Alan Moore | Batman: The Killing Joke and V For Vendetta creator on Imagination (Part 1)

This is part 1 of an exclusive How To Academy event. Watch part 2 here: • Alan Moore | Batman: T...
Few figures make such a seismic impact on their artistic medium that they transform its reputation from childish pulp entertainment to a vital and exhilarating creative form, capable of exploring the great mysteries of metaphysics, science, and the human spirit - but Alan Moore is one. Coming together with sculptor, performance artist, novelist and poet Brian Catling, this conversation will restore your faith in the power of art to transform life.
Brian Catling was born in London in 1948. He is a former Professor of Fine Art at the Ruskin School, Oxford, and is an acclaimed performance artist and sculptor. His Vorrh trilogy is followed this year by Earwig, which is being filmed by Lucile Hadžihalilovic. On KZbin, Brian has been featured on The Centre for Fiction, SFF180, GOldmark Gallery, PPermaculture Magazine and John Rogers.

Alan Moore, born in Northampton in 1953, is a writer, performer, recording artist, activist and magician. His comic-book work includes Lost Girls (2009) with Melinda Gebbie, From Hell (1991) with Eddie Campbell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (for which he won a Bram Stoker Award in 2000) with Kevin O’Neill. He has worked with director Mitch Jenkins on the Show Pieces cycle of short films and on forthcoming feature film The Show, while his novels include Voice of the Fire (1996) and his epic Jerusalem (2016). He lives in Northampton with his wife and collaborator Melinda Gebbie. On KZbin, Alan has been featured on Wisecrack, AlanMooreVids, Alan Moore Archive, The Top Comics, John Higgs, faberandfaber, Lex Records, Fact Fiend - With Karl Smallwood, Channel 4 News, Crack Magazine, ComicTropes, Nottingham Contemporary, Go! El monitor geek, Matt Draper, AlloCine, Comic Book Girl 19, Cartonist Kayfabe and Rapid Trailer.

Robin Ince is the co-presenter of Radio 4’s multiple award winning The Infinite Monkey Cage. He spent 2019 appearing across the world in the Universal tour with Brian Cox - travelling from LA to Oslo, Wellington to Aberdeen and ending up in Reykjavik after shows at the 02 and Wembley Arena. Robin co-wrote How to Build a Universe (part 1) with Brian Cox and his most recent book is I’m a Joke and So Are You, a book about why we become who we become and how we deal with it. He has spoken at TED and TEDx, has featured on BBC Radio 4 and Richard Herring’s podcasts on topics as far reaching as Creationism and Wonder, to Ricky Gervais and Chaos, and is the founder of The Cosmic Shambles Network.

[@joker-sh5hv]

I could listen to alan moore speak all day

[@te9591]

People gove him a bad wrap but he's really insightful.

[@weeblelehmann466]

Imo Alan Moore is the GREATEST living writer

[@Burbituate]

At 10mins Alan's talking about, "Is Reality an Illusion? - Professor Donald Hoffman, PhD". its on You T.

[@jerraldwest8531]

A wise man once wrote something to the effect of: we all cobble fantasies for ourselves to function. We live on a mostly inhospitable world, in a mostly uninhabitable universe, yet we think of a warm bed and home cooked meals as normal things.

[@tlotlisoranthimo4708]

who said this?

[@tonoornottono]

i love the phrase “normal things” when talking about the extraordinary human life. thanks for sharing.

[@aurwood68]

Mind blown

[@S.G.Wallner]

A vaporous line indeed. I like to think that all imaginations are prices and all perceptions are imaginations. If I try to be courageous, I would say that all "memory," or remembering, is perceptive imagination as well.

[@jerryhoran6036]

Enlightening conversation that has lit up my imagination. Thank you.

[@mightyquin6831]

this was an experience. the interview and hearing these guys let there minds wander a bit had me thinking of some wild stuff. its hard to put into words what these guys are talking about.

[@d.owenpowell9023]

It'd be nice to have these guys, as friends that we could converse with freely. How many of their beliefs have been mine as well but afraid to voice my opinions freely.

[@mavis3916]

Awwww

[@mavis3916]

Imagination is the path to everywhere

[@d.owenpowell9023]

I have a THEORY on IMAGINATION, and the more I ponder this imagined theory, the more that I am convinced it is true.

[@wallacelovecraft8942]

Nice talk indeed. Pleasure listening.

[@aybee63]

Orwell didn't provide a warning, he created a blueprint! Having an imagination is one thing. Being able to make the decision to not share a thought, idea or a scenario is being responsible to everyone outside your construct. Don't forgive those who decide to bring some thoughts into reality just to become wealthy at the detriment to the rest of society.

