Log24

Narrative

"What he ultimately lacks is a convincing narrative.
This also ties Habermas once again to the Occupy movement.
But without a narrative there is no concept of change."

Discuss.

(Continued from Little Buddha  (1994), The Matrix  (1999), and Constantine  (2005))

This post was suggested by yesterday's post on Habermas and by his 1962 book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere  (English translation, 1989).

The "public sphere" of Habermas has come to pass; it is, of course, the World-Wide Web.

For October 30, the day leading up to Devil's Night, a more private sphere—though in a public setting— seems appropriate…

The Day the Earth Stood Still  (2008)

A Keanu Reeves scene related to this image—

"The low point of the movie’s persuasiveness is the single scene with Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese) — in the original an Einstein-like scientist who impresses Klaatu with his highly evolved thinking, here a caricature of professorial enlightenment. Helen decides to bring Klaatu to Professor Barnhardt when Klaatu professes his disappointment with earth’s leaders. 'Those aren’t our leaders!' she protests earnestly. 'Let me take you to one of our leaders!'"

A perhaps more persuasive scene, from today's New York Times—

Prize in Hand, He Keeps His Eye on Teaching

Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa teaches
a seminar on Borges at Princeton

(Photo by James Leynse for The New York Times )

Leitkultur

Some background:
Stanley Fish in the Times  on April 12, 2010.

See also this journal on that date —

"Fact and fiction weave in and out of novels
 like a shell game." –R. B. Kitaj

Not just novels.