Sometimes I get a little depressed about the state of our culture. What gets me through is the fact that, when you look at the big picture, things generally aren’t any better or worse than they used to be. It’s the same with arts and entertainment as it is with politics (big difference there). Think this is the worse administration we’ve ever had? You obviously don’t have much of an attention span.
But there are some things that are indisputably worse off than they used to be. Cultural life on campus, for example, seems bound to sound its death toll any day now. There was a time when colleges were on the forefront of almost every worthwhile cultural movement.
Throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, the campus community could always be trusted to be on top of what was really happening. Now? Forget it. Sure, you can still hear better music on average at most college radio stations than the corporate-owned ones, but college radio as a whole is slowly pigeonholing itself into an indie-rock niche when it manages to be relevant at all. It’s like that on almost all levels of campus artistic activity.
You can spot signs of decay here on our own campus. Just a few years ago the Cultural Forum hosted showings of art and avant-garde films every few weeks. Now, thanks to a deal with the Swank distribution company, we get to see “Troy” and “Shrek 2” right here on our own campus. Whoop-dee-crap, second run films a couple weeks away from being released on video. Great, that will save me the trouble of taking the free bus trip out to Springfield to see the same films for the same price. How convenient. (Springfield gets a lot of crap from Eugene residents, but when you get down to it, who has the theaters with the stadium seating?)
What’s the point of this? This is aimed at students, right? As a university, one of the bastions of intellectual discovery, shouldn’t we in some way be bolstering the cultural awareness of students rather than happily feeding them the same pap they can find at any local Blockbuster? Maybe I’m just being an elitist, but in the words of David Reese: “If ‘elitist’ just means ‘not the dumbest motherfucker in the room,’ I’ll be an elitist.”
A few decades ago this subject never would have even come up. In the 1950s, college students helped fuel the beat and folk movements; in the 1960s they were the home for a wide range of counter-culture activities; in the 1970s they were the home of experimental and avant-garde films; in the 1980s they were the primary audience of underground music. But since the 1990s this sort of activity has started to dissipate. And what do we have today? I’ll give you a hint: It starts with the letter “J” and ends with “ack shit.”
This isn’t to say that there aren’t worthwhile activities here on campus. That’s not the problem. What the problem is that, as students, we are not taking an active role in the forward motion of our culture. Fortunately, this is Eugene and there are other options. I get sick of hearing people say there isn’t anything to do in this town. They never realize that by saying that they are marking themselves as either hopelessly self-absorbed, laughably ignorant of their surroundings or both. I guess for some people it’s not fun unless it involves mixing Ecstasy and Viagra before unleashing their carnal desires upon whatever piece of living room furniture isn’t currently occupied.
One alternative to the lack of interesting films here on campus is the Odd Sunday Film Seminar at the Diva (Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts) on the corner of Broadway and Olive. On the first and third Sunday of every month, the free event involves watching and discussing films that fall outside the scope of the mainstream. Organizations like the Diva offer opportunities for people to get involved in the arts in a meaningful and productive way. It’s the sort of thing I have been unable to find on campus.
By supporting events such as this, you might get the idea that I have something against mainstream culture. Far from it. But there should be a balance. The mainstream is called the mainstream because it’s what is popular and easily accessible, but accessibility often comes at the price of other qualities such as intelligence and creativity. This is why the vanguard is so important, but college campuses in America seem to have lost touch with the cutting edge. Universities, at least this university, don’t seem interested in fostering that sense of exploration or experimentation in the events they promote. Of course I would love to be proved wrong, and will devote space in my next column to anything anyone out there feels will do exactly that.

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