Most people don't like Mondays because the are the end. They are the end of rest and relaxation that comes with the weekend.
I like to see Mondays as the beginning. Here in Greece Mondays are the beginning of a whirlwind week of classes, assignments,and adventure. It's so easy to get stuck in a routine here, it's a chore to remain excited in the novelty of this place.
Yesterday I worked on assignments and went to class. That's the gist of my Monday. But I would like to look deeper into it.
I watched part of a movie yesterday for my class on Electra. It was a very graphic film by a Danish director obsessed with female characters and intense tragedy. I'll spell you the boring details and just let you know that it made me very uncomfortable. But the film also contained messages and themes of redemption and sacrifice. It has been really amazing to see how much those two concepts have come up in our discussion on tragedy.
In our class we have pretty much decided that the idea of tragedy and of tragic plays is foundationally existential. Tragedy is about the human condition. This is not a definition, mind you, it is a description. Tragedy is far to diverse a subject to begin to define it.
Lets go back to redemption and sacrifice. These concepts were present in the ancient Electras and still capture the imagination of contemporary thinkers, artists, and theologians. They are built off of the idea that the world is a broken and random place in need of fixing. In ancient Greece, the struggle was against the pagan gods and against common man, the existential struggle manifested itself into these two antagonists. With Plato, and I would add Judeo-Christian theology, the idea of the soul complicated things. The struggle stopped being against the world and became an internal struggle against the flesh. The redemption is now from broken humanity, not perverse and random deities.
I'll spare you the last 2000 years of thought and just let you know that tragedy is still pertinent today. As a Christian, themes of suffering, redemption, and sacrifice always make my ears perk up. The idea that suffering man needs saving from futility and suffering is a very Christian idea and, pardon the pun, the crux of our faith.
This is a (very) simple rendition of what we talk about in my Electra class. I hope that you have enjoyed our short journey into the metaphysics of tragedy.
I like to see Mondays as the beginning. Here in Greece Mondays are the beginning of a whirlwind week of classes, assignments,and adventure. It's so easy to get stuck in a routine here, it's a chore to remain excited in the novelty of this place.
Yesterday I worked on assignments and went to class. That's the gist of my Monday. But I would like to look deeper into it.
I watched part of a movie yesterday for my class on Electra. It was a very graphic film by a Danish director obsessed with female characters and intense tragedy. I'll spell you the boring details and just let you know that it made me very uncomfortable. But the film also contained messages and themes of redemption and sacrifice. It has been really amazing to see how much those two concepts have come up in our discussion on tragedy.
In our class we have pretty much decided that the idea of tragedy and of tragic plays is foundationally existential. Tragedy is about the human condition. This is not a definition, mind you, it is a description. Tragedy is far to diverse a subject to begin to define it.
Lets go back to redemption and sacrifice. These concepts were present in the ancient Electras and still capture the imagination of contemporary thinkers, artists, and theologians. They are built off of the idea that the world is a broken and random place in need of fixing. In ancient Greece, the struggle was against the pagan gods and against common man, the existential struggle manifested itself into these two antagonists. With Plato, and I would add Judeo-Christian theology, the idea of the soul complicated things. The struggle stopped being against the world and became an internal struggle against the flesh. The redemption is now from broken humanity, not perverse and random deities.
I'll spare you the last 2000 years of thought and just let you know that tragedy is still pertinent today. As a Christian, themes of suffering, redemption, and sacrifice always make my ears perk up. The idea that suffering man needs saving from futility and suffering is a very Christian idea and, pardon the pun, the crux of our faith.
This is a (very) simple rendition of what we talk about in my Electra class. I hope that you have enjoyed our short journey into the metaphysics of tragedy.
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