Category Archives: Taxi Driver

Robert Stark talks about Mishima, Taxi Driver, & Aristocratic Individualism

1980's, aesthetics, alienation, Aristocratic Individualism, Art, Asia, Asian Culture, Cinema, conformity, Ellliot Rodger, Erotica, Fashion, Film, Futurism, Gender, Globalization, History, Hollywood, Homosexuality, Japan, Japanese Culture, Literature, Loserdom, Mishima A Life in Four Chapters, Music, Neon, New York, Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde, Paul Schrader, Philosophy, Pornography, Psychology, Retro Futurism, Sexuality, Social Isolation, Social Rejection, social status, Taxi Driver, Vaporwave, Yukio Mishima

mishima
taxi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark discusses the films Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Taxi Driver

Topics include:

Paul Schrader, who wrote both films, and directed Mishima
Schrader as a subversive non-conformist who exists within Hollywood culture
The theme of alienation in both films
The Nietzschean theme of a weak man empowering himself
The life and legacy of Yukio Mishima
How both Yukio Mishima and Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver are similar archetypes, existing in different environments
How both characters are aristocratic individualists, who envision an ideal world that is at odds with their current situation
An Aristocratic Individualist is someone who follows their own path instead of submitting to societies standards
Aristocratic Individualism is about having a clear vision for an ideal society, rather than individualism in the sense of everyone doing what ever they want
Examples of Aristocratic Individualists include, J. R. R. Tolkien, Aleister Crowley, Oscar Wilde, H. L. Mencken, David Lynch, Richard Wolstencroft, Salvador Dalí, Jonathan Bowden,Ernst Jünger, and Friedrich Nietzsche
The theme of romantic rejection, and the corrupting nature that sex plays in both films
Mishima’s story, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
How Aristocratic Individualists resent that they are being denied their rightful place in society, and the normie response that it’s a coping mechanism for losers
How Aristocratic Individualists take actions that can lead to either greatness or alienation
How Yukio Mishima rebelled against Japan’s process of modernization and Americanization
The scene where Yukio Mishima spoke to leftist college students, stating that he is fighting  against the same forces they are, but they dismissed them
The parallels to to how European New Right thinkers such as Alain de Benoist share views with the dissident left( ex. anti globalization, anti-consumerism, anti-imperialism, and pro-environment)
How Yukio Mishima was dismissed in his time, but dissidents are later validated in times of turmoil
Mishima’s Japanese minimalist aesthetic vs. Taxi Driver’s urban grittiness of 70’s New York City
New York Neon: Taxi Driver locales in Time Square, and “porn tourism,” which seeks out the remnants that have survived gentrification
The Neo-noir genre
The Retro-futurist theme in Mishima, combining ancient Japanese culture with the 80’s vision of the future(Vaporwave)
Eiko Ishioka, who was the art director for Mishima
The fantasy dream sequences in Mishima, and the dream like quality to 80’s films which are the essence of art
Bernard Herrmann‘s Jazz score for Taxi Driver, which captures the feeling of alienation and urban grittiness, and  Philip Glass‘s minimalist classical score for Mishima
Aristocratic Individualist Fashion style including designer Comme des Garçons and the director John Waters

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Robert Stark interviews Ray Sawhill

1980's, aesthetics, Anarchism, Architecture, Art, Art Deco, Bill Kaufman, Bioregionalism, censorship, Cities, comedy, Conservatives, Cuisine, Culture, decentralization, Environment, Erotica, Exposed, Film, hedonism, Hipsters, Historic Preservation, Homosexuality, humor, Immigration, James Howard Kunstler, Jock Sturges, journalism, Literature, localism, New Urbanism, New York, Overpopulation, Photography, Political Correctness, Politics, Polly Frost, Pornography, Ray Sawhill, Roger Scruton, Santa Barbara, Sex and the City, Sexuality, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, Taxi Driver, Theatre, Travel

Ray Sawhill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray Sawhill worked as an arts and culture reporter for Newsweek. He has also written for Salon.com and blogs at Uncouth Reflections as Paleo Retiree. He splits his time between New York and Santa Barbara.

Topics include:

How Robert and Ray both have personal connections to Santa Barbara and how the city is almost too idyllic
Crime Fiction Novelist Ross Macdonald who’s work captures Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara as a place with strict zoning laws that was modeled after Andalusia in Spain
The contrast between life in Santa Barbara and New York City
How New York City has changed in Ray’s time there in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s
How Cuisine is the one area that has seen increased innovation in New York
Ray’s cameo in the film Exposed set in New York in 1983 staring Nastassja Kinski
How films such as Exposed and Taxi Driver are documentaries for New York in that era
The new peculiarly shaped skyscrapers going up in New York today
“See through buildings” where wealthy Foreigners are buying up real estate in New York and leaving them empty
How Ray is drawn to architecture because it is art you can experience and changes the world in a way that regular art doesn’t
How most of the general public has little input and interest in architecture
How places without zoning laws tend to lack any aesthetic value
How the main rule in urbanism is not to do anything that harms the city
Art Deco and how it succeeds in bringing tradition and modernity into one
Architectual Revivalism which seeks to recreate older forms of architecture
Robert Stark’s Artwork
Ray’s work at Newsweek as a reporters covering art, culture, literature, film, and theatre
How Ray’s most significant interviews were with Writers Philip, Roth, and John Updike, filmmakers Francis Coppola, and Robert Altman and Architect Christopher Alexander
How conservatives tend to avoid culture and leave that domain to the left
English Philosopher Roger Scruton as a model for a cultured conservative
Front Porch Anarchist Bill Kauffman
New Urbanism
The The Retro Cocktail and Locavore movements
James Howard Kunstler
Ray’s involvement with Environmentalism and Bioregional Anarchism
How the environmental movement abandoned the overpopulation issue due to political correctness and mass immigration
The Alternative Right
How the real political divide is between globalism and decentralization
Cultural trends and how Ray views himself as a cultural radar
The trend towards a focus on muscles for young men and men are more self-conscious about their bodies
The value of pleasure and leisure
Erotica and the debate about what’s art and what’s pornography
Controversial nude photographer Jock Sturges, who Ray interviewed
How society is a taking contradictory paths towards lewdness and prudishness
Students Still Sweat, They Just Don’t Shower
How having taste and style has become equated with homosexuality
Young women moving to New York City because of Sex and the City
“Sex Scenes” which is a raunchy, satirical audio entertainment that Ray created with his wife playwright Polly Frost. Check it out.

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Artwork