[@SandreXen]

What orwell described nearly already existed or just disapeared at the time he was writing : it was called USSR propaganda, , Nazi gestapo, Stasi of east germany was created the same year, etc. Orwell was just making a satire of a phenomen of his time (spying citizen was already a thing, propaganda was already a thing, accepting worst living condition as long as other are even worse was already a thing, wanting power mainly because we just should have it was already a thing, etc. ), not giving a blueprint for a future thing. their is no much reason to think that no 1984 would have much more effect than simply not having people saying "ho, it's soo much like 1984" whenever any electronic device is used to spy people, or other reference to the book. and of course another effect would be that it could not help reader to question themself on those problem (but there are other dystopies out their). and by the way, their is no reason to think that the exact system represented in the book (because of its nature of fiction), would be effective. the systemes used in his time and ours are probably far more efficient (stasi, for exemple, is a realy good blueprint, far more threatening than 1984 : why would you exclude the working class of your surveillance système, when you can have up to 1/3 of your population being at one point or another an informant? why simply put one camera/television, known, when you can install a full surveillance systéme withouth the person knowing about it, with an agent dedicaced in only reviewing your case. you don't know that it's happening to you, juste that it could.) I would recommand watching the german movie "the life of other" if not already done. I think that what it show of east germany under USSR greatly overshadow what is in 1984.

[@jerraldwest8531]

To portray a topic is not to promote it. Absolute fascism should be portrayed, satirized, exposed, and studied, especially in the context of hypotheticals.

[@TrueEnglishMan01]

@@SandreXen He was also talking about and heavily criticising capitalism. Something a lot of people on the right (either knowingly or unknowingly) seem to brush under the carpet is the fact that Orwell was first and foremost a committed socialist. One who cared about it enough to put his life on the line for it during the Spanish Civil War. Capitalist plutocracy (of which fascism is an extreme form) is responsible for at least as many deaths as authoritarian ‘communist’ regimes, if not more. We only have to think about the horrors of Western imperialism in the past, and the horrors of capitalist neo-imperialism still going on to this day, to find examples.

[@SandreXen]

@@TrueEnglishMan01 I'm not totaly sure that i would call fascisme an extreme case of capitalism, because they don't realy work the same way from my understanding. (but i agree they have historicaly found common ground on a lot of situation , i think it could be more accurate to say that fascisme is compatible with capitalism, and can be a great tool for them to fight other ideology. Of course orwell was a socialist, but i'm not sure that 1984 is a work where his critics of capitalist is central : in 1984, what is concentrated is pure power, not realy ressources (who are scarce, even for the richer, the power in place is more interested in making life worth for everybody else as proof of their ilimited power than increasing their wealth.) And their is no reason to think that they compete with each other in that domain, their is not much in the book about capital if i remember well. the only thing i can think about is how his main caracter realise that the only way out, is having the proletariat acting against the system(a thing the system try to prevent by maintaining them as ignorant as possible and in constant state of fighting for their own survival) but still thanks to point that out. When we see whome can try to use some of his concept and for what, it's clear that some people want to forget that orwell would have probably fighted them. As for the atrocity we can link to each ideology (not realy what i was talking about), to be clear, if i gave stasi and ussr propaganda it's only because he was also known to not be in "best" term with stalinist, and if i did not give capitalist exemple, it's only because i've no specific exemple he had known in his lifetime in mind. (in terme of propaganda and extensive surveillance). But capitalist of the time could be said to have at least some responsability in some exemple i gave anyway (gestapo for starter)

[@Richard-vu7kh]

Wonderful ! Thank you so much ! 💕

[@timothyhenegar7484]

Honestly imagination is simply thought, memory, concept, ideas, and one already ripe with emotion, passion, and instinct. It is the realm of concept and creation. But the stranger point to make of it is, just how real the impossible can become plausible and possible. Where fears run deep and primal, what goes bump in the night, or run in the abyss. That then do we then feel in constructing what may harm us. It goes back to our earliest ancestors, but also to the primal memories of our earliest childhood. Yet while horrifying, think how plausible it is to both revere it but come to master it. Masters of our own existence and reality.

[@weeblelehmann466]

The ocean is the source of life, but also of sharks and jellyfish.... Ahahahahaha.

[@jamessorrel]

10:15 physical reality as symbols -- interesting

[@tacobrown9650]

What impact is technology having on imagination especially for young people who are spending so much time on video games and smart phones? Is the imagination realm being hijacked and controlled in order to control us in the physical realm? What impact will AI have on the future of imagination and humanity? Artificial Imagination???

[@reallyidrathernot.134]

Massimi's Perspectival Realism if anyone wants cutting edge takes on what realist science means.

[@JavierRomero-jn2tv]

reality is an hallucination controlled by those in power - artaud said something like this, i think

[@Bizarro69]

I wonder if the mysticism construct around imagination and creation/writing helps to open up avenues most writers who have a more "realist" approach do not accesss?

[@bardoface]

Brian isn’t mentioned in the video title?

[@wbabdij]

how to access part two? It is still set on private

[@HowToAcademyMindset]

Hi there! It's coming out later today!

[@wbabdij]

@@HowToAcademyMindset thanks

[@frankiepips]

Hot water is what I felt I was in when I was being honest, that's when I started editing but I'm only a lryicist not an author (yet).

