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erin_broadley

erin_broadley

Los Angeles, CA
October 2006

APR 16, 2007 03:42 PM



Many musicians cite suave-as-shit Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry as a source of inspiration. However when Ferry needs to add some fuel to his creative fire he looks to sources outside of the music industry. More specifically, he looks to Nazi propaganda. Ferry recently ignited a media blitzkrieg after he told a German newspaper where his inspiration comes from:

While speaking to the newspaper Welt Am Sonntag, the former Roxy Music frontman said the Nazis "knew how to put themselves in the limelight."

He continued: "Leni Riefenstahl's movies, Albert Speer's buildings, the mass parades and the flags -- just amazing. Really beautiful."

The 61-year-old singer also acknowledged that he calls his studio in west London the "Fuhrerbunker".


Lord Janner from the Board of Deputies of British Jews is pissed. He said,

"Riefenstahl was part of the Nazi movement and the Nazis were murderers - and the mass parades he refers to make me vomit.



Ferry's manager Steven Howard responded,

"To take offence here is to confuse the aesthetic with the ideological. To suggest that a certain appreciation of art and architecture that happens to be associated with the Nazi regime means condoning the actions of that regime is illogical."


This uproar comes after Ferry was chosen earlier this year to be the face of Marks & Spencer, a clothing company founded by Russian-Jewish refugees. No official word on if Ferry will lose his contract with the company.

MetaTag

MetaTag

United Kingdom
September 2002

APR 16, 2007 04:17 PM

Lots of people like the music of Michael Jackson, even though they have doubts about his past.

On the whole, I agree with the statement that "To take offence here is to confuse the aesthetic with the ideological".

HunterSMencken

HunterSMencken

Vienna, VA
July 2006

APR 16, 2007 04:18 PM

Anybody can be a knee-jerk and condemn Ferry without thinking.

A little research will reveal some doubt about Riefenstahl's collaboration. Her images and the techniques she invented were ground breaking and revolutionary. And Speer's architecture? Come on now! Some of it's pretty. Some of it's beautiful.

For those of you that want to knee-jerk and paint me as a Nazi or a Nazi apologist, know that I'm a Jew, a Jew that has no illusions about the Shoah. I grew up with children who's parents had numbers tattooed to their forearms.

It's fine to untangle the aesthetic from the ideology.

Unfortunately, it's always easier to believe - and to feel - than it is to think.

Zarth

zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

APR 16, 2007 04:27 PM

Yeah, if he's doing work for a major Jewish-owned company, it's probably a fair bet that his admiration for the fascist aesthetic doesn't extend to their theories on racial hygiene. His remarks could be regarded as ill-considered, but on the other hand, those Schutzstaffel cats did have pretty some swank threads.

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

APR 16, 2007 04:30 PM

If enjoying the Nazi aesthetic is a crime, Paul Verhoeven is in a lot of trouble.

Zarth

zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

APR 16, 2007 04:31 PM

PointBlank said:
If enjoying the Nazi aesthetic is a crime, Paul Verhoeven is in a lot of trouble.


I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

George Lucas could probably use some punishing, too, for that matter.

SocietysPliers

SocietysPliers

Ocala, FL
October 2004

APR 16, 2007 04:34 PM

Inspiration can come from anywhere. I can find beauty in things regardless of source, and even when I hear music I don't like I often pick up something from it that I assimilate (or assimilates itself) into my own music. I love Errol Flynn's acting and the music of Wagner really moves me; both were possessed of mindsets that contradict my own views. Their artistry, however, transcends all that.

Same goes for pageantry, pomp and circumstance. Somehting can be a display of beauty despite content.

lowblackmoon

lowblackmoon

United Kingdom
November 2006

APR 16, 2007 04:37 PM

His comments were a little bit simpering but the guy is all about style and his comments should be viewed in that context. Even if he had been a Nazi in the war he would have been in his bedroom posing in his outfit rather than fighting I suspect!

defaultx

defaultx

I'm lost
February 2006

APR 16, 2007 04:41 PM

one hit wonder

love is the drug

thx bu by

Squire

Squire

I'm lost
November 2003

APR 16, 2007 04:51 PM

defaultx said:
one hit wonder

love is the drug

thx bu by



shocked

Priest_

Priest_

USA
January 2007

APR 16, 2007 04:51 PM

A beautiful asshole is still an asshole, yeah?

Not that I blame the guy, but his comments weren't very well considered. Imagine an American talking about finding beauty in the slave trade or something...

baudot

baudot

Oakland, CA
February 2004

APR 16, 2007 04:54 PM

Board of Deputies of British Jews? Couldn't we get a kneejerk quote from a more mainstream Jewish group P.O.ed at the move?

Normally the Simon Wiesenthal Center is the first of the Jewish spokesgroups to lose their sense of humor whenever someone does something that could possibly be read the wrong way. That they haven't considered this press release worthy says to me that people had to look pretty hard to find someone offended by this. Anyone who's studied modern media knows that Leni Reifenstal and the rest were considered masters of propaganda, and to claim that modern media's techniques aren't influenced by them is laughable. As much as we all may hate the Nazis and what they stood for, saying they were skilled at manipulating people and presenting an image doesn't make you an anti-semite.

ianbuon

ianbuon

Pasadena, CA
August 2006

APR 16, 2007 04:55 PM

defaultx said:
one hit wonder

love is the drug

thx bu by



Sure, Roxy Music has 1 hit.

