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De DIOSAS a DECORADO: historia de las MUSAS — Transcript

by Pupina Plomer · 4,276 words · 668 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00What is a muse? Where did this term come
0:02from? Are all women the inspiration for
0:04artists? Hello, my lanteris. The term
0:06muse must sound familiar to us all,
0:08someone whose beauty, ability, and
0:11wisdom illuminate great artists.
0:14Wow, I'm interested in making this video
0:16not to explain the origin of the Greek
0:19muses in depth, but to understand how
0:21the term muse has changed over the
0:23centuries and how the woman's role went
0:25from inspiration to inspirer.
0:28Because when we talk about a muse, we
0:29are actually talking about two things:
0:31the capacity to have inspiration, that
0:32is, having something abstract that
0:34inspires you to make art or do something
0:35beautiful. And the muse as a person,
0:37which is basically that woman who
0:39inspires a man.
0:40I'll tell you that this video actually
0:42comes from a chat I had the other day
0:43with a friend that left me thinking, and
0:45I said, "Well, I'm going to start
0:47investigating a bit to bring the debate
0:48to you and hear what you think." The
0:50conversation started off completely
0:51unrelated.
0:52We were talking about how in cinema and
0:55movies we have completely normalized
0:57female nudity but not male.
0:59It's like it's common in all movies,
1:02whether they are artistic or comedies or
1:04dramas or whatever, to see women's
1:06breasts, to see naked women, but men's
1:09don't make us uncomfortable.
1:11It's like, "Ah, it's grotesque to see a
1:13naked man." That comes a little from the
1:15Western conception we have regarding the
1:17female body. First as something public,
1:20that is, something we all know.
1:22And, secondly, as something beautiful*
1:24per se*; that is, the woman's body is
1:26considered beautiful, however it is,
1:28obviously within the limits of the
1:30current hegemony, of course.
1:32But well, that idea of the Greek goddess
1:34, Greek nudity, the naked woman as
1:36something that inspires and as something
1:38worth seeing has always been linked.
1:41It was from that chat I had with my
1:43friend that I said: "Well, I'm going to
1:45start reading a bit to bring you a video
1:47talking about muses and how, throughout
1:49history, we have built that image of
1:51women as always a potential source of
1:53inspiration."
1:55We will also ask ourselves how a Greek
1:57religious category like the goddesses
1:59ended up creating a category that
2:01nowadays marks who creates and who
2:02inspires.
2:04And why that division historically
2:06always coincided with gender: the man
2:08creating, the woman inspiring.
2:13The etymological origin of the word "
2:15muse" isn't entirely clear—that is, the
2:17origin of the word in Greek—but we do
2:19know that the concept of the Muse began
2:21to be used in ancient Greece.
2:23First, a disclaimer: as a historian, I
2:25am not a specialist in ancient history.
2:28I have quite a few gaps when it comes to
2:29ancient history. I mean, I know about it
2:31because I earned my degree, but it’s not
2:33a period I feel comfortable in, so I’m
2:35going to speak in very general terms
2:37about this era to avoid any mistakes.
2:39You know I’m always sincere about these
2:41topics. It’s not a subject I navigate
2:43with much fluency. Of course, I read key
2:46texts to make this video, but there are
2:48details, fine points, that I’m going to
2:50gloss over so I don’t mess up.
2:53As I was saying, the concept of the Muse
2:55appeared in ancient Greece and
2:57originated from the poets 'feeling of
2:59dependence on a divine force.
3:01Basically, the muse was the
3:03personification of inspiration for
3:06writing poetry. That inspiration, of
3:08course, was divine in ancient Greece.
3:11It came from the gods, striking writers
3:14like a poetic ray of light that filled
3:16them with ideas, inspiration, and beauty
3:19to write beautiful texts.
3:22This was, of course, in a context where
3:24the Greeks believed that inspiration,
3:25capability, and the possibility of
3:27creating something beautiful could not
3:29be solely human; it had to have a
3:30footing in the gods.
3:32That is why Greek goddesses are always
3:34presented as muses of inspiration, as
3:36beautiful beings, as radiant beings.
3:39In the face of human ignorance—since
3:41humans were considered imperfect—the
3:43muses arrived as a form of omnipresent
3:46knowledge. They were capable of
3:48transferring all their knowledge to that
3:50imperfect human.
3:52And this can be seen, of course, in
3:54Greek literature, particularly in the
3:56archaic epics of the Iliad and the
3:58Odyssey.
4:00In these Homeric narratives, the
4:02goddesses sing, tell stories, and
4:04inspire, but they are not human; they
4:06are semi-goddesses, because human women
4:08—no, they aren't going to be muses
4:10because they are imperfect humans.
