Oftentimes it’s unsettling to see shocking or previously unfathomable events happening in our day-to-day existence portrayed on the screen. Mainstream news media places a great deal of focus on seeking out sensationalized stories/events to add to their feeds & broadcasts in pursuit of informing boosting viewership. Artistic creativity is usually based in truth & life. So it’s not surprising that every time a major event occurs, we get to see a dramatized reinvention of it in a movie or as a primary theme in a tv show. As the saying goes, art reflects life. And that can be surreal.
Where it gets really unnerving is when we see events happen in the world around us that we can vividly recall watching on a screen beforehand. Déjà vu in its most frightful rendition. Take the recent bombing attacks that occurred in Brussels. An eerie re-enactment of the penultimate arc of Homeland Season 5. It’s enough to make you wonder if show creators & writers have crystal balls in the writing rooms with them.
Much like the many intelligence forces around the world, writers of dramatic fiction based on major social issues or crime/drama spend quality time doing homework. Learning about the details & nuances of the cultures, races, histories, psychologies, religions & philosophies of the characters who will inhabit the stories & live through the events being created.
The work writers put into their projects before they even start on their story is gruelling. Crafting story arcs, characters & themes of their works-to-be takes weeks, months –sometimes years! The process of creating those people & places & situations comes from what’s currently happening or already occurred around us, at the very least thematically. It’s a process based on the real world. So then, writers before writing are like profilers. Akin to the FBI, Interpol, the Mossad & other similar police intelligence services around our world. Much like those profilers, based on what they learn, writers can sometimes figure out (if only accidentally) criminal objectives & activities before they happen.
All art has the potential to do so too for the same reason. And when I read about the events of March 22, 2016 in Brussels, I couldn’t help wonder if Saul Berenson & Carrie Mathison were nearby, grieving their failure to stop the devastating events of that day.
Art & the lives of its creators have a history of running in adjacent parallel lines. Some of history’s greatest painters, most ‘visionary’ musicians/songwriters, celebrated writers/philosophers & notarized actors create from a place of extreme personal depth informed by deep understanding & knowledge of the material they source for their creations. They create work that touches us often because it is true to how they see & feel. They create & put on display their personal perspectives that ultimately confirm how alike we all fundamentally can be. They talk, sometimes out of context, about social injustices, loss, desires, fears & truths that so many of those who both admire & despise them can relate to. It is that creative energy that can often lead to foresight. That can act as a harbinger for the rest of us.
So when Tupac Shukur foretells of his own murder in verse, or Edward Snowden’s information release calls back to 1998’s Enemy of the State or the X-files spinoff series The Lone Gunmen eerily presents the events of 9/11 just months beforehand, & then those things happen, as surprised as we are, we probably shouldn’t be. These ‘visionaries’, as they are sometimes regarded –because of their awareness & usually their behind-the-scenes work –can just see the potential of what’s to come a bit clearer than the rest of us. Sometimes it’s life that reflects art.
Thoughts & prayers to those who died, lost loved ones, & are left to pick up the pieces in Brussels.