DÁD ON TÁR (and cancel culture)

[@ThatDangDad]

Apologies to Todd Field that I kept saying Todd Fields... This dumb mouth-a-mine!!!

[@katherinewolfe9976]

I’m sorry to bother you this way but I couldn’t figure out how else to do this. Could you please cover the police killing of Jacob Harris in Phoenix? Love the channel so much. Thanks

[@josef4692]

As someone who makes a living playing classical music, I can say that the most important thing you have to have to succeed in the classical music world is having rich parents. Everything is so expensive. A good teacher can cost 50$ an hour (and I had 3 lessons a week), my piano about 5000$. My parents spent about 50,000$ for the musical education of me and my siblings. Everyone could be a genius if we just threw enough money at them.

[@mozartsbumbumsrus7750]

I both succeeded and failed. Work that out.....

[@Mother_boards]

I think it might be pertinent to add: Even IF there were once in a lifetime geniuses who could singlehandedly change the world, their success should not come at the expense of others misery.

[@ThatDangDad]

Yup!

[@voiceinthewilderness7596]

I remember how I used to be in awe of the people singing in the radio. And then I found heaps, hills, absolute mountains of people who could do it as well or better. The artist breaking the sales record today or tomorrow is not a world shattering genius. They are one of many talented people, but they won the lottery.

[@dwc1964]

At my first non-temp office job, the other person in my job function (word processor) would from time to time casually break into song. And it was glorious! It made me sad; she was really not suited to our job at all (leave that to nerds like me), and she had this tremendous natural talent at something that is objectively so much _better_ - but was stuck doing this mundane office job rather than giving herself and the world joy through her actual talent because capitalism

[@nimmieamee1988]

Loved this. Reminded me of a quote that always plays in the back of my mind: “I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain, than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweat shops.” I have known so many people relegated in life to the status of “genius support,” who are doing so much more good even with in difficult situations, than are the supposedly brilliant parasites who exploit and harm them.

[@hughcaldwell1034]

I came to see if anyone else had posted this quote. Stephen Jay Gould, if anyone is interested.

[@kalehsaar]

"It takes forty men with their feet on the ground to keep one man with his head in the air". (from "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett) that's where i learned it from first. great take and great video, man.

[@hughcaldwell1034]

That's a great one. In a similar vein, Douglas Adams (in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) has a great comparison between the thoughts of a horse and his rider: "It is difficult to be sat on all day, every day, by some other creature, without forming an opinion on them. On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to sit all day, every day, on top of another creature and not have the slightest thought about them whatsoever."

[@GrayTimber]

From how you described the plot, I immediately thought of Jeremy Soule. The lead of the orchestral songs of Skyrim. Happened a few years ago, but a woman came out about her sexual and emotional abuse by Soule. This isn't about "cancel culture." This is about real and true abuses that happen in these fields every day :l

[@SynthApprentice]

Oof. This hits me on a number of personal levels, mostly as a struggling artist. ("failed" comic creator, now struggling musician.) I'm also often told by others that I'm "very smart", but I see far too many everyday people who are just as smart as me to think that it's anything all that remarkable.

[@Jasper_the_Cat]

I'm so impressed with the way you pack so much punch into such a concise video. Amazing! As a 'failed' musician by capitalism's standards, I realize that I will never have creative work which achieves fame or recognition in my lifetime. But I do take quite a lot of comfort in knowing that I can play my part by being a good audience for art: grappling with it, promoting it, allowing it to transform the way I think and live. And sharing it with others, to keep it alive. Thanks for reminding me of this.

[@dianjm93]

Thank you for this video. I know many people diagnosed with a very high IQ which intelligence is overlooked and they would never be considered genius because they are poor, have to work endless shifts and would never have the time or money for their art and ideas to see the light. High IQ is more common than people think but without the money, oportunities and a system who only benefits the rich that talent is lost more often than not. In fact the only "genius" that are capable to be recognised as such are normally the already rich or the ones who benefit from a highly unjust system. Most of the genius don't get there because of some imagined meritocracy but because they have climbed on the top of other people's backs.