4:13Something very particular happens here,
4:15especially in the Homeric texts, which
4:17show how knowledge comes from a female
4:19figure, but it is the male voice that
4:21materializes it.
4:23What am I getting at with this? It is
4:25the perfect, ethereal goddesses who
4:27bring the inspiration, who carry the
4:29inspiration, but it is the man who grabs
4:31that inspiration and turns it into a
4:33poem.
4:34In other words, the knowledge comes from
4:35the feminine, but it comes out through a
4:37masculine voice. You see this a lot in
4:39Homeric texts. I’m actually reading a
4:42book I recommended the other day, I'll
4:43recommend it to you all right now. It’s
4:45this book called*Papyrus*by Irene
4:47Vallejo, about the invention of books in
4:49the ancient world. It has nothing to do
4:51with this video, but I just remembered
4:52it while writing the script. Well, it’s
4:54a book that talks about the origin of
4:57books in the ancient world. Anyway, it’s
4:59incredible. But in one part, she talks
5:01about Homer, you know, this Greek poet
5:04who we don’t know if he existed, or if
5:06it’s a group of writers, or someone
5:09posing as Homer. I mean, that doesn’t
5:11matter.
5:12But what she explains is that Homeric
5:15texts are very important because they
5:17bridge the oral tradition to the written
5:20tradition.
5:21She says that perhaps, it’s a hypothesis
5:24, all the Homeric tales included in the
5:27*Iliad*and the*Odyssey*might not be
5:29products of Homer’s imagination, but
5:31rather oral stories that were
5:33circulating where he lived, and he wrote
5:36them down; and by writing them down,
5:38they became his.
5:40Well, she says that in these archaic
5:42texts, meaning not just Homer’s but
5:45others too, we can see what Greek
5:47culture was like at the time.
5:49You can see what their traditions and
5:51customs were like, right? Their ways of
5:53life.
5:54And you can see how throughout the*
5:56Iliad*and the*Odyssey*there is a male
5:58preponderance, where men have the public
6:01voice and women are the sources of
6:03inspiration.
6:05So she says, "Well, it’s surely a
6:07reflection of how people lived back then
6:10, when women had no public voice."
6:12Anyway, that’s a side note, I’ll
6:13continue with the original script now,
6:15but it is a great book. I will cite it
6:17again at some point in this video.
6:19It’s a thick one, I mean, it’s 450 pages
6:22, but I swear it’s worth it.
6:24Also, I just remembered, it says
6:26something very interesting about how in
6:28the oral transmission of these tales and
6:30knowledge, memory is not just a record
6:32of the past, but also a way to create
6:34presents and futures.
6:37I mean, by collecting these stories from
6:39the past where we women are muses and do
6:41nothing but inspire, we build a present
6:43where we women are muses and do nothing
6:45but inspire.
6:47in the archaic texts of Homer or Hesiod
6:49, whom I didn't name, but well, another
6:51great Greek poet.
6:53The poet is like an active receiver of
6:55the inspiration given to him by women.
6:58This changes with Plato, who turns the
7:01matter around and suggests that in
7:03reality, the poet is a passive receiver
7:05of what the muses and the gods transmit
7:07to him. He will say that poets fall into
7:10a madness, a creative frenzy resulting
7:13from the inspiration provoked by the
7:16muses. It is not that the muses give
7:18them the poetry already made, but rather
7:19they inspire them to write poetry. It
7:21doesn't matter. Without getting into too
7:23much detail here, it must be clear that
7:25in ancient Greece the voice that knows
7:27is the female and divine voice, but the
7:29one that signs and gains prestige is
7:31always the male voice, which is the one
7:33that ends up writing. This idea is then
7:35installed in what will become Western
7:37culture.
7:38which of course is the one that
7:39continues to reproduce this logic of
7:41muses.
7:42In fact, this same thing can be seen not
7:44only in Greek literature, but also in
7:47Greek art, in how bodies, both male and
7:49female but fundamentally female, are
7:51always sources of inspiration, they are
7:53something to contemplate.
7:56But things change once the Roman world
7:58is established and new ideas appear.
8:03You know there is an idea circulating
8:05about these nine muses, which would be
8:08nine women who each represent an art.
8:11epic, history, astronomy, tragedy,
8:13comedy, dance, knowledge, etcetera.
8:16This idea consolidates during the Roman
8:18era.
8:19Here the muse ceases to be something
8:21religious, as it was in the Greek world
8:23, which had to do with the gods, and
8:25becomes a way to classify scholarly
8:27knowledge, that is, a kind of antecedent
8:29to what we call a canon.
