It’s always a great thing when a plan comes together.  In this case, a close friend of mine, John Tebbutt (aka) the Video Vulture, published in Calgary’s Premier Arts and Culture publication, ffwd , agreed to take on an entirely different medium for his column: a live and lively presentation.

Speaking at the Endeavor Art Gallery, Tebbutt spoke on the subject of the homicidal artist archetype, a person who kills, not for money or love, but for Art.  It was a presentation in keeping with the Halloween season and very entertaining to boot.

At first, I thought that the ‘artist killer’ archetype would not be very common.  But when Tebbutt starting to list and describe the movies in which this archetype appears, I was impressed.  You can read his article in ffwd here.

It is rare that we ever talk about movies in broad terms like genre, archetype, theme or thesis.  The ideas covered in the articles by Tebbutt transcend any one movie and begin to touch on deeper topics like culture, perception and prejudice.

For example, in his article, Tebbutt observes, “Artists are supposed to be eccentric anyways.”  My question would be: how do we know that?  Given that many of us might not have had a personal connection to an artist, how did we come to think that artists, as a group, are eccentric?

Right.  Media, mostly in the form of movies and television inform our perception of what the world is like.  Further, we probably also take cues from these media to model our own behavior in selected roles.

It is for this reason that groups such as women, ethnic and religious minorities are well justified in their concern for how they are portrayed in the media and, more specifically, in movies and television shows.  It is far too common to see, for example, Muslims commonly portrayed as terrorists in movie and TV shows, and then see people generalize that all Muslims are terrorists.

When I meet people who hold this particularly erroneous conviction (reinforced by confirmation bias), I ask them if they know who perpetrated the deadliest attack on U.S. soil prior to 9/11.  If they don’t, I tell them.  Timothy McVeigh, an ex US soldier from New York  — as white and as American as they come.

All in all, I think there is something valuable in what John Tebbutt writes every week and has has written every week for over 10 years.  Perhaps in the not-to-distant future, we may see a book from his writings.