Radical Boredom
Siegfried Kracauer's essay on boredom asserts a distinction between conventional boredom and boredom that is "extraordinary," "radical," and "legitimate." What's the problem with conventional boredom, according to Kracauer? What does it have to do with advertising, movies, and radio? And what is this special kind of radical boredom that Kracauer describes? How is it different from everyday boredom?
By the way, please try to ignore the mess of underlining in the copy of the essay that is in your course reader. My used copy of Kracauer's book from which I made the reader was marked up all over the place by the book's previous owner, and I think the markings are more distractions than in any way helpful.
posted by Irene Chien @ 10:54 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
I think Kracauer is saying conventional boredom is when you are in a state in which your mind wanders from itself. Your thoughts leave yourself and enter into the world of movies, television, the radio, and the chaotic world around you. According to Kracauer, conventional boredom "neither kills people nor awakens them to new life." It’s merely a distraction from one’s true self. Like at a “boring” job, one has to alter their attitude in order to day after day do their work and earn money. But radical boredom is a state in which you do nothing but spend time focusing and reflecting on yourself. At first, it sparks ideas and future projects. “Eventually one becomes content to do nothing more than be with oneself, without knowing what one should be doing.” The conventional boredom we all experience is just an altered state of ourselves due to a lack of interest in what we are currently doing. But radical boredom is purposely planned time where one’s true self is at work in one’s thoughts.
I believe that Kracauer is suggesting that conventional boredom allows us to be distracted from ourselves. He seems to use it in a spritual way. When one has the time to be bored in the convetional meaning of the word we become easily distracted by entertainment. Bright lights and gaudy pictures capture our minds. According to Kracauer these forms of entertainment are bad for people. He seems to suggest that entertaiment would destroy with description of movie poserters draging us to the silver screen where it ia like a barren plaza, or radios vaporizing beings. Juxtaposed to this convetion boredom he also mentions a legitimate boredom. Kracauer claims that if one should have patience with this boredom that they will reach an unearthly bliss that could be likend to reaching englightenment in certain cultures. This boredom should be the desired boredom we seek to be reflective and allow are souls to swell with passion and then the boredom will subsised revealing something else.
Kracauer’s essay speaks of two kinds of boredom, one that is conventional and another that is extraordinary. The conventional boredom puts the person in a position where s/he must find an activity to occupy their time. However, these activities only put off boredom or waste time till more important obligations arise. Television, radio, and other forms of media tend to entertain or rather distract the person into a mindless state of unproductiveness. The other type of boredom that Kracauer writes about reminds me of some form of meditation. The time away from distractions enables a person to spend time with oneself. They can explore their minds delve into their souls. This state of boredom, “if one has the patience, then one experiences a kind of bliss that is almost unearthly.” If one can put aside time to indulge in this boredom, then one may see this as a time to escape from a world of distractions.
According to Kracauer, there are two types of boredom: conventional boredom, and legitimate boredom. Conventional boredom expresses a dissatisfaction with the activities that one is currently involved in. This type of boredom can be easily dispelled by pursuing something more interesting. Conventional boredom distracts us from pursuing more important things in life. It distracts us from ourselves and causes restlessness. It doesn’t allow us to truly exist because we are existing for the things that cause our boredom-specifically television, radio, theater, etc. However, legitimate boredom is not a cause of distraction from ourselves. It is just the opposite. Real boredom gives us a chance to experience “bliss”. It is a spiritual, meditative state, because we are looking into our souls and we experience a passion that is enveloping. If we are able to attain this type of boredom, conventional boredom would come to an end and “everything that exists would be”.
Kracauer believes that conventional boredom occurs when the mind is not focused completely on oneself. One is so bored with their state of mind and what they’re doing at the moment that the mind becomes so desperate to find something to satisfy its boredom. This desperation allows the mind to easily wander away from the body, and media feeds on this wandering mind. The mind is so influenced by advertisements, movies, and radio that it ultimately takes them to a new world, a new dimension. Advertisements tease the mind into loving their products. Movies that may be unrealistic and imitated simply trick the mind into watching, only to be an unbeneficial because of its inability to relate to the audience. Radio simply keeps people captivated and glued, eager to hear and absorb all the news with the mind as a robot, silent and lifeless. These media sources grab a hold onto our wandering minds and overwhelm us with their power, and have a negative impact: wasting our time. In contrast, Kracauer discusses the other type of boredom that is the extraordinary, radical boredom, where the time is spent on oneself. I felt like he was talking about meditative daydreaming in his second to last paragraph, that this sort of time spent is not a waste of time, but a time that is used effectively away from distractions. This type of boredom would be used to combat the conventional.
