Going for Baroque

Is it true that we may very well be in what could be described as a Neo-Baroque era? A quick look at the definition of baroque stresses the importance of things such as extravagance, complexity, and bold ornamentation. In an era where more and more people were able to live comfortably, their money began to go towards a push for more art and technology. As mentioned in class, it seemed that it was a time of "embellishing nature, and attempting to make it even better." While we may believe the economy to be quite unstable currently, our technology and quality of life has improved over the years, and we can definitely see a revival of exaggeration and complexity in our modern culture.

Repo! The Genetic Opera is a twisted modern take on opera, released in 2008. Set in a dreary, horrific future, the movie sets out to be grim, yet oddly enjoyable, with its share of catchy songs and amazing set pieces. The opera finale within the movie itself (which makes an appearance in the trailer above) sets out to be as exaggerated and flashy as possible, in order to entertain not only the characters of the movie, but also the actual audience through its pure absurdity. As for movies themselves, films such as Avatar set out to dazzle moviegoers with their amazing use of computer-generated graphics that simply could not be experienced years ago. They set out to tell a story, but also show off our advanced and expensive technology we have developed just for our entertainment. 

However, media is not the only thing that keeps the Baroque era alive today. As mentioned in class and by fellow students in their own discussions of the Neo-Baroque era, some of our architecture today stands as a testament to times of intricacy and extravagance. With buildings reaching new highs in both height and cost, and places such as Las Vegas lighting up the night with enough flashing neon signs and lights to put Thomas Edison to shame, we seem to be doing our best to show off how far we've gotten as we welcome a new Baroque age.