[@ChaosFlute]

My concern about asking how many geniuses die without ever getting a chance to realize their potential is that that still supports the narrative that people who can produce great works have more inherent value than ordinary people. Can we really only justify a life by saying it might potentially produce great things? I feel like that's missing something critical. I feel like producing ordinary things is still valuable. Is still, in fact, how the world keeps working every day, because ordinary people show up and do all the normal things that everyone takes for granted. This kind of potential-genius discourse always leaves me feeling sad. It's true that many more people could absolutely produce Great Works if they were given the opportunity. It's also true that ordinary works are still valuable. And that everyone should have more time to do whatever they want even it doesn't turn out to be exceptional. I think what I'm trying to get at is that the potential-genius angle does not provide a firm supporting basis for the inherent value of every life to me, but a lot of people talk about it as though it does. I'm still trying to find/articulate a more satisfying argument. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

[@ChaosFlute]

After some thought I'd like to clarify. I like what you were getting at in this video, that it isn't actually "genius" that gives us the works we think of as genius, but the efforts of everyone involved. It's the "genius" framing that bothers me I think.

[@ThatDangDad]

I know what you mean and I should've taken more care to make the point that every life is valuable regardless of "contribution". Giving people resources can allow them to use their creativity or their intuitions in neat ways but I should've been clearer that even if they have NO creativity, they still deserve resources :)

[@statam96]

I watched tar last week and oof, this is spot on tdd! While walking out of the theatre I could not help but be afraid that people were gonna interpret the movie in line of "oh no that poor woman being cancelled" while it was definitely not that

[@Dekubud]

You're right, now I want to watch this movie too!

[@kandyjo]

This film has been intriguing to me as a musician who studied traditional classical music in college and also worked under many conductors, but I’ve been avoiding it, worried that it was a “hey what if we took this traditionally masculine character….AND MADE THEM A WOMEN??!!!” high-fives-ensue kind of a thing. BUT if the Dad says it’s good, I’m in. I’m thinking double feature with Abigail Thorn’s play The Prince.

[@ThatDangDad]

Yeah I think it works much better with Tar as a woman because it lets you talk about power structures a little bit more than if it was just another "Creep guy preys on his underlings" (which is a huge problem, it just sometimes obscures the systems and mechanisms that *allow* creep guys to do it)

[@kandyjo]

I’m excited to watch it. Plus her suit game is STRONG.

[@birdwatching_u_back]

@@ThatDangDad very wise observation Mr. Dád

[@nyxshadowhawk]

It's actually pretty ballsy for a big-budget Oscar-bait film to be made about this subject. It's basically critiquing the film industry to its face.

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

There is a concept that I became familiar with through gnosticism but which is present in a number of religions and philosophies for varying reasoning behind it: Beauty is something that can be Horrible. Storms that will destroy cities. Wildfires under moonlight. The almighty wrath of god destroying something. Objectively, something may provoke terror, fear, despair, hopelessness, trauma, but still captivate the soul and demand the attention of a person. And worse, it can do all of this, pump our veins full of stress hormones, and then hit us with the baseball bat of dopamine to really fuck with our ability to process it on anything more than an impulse/visceral level. Good art made by bad people is like that in a very particular way: It shows us that something as seemingly virtuous as aesthetic attraction can be produced by sources utterly fowl. It shows us that every saint and hero we make in our minds is a real person who is capable of being just as human as anyone else is. And humanity is, sadly, something that contains violence, a drive towards dominance and a disregard for consequences when they don't relate back to us directly. It is true in an objective sense, in that almost all of us can physically take the actions required, but also true in a systemic sense, in that if we allow certain behaviors to go unchecked they will grow more pervasive and frequent in our lives as they grow easier and easier to will our brains into performing through repeat action. Art is especially dangerous in this way. It is a collection of ideas one way or another, and we are asked in participating with it to accept those ideas on some level. Art produces a framework, ideological by its very existence, that begs that we engage with it and that engagement builds the ideology in our heads and its beauty captivates and holds us there. That's why so many people say that media literacy is important: Its how you do anything other than let yourself be gripped on a conscious level.

