tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11506454.post1602176469649410310..comments2023-11-03T03:26:57.112-05:00Comments on Planet Grenada: the departedAbdul-Halim V.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03811018180731403335noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11506454.post-44511655018102867432007-03-06T00:53:00.000-06:002007-03-06T00:53:00.000-06:00Abdul-Halim V. said: Personally I would say that ...Abdul-Halim V. said: <I> Personally I would say that for me, Islam is "transparent to its own specificity" if that makes sense. </I><BR/><BR/>Actually that makes a lot of sense -- that's a great concise way to put it :) and I think it's a sensible approach for religions that see themselves as "rooted in history" -- developing out of a particular voice at a particular time, but valid and intended for all time.HilbertAstronauthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11443786031975040593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11506454.post-19192049055315367642007-03-04T01:41:00.000-06:002007-03-04T01:41:00.000-06:00thanks for your comments... i think i would agree ...thanks for your comments... i think i would agree with a lot of what you wrote.<BR/><BR/>in terms of story-telling... the cultural specificity definitely does show up in terms of how the story is told. In fact, I actually like watching a lot of movies.. especially remakes of the "same" story because it is interesting to compare and contrast which elements get preserved and which get changed.<BR/><BR/>For example, Othello, O (set in an American high school) and Omkara (set in the Indian gansterish political scene) are the "same" but they reveal alot about the society which made them.<BR/><BR/>In terms of religion, I think you raise an interesting question/issue. Personally I would say that for me, Islam is "transparent to its own specificity" if that makes sense. I definitely see the particularity but I would say that it is de-emphasized in a way which lets the universal aspect shine through.Abdul-Halim V.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03811018180731403335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11506454.post-80126397216915114792007-03-03T19:25:00.000-06:002007-03-03T19:25:00.000-06:00Well... there are "only so many archetypes," but p...Well... there are "only so many archetypes," but part of the use of archetypes involves _how_ the story is told. This is where the creative tension between the universal and the specific manifests itself. <BR/><BR/>You'll find this in religion too -- for example, how do we speak of God in God's all-powerful, universal abstractness, without using human languages? Any human language is the product of a specific culture and a time. The creative tension there comes from the challenge of using that specific language in a way that appeals to us specific, physical, non-abstract human beings, without violating the universality and abstractness of God.<BR/><BR/>I'm a fan of the German folk tales collected by the Grimm Brothers. Those stories are all about archetypes (you can sometimes guess the archetype from the title), yet the pleasure I get from reading them comes from the creative interpolations and the harmonious interplay of the different elements. Children seem to appreciate stories in a similar way -- they _enjoy_ knowing what will happen next, and for them the pleasure comes from the retelling -- the facial expressions, vocal inflections, and the slight variations in the storyline.<BR/><BR/>Actually I saw The Departed -- I'm not a big fan of those kind of tension-filled cop movies, but the acting was good ;)HilbertAstronauthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11443786031975040593noreply@blogger.com