Kracauer presents an interesting argument in which he claims the only true boredom can occur when one is completely away from distraction. He disregards conventional boredom of tedious work as being justified by a moral work ethic. He also discounts the average claims to boredom as not true, since they are usually accompanied by watching television or hearing the radio, which stimulates at a basic level. The only true state of boredom is blissful and extraordinary, because it requires intentionally distancing oneself from all society's distractions.
According to Kracauer, conventional boredom is something that occupies people’s time when there’s nothing better to do. It is common for people to watch TV and listen to the radio without the intention to do so. These activities are alternatives to solitary entertainment, which Kracauer calls legitimate boredom. Conventional boredom not only distracts people from mundane moments, but also from precious time to themselves. Legitimate boredom, which Kracauer favors, allows one to be “content to do nothing more than be with oneself.” He seems to imply that legitimate boredom is healthy for people; it is like an ethereal experience that only patient people can enjoy.
Siegfreud Kracauer in Boredom talks about the difference of boredom of conventional and the "extraordinary". The conventional boredom is listening to radio and looking at advertisements and stuff like that. That only happens when you are at your limit and have nothing else to do. The media like radi o and television can satisfy this but nothing is accomplished. The legitamate boredom is when a person achieve something unearthly as Kracauer says. The person is enveloped into the boredom so much that it doesnt become boredom but something important and time consuming but the end result is fantastic. There is purpose to the legitmate boredom and it is something worth pursuing.
According to Kracauer Conventional boredom is ordinary and happens everyday distracting our lives. On the other hand legitimate boredom is the opposite, rare, and yet positive to life. He is saying that movies, ads, radio, as well as many other forms of entertainment are counterproductive, meaningless, and a waste of time. It is a way of escaping life, to experience something to keep life interesting. Legitimate boredom is in contrast to this; Kracauer believes that this type of boredom, a sort of meditative state, allows us to better understand ourselves, which is why we as humans should seek it.
Well, hobbity bobbity boo. I think we all get the idea now that radical boredom is the time where we flit off into our own little worlds, and don’t appease the want to turn to a media of some sort – something that distracts us from ourselves. Radical boredom is when we free our minds from the world and connect with ourselves. The way he describes it, it kind of reminds me of “Chi” or “Yoga” or something Buddhist – that “Oooommmm” stuff that the New York liberal establishment has hooked onto these days. Conventional boredom occurred many times in my day today – I watched Delta Horizons Entertainment to pass time on the plane, I read every single article on Yahoo News to escape the boredom that reading “Boredom” produced, and I’m watching E.R. right now even though I hate E.R. But I also had a great experience today in the Salt Lake City airport (speaking of Panopticism) which I would call radical boredom – as I was drifting from Terminal to Terminal aimlessly during my 3 H layover on those people movers, I had these great times where the world around me would fade out and become non-existent. It was there and but it just wasn’t. And as the world disappeared, I just kind of sucked myself into myself and absorbed the state of “me”, and unlike people in Berkeley or New York, it wasn’t achieved through drugs or Chi.
Oooommmm…
Kracauer finds that "conventional" boredom is a byproduct of the modern world; a result of modern media removing the mind from itself. Essentially, "the world makes sure that one does not find oneself", and fills up the time when the body can be experiencing "real" boredom. This "real" boredom, Kracauer describes, can be a "kind of bliss that is almost unearthly." Kracauer's description of "real" boredom reminds me of meditation, where the mind eliminates outside disturbances, centers iteself, and as a result, creates a calmer, healthier, more grounded mind.
I think what Kracauer is saying makes a lot of sense. He says there are two types of boredom: a standard one and one that is "radical." The standard everyday boredom happens to almost everybody and is basically the result of a dissatisfaction with something, like a job. This type of boredom easily goes away with something that's interesting. Here's where the advertising, movies, and radio come in. All of these are supposed to be things that cure the ordinary boredom. But these are only distractions for the radical boredom.
I don't think "boredom" is the right word for what Kracauer describes as the legitimate boredom. Perhaps leisure is a better word. I really like what he's saying about this. He's just telling us that we need to chill out more. In today's world, almost everyone is busy with something and there just isn't time to relax anymore. Kracauer wants to bring back the lost art of boredom. Simply being bored isn't as easy as some believe. It's too easy to be distracted with all the little things that you may not even particularly like. Kracauer believes that when you hit this legitimate form of boredom, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. You feel happy just for no apparent reason. Just the fact that you're there is enough for you to experience bliss.
Glad to hear that many of you could relate to Kracauer's counterintuitive idea that boredom can be a positive state if it's radical enough.
Kracauer is my hero.
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