Pretentious ... Or Not

2

# 2 in december

New member
In a new weekly series I shall be asking the question , Pretentious ...or not.

It's quite simple , I offer an example of something that may or may not be pretentious all you have to do is give your reasons as to which it might be.

First up for discussion David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes video. A stunning peice of visual expressionism or a load of up it's own arse 1980s video bollocks?

[YOUTUBE]r44OFO-MNPo[/YOUTUBE]
 
Urban appears to have hopped off the meRAB today

I also look forward to this series. Although my baited breath is mostly reserved for 100 best recorder songs
 
I'll admit I'm not all that familiar with Bowie's career as a whole, I just know the few songs I like. But it seems that this video is just another part of Bowie's oddness and style.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if anyone else made it, I might say yes, but because I feel it's classic Bowie-ness, and we're not arguing whether he himself is pretentious, but this specific video, I would say no.
So there.
 
I'm going to go with a resounding yes. The complete lack of sense or plot, little 'arty' features and touches that would do Warhol proud make me think he just wanted it to be talked about for years to come, and it worked. I don't mind it as a video, but i'm sure there's pretention there.
Great song though.
 
The problem with this is that something can be a "stunning peice of visual expressionism" or a great work of art and so on, and still be up-yer-arse pretentious at the same time.

I think high art in general is through-and-through pretentious and that artists are the most pretentious types of human being. That doesn't detract from the value, though.
 
It sure as hell ain't cohesive, and though I love surrealism, it dosen't seem like that's what he was going for.

But yeah, I think it's rather stupid, and that outfit he's wearing, it's like he stole it from Peter Gabriel's closet.

More important, I believe all art is pretentious, since it requires the artist to have at least some self worth to want to make it.

Any product that tries to go beyond mere entertainment is somewhat pretentious.
 
I also believe there is a certain amount of pretention in art. That is what makes it unique to the individual. It doesn't make me enjoy it any more or less. David Bowie has always been eccentric and this video is just another example of that. I like it!
 
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