[@RedRosa]

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain, than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweat shops.” Stephen Jay Gould

[@abracadaverous]

This is the whole argument about nepo babies. The issue is not that the offspring of well-connected talented people aren't (usually) good at what they do; it's that they aren't necessarily better than hundreds or thousands of other people who don't come from well-off parents who are respected in their chosen industry. How much art are we being denied because those who have the potential to create it lack access to education, technology, and opportunities?

[@CharlieBrown-tr4zn]

oh my god, all of the yes for this take.

[@revolutionofthekind]

Shory and sweet but honestly. This is one of your best videos yet and deeply moving and thoughtful and beautifully edited. I've never even heard if this movie but i'll def put it on my list!!

[@chaosvii]

Indeed, it’s great to see his craft change and develop

[@katherinewolfe9976]

I am so glad I found you! Amazing perspective

[@BlindErephon]

I've noticed kind of a pattern with people accused of being "geniuses". They tend to be really good at something people think of as "difficult", like math or physics or music, and then just awful at basic personing. Like to the point where you can see where all that effort that most of us spend on doing normal shit went, it went into learning to do that one thing really well. It's not some amazing natural talent, its just this weird person putting all their time and energy into this one thing they are obsessed with and it just happening to be something society finds useful or impressive. If they'd directed that obsession towards something like memorizing curling stats or crochet or comic books nobody would give a fuck, but its only a quirk of chance that made them do that thing in the first place. I think maybe being a genius isn't a real thing beyond a label we give to people who are just kind of weird in a way that makes it convenient for the rest of us to overlook the fact they are also a shithead.

[@hughcaldwell1034]

I very much agree with this, though your wording makes it sound a little more deliberate than I think it often is. Not calling myself a genius, but I am someone with enough skill in mathematics to look impressive to the majority of folks. Maths is an obsession, but it also never felt like a choice. I didn't deliberately neglect people skills in its favour as a child - I just learned the world in a certain way, and that way was maths. But I definitely agree that this can afford me a lot of leeway, as the asocial/antisocial mathematician gets a lot more social credit than the asocial lepidopterist.

[@gjhartist3685]

YES! It's all chance! Roll of the dice!

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

Fully agree, and I think this is why we should A) not be scared of AI/automation taking away Bullshit Jobs, and B) advocate for UBI. Imagine the leaps and bounds we could make as a species if so many of our best minds had more freedom to explore the things that interest them. Watching a stream the other day, there was a viewer-submitted discussion question about "do you think we'll need some kind of brain implant (a la Neuralink) to _compete_ with AI?" All I could think was "what an asinine idea..." First, even if we could somehow augment our brains to be more computer-like, we will never be able to "compete" or even keep up with AI. It's like asking "should I replace my legs with an electric unicycle to compete with cars?" AI is a tool. Humans aren't in competition with tools. If anything, we would use those BMI's to _interface_ (which is what the "I" stands for) with AI. But compete? Nah, son. In all fairness, the question probably came from a teen or young adult, and I could definitely see a younger me thinking along those lines.

[@falsum2701]

I thought that to the extent that the movie did comment on cancel culture, it did so in an interesting way which was much more nuanced than most of the commentary suggests. It was not SYMPATHETIC to Tar. It was very clear that she is a bad person and essentially deserved her fate. But it was EMPATHETIC, in that it took the impacts on Tar herself seriously, and put us in her shoes. I thought it handled that aspect of the story very well, even if it was not meant to be the main focus.

[@ThatDangDad]

Yeah I think you're 100% right. It wasn't about defending someone but rather about understanding them and I thought that was powerful

[@olcay8233]

your voice is so calming, please make a video reading bedtime stories.