8:30That is, there is a muse specifically
8:32for history, for art, for music, for
8:34theater.
8:36I just cited another fact from this
8:38fantastic book, which is that, well, she
8:41starts by talking a lot about the
8:43Library of Alexandria and how during the
8:45Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty it began to
8:47consolidate as a space for knowledge,
8:49culture, wisdom, and so on.
8:53And it is from, it is from that era that
8:55the word museum appears, museum, I don't
8:58know how it would be pronounced in its
9:00original language, but they were spaces
9:02where the different muses were placed;
9:05that is, the representations of the
9:07different muses of art, literature,
9:09history, music, and so on, which were
9:11like study centers paid for by the kings
9:13, by the Ptolemaic dynasty in the
9:15Library of Alexandria, of course, as
9:18spaces to safeguard knowledge.
9:20Well, that is where the word museum
9:22supposedly comes from.
9:24As the centuries pass and we move past
9:26the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries, the
9:28Middle Ages begin to consolidate, let's
9:30say, that historical period that goes
9:32from the 5th to the 15th century AD.
9:35The idea of the Muse changes as
9:38societies change. In the final years of
9:41the Roman Empire, let's say, of the
9:43Roman period, the Muse becomes something
9:45a little more earthly. She stops being
9:47that goddess who inspires and can be the
9:50lover, the girlfriend, the wife, the
9:52girl you like.
9:54And this idea begins to fade as the idea
9:56of Roman religiosity and the Roman
9:58religious world, let's say, also fades
10:00and the Christian Church begins to take
10:02hold; the idea of a Muse linked to a
10:04goddess begins to be abandoned and she
10:06is presented more as an earthly human
10:08whom you can desire and possess.
10:12As I said, a lover, a girlfriend, a wife
10:14, a girl you like, or the girl in front
10:17of you. But as this idea that the muse
10:19is something earthly is being created,
10:22an anti-muse idea also begins to take
10:24shape. What do I mean by this?
10:26As the Catholic Church separates the
10:29issue of Roman mythology from the
10:31European social imagination, it
10:33simultaneously installs the idea of
10:35modesty.
10:36Those muses were always very sexualized
10:38because it was assumed they were women
10:40one should desire.
10:42So, as this idea of modesty and decency
10:44that the Catholic Church begins to
10:46install in Europe starting fundamentally
10:48in the 5th century is formed, the muse
10:50also begins to be seen as something, I
10:53don't know if it's so good.
10:55For example, theaters where there were
10:57muses, theater muses who were women
10:59represented and sexualized, people start
11:01calling them the prostitutes of the
11:03theater.
11:04That, instead of prostitutes, the
11:05prostitutes go there. An idea that ends
11:07up consolidating over the centuries,
11:09right?
11:11I mean, we have the good muse, which is
11:13the woman who inspires you to write love
11:15and poetry and tell her she's the best,
11:17and the bad muse, the theatrical one,
11:19the one who dresses provocatively, a
11:20provocateur, a sinner, which also, of
11:22course, reflects the reality of women
11:24themselves.
11:26You have to be a woman for your family,
11:28have children, you shouldn't be a sinner
11:31running wild in the streets.
11:33An idea that began to take shape in
11:35Western society during the Middle Ages
11:36and that gained more and more strength
11:38over the following centuries.
11:40I've already spoken about this in a lot
11:42of videos regarding the construction of
11:44this desired-slash-desiring woman in
11:46conflict. So I’m not going to get into
11:48it.
11:49Let's just keep in mind that from now on
11:52the muse is an earthly woman, she is no
11:54longer a goddess, but she remains a muse
11:56; I mean, [ __ ] muse, puritanical muse
11:58, she continues to be an object that
12:00sparks imagination.
12:03It sparks knowledge in the man, but she
12:05is not the bearer of that knowledge. It
12:08remains the man finding inspiration in a
12:10woman. Of course, during the Renaissance
12:13it is exacerbated even further because
12:15it is during the Renaissance that
12:17certain aesthetic values typical of the
12:20Roman world return.
12:22Starting in the 15th century in Europe,
12:25as I tell you, they begin to recover
12:27aesthetic elements of white, of naked
12:30human figures. Michelangelo, let's say,
12:33all this, well, the Renaissance, in fact
12:35I have a video from a year ago, I think
12:38it's the fourth or fifth video I
12:39uploaded, about how the world became
12:41grayer and the false ideal of white, of
12:44Roman white, which you can go see, where
12:46I talk a bit about how that white idea
12:48we have of the Roman world is wrong
12:50because the Roman world was colorful, it
12:53just faded over time. But well, you can
12:55go see it, I'll leave it recommended at
12:56the end of this video, but I do want to
12:58recover this: that the idea of the Muse
13:00started making sense again.
