The World Theatre XII – Degrees of Approach

People are very surprised when I tell them I do not like to travel, I never liked it. I guess what gives travel me is not worth the discomfort that going to a faraway place provides. Especially for someone with bad orientation, little sense of adventure, with flat feet and who hates walking.

When I ask instead to people why they like to travel, they say 'oh, it's nice to see new cultures and lifestyles.’ So the act of traveling is exposed as a means of personal enrichment. That's when provincial easygoing people like me must defend us. To do this I developed my own theory, which allows me to counteract that injury. It is a theory which shows that, in my way, I am a traveler too.

    

 Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Transmeme XXXII

Mainstream culture is average poor, but sets an ecosystem for interesting artists to take advantage of.

Transmeme XXXI

Drugs are more of a social problem when not properly embedded in traditions and cutural rituals.

Odious Comparisons VI - The virtue of the marginal ones

As regular comics reader (or graphic novels, however you want to call them), there is something I've alternately suffered and enjoyed for my life.

As consumer of a product that has lived mostly in the cultural marginalization (we can not say it's just mainstream culture, at least in this country) I have suffered, too often, the drawbacks of being part of a small market, unstable and fragile with little demand, namely: low quality published issues or high prices, poor choice of titles, long waits for publications, cancellations of collections, difficulty in finding them in stores, and inability to socialize with the subject (unless it was with the few fans like me, once recognized as such, are regarded with the esteem after having received misunderstanding and sidelong glances.)

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Similarly, these drawbacks are motivated by the same reasons that make this hobby something infinitely enjoyable. The lack of interest that we raise as a group of readers, permeable minds, never made it too interesting for the shredder. The homogenizing marketing and institutional machines, as well as the censorship and interest groups (collective moral, governmental, corporate publishers) hardly affected us (at least not as they did with literature, cinema, and others).

For that reason, I had the pleasure of reading comics on topics that although they could be treated equally well in other media, would never have the chance. I have experienced personal authors; I sucked their creativity with less restriction, and enjoyed more experimental ways of telling things.

So, if I have to suffer that my preferences as a consumer are not part of the mainstream, I must admit they would have little interest for me if it were otherwise. I would like affectionately greet those who truly suffer/enjoy this still being a marginal world, those who try to live from it: authors, publishers, and booksellers. Courage, courage.