Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Critic Cites Revenge of the Sith As "Generation's Greatest Work of Art

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-keep-using-that-word-I-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means dept.

eldavojohn writes "Art critic and University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia Camille Paglia has written a book that not only claims George Lucas is the 'World's Greatest Living Artist' but also that 'Revenge of the Sith' is our generation's greatest work of art. That's right: Titian, Bernini, Monet, Picasso, Jackson Pollock and ... George Lucas. If you thought you understood art but you hated Episode III, it might be difficult to understand how her book 'Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars' ends with 'Revenge of the Sith.' There is a possibility that the art world remembers this generation by examining that movie."

12 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by longbot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And I thought my opinion of art critics couldn't get any lower.

    --
    I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it! --Longbottle
    1. Re:Wow by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not an art critic, at least, no more one than I am. It's Camille Paglia, a media talking head who at one point was pulled into every cable TV show whenever they wanted a "controversial" opinion. Used to be largely centered around feminism. Think Andrea Huffington or Al Sharpton.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. No. by Sasayaki · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay, I get it. Art is subjective. Sometimes someone's "best movie ever" is another's pukeorama. I know this.

    But, no.

    Just no.

    --
    Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
    1. Re:No. by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe she defines "our generation" as "people who were 5 when the movie came out, and still think like 5-year-olds".

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    2. Re:No. by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly, this was suppose to be the big emotional moment. When I saw this I just started laughing at it

      Besides I never really had a feeling from the move from the Light side of the Jedi to the Dark Side of the sith.

      Emperor: I am the Sith Lord, Join Me.
      Skywalker: OK, let me kill Samuel Jackson, then a bunch of helpless kids to show that I really crossed into the dark side.

        If it were artistic you would have had a series of moral quest where you slowly cross the line.

      Heck War Craft 3 had a better story arch of turning the good guy to the bad guy.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  3. Titian, Bernini, Monet, Picasso, Jackson Pollock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's the problem, none of them really "our generation".

  4. Critics need an opinion by captainpanic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If art critics and movie critics would just blindly follow the popular opinions, there would not be much point in having them around.
    We can check what's in the IMDB Top 250 without needing their help.

    Same with Picasso... I'd much rather look at a peaceful picture of mountains than his morbid creations. It takes a critic to like it.

  5. unconsidered candidate by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I submit Shigeru Miyamoto as the greatest living artist. His creations are at least as iconic and influential.

    --
    while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
  6. Re:Ha Ha by rolfwind · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What I was thinking, brings to mind a quote I don't quite remember the exact details of, talking about shooting a gun to see who jumps.

    So much of our mass media these days are just professional trolls who just take a contracdictory opinion to feed their bank account from the attention: Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, countless pundits, etcera. The whole 2012 election coverage was a farce to make it seem like there was an actual photofinish race vs a marathon where one guy was lagging a mile behind. Or CopperCab on Youtube.

    I don't understand why people fall for the tactic again and again. So the worst is the lady may actually believe this, does anyone take the argument seriously? No, then move on and don't give her attentions/book sales/whatever either way.

  7. Re:How much is Disney paying her? by SirGarlon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or maybe she's just saying all the other art of this generation is complete garbage that's even worse than Revenge of the Sith.

    --
    [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
  8. Paglia's a crank by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't tar "art critics" with the brush you use on Camille Paglia. I've been ignoring her as a bit of a sociological nutcase since the 1990s. She styles herself as kind of feminist libertarian, but as Gloria Steinem put it, "Her calling herself a feminist is sort of like a Nazi saying they're not anti-Semitic."

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  9. Re:George Lucas obviously greater - in impact by ultranova · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In terms of impact on humanity, there's no question that Lucas has had far greater impact than Kubrick and Kurosawa combined.

    By that metric, the greatest artist of all time was Adolf Hitler.

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.