The main inspiration for my work was Susan Sontag — a person that links Andy Warhol and Samuel Beckett. As a critic she wrote commentaries on both: art and literature. In 1964 Andy Warhol had made a Screen Test of Sontag in his Factory and almost twenty years later she directed Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo. They created a triangle contained of “low” and “hight” culture intertwined with critical interpretation (or the question on interpretation). In this essay I would argue that both: Beckett and Warhol in their works made a statement on art and humanity in post-war era. They preceded, or even more: foreshadowed the onset of postmodernism. Today we live within a culture when we can’t imagine life without Warhol’s Coca-Cola bottles the same
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Winnie in Happy Days repeats “ What’s the idea?… What does it mean?” Beckett turns the audience into characters in his own play — the same as Didi and Gogo wait for Godot to come, the same audience waits to find a meaning. Marcel Duchamp said: “ if a man takes 50 Campbell’s soup cans and puts them on canvas, it is not the image that concerns us. What interests us is the concept that wants to put 50 Campbell’s soup cans on canvas.” Campbell’s soup cans are just cans but there is this notion in people to look for a meaning and the faith that everything should have a meaning. The other interesting parallel is stage directions to Happy Days. Protagonist — Winnie — is buried in the stage. It reminds of a position of the audience that waits for answers as Didi and Gogo wait for …show more content…
Actually even the most powerful one because it could be also seen as a commentary on the present stage of humanity. Beckett’s and Warhol’s world experienced cruelties of the Second World War and had been devoured by consumerism: art like before was not possible any more. Jonas Mekas while commenting on Warhol’s cinematography said: “ the serious art and the good entertainment are supposed to shake you up. Here, however, is an art which asks that it be shaken up by you, filled with ideas by you! An art that is tabula rasa. An art that leaves the viewer standing alone, in front of it, like looking into the mirror. Didn’t we always say that art mirrors reality? So here it really is
Winnie in Happy Days repeats “ What’s the idea?… What does it mean?” Beckett turns the audience into characters in his own play — the same as Didi and Gogo wait for Godot to come, the same audience waits to find a meaning. Marcel Duchamp said: “ if a man takes 50 Campbell’s soup cans and puts them on canvas, it is not the image that concerns us. What interests us is the concept that wants to put 50 Campbell’s soup cans on canvas.” Campbell’s soup cans are just cans but there is this notion in people to look for a meaning and the faith that everything should have a meaning. The other interesting parallel is stage directions to Happy Days. Protagonist — Winnie — is buried in the stage. It reminds of a position of the audience that waits for answers as Didi and Gogo wait for …show more content…
Actually even the most powerful one because it could be also seen as a commentary on the present stage of humanity. Beckett’s and Warhol’s world experienced cruelties of the Second World War and had been devoured by consumerism: art like before was not possible any more. Jonas Mekas while commenting on Warhol’s cinematography said: “ the serious art and the good entertainment are supposed to shake you up. Here, however, is an art which asks that it be shaken up by you, filled with ideas by you! An art that is tabula rasa. An art that leaves the viewer standing alone, in front of it, like looking into the mirror. Didn’t we always say that art mirrors reality? So here it really is