Silhouettes of a Magical Street

Aesthetic Chase 06: "So it’s a human flaw. Many of us love to attach ourselves to nostalgia for the very same reason. But I am often left to wonder how the generation beyond will seek nostalgia. Probably they might not seek it but create it on their own. And that might be the next Avant-Garde we are awaiting as art-lovers."

“The rains in the Parisian streets of 1920’s” – I was mesmerized by this very opening narrative of Woody Allen’s- Midnight in Paris. I know it’s a movie that must been seen and talked about eons ago but since I got to catch up with it recently I couldn’t leave without embarking upon a few wisdom thoughts received after watching it. 

I have seen, studied and researched on Paris as the city that can synonymize with art. But this movie will take you to a time and space where the art and literature was struggling to make their mark. And today when we learn about the same artists and writers who have revolutionized  our world and culture, it’s like going over the phrase that says true talent will only earn slow but steady fame.  

When Ernst Hemingway speaks like a rebel that writers are never born in a day. He also does not forget to encourage our protagonist in his literary works. It’s like observing two sides of a coin. While there is growth there should be a clear notion to avoid decline. Hence there might have been a hierarchy that could have sat together and solely decided the fate of every growing bud in the art culture of those times. But what is amiss today is the mere presence of any hierarchy that can channelize the same art culture. Yes we love and enjoy the freedom of expression but how often can we create a Hemingway or a Picasso for the next world to imbibe.  Beyond the contemporary, I didn’t see or study a stage or revolution of art and culture. All I see today is going back to the basics, the history, the classics. The protagonist in Midnight in Paris had a similar reciprocal attitude. He wanted to travel to the 1920’s where he could relate to the art he studied. While his lover that he meets of the 1920’s wanted to go further back in age- in the medieval times. So it’s a human flaw. Many of us love to attach ourselves to nostalgia for the very same reason. But I am often left to wonder how the generation beyond will seek nostalgia. Probably they might not seek it but create it on their own. And that might be the next Avant-Garde we are awaiting as art-lovers.

Visually in this movie, Paris was like a living dream. You could still catch the Starry nights of Van Gogh in the silhouettes of this magical city. All the stories begin with the tag Once upon a time but this movie ended with the same…the rains in the Parisian streets of the 1920's...