[@ThatDangDad]

i've actually been schemin' along those lines... ;)

[@chaosvii]

@@ThatDangDadit’s a good scheme, I might go so far as to label it worthy of a _master plan_

[@Lincoln_Bio]

Bedtime radicalization ftw

[@IanJAGreen]

Looking forward to Phil doing some LibriVox recordings 💕

[@emilybsmith]

@@ThatDangDad If you make an ASMR playlist, I'm falling asleep to it every damned night

[@Emileigggggh]

Literally just finished this movie! I kept thinking about prestige when watching, specifically how you spoke about prestige in your video on the Menu and how I could relate as a former film student. Lydia seemed under the belief that prestige means embodying the classical "greats" as a marginalized person, which the Gen Z BIPOC pangender Juliard student rejects re: Bach. Under her "greatness" comes an entitlement, which I'm sure she had run into in her youth. It's a rite of passage for the Genius™. But also with genius comes pressure- although pressure to not like, assault people is just how the world should work. idk if any of this makes sense, i'm ill but great stuff!

[@samshimo]

Incredible video essay. I happened across it randomly (thanks, algorithm) and I'm an instant fan. GREAT work on this!

[@ThatDangDad]

aw thank you! I'm glad you vibed on it!!

[@thejustin3269]

My identical twin and I had very similar upbringings, but a difference in primary and secondary education likely resulted in him going on to be an applied physics genius and me as a staker/designer (basically a technician) for a power company. Motivation and a healthy approach to challenge may have been the reason.

[@nefariousyawn]

Incredible. Thank you for taking the time to make this.

[@chaosvii]

Ooo an film habitat. Inhabitable 🎥 is a very strong recommendation for my tastes.

[@mozartsbumbumsrus7750]

I love Tár and love your commentary upon it. I have lived and experienced everything in Tár. The love of my life knows and understands it all to the best of her handicapped ability. Handicapped? Yes, because having a "genius" artist for a father, and being the only child of parents who didn’t want children and a mother who made a point of telling her daughter that she didn’t love her and maintains that to this day....... What does that do to a person, particularly a female in a man's world, an atheist with spellbinding intelligence and fabulous potential, a woman who is a single mother of a beautiful daughter, half Caucasian Lincolnshire, half Thai, a wonderful university professor all of her life but trapped in her own handicap of not knowing what Love is, thanks to her crazy OCD mother. How did I come love love her as no other in my long life? We have to be kind. I didn't know enough about the brain to see the coming inevitable disaster as she rejected me without rhyme or reason but with lies and self betrayal. I'm left with my art to paint and create for myself alone and to maintain my world-class highest standards as a musician practicing and playing to myself alone, in puruty and dignity remembering an old colleague on his deathbed in Paris in 1989 telling my "The world doesn’t deserve your talent!" She has never honoured her promise to reply to my truthful honest defense nor has she engaged in communication. I fight with kindness and truth and dignity. Tod Field understands the true value of meaningful thought and art and understands the folly of humankind, especially in our neoliberal obsession with celebrity, fame, leaders, heroes and the empty hollowness of society and the world as sapiens rushes to extinguish all of life and embrace extinction. I continue to play music and create images knowing that no one will see or hear it. Nothing matters. I survive! Trump survives! Hitler lives! Who cares?

[@iCirith]

Really good video as always, man. Now I’m adding Tár to my movie list-I’ll get around to watching it.

[@ThatDangDad]

It took me forever because it's over 2 and 1/2 hours... My life before having a toddler could handle a long movie easily, but these days...

[@Eden-xy7gk]

If you haven’t gotten the chance to see Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, I’d recommend it more highly than any film of this last year, its darkly comedic meditation on industrial power structures reminded me a lot of TÁR in its own very unique way -

[@smegmatic308]

Wow. I didn't know he was still making movies.

[@reneescala7526]

Grateful for your review and your observations on the interdependency of thought. individual POV is still such a mystery.

[@darth0tator]

your videos are always great! hey algorithm! give this one a boost!

[@johnappleton9349]

Your a genius. Anyone of us could do this but you made it happen. But seriously this is great.

