Saturday, April 28, 2007
Death and Glass
There's currently a Smirnoff ad about a man's corpse being transformed into a diamond. And, today, Scotty is being beamed up for the last time from New Mexico. The instinct for attaining immortality through one's remains is as strong as ever. Glass often seems to be involved, As readers of this excellent book will know, in 1801 the French architect Pierre Giraud came up with the idea of turning corpses into glass from which edifying memorial medallions and tablets could be made. The latest developments in cryonics - see also this sweeping and lovely survey - involve the vitrification of the body. Also death is often seen as a mirror, impenetrable glass. It is, I suppose, about perfection. The ugly coprse in the Smirnoff ad is converted into something hard and beautiful and Scotty finally gets all the pooer Kirk needs. Over time, we converge on the same imagery for our consolation.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Manchester City?
ReplyDeleteIs there not just a little of that instinct there when we blog?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Scotty will upset the current atmosphere that is Hunter S Thompson?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to be turned into a beer glass.
ReplyDeleteWhat about a thin slice of plasticized tissue suitable for hanging in a library?
ReplyDeleteThe transformation of the physical body to glass would seem to be a pleasing correlation with the idea of transmigration of the soul into its next form; both being essentially a process of re-cycling. In Buddhism the soul or self is brought before Yama where our true selves is reflected before a bright mirror- a process of abolute transparencey which decides our future fate and our next physical emodiment. I'm sure noone would argue it is pushing things to compare this to the reduction of the glass to its essence by heat befire its next life is decided.
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