Although it literally means vanguard, in general the term is applied to the arts, where it’s used to describe the experimental (John Cage), the alternative (Frank Zappa), the underground (Finnegans Wake and Mrs Dalloway), the eccentric (Klaus Nomi), and the new (steampunk). Many works created years ago are far more avant-garde than what is being created today, so it really isn’t about what’s hip and current. Occasionally the avant-garde does spring into notoriety (e.g., Mondrian-influenced mod clothing or beatnik poetry), but avant-garde is less about the box’s tinsel than about the seriousness of its contents. Philip Glass, for example, is avant-garde; Lady … Continue reading What is the Avant-Garde and Why Does it Matter? Part I

Film: Incendies (Sony Pictures Classics 2011) Director: Denis Villeneuve Source: Based on the play by Wajdi Mouawad Cast: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard Continue reading Incendies

The Little Mermaid (Wanda Waterman, 2011, from They Tell My Tale to Children Now to Help Them to be Good)  My dancing was bathed in a gaze That dripped like honey  through moonlight, While unseen swords and knives sliced at my thighs. Oh, searing phantom pain of severed tail, That pretty tail that steered me through the deep Past wet azure spaces marked with gilded, silvered life!   Did you know I was silenced, due to you? My tongue cut out just like a cow’s, for you? My singing might have tortured you at nightfall, Or driven your sailors mad, … Continue reading The Little Mermaid (poem)

Film: Potiche (2011) Director: François Ozon Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard, Jérémie Renier, Judith Godrèche “Instead of getting hard ourselves and trying to compete, women should try and give their best qualities to men—bring them softness, teach them how to cry.” Joan Baez From Earth Mother to Political Saviour, 70s-Style There are two time-chasms to cross in this film. The first is the jump between the pre-feminist bourgeois housewife and her liberated counterpart of the 70s, when this story was set; this is crossed by lead Suzanne as she changes with the times, only to become more fully herself. The … Continue reading Catherine Deneuve does an amazing job of demonstrating how a pampered life might actually enable a woman to preserve her youthful ideals of justice, equality, and compassion until they’re needed.