Art vs. Entertainment

Life could become pretty hum-drum living in a retirement community.  Weeks go by without my leaving except for my trips three times a week to the dialysis center to have my blood cleaned.  A big adventure was when Imogene and I went down to Mesquite to the Black Box Theater to see a play that was, on the surface, a bit of sheer nonsense.  It was good to laugh.

Looking back on going to Europe with David and writing blogs about the trip give me a mental escape.  Otherwise, I spend a lot of time in my recliner watching television.  The news is so depressing that I spend my time laughing at “Family Feud” and “Wheel of Fortune” instead of watching Brian Williams or Anderson Cooper. 

I also watch movies and documentaries from Netflex which I play with the Roku that David gave me.  When he installed it, I thought, “I’ll never bother with that.”  Now I have whole series of BBC programs in my “instant que” and choose a different show every night. . 

A friend watched movies with me, as long as they were historical romances.  But she got upset and stopped coming when I said I thought real events in history were more interesting than the lovey-dovey movie versions. 

I am endlessly fascinated about how the human mind works and how a person’s background shapes how they think.  I look for the “story behind the story.”   Perhaps that is why I am so engrossed in history, the complex personalities that have shaped our World. 

Looking at art, when I look at a painting, I can’t help thinking about the painter and how the times in which he lived shaped his art.  I don’t like non-objective art because it seems to be done in a secret code that only the “elite” can understand. 

The class I took when I was 20-years-old shaped my reactions many years later when I saw paintings in the Louvre. Which brings me to my recent experience with paintings in the Louvre.  

Recently I succumbed to an ad in the Smithsonian and ordered “Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre” from Great Courses.  The DVD series showed a professor standing in front of a classroom lecturing and showing slides.  I could have been back in that wooden chair at Texas State College for Women 63 years ago!   As I sat in my living room in Garland, Texas, the prof offered no new insights.  I wished I could see a real documentary to take me on a tour of The Louvre. 

The weird thing about this experience was the man who taught the “Great Course”.  He is Richard R. Bretell, Ph.D.   He is Distinguished Professor of Art and Aesthetics at the University of Texas at Dallas.  A Texan lecturing me on the Louvre!  You could say he’s my neighbor. 

I’m sorry, Dr. Bretell, but your lectures bored me.  I would rather watch Storage Wars or Dog the Bounty Hunter.  Those shows, with their strange examples of human psychology, are to me vastly entertaining.  Without any examples of great art.