[@zipbangcrash]

Gotta love those Mahler horns... Really any intense, dramatic fanfare, actually. Emotion right in your ear holes! The musings herein compliment the music so well.

[@dwc1964]

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” - Stephen Jay Gould, _The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History_

[@marianotorrespico2975]

--- THANK YOU, FOR THE FACTS . . . and, based upon your pithy report, I think that "Tár" (2022) and "Art School Confidential" (2006) would make an excellent double-feature about the metamorphosis of The Artist before art school and after art school, and the dullness of character revealed by a monochromatic wardrobe that screams: "I am an intensely intense artistic-type of person". Thankfully, I only listen to the classical music they play. I know better than to peek behind the blue velvet curtain.

[@ouroborosjormungandr5615]

I replayed the first portion of the video a GOOD few times because of how distracted I was by that HERETICAL conducting. Dude literally just starts swinging it in a circle for way too many measures.

[@ThatDangDad]

Toscanini!!!

[@mozartsbumbumsrus7750]

​@That Dang Dad I have a very close friend and colleague who was the conductor and music director of an orchestra I was Principal Clarinet of. He began his career as a cellist under Toscanini and he told me many true stories of Toscanini and how Toscanini destroyed lives and made superb musicians give up music altogether. Karajan was another absolute phoney. Funny old world....

[@bethany8379]

Fun Fact: Hildur Guðnadóttir actually did the music for this movie. So it's funny how they mention her in the movie itself but I like it. Makes the movie feel more real than it already does.

[@hhernunez]

No pude dejar pasar por alto los elogios así que me sentí intrigado. Al mismo tiempo un periodista de comida chatarra

[@UncleKeith567]

Beautiful work, Daddy!!

[@Laura-LaFauve]

Absolutely excellent! ❤️ 💯

[@ElDocBruh]

Nice and succint! Love me a good analysis that I can watch in one sitting while having lunch 😎

[@negroniusnegronius8254]

This is extraordinary. The ending was fire. Thank you.

[@caradelsol1]

My dude, I love your commentary. You have a talent for writing and delivery.

[@forafewnightsout]

or how unimpressive her conducting would have been in comparison to her star pupil if that pupil wasn't raped by her multiple times... the act or acts of this kind of genius itself destroys all possibilities for further awesome to thrive around it and they are spending and demanding the VERY best to be tokens within their chorus all the time. In their incredibleness ( if you can even call it that) they grind other talent into nothing beyond all the regular workers also doing incredible work. Not saying regular workers are even a thing or less than but the few times this world lets someone become truly outspoken there is almost always a "genius" ready to grind their bones for themselves.

[@marnenotmarnie259]

the fact that those critics watched that whole movie and left thinking the cheating predator was the victim is… scary to say the least

[@DavidLindes]

Banger. Good stuff, Phil.

[@nobody8328]

"Aires on a G string" 💀

[@Bartholomule01]

Genius is only scarce because would be geniuses didn't get the push they needed to be able to pursue their craft due to needing to spend a lot of their time merely surviving through endless work that barely pays anything. Capitalism makes art an elite pursuit, you often need a financial leg up to have your art find it's audience and get the recognition and praise it would get on a big platform.

[@Sloppatola]

It feels like you watched Triangle of Sadness between watching Tar and making this video ;) I would like to hear more on how you ended this. I mean that felt like a starting point rather than a conclusion. While I agree with it in the hypothetical I can't help but see real world problems. These problems arise mainly from what you referred to as "the powerful". The truly powerful don't fear cancel culture at all. Those who vie for their approval greatly fear it. For every entertainer taking liberties there is another being smeared. Due diligence is tossed out with the bath water and guilt or innocence is based on how actual powerful people feel they want to side, and the masses follow.

[@jacobvardy]

Just a comment for the algorithm because i don't have anything to add.

[@SynthApprentice]

Bump.

[@Circumven]

Fire video, great analysis!

[@uriahhammock3731]

I swear you can read my mind

[@stm7810]

Great video, now I wanna check out this movie.

