I would like to use this week just to say that this last season of Doctor Who has been my favourite since the reboot back in 2005.
In particular though I wanted to compliment Mr Richard Curtis and the Doctor Who team's depiction of both Van Gogh and his madness. It was remarkable. Brilliant. The picture of a soul in torment, a rage of passion and emotion unable to be tamed by the strictures of society. Tony Curran gave a beautiful performance as the troubled master, assailed by demons.
For me the most poignant moment was when The Doctor sought to comfort Amy, saying:
'The good things don't always soften the bad things. But vice-versa the bad things don't spoil the good things or make them unimportant.'
This, to me, is the true essence of beauty. That beauty is not perfect. Perfection meets all aspired parameters exactly. It is repeatable, it can be reproduced, it can be mass produced, it is dull. Beauty is imperfect, its own darkness illustrating its light.
It is nice to know that there are people out there who do not see the world in absolutes, light or dark; but rather in competing shades of grey.
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References:
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Richard Curtis' 'Vincent and the Doctor
'; Doctor Who, BBC, 2010
Now sir, it was the last line of your missive that drew me into this reply. I've not watched Dr Who since Peter Davison decided to hang up his scarves and floppy hat (not a boycott, just a realisation of age and maturity and the lure of alcohol) but your 'grey' comment raised an ultraspective eyebrow in my household mind.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a fan of grey. It's always had bad press: 'Grey Day' John Major's personality Spitting Image bypass, "We fade to grey" as if it's a crime, men in grey suits. Yet grey and it's hues and shades are the pathways and avenues and alleyways between the brilliance of white and the thoughtless locked-in cadence that is black. Look at photography.
There are those who bemoan a lack of ingenuity in monocromatic beauty yet praise the brilliance of the world of twisted colour when brilliance explodes from the page like a paint factory accident. Yet the sheer deliberance of black, white and its many relatives of incestuous affairs shows more genius than a barrellfull of B7Q painr charts. Show some control of light and shade and don't give into the amourous advances of scarlett and royals.
Grey is the new black and white. Let us welcome her in.