Vincent (Starry starry night) – Joanna WANG
Don Mclean’s tribute to Vincent van Gogh
Adrian’s right, we are writing the blogs not for the others to see, but to find our own voices. This is one of the reasons why I study film, the other is to know how to speak through it.
Find my own voice. It sounds easy, but I believe very few can express what they really stand for. There’s the what part: the belief and the how part: the style. Does religious people really have a belief? Some do, some don’t. I bet they haven’t read through the Bible, the Quran or the Talmud or the Buddhist sutras before they decided to take up a religion (at least, they haven’t got the main ideas in them). So, what are you saying when you say you’re a Catholic or Buddhist? It’s dangerous when you just select out a few lines from the scripts, for it can bring ambiguity and misinterpretations. (This four-character Chinese idem explains me—断章取义: quote out of context to suit one’s purposes.) Hence, question what you believe in. Now, the how part. Everyone’s got a style in blogging, or, in speaking to the world. Jane Austen’s got irony; Wes Anderson’s got bold colors and Mozart’s got his vividness and care-free characteristic. I think that’s what we are trying to explore in ourselves.
Find my own voice. It also sounds a bit self-indulgent but no artist doesn’t have a little bit of that. An example may be Vincent van Gogh. He could’ve drawn paintings to please people instead of suicide yet he didn’t. It means we put devotion in doing something you love without caring the world’s opinions. It’s hard, but it pushes your creativity. I’m all for that.