13:01From an artistic standpoint, starting
13:03with the Renaissance, the idea of the
13:05Roman muse was recovered.
13:08This idea of the woman as solely a muse
13:11only begins to change from the 16th
13:14century on, maybe the 17th, when women
13:17begin to appear very slowly and
13:19sporadically in the world of literary or
13:23scientific production.
13:26I say very slowly because the women who
13:28start writing can be counted on the
13:29fingers of one hand, but they begin to
13:31turn things around a bit.
13:33And this is where I want to focus on a
13:35particular woman who brought the
13:37question of the muse into debate during
13:39the 17th century in a highly hostile
13:42context like the Church, and she is, of
13:44course, the immense Sor Juana Inés de la
13:46Cruz.
13:50The truth is that the life of Sor Juana
13:51Inés de la Cruz deserves its own
13:53separate video. In fact, I am planning
13:55to make a video about her. You can let
13:57me know in the comments if you want that
13:58video. You can also leave a like because
14:01she is a woman who deserves a full 3-
14:03hour video.
14:05Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a nun who
14:07lived during the second half of the 17th
14:09century in New Spain, that is, what is
14:11currently Mexico.
14:13And she is one of the most important
14:15Hispanic figures of the Baroque and
14:17Latin American literature, to the point
14:19that they came to call her the Tenth
14:21Muse.
14:23You saw that I mentioned this Greek
14:25issue of the nine muses, these nine
14:27women each representing a different art
14:29.
14:31Well, her writings were so recognized
14:33and so important and had such
14:36repercussions that she herself was
14:38called the Tenth Muse as a benchmark
14:41muse of knowledge and wisdom.
14:44She was not only very good at writing,
14:46but she was also a quite disruptive
14:48woman for the time, because she
14:50questioned the 17 th-century Church,
14:54she defended women, that is, as a
14:56concept, let's say, women in general,
14:59and left us a very interesting debate
15:01about the place of women in the world of
15:04inspiration or the muses.
15:07In her writings, she basically defended
15:09the right of women to question and learn
15:12.
15:13She said it was necessary for us women
15:15to have a voice in the face of the male
15:17voice, which seemed to be the only voice
15:19.
15:20We have the right to access information
15:22that allows us to question ourselves, to
15:24debate, to debate with men, proposing a
15:26scenario of equality that was
15:27unthinkable for any intellectual of the
15:2917th century.
15:32Her first book, in fact, "Poems of the
15:34Only American Poetess, Tenth Muse," has
15:36two key words in the title.
15:39First, "only," recognizing that it is
15:41truly exceptional for a woman to be
15:43capable of writing, not as if saying, "
15:46Oh, I am unique and peerless, no one
15:48will be able to copy me."
15:50But in the sense of "I am the only woman
15:52who managed to have this voice because
15:54the rest of the female voices are not
15:55being heard."
15:57And "American," making reference to her
15:59subalternity. The fact of being an
16:02American woman in a colony, in a context
16:06of colonialism.
16:08It's interesting to think how that
16:10category of muse, a Greco-Roman one,
16:12arrived in America as a sort of imported
16:15canon because, well, part of the
16:17colonization process meant thinking of
16:19women with the ability to speak as an
16:22exotic rarity, an exotic muse.
16:26It’s also interesting how the idea of
16:28the self-muse is presented here, because
16:30she is no longer a muse who inspires
16:32others, but a woman with a voice; she
16:34turns the category of muse on its head,
16:37as we saw that in the ancient world, the
16:39muse was the one who inspired men to
16:41create knowledge.
16:43Here, she is a Muse creating the
16:45knowledge herself. We can see the first
16:48break from that category of muse I
16:50mentioned, the one of the inspiring
16:52woman, as she is the only one with a
16:54voice—and I insist, the only one,
16:56exceptional, not because she was
16:57one-of-a-kind—though she was—but because
17:00women were not allowed to have a voice.
17:02She has a fantastic line, her most
17:04recognized one, which says, "Foolish men
17:07, who accuse women without reason,
17:09without seeing that you are the cause of
17:11that which you blame." If you want a
17:13video on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, you
17:15know what to do: leave a comment.
17:17But anyway, we arrive at the 17th to
17:19early 19th centuries, and gradually we
17:22begin to see more and more literary
17:25works produced by women.
17:30Of course, with Mary Shelley and
17:31Frankenstein, we see that women begin to
17:34occupy the place of the public voice
17:35rather than that of the muse.
