Greg Cook likens the Empire and the Rebellion of Star Wars to the aesthetics of current “avant-garde” art, which foregoes the problematic “post-modern” label (“A Galaxy Far, Far Away,” March 24). His analogy is clever at first, but ultimately useless. It fails to set today’s avant-garde universe within art history, which had its share of Rebellions, nearly all of which — from Impressionism to Surrealism and Pop — can now be classified as Empire art. (Just visit any large MFA-like entity that wants to get attendance up, and see which of these art movements they choose to feature.) Placing art in either one category or another fails to address the concerns of what the art itself is attempting to convey. The best part of the article was the analysis of Ryan McGuinness’s hipster boutique aesthetic apart from the burden of Cook’s own hipster dichotomy. Art doesn’t need criticism saddled with a gimmick; all that can do is place cynicism in the forefront of looking at any art object.
Dave Ortega
Somerville
Wrestlers get no respect
I was disappointed to see that Camille Dodero took the proverbial cheap shot at pro-wrestling fans in her “ID Check” column by describing them as “lumpy” and sporting “wavy mullets” (“Slam-bam ma’am,” March 24). I didn’t happen to notice any such barbs in the review of Swan Lake in the Dance section of the paper. I was at the NECW show in Framingham and know many who were in the audience as well as wrestlers on the roster. Many happen to be college educated (myself included), and one wrestler happens to be a well-respected attorney. Doesn’t sound like the uncultured, unsophisticated bunch that Dodero described, does it? She simply looked around and found the few people that fit the stereotype of what mainstream media thinks wrestling fans ought to be — as if you couldn’t find those same sorts of people on any given game day at Fenway Park.
Even in 2006, pro wrestling is still considered the bastard child of entertainment, and its fans are still perceived as white-trash dolts — unless, of course, the popularity of pro wrestling happens to be on the upswing and everyone thinks it’s cool, like it was in the mid ’80s and late ’90s. I know that, with a war in Iraq and other things going on, this is a small gripe, but to a wrestling fan, these sorts of digs by mainstream media are beyond tiresome.
Sean Gorman
Medfield
Kennedy haters, present and accounted for
Ted Kennedy is a truly awful person, but people elected him to office (“Where Is the Hate?” March 24). Why don’t you do a story about the kind of people who would elect a Ted Kennedy? They are the truly evil people in this situation. If a little truth and light were to shine on them, it would be clear how horrible they are. Then they may try to avoid it from happening again by not voting. You seem to have forgotten that liberals are not just wrong, they are evil and cannot stand the light of day.
Terry Murray
San Marcos, TX
It’s really about memory. Most people under 50 years old don’t have any memory of Ted Kennedy. An amazing number of people don’t know who the Beatles were, either. Kennedy’s too old to remember and too odd to be taken seriously if you don’t have the affection in your gut left over from his brothers.
Time heals everything. If the news media or Biography began doing stories of the accident with Mary Jo Kopechne, he would be ruined. About the Clintons: “Loved him, hated her.”
Lauren Marems
Sherman Oaks, CA