[@SarahRoseCO10]

Oh man this makes me really want to see Tar

[@PrettyTranslatorSarahMoon]

hot dang, this was beautiful.

[@danielkover7157]

To all the hidden geniuses out there, may you catch a break and a breath of fresh air. ❤

[@wingsofinsanity42]

Thank you. I needed this.

[@eldiran2]

Interesting (and pertinent) notions brought up here, but I think the film is more nuanced than that--a great artist IS cancelled (as the POC kid wants to do to Bach), but she also IS a person gone mad with the Power that her position ALLOWS, and with which she abuses others. I don't agree that anybody could be a 'genius' given the time and resources--I have seen over time too many people with remarkable innate born-with skills and talents that just seem almost miraculous, and which were not (and could not be) acquired simply by More Time and More Resources. As you stated--the director and Blanchett both said that the film is a character study of Power & Position (earned) and how it can be abused. Thankfully the height of the 'Cancel Culture' has passed and we will calm down into a more rationale, balanced appraisal of what powerful people have gotten away with, and that, in some cases. the 'victims' have submitted to for their own gains. 'Tar' is a great conversation-starter, in any case......

[@RadicalTrivia]

Damn. That was brilliant. And I still want to see the movie.

[@allanjmcpherson]

I find the use of a conductor as the agent through which to explore this idea, since this fact is already in plain view for anyone who cares to think about it. Put the best conductor in the world on an empty stage, and they're nothing. Give them complete beginners, and there's not much they can do. They can only be a genius when they have 30 or so highly trained musicians sitting in front of them ready to follow their slightest gestures. All the best conductors I know recognize this fact.

[@ThatDangDad]

all the best managers I know recognize it too

[@ilibana]

The message I got from this movie was that just because you’re a gifted/talented person, it doesn’t give you the right to take advantage of others, I agree that she deserved to become ostracised at the end, for her actions. But the scene where she reprimands the guy for being against Bach doesn’t support this message - because yes, an artist should suffer consequences of their immoral actions, but that doesn’t mean we should then disrespect their art. For instance, I will always think that Roman Polanski is a despicable person and should be in jail for his crimes against women - but that doesn’t stop me loving Rosemary’s Baby - so there’s a difference between what her conversation with the Bach hating student was about compared to Lydia’s deserved downfall.

[@ThatDangDad]

I mean, I personally agree with you about art/artist separation and I personally enjoy Polanski movies in spite of his actions, but I also think (though the film touches on this aspect only a little) it's a valid way to engage with art to say "I'm not interested in artists like X, Y, and Z because so many other artists who were A, B, and C were ignored and denigrated, so I'm choosing to center those forgotten voices in my education." And I think that's an interesting trade-off, giving up a foundation in canon in exchange for a broader and more inclusive education. I'm not sure if the FILM thinks that's an interesting trade-off, but I'm open to that notion even if I personally don't subscribe to it.

[@ilibana]

@@ThatDangDad you’re right 😃

[@skoosc]

Well said. It's something of an extra sting that the billionaire class are all people bereft of any sort of creative vision. While every creative I know would turn that sort of wealth into something for others to enjoy, to bring a vision to reality, they instead just spend on it going to space and buying tech companies.

[@zk5228]

In order to make great art, you need to be to empathize with others. In order to become a billionaire, you must discard empathy

[@kevenrdavenport108]

Everything Everywhere All at Once vs Keven on Dad on Tar: it's is a slow long burn. Halfway through. If you get to spoil... then I get to post about not finishing it.. yet

[@ThatDangDad]

i cried multiple times at EEAAO lol

[@laurelgardner]

Now THIS is the cancel culture discourse I'm here for. Almost didn't click on this cuz I thought it would be more damn, "Oh, the right is right about us! We're so vindictive and don't care, akshually, let's process that forever!" crap.