[@markdpricemusic1574]

Superb. For a fine account of links between philosophy, art, and the magick of Golden Dawn, you might like to take a peep at ''Vestiges of a Philosophy'' - John O' Maoilorche's book on Mina Bergson (Mc Gregor Mathers) and Henri Bergson. Many thanks for this video! M.D.P.

[@cosmikronic9353]

20:54 synesthesia in action

[@TheAlmightyAss]

If these worlds are real are the decisions made in there real and are the people and animals real? If so, are ethics applicable? If all the absolute horrible things created in these imagined worlds to people and animals and worlds etc are real, do the creators have to answer for creating these things?

[@deadwaterd]

Moore addresses this about 16:30 when elaborating on the interviewer's reference to Blake. Imaginary worlds are REAL but they are real in a different way than, say, atoms are real. Think of the distinction between how a "baseball" is real (a physical, tangible object "in the world" so to speak) and how a "homerun" is real (an intangible, socially constructed convention in the abstract idea-space known as "the rules of baseball"). Both are real things in their own way. They both have causal powers in the world, but exist at differing levels of description.

[@d.owenpowell9023]

I have come to believe that authors are really Alchemists born to create new realities. Somewhere in the Now, their saga exists.

[@tonoornottono]

i love the recent shift towards using the word “now” as synonymous with reality. it’s like the mystical word for the Universe, without such a charged term as God.

[@d.owenpowell9023]

@@tonoornottono Truly refreshing, but it remains difficult to wrap my brain around the fact, notion or something yet discovered:)

[@zazenbo]

WHILE OF UNSOUND MIND

[@zainmudassir2964]

Hi

[@d.owenpowell9023]

aahhh. The green box. Any color of geometry you like. This is what one accesses from GOD, Creator, the collective unconscious.

[@dalelerette206]

Maybe it’s just a dream after all. But in order to understand the dream, it seems we need to let go of our perception of reality and let the Holy Spirit see reality for us. While employing this sense of the Holy Spirit, we could use the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity as a filter to view the world. To fully understand what the Sapri-Whoft hypothesis is, it seems we have to break down linguistic relativity. Putting it simply, linguistic relativity is the idea that our experiences are formed by cultural practices, such a language, and how they play a crucial role in the way people think about the world and their actions. Our understanding of words and how we use them in our everyday life shapes the world around us. I prefer to see the world through the Lens of the Virgin Mary since she has been graced to magnify the Lord. Debates about the effects of language have existed since the dawn of philosophy. Many advocates for the hypothesis that language can determine the way you understand the world ALSO argue that language simply influences your perception of the physical world around you. But in the end we may really not fully comprehend the virtual reality of the language we speak. Their ideas were very influential on the movie Arrival.

[@robtrue]

I write fiction, somewhat fantastic and Mystic. I'm schizophrenic, or so I'm accused! Schizo, or Mystic? If I'm honest about who/what I am, they put the does up. I wonder if, in the case of them old boys and girls in the days of Edgar Allan Poe, went mad because of the society they were born into, and the constriction of the imagination withing that society, so that they had to fight for their place in it as a storyteller. But under persecution, the mind turns in on itself. I believe that's what happened to me. In another place/time, I'd have been aprenticed off to the seer, the witch doctor. Here and now, I'm useless, forcably medicatred, locked up (if I don't act 'normal') and left to rot, with no place in society. I can't conform (it's not a choice for me). But I learnt to write, after years of not understanding the punctuation, paragraphs, etc. Left school with no qualifications, got put in the madhouse. I started to learn to write age 40, from scratch at primary school level, and a couple of years after I got the hang of it, I got published and my books are in all the bookshops. I write about my inter-dimensional, spectral existence, crossing boundaries, realities. There is no reality. And that's what my books are about. Hallucinatory adventures, through the protagonist's eyes, what is 'real' indeed? Psychotic hallucination, or a Mystic vision? Or supernatural reality?

[@andrewrussell666]

An-Nas 114:5 ٱلَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ ٱلنَّاسِ Who whispers into the breasts of mankind

[@AngloSaks666]

Hey Alan, wish me a happy birthday.

[@happymaskedguy1943]

Happy Birthday Mark! (imagine I'm Alan Moore and be satisfied)

[@andrewreeveart]

"the real world" is a comment I see used so often by people unable to entertain the idea that their views, interactions and conclusions might not be useful in a world of continuous change. You have to laugh. Imagination, to me, is a way of addressing problems that are beyond my feeble grasp.

[@BadgerOfTheSea]

This has the same problem that Robin Ince's old podcast with Josie Long had: Robin talks too much and doesn't let the guests get a proper word in. Robin is an awful interviewer because he thinks the world revolves around him and the only reason people are listening is because they want to listen to him. He controls the conversation and guides the guest towards answers that he agrees with rather than letting them speak their own mind. Alan Moore deserved better than this.