And Def Leppard had 10.

Your point was?

MetaTag

MetaTag

United Kingdom
September 2002

APR 16, 2007 04:56 PM

In the back of my mind, I remembered reading about something like this recently and now I do remember.

Siouxsie courted much controversy in the band's early days with her dress, often wearing bondage clothes and fetish wear. She was also heavily criticized for wearing swastika armbands, although she always maintained that this was intended to be for shock value rather than any form of display of Nazi or fascist political sympathies.



From an article about Siouxsie & The Banshees

Ferry is from the same era, but I don't remember him dressed up like a punk!

Vathek

vathek

Los Angeles, CA
January 2005

APR 16, 2007 04:56 PM

Zarth said:
Yeah, if he's doing work for a major Jewish-owned company, it's probably a fair bet that his admiration for the fascist aesthetic doesn't extend to their theories on racial hygiene. His remarks could be regarded as ill-considered, but on the other hand, those Schutzstaffel cats did have pretty some swank threads.



"The Schutzstaffel Collection", by Hugo Boss...

apesamongus

apesamongus

Atlanta, GA
July 2002

APR 16, 2007 05:16 PM

Sphinxter said:
A beautiful asshole is still an asshole, yeah?

Not that I blame the guy, but his comments weren't very well considered. Imagine an American talking about finding beauty in the slave trade or something...


You can take plantation tours all over the place and "beautiful" is often the word used to describe them.

lowblackmoon

lowblackmoon

United Kingdom
November 2006

APR 16, 2007 05:23 PM

News just in..

Ferry didnt stop at just a few ambigious comments. god no..he commandeered a Panzer tank with Rod Stewart and tried to invade Russia. After an intense firefight it was valiantly repelled by the Russians and we think he is on the way to South America to try and find a new identity.

If you do see the cardigan-wearing foppish maniac then beware, he might blow your face off before you can say, "media storm in a teacup".

SocietysPliers

SocietysPliers

Ocala, FL
October 2004

APR 16, 2007 05:41 PM

Sphinxter said:
A beautiful asshole is still an asshole, yeah?

Not that I blame the guy, but his comments weren't very well considered. Imagine an American talking about finding beauty in the slave trade or something...

I think he meant the art of the pageantry, the power (however evil).

It's sort of intangible to many, I suppose, but somewhat similarly, I've been on stages since I was 10 years old and STILL have stage fright at 42. I channel that energy into performance and although it starts as negative energy, ultimately, energy is energy, just as beautifully structured performance is just that, despite its purpose. Those horrid things were very well planned and laid out.

Necia

Necia

San Francisco, CA
August 2005

APR 16, 2007 06:23 PM

"To take offence here is to confuse the aesthetic with the ideological. To suggest that a certain appreciation of art and architecture that happens to be associated with the Nazi regime means condoning the actions of that regime is illogical."



Yes, well. That's very high-minded, but some people still take the whole Nazi thing a bit personally. The best response might just be, "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that/I worded it poorly/etcetera."

Not a great PR move. And how funny that the Nazi thing came up in the context a commentary on skill at working the limelight, eh? Illogical or not, the appearance of Nazi appreciation just doesn't go over so well in the limelight these days.

seamus1979

seamus1979

United Kingdom
January 2006

APR 16, 2007 06:36 PM

probably the same group who think sacha baron cohen was anti jewish with his borat character

Roethke

Roethke

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

APR 16, 2007 06:52 PM

Sphinxter said:
A beautiful asshole is still an asshole, yeah?

Not that I blame the guy, but his comments weren't very well considered. Imagine an American talking about finding beauty in the slave trade or something...



I suppose you've never seen Gone with the Wind paraphenalia? Never heard of the extensive and popular plantation tours?

The slave owning days of the South are much mythologized in our culture, and people talk about the beauty that such money bought all the time.

And the Nazis did know how to style stuff to make is massively appealing, and they were really good at it. To insist otherwise is just silly.

texag

texag

I'm lost
December 2003

APR 16, 2007 07:46 PM

What's with all the Nazi-love? To embrace the symbols while denying the content and meaning of those symbols is absurd. Fascism attempts to construct a transcendent meaning to the national community. The art used to portray this meaning appeals to the emotions to demonstrate this content, thus affirming the distinction between the national (i.e. racial) community and the outgroup. Thus, the aesthetic of fascism IS fascism. Crap like this should not be tolerated.

Admiral_Pants

Admiral_Pants

Austin, TX
May 2004

APR 16, 2007 08:50 PM

British Jews all have their own deputies? Lucky!

I want a deputy frown

thorpig

thorpig

Japan
January 2004

APR 16, 2007 09:12 PM

Vathek said:
"The Schutzstaffel Collection", by Hugo Boss...



Haha! I had no idea they designed the uniforms! No wonder it has become an internationally renowned label.

But I have to admit that it is truly strange how fascist aesthetics are only frowned upon when they have any relevance to the Nazis. In my mind, 300 and Olympia have a lot in common, but to express an interest in the latter raises a lot of suspicion. In taking a course on Nazi film this semester, I had to take the risk of some people raising doubts as to my convictions, but I really wanted to learn more about subversive cinematography.

SocietysPliers

SocietysPliers

Ocala, FL
October 2004

APR 16, 2007 09:17 PM

Admiral_Pants said:
British Jews all have their own deputies? Lucky!

I want a deputy frown

I shot the deputy

But I did not shoot the sheriff

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