Does patriarchy traumatise the feminine? 15 August 2019 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , History , Patriarchy , No Comments Edwin Longsden Long’s 1875 painting, The Babylonian Marriage Market, is monumental in more ways than one. Firstly, in size: the painting measures 10 feet by 5 feet 8 inches. Secondly, in value: in […]
Behind violent films lies an acceptance of violence 11 July 2019 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Patriarchy , No Comments It’s just a film. The blood leaking out of her mouth isn’t real; it’s ketchup. Go online and have a look. You’ll find plenty of recipes for fake blood. The blood may […]
Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man – the ‘ideal man’ is free of shame 2 July 2019 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , History , Shame , 1 Comment Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawing, the Vitruvian Man, has always fascinated me. Drawn around 1490, Da Vinci’s drawing is named after the Roman architect Vetruvius. He not […]
Robert Pirsig and the Shame of the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 5 June 2019 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Shame , 11 Comments I’ve been reading Mark Richardson’s Zen and Now – On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Richardson, a Canadian journalist and motorcyclist, was sufficiently […]
The Alien inside us – the lower masculine victimizer 15 May 2019 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Patriarchy , 2 Comments As a child, I can remember hiding behind the sofa as the nefarious Daleks sought universal domination in what seem now rather quaint episodes of Dr Who. As an adult, Ridley […]
“Pleased to meet you, don’t you know my name?” It’s the right to victimize 14 May 2019 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , History , Patriarchy , 2 Comments The opening song of the Rolling Stones’ 1968 album Beggars Banquet kicks off with a screech and an insistent, hypnotic beat. “Please allow me […]
Bad Will Hunting – your shame is not your fault 13 December 2018 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Shame , No Comments “It’s not your fault.” In the Oscar-winning film Good Will Hunting, much-loved actor Robin Williams plays a psychologist who treats an angry, uncommunicative South Boston janitor (played by Matt Damon) […]
Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell – a rock opera on patriarchy 29 September 2018 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Patriarchy , 1 Comment Some years ago I wrote how Pink Floyd’s 1979 epic double album The Wall was a complex 26-song cycle about patriarchy and its institutionalised sexual shame. I don’t know […]
Hostiles – no peace with patriarchy 29 December 2017 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Patriarchy , 1 Comment The advertising hoardings of the London Underground are currently filled with posters for a new film, Hostiles. Scheduled for release in January 2018, Hostiles is described as “a landmark cinematic experience” that “might well […]
American Ugliness – the fall of Kevin Spacey 9 November 2017 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , News , Shame , 1 Comment I don’t have a single favourite film. But there is a bunch of films, indeterminate in number, that rise above the rest. Wonder Boys, Shakespeare in Love, Apocalypse Now, Chinatown, […]