You Mean Doctor Zhivago is About Russia?
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It is quite amazing that my little blog here seems to be
exceeding its monthly traffic allotment. Particularly since
it seems that my primary audience is a bunch of
searchbots. However, as of yet, there seems to be no
consequence for exceeding one's traffic limits other than a
message that recommends an upgrade.
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Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to see Doctor
Zhivago in a theater. Despite my curiosity about Russian and
Soviet history, I had never seen it before. Actually, I did
not even know that it was about Russia. My strongest
association with the film was with Christian Slater's
character's use of it as a metaphor for a cocaine deal in
True Romance.
A couple of things struck me while I was watching the movie
in a near-empty theater, sitting just in front of an older
couple who had moved to the back of the theater because it
was too loud in the front.
First, I retain almost nothing that I read. I had a course
in Russian history as an undergraduate (which wasn't that
long ago). I have an interest in Marxist philosophy
(somewhere someone has just created a black file folder with
my name on it) so I have read some additional Russian
history while exploring that interest. Yet I remember
nothing. There was the White Guard, the Red Guard, the
Bolsheviks, etc. But I couldn't tell you anything about any
of them.
Second, there seems to be an instinctive human urge to
destroy other people's art. This urge was manifested in the
Cultural Revolution in China, the various revolutions in
Russia, the takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan, etc. It
is manifested in the United States whenever some talking
head in the government goes after the National Endowment for
the Arts for funding some controversial project.
Yet, critics often say that art has little potential to
motivate political change. I wonder how this can be the case
when it seems that one of the first priorities for any new
dictatorship is to crack down on oppositional art and
regulate expression in general. Such crackdowns could be
motivated by a desire to demonstrate power for its own sake,
but I think that the number of historical cases demonstrate
that there is something deeper going on.
The life stories of Russian writers like Boris Pasternak (he
wrote the novel on which the film Doctor Zhivago was based)
are darkly fascinating. They faced persecution but still
insisted on writing. I often wonder whether I am as
committed to my own writing, or whether it is just a
hobby. The life stories of writers like Pasternak make me
realize that it is in fact possible for writers to feel
driven in such a way that they risk their lives in order to
write. It is something to strive for, or at least to keep in
mind.
For some contemporary writing that is pushing some political
boundaries, check out: http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com.
http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/
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