The Virus of Mediocrity

The Virus of Mediocrity has spread from the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome, Ireland, etc, to, over the last century, the British Empire and was last seen settling into the good old U.S. of A.. How do I know?

Read the books, visit the museums, go to the theatre or the movies. 

Don’t even hint that at my age (90), my shelf life is over. That is insulting.  Not only because I don’t live on a shelf but because, as difficult as it gets sometimes, I am a positive, observant, and invested human being in the world around me. 

All right, already! I admit it.  Mine is a small world. But that doesn’t negate my opinion, and I opine the virus of mediocrity is the major symptom that indicated the decline and destruction of previous civilizations and is, at present, a symptom of the decline of the civilization I live in. This brings fears to my years.  Not so much for me but for my children and grandchildren… for everyone’s children and grandchildren.  I am not going sentimental.  I spent too many years as an actress with a very healthy ego for that to ever happen.  However, as I experience the cultural world today I think the connection of mediocrity to the decline of civilization is evident.

Now, relax, I’ll get to the point eventually.

Historically, there is a pattern. The word Democracy derives from the Greek words “demos,” meaning people, and “kratos,” meaning power, the power of the people. Out of this people's pot of new thought, the world of politics, art, literature, and theatre produced brilliant illustrations filling the inner and outer landscape of Ancient Greece. 

Take a look at the Parthenon or read Aristotle or Plato.  

How did this height of excellence start down a slippery slope towards mediocrity?  

How else?  The human condition.

Sometimes, I get the sense that we humans just can’t take too much of a good thing.  It’s the Garden of Eden syndrome.  There’s always a snake somewhere that slithers in and tempts us to spoil the pot and the plot.

In Ancient Greece when the city/states took their disagreements into violence and aggression and eventually wars with each other, it signaled the beginning of the end.  Doesn’t “warring states” sound familiar? The excellence of art, architecture, philosophy, and theatre declined into mediocrity as the warring city/states weakened the unity of their civilization.  This weakening made it vulnerable… drumroll… to Roman aggression.  Say hello to the next great civilization… Rome. 

And the beat goes on.

Ancient Greece to Ancient Rome to the civilizations around the globe where war and disunity were key factors in the decline of excellence into mediocrity.  To be clear I have chosen those civilizations that included even a minimum “demos kratos” as part of the original formula for their enterprise. To be even more clear, great artists and leaders cannot succeed in a standard of mediocrity. So stop complaining about bad actors and bad leaders when the choice is ours.

I am as vulnerable as the next person to the propaganda. I am constantly being media-menaced to buy tickets to blockbuster movies guaranteed to entertain, change my life, and earn points on my credit card.  This is not about art. This is about product. And it is definitely not about catharsis, which for me is the synonym for excellence in art.  For me, catharsis means I have become one with whatever it is I am reading or watching, and because of this, my world and my life have changed. 

Niall Williams, in his novel This is Happiness, has put into words what I am struggling to express. 

“It seems to me the quality that makes any book, music, painting worthwhile is life, just that. Books, music, painting are not life, can never be as full, rich, complex, surprising or beautiful, but the best of them can catch an echo of that, can turn you back to look out the window, go out the door aware that you’ve been enriched, that you have been in the company of something alive that has caused you to realize once again how astonishing life is, and you leave the book, gallery, or concert hall with that illumination, which feels I am going to say holy, by which I mean human raptness.”

I loved Bradley Cooper in Silver Lining and The American Hustle, among many of his other movies. But as my mother said to me when I attempted to sing the mezzo-soprano role of Katishau in The Mikado:

“Sally-Jane! A Maria Callas, you are not. However, when a little rain falls on your head… find a good shampoo.” Logic and relevance were never her strong suit.

Here is a recent imagined conversation:

“Hey, honey, how ‘bout we go to a movie?”
“Oh, I’d love to.  What did you have in mind?
“I heard about this movie where Bradley Cooper gets a make-up guy to make him a Jewish nose.”
“ What’s a Jewish nose?”
“You know, a nose just like Hamid, who owns the Kebab shop.”
“He’s an Arab.  And anyway,  aren’t they at war or something.”
“I don’t know anything about that, but why would I buy a ticket to see a Jewish nose?”

Well, I did buy a ticket to see a Jewish nose and sat through the whole movie, so annoyed thinking my new hearing aids weren’t working.  I didn’t understand one word the Maestro said.  I was going to throw my hearing aids out when my daughter and son-in-law, who went to the movie with me, remarked that they didn’t understand one word, either.  Phew!  That would have been a very expensive movie ticket.  

Here is the Wall Street Journal’s review by Kyle Smith.

Look, I understand that when it comes to standards I was raised in a different time. In my era and, in fact, every era, healthy doses of mediocrity are present in cultural endeavors. However, there was enough of a gold standard of excellence where both young and established artists could hone their craft. If we accept what is mediocre to be excellent… or as the expression goes… we dumb down our culture… that culture is doomed.  So sayeth the soothsayer.

I keep going back to Ancient Greece and the city/states at war with each other, weakening the core of their demos kratos which allowed the enemy, Rome, to conquer it.

Really scary!  

So, for goodness sake, can we all please get our act together? Together being the operative word.  In unity, at least, we stand a chance against the enemy at the gate.

Honestly, I am too old to learn Chinese or Russian.

P.S. In the spirit of togetherness, let’s have an ancient civilization laugh: