Are The Masses Asses?

Are The Masses Asses?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I recently had a good natured but lively debate with a friend of mine about whether the money a movie makes at the box office is a valid measure of a film's artistic integrity. I said that opening weekend receipts on a new release have no bearing on whether the movie is a well made, high quality picture or not. I hold to the axiom that "The masses are asses." My friend disagreed. He told me that, "in general the masses are anything but asses." He, of course, is wrong, and that's what I would like to address in this week's column.
To prove my case, we need only look at human history, but I'll get to that in a moment.
Shakespeare seemed to agree with me, at least in his work, Julius Caesar, so let's take a look at it. If you haven’t read or seen the play, please do so. It's wonderful. One of the Bard's better tragedies, in my opinion. In it, he has Mark Antony addressing the citizens of Rome. I'm speaking of the scene from which comes the line, "Friends, Romans, lend me your ear." For the film adaptation, I would direct you to the version starring Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud. and Louis Calhern, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It's the best one I've seen, and everyone is absolutely great.
Anyway, in case you're not familiar with it, the scene that the line above is taken from is a depiction of the fatuous and malleable characteristic of people in general, and masses in particular. Now, I do realize that this is only a play, but in art, we often find authentic sketches of truth and illumination, especially from the likes of William Shakespeare.
In the scene I referenced, the character of Mark Antony is speaking to the crowd (or masses), of Romans gathered after the death of Caesar. As his peroration goes on, like the Pied Piper, he leads the facile assemblage through an emotional, psychological, and even a bit humorous path of moral peregrinations. He encounters them thinking one way, then with wit and clever prolixity, he manipulates them to his way of thinking, entirely different from what they thought they thought. It really is an amazing display of writing genius, and in that scene, you will find a true representation of how people are.
I don't know whether it's that when people get into groups they become more vulnerable to influence because of the electricity in the air, or whether the majority of the population is easily led due to peer pressure, or what, but it's not even arguable that throughout the existence of our sad species here on this planet, it has been one bumbling and idiotic screw-up after another. I hate to say it, but my fellow human beings don't have much of a track record on the wisdom list.
Look at the French revolution, look at Communism, look at the rioting hordes of people on the streets of L.A. and other places. The Holocaust, Slavery, the Sexual Revolution of the 60's, the AFLCIO, the National Organization for Women, the Congress-oh my, my, my-the Congress!
No, to see that the old adage "The masses are asses" is one of the most staid, valuable, and dependable foundations upon which to rest your trust, is not only reliable, but time and again, the masses themselves over the millennia have proven it true without question.
Believe me, I know. I happen to be an ass.

Keck