[@aristoteles1454]

I find it really interesting. Of course the movie but mainly the questions that it evoked in me. For example: if Bach raped someone, it's just 'someone', right? But if it's not a big persona and they rape someone it's a big deal. And I'm not saying that rape someone is ok. Not at all. What I'm saying is that the person who was raped by Bach is just an anonymous human that we don't care about because 1) It happened a long time ago 2) It was Bach. And we adore him. For his musical work that he did. We tend to forget people if it's been a really long time since they did something bad. But should we? Does it mean that the person who was raped by Bach is not important? Should we ignore Bach's, Beethoven's, Mozart's etc. etc. crimes just because they're talented and created something enormous? I think this is a really interesting topic to discuss. And also about the 'cancel culture'. In both ways (the wealthy onesX"poor" ones and also the cancel culture itself). Amazing topics to discuss. And also a really great video. I USED BACH AS AN EXAMPLE, I'M NOT SAYING HE DID ANY OF IT!!!

[@ThatDangDad]

great thoughts! and hell yeah, I'll cancel Bach!

[@EveRickert]

Thanks for this.

[@philipford6183]

I was enjoying your review of TÁR (I saw this movie for the first time a few days ago - a film that definitely stays with one) - but then you wandered off into a rambling, incoherent political diatribe. Never mind. If it's any consolation, imo you put your finger on it very well when you described Lydia's real problem with the consequences of her actions as her 'indignation at being inconvenienced'. Yes, I think that captures exactly her response. If only you could have sustained that level of intelligent commentary for the rest of this review.

[@ThatDangDad]

how dare you, my rambling was well-written and extremely coherent

[@ARMADILLOARMADILLO]

Loved this video

[@johnchiu]

There’s also ghosts in this movie!

[@earnthis1]

Rich, powerful individuals use the fallacious appeal to authority, to "cancel" anyone they want, and claim to be victims if they ever have to face consequences for their actions.

[@zljmbo]

Dang Dad That was great

[@LostFutures1]

Lettsss goooo!

[@asgads]

fantastic movie

[@M-CH_]

Hear, hear!

[@dubj101]

YES!

[@MFKitten]

I've been saying this about legendary musicians and bands for a while... None of them are special. They just were the ones to do that thing at that time. Putting them on a pedestal is ridiculous now. Elvis had a thing for 12-year-olds. The stories about his lifestyle, his house, the food he ate... Now that we have a whole international club of multi-billionaires doing absolutely whatever the hell they want, that specialness and mystique seems to just evaporate. If you take away the fact that Elvis was a rock n' roll singer with a good voice, and you ignore the fact that he was successful at the time, nothing apecial remains. We have a million Elvises today. Why should we care about this specific one, as a person? The Beatles weren't musical geniouses who thought up brilliant songs. They knew music decently, and had some catchy ideas. Relatively speaking, we have much more brilliant artists and bands right now, who are as brilliant compared to the average, as the beatles were at the time, and their magnum opuses are rotting away on Spotify or SoundCloud. I think we should respect innovations and artistic progress and all that, but the people who do that stuff aren't special outside of that bubble in time.

[@cheapphilosophy-ue5qb]

This film is like the OPPOSITE of divisive, EVERYONE completely agrees with it regardless of their views lol

[@ThatDangDad]

It's a Rorschach test... you see in it what you want to see in it :)

[@Badbufon]

i stopped to watch the movie before the video... aaand... it was nice and all, but the ending was incredible underwhelming... i thought it would be about her inner struggle after she got caught rather than a slow setting up for a quick payback ending... it seems punishment porn in a slow delivery. so in a sense, yes, it was about cancel culture as the whole point of the movie seems to cheerish that the bad guy got what she deserved. like an artistic rendition of an episode of To Catch a Predator.

[@ThatDangDad]

I took it a little different. It seemed to me more of an examination of how control freaks never actually learn lessons. A lot of people call the ending her "punishment" and while that's valid, I instead saw the ending as an extension of the beginning. Tar uses the indigenous people of Peru for an ethnic musicology study, literally using them to advance her career. At the end, she's back in a non-white country using them to rebuild her career. It's not, like, a CHEERY ending, but I thought it was an interesting slice of life in terms of how these kinds of power players are never not using people for their next schemes.

