[Wittrs] Wittgenstein and the Shower Bath

From: WittrFeed <wittrsfeed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: language goes on holiday <wittrsfeed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "wittrs2feed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wittrs2feed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:01:22 -0700 (PDT)

... my discussion with Duncan Richter re: Sophie Scholl:

Thread:
http://languagegoesonholiday.blogspot.com/2011/06/sophie-scholl.html?showComment08984487346#c3231593788755340899

blog: http://languagegoesonholiday.blogspot.com/

language goes on holiday
language goes on holiday

________________________________

I agree. Very much enjoyed the flick. Had one see...
Posted: 24 Jun 2011 11:48 PM PDT
I agree. Very much enjoyed the flick.

Had one seen it after a laborious day at work -- with stress and focused
thinking -- one would give it the honorary award of qualifying as "the shower
bath" that Wittgenstein spoke of, with respect to good flicks after a lecture.
(I don't know he actually used that idea in reference only to good flicks, as
opposed to flicks generally, but I could see that being the point -- especially
today).

Yes, although I thought the movies he regarded tha...
Posted: 25 Jun 2011 05:40 AM PDT
Yes, although I thought the movies he regarded that way were mostly fairly
mindless, which this one isn't. But I know next to nothing about which films he
saw. I watched the 1939 version of Stagecoach recently and thought he probably
would have liked that. A classic Western with John Wayne and bad guys who look
like the cowboy in Curious George, but also a little wisdom, as the outlaw John
Wayne treats the prostitute in a much more Christian way than the respectable
passengers on the coach do.

... your right about his preference for Westerns a...
Posted: 25 Jun 2011 11:32 AM PDT
... your right about his preference for Westerns and things like detective
mags. You may also be right about everything. But I'm not sure that the stuff
had to be "mindless" (or silly) to constitute the "bath" (though one could
understand this idea too). Here's Monk:

"This fast-acting, fast-shooting, honest sort of a guy [in detective mags]
bears an obvious similarity to movie cowboys, and it is probably no coincidence
that the Western was Wittgenstein's favorite genre. By the late 1930s, however,
his taste had broadened to include musicals. His favourite actresses, he told
Malcolm, were Carmen Miranda and Betty Hutton. Exhausted and disgusted by his
lectures, he would invariably go off to see a 'flick' after them, accompanied
by Malcolm, Smythies or one of his other friends from the class. He would
always sit at the front of the cinema, where he could be totally immersed in
the picture. He described the experience to Malcolm as 'like a shower bath,'
washing away his thoughts of the lecture." (423.)

Like I say, one could easily understand the idea either way. He did engage in
silly and mindless things as an escape -- he had specific friends for that
purpose. But I had always taken the "bath" to be the captivation of cinema
generally (and assuming that good flicks had for better "baths"). But thank you
for the other idea, too. Thanks! I had remembered this as being about washi...
Posted: 25 Jun 2011 01:26 PM PDT
Thanks! I had remembered this as being about washing away all thoughts, not
just thoughts of his own lectures. I had mis-remebered it, in other words. So
you are probably right.

How much fun would it be to go to the movies with someone exhausted and
disgusted? Especially by a class that you were part of. In those circumstances
it might be best to see some mindless fun, but that doesn't mean Wittgenstein
felt that way.

[Wittrs] Wittgenstein and the Shower Bath

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