions in pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment as the sole goal of the self. Sense experience is penultimate and all situations are judged for their value in generating hedonistic pleasure. The aesthetic attitude can have many disguises from the cynical antisocial rebel to the sophisticated businessperson. The aesthetic existence has deep emotional conflict for there is a limit to hedonism--satiation mixed with boredom that is a kind of mithridatization to pleasure. The single-minded hedonistic search results in pain, dissatisfaction, and frustration. The Epicureans where philosophically hedonists, but would monastically fast before meals in order to maximize the pleasure of eating food. The self becomes fractured and dispersed over a wide range of possible objects of momentary pleasure. Kurt Cobaine's lyrics for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" succinctly states this form of consciousness as “I taste; therefore…. never mind.” This sense of unhappiness and dissatisfaction is a symptom of the meaninglessness of all finite objects.
Despair brings the self to a point of existential decision. Kierkegaard wrote of the aesthetic, "He has not chosen himself; like Narcissus he has fallen in love with himself. Such a situation has certainly ended not infrequently in suicide."
Kurt Cobaine's death is a great tragedy. A poet wrote, "Past events cannot be changed...but we can change what they mean."
The image of the drugged parents with a Christian cross hanging over their beds is saying the spiritual life is dead. “G-D” is only a brand name.The Christian Cross is visible throughout the story. However, religious symbolism is transubstantiated into gaudy commercialized blingism? The Cross as jewelry represents the de-sacralization of life in exchange for aesthetic sensation. There is no mystical tea of enlightenment, only chemically induced altered states of consciousness that is also directed toward hedonistic ends.
Physical danger and
exploitation are seen as enhancements for hedonistic pursuit. Deviousness is a
virtue, and only outward appearances matter. The world is universally
nihilistic except for love--which is identical to sex. Self-identity only
exists in acts of creativity. This form of consciousness--like a
mirror--reflects the spiritual condition of the Life World.
The Banana Beanie wearing
character with metal feet represents de-humanization by modern technological
society. Watch the fireworks and sparks...but the center holds undivided because she’s “Made by g-d.”
"And what are we to make of Merleau-Ponty lilting comment that phenomenological reflection 'steps back to watch the forms of transcendence fly up like sparks from a fire'"---(The Art of Phenomenology and its Implications for the Study of Religion, by James Mark Shields, p. 28).
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