[@Badbufon]

@@ThatDangDad Although your lecture isn't wrong because that's what it ends like, i think the film dropped the ball at the end, because from the opening shot to the scenes when she was crying, waking up at night, and when she vomits after going to the red zone, all thought the movie was this set up of she having a conscience and feeling remorse, which gets completely axed at the end. Saying that people never learn is quite a bleak statement and she seemed to have the tools to do some character development if the movie had more time to work in the aftermath. Pointing fingers at a groomer is the easiest part and the only part that cancel cultures cares about. And by extension, this movie. But what happens to these people when they fall of the public eye?, How do they deal with it with their own self image and the hostile view of the others? , Maybe there is a cool movie telling that story, but sadly isn't this one.

[@epicduckrex994]

We are victims of ourselves ;-; envy. Not anyone could be Bach tho he’s really really good even for his opportunities. Not many Bachs exist but I agree that many would be geniuses go to waste through the cruelty of humanity. We like to cope by putting all that on capitalism / racism / colonialism but it’s us. It’s people. We’re horrible as a species to each other.

[@sakurauchiha5562]

Art on Tár

[@kenzo8096]

if i could like this video twice i would

[@ThatDangDad]

simply create several burner accounts and give a like from each of them ;)

[@HoussamNekkaa]

When I watched the movie and saw the interview from the director and cate I felt like they missunderstood the movie they made

[@eldiran2]

Or some of the audience did.

[@BhbtheRock]

Trying to pronounce this title makes my Midwestern ass sound Irish for some reason

[@GlitzPixie]

SPITTING!

[@jan_Masewin]

I'm an orchestral cellist and closeted trans girl with fairly standard mental health issues, and I saw this movie with my fam. Tár... was a lot and I wish either the film or reviews had included warnings of the subject matter

[@ThatDangDad]

oof i can see that being quite an experience :/

[@theggfloupin4084]

i've been using this argument for a long time. my go to line is "if only 5% of the world's population live in Europe, how many potential Einstein's have lived and died, because they lack the basic necessities of life" (sounds better in my own language

[@FoxMacLeod2501]

YES - FUCKING _YES._

[@scottfield5082]

Well damn, now I kinda want to go see it...

[@ThatDangDad]

it will give you and Todd Field something to talk about at the family reunion this year

[@colej236]

Fuck this was good

[@samsei]

wow

[@ThatDangDad]

more and more people are saying this

[@FoxMacLeod2501]

@13:49 - Leather shorts?

[@ThatDangDad]

serving them CAKES on the picket line

[@Inferno-Dante]

You are so wrong, sir. We have many places with available resources and social ladders, Lydia Tár herself used one of those, by the way, since her beginnings were more than humble. But nevertheless, back to my point we don’t see more geniuses sprouting from the society nowadays, not in the 1st world countries not in the 3rd world, nowhere… Statistics is a very stubborn thing, geniuses make up 0.003% of the population at all times, back in the day and today as well. It’s not only about available resources, it’s about neuron connections in those people’s heads. Genius people are usually born that way, they are outliers, just read their biographies - they become who they are OFTEN against all odds (no money, no resources, no opportunity to go to college) Does it help to have an entourage of helpers and unlimited finances to hone your talents? Heck ya, but if you are not genuinely talented you will be another Eliot Kaplan (also from the movie, if you remember: a very rich conductor wannabe that couldn’t become one even with alllllllll his money, private jet and connections (one of them to Lydia Tár)). This movie was not what you are talking about at all!

[@mutex1024]

Dude, you cut off the beginning of Mahler 5? Shame on you. 😉

[@ThatDangDad]

Had to get this under 15... I'm DONE making long videos!!!

[@ChiWillett]

comment boost

[@notimportant3686]

ok so basically what i'm hearing is that you are of the incorrect mindset of not being able to divorce the art from the artist... talk about "intellectual bankruptcy".... jesus chirst

[@notimportant3686]

why did you include johny depp... that is fucked up and negligent