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A NOTE FROM MATT BURNS:
Below are a number of essays written sometime in the years 2005 and 2006. Although some of my views have changed since I wrote these essays, I still stand beside the bulk of what I had to say.
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Human Remains
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An email written to Ray Carney after seeing the short film by Jay Rosenblatt entitled "Human Remains." It talks about the "banality of evil":
Human Remains
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Distortion of History
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Another email written to Ray Carney after seeing the film "The Passion of Joan of Arc" by Carl Dreyer. It talks about the "filtration system," how people filter all their feelings and thoughts through a web of political correctness before they say anything in public. Reality - and, in the long run, history - become distorted:
Distortion of History
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Commencement Speech
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A Commencement Speech written for a contest at the BU College of Communication. It suggests, among other things, that what mainstream society perceives as "harmful" entertainment (movies like "The Matrix" or video games like "Grand Theft Auto," music by Marilyn Manson etc.) is really the most harmless while what mainstream society perceives as "harmless" entertainment (the evening news, PG-movies, prime-time sitcoms etc.) is really the most harmful:
Commencement Speech
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Hollywood 'Reelality' becoming Reality
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A brief essay written in response to a Sixty Minutes segment. Talks about how reality is becoming a place where people can be labeled in Hollywood movie-like terminology (i.e. heros, villains) and how dangerous this is for the future of our culture:
Hollywood 'Reelality' becoming Reality
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Paris Hilton: Person or Pose?
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A brief essay exploring hotel heiress/tv superstar/recording artist/tabloid target Paris Hilton. Talks about the rather bright and talented person behind the dumb-blonde persona and why the media (and the public) refuses to accept the existence of the former:
Paris Hilton
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Haters of Liberty
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An essay that discusses the shows on VH1 and E! that feature comedians making fun of celebrities whenever they say something controversial or politically incorrect. These shows are reflections of a "free" America that ironically seems to be frighteningly hostile towards free expression:
Haters of Liberty
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Problems with Film Schools
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An email written to Professor Ray Carney regarding problems with film schools, but also schools (colleges/universities) in general. The email was written in response to an interview Carney recently gave at the UCLA film school. In the interview, he basically argues that film school is a waste of time. To read this interview, go to http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/aboutrc/proposal.shtml:
Problems with Film Schools
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The Problem with America
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A diatribe written in early 2005. It talks about how making as much money as possible has become the end-goal for the majority of people in the nation - not because of greed - but because of a diseased capitalistic way of thinking that has become known within the mainstream as the "right" way of thinking:
The Problem with America
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Responses to the Katrina tragedy
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Essays written in response to Hurricane Katrina in September 2005:
The Katrina Tragedy
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Our Precious Bodily Fluids
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A response to America's refusal to accept help from Cuban doctors during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
Our Precious Bodily Fluids
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Neil Entwistle and Our Culture of Disinformation
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Talks about the unprecedented media coverage of the Neil Entwistle murders. How news stories like this only exist for the purpose of boosting ratings and making money, but have no importance to them whatsoever. The culture consequently becomes flooded with irrelevant information:
Neil Entwistle
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The Spiritual Revolution
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Excerpts from various essays that talk about the difference between spiritual and physical health (and which is worse), and also the difference between spiritual and financial poverty (and which is worse):
The Spiritual Revolution
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What is 'art'?
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Begins to define art as "the act of expressing oneself freely," meaning that it is something much broader than just creating physical works:
What is 'art'?
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Myth-kind: Our 'culture of unreality'
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A series of notes written in preparation for a new film project. They deal with what Ray Carney (www.cassavetes.com) would refer to as our “culture of unreality”:
Myth-kind
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Land of Opportunity
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Discusses how the Peace Core and other American humanitarian efforts are pointless when the best way to help third world countries is to simply stop draining them of their laborers and resources:
Land of Opportunity
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Culture of Fear
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Talks about how the media makes the nation (and much of the world) out to be a much scarier place than it actually is. People mistakenly view this media-constructed world as being the "real world":
Culture of Fear
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Media Personas
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A letter written to Mark and Jay Duplass about their short film "This is John." Discusses how how we consciously manipulate the way in which others perceive us through today's impersonal forms of media, such as Myspace, Instant Messenger, email, text messaging, voice mail etc. Our ability to create ideal (but unreal) identities through these tools of technology makes us prefer impersonal interaction to one-on-one human interaction:
Media Personas
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Explainable Reality
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An email written to Alex Karpovsky about his film "The Hole Story." The email discusses the extent to which reality can be explained. If God created reality and God works in mysterious (i.e. inexplicable) ways, then how truthful are our explanations of reality?
Explainable Reality
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Our Set Ways
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A few paragraphs discussing our innate need to control chaos by creating a world comprised of objective truths, absolutes and ideological systems. These "set ways" kill the human spirit and trigger the destruction of the self, as well as the destruction of others:
Our Set Ways
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Sympathy for Kramer
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A response to the now infamous 'Kramer Video', where Michael Richards shouts out racial slurs at some hecklers during one of his stand-up routines:
Sympathy for Kramer
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Saddam's Execution
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A response to Saddam Hussein's execution. Originally appeared as a blog on Myspace.com.
Saddam's Execution
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Democracy When Convenient
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A response to President Bush's decision to send more troops into Iraq (in January 2007), despite popular opinion being against his doing so. How this is evidence of a 'democracy' in America that is only a democracy when it is convenient for those in power.
Democracy When Convenient
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