17:38At the same time that men continue
17:40writing with the idea of the Muse,
17:42fundamentally in English and European
17:44literature, two visions begin to coexist
17:46: that of the muse and that of the
17:47genius.
17:49Something else also happens that begins
17:52to turn things around: characteristics
17:54that were previously associated with the
17:57feminine or the fragile begin to be seen
17:59as positive—like passion, imagination,
18:02sensitivity, and love—and are revalued,
18:04mainly during Romanticism, as traits of
18:07a genius; a genius who can be a man.
18:11So, with that genius man who possesses
18:13the characteristics of the female muse,
18:15men no longer need external muses
18:17because they carry their own muses
18:19within; they are sensitive men who can
18:21see those beautiful, muse-like
18:23capacities inside themselves.
18:25They no longer need an external muse;
18:27they are their own muse.
18:29And that is how, little by little, the
18:31idea of the muse, as that woman who
18:33inspires, begins to gradually disappear
18:35, especially within literature.
18:37In other types of art, perhaps the muse
18:39continues to exist as a more abstract
18:41concept, like this muse of theater or
18:43muse of music as a concept, and no
18:45longer that specific woman who inspires
18:47you.
18:49Also tied to a Renaissance idea, as an
18:51idea belonging to other eras, because
18:53during the 20th century we no longer see
18:55, except in some very specific literary
18:57matters, perhaps romantic or otherwise,
18:59that the idea of the muse is so present
19:02.
19:02A bit because now the genius has the
19:05muse inside, and a bit because we women
19:07stopped being muses to become
19:09protagonists of the stories being built
19:11, whether as writers, artists, and so on
19:14.
19:15Moving to the present, we will see that
19:17while in this, in artistic production,
19:19something has changed, where the idea of
19:21the Muse is no longer so present, in the
19:24way we continue to exhibit and represent
19:26art, the idea of the Muse remains just
19:28as it was in the Greco-Roman era.
19:34In cinema, there are plenty of films
19:36where there are female characters whose
19:39only purpose within the story is to make
19:41the male character grow.
19:45We have film productions where female
19:47characters only serve to build the
19:49male's story, to inspire, or to
19:51transform for the worse.
19:54In other words, although in hegemonic
19:56terms the idea of the Muse was
19:58dismantled as a concept, the idea of the
20:00woman as male inspiration remains
20:03present without the connotation of the
20:05Muse. I know I got tangled up here with
20:07what I'm trying to say, but well, I hope
20:09it's understood. Me again, making a
20:11video without much of a script.
20:13The last time I made a video just like
20:15that, it ended up being the most-watched
20:16video on the channel, which is the one
20:17about why we get married.
20:20I should have learned my lesson there,
20:21but the thing is, well, sometimes I come
20:23...I mean, this: I like making videos
20:25that are more general, with questions,
20:27with information to be discussed, to,
20:28well, this: generate back-and-forth, a
20:30conversation that always gets really
20:32interesting in the comments.
20:34But anyway, I wanted to make this video
20:36; I had this conversation pending that I
20:38mentioned at the beginning of the video
20:39with my friend, and I wanted to bring it
20:41here for debate with all of you to, well
20:42, this: hear what you think.
20:45So, this idea of the Muse has been
20:47falling apart; perhaps in strict terms,
20:48let's say, we don't see the word "Muse"
20:50as clearly anymore, but women still tend
20:52to be characters placed there only so
20:54that men can change—they wouldn't be
20:56like a Muse, but well, they would be
20:57female characters that don't serve the
20:59ends of their own story, but rather what
21:01a man wants to tell.
21:03This idea of the Muse, as I told you,
21:05remains intact in some spaces of
21:07artistic exhibition, such as museums.
21:11In 1989, quite some time ago, the
21:13Metropolitan Museum of New York had less
21:16than 5%of exhibited authors who were
21:19women, and more than 85%of works
21:22involving nudity featured female nudes.
21:26In other words, we have a reality very
21:28similar to the Greco-Roman world. Few
21:30women producing art, but many women
21:33being exhibited as art. This brings me
21:36back to the question I asked you at the
21:38beginning about how we naturalize female
21:40nudes, thinking a bit that it is the
21:42inspiration of the most beautiful beauty
21:44in the world, and how we have few women
21:46making art. This figure didn't change
21:48much.
21:49In the year 2011, 4%of the artists were
21:52women and 76%of the nudes were female.
21:56Because for the woman-as-art, you are
21:59always art.
22:01This leads me to think how, in the end,
22:03we continue to reproduce an idea where
22:05the place for women is still to be a
22:07muse and not a creator of knowledge;
22:09where the woman is inspiration and does
22:12not inspire; where the woman we see in
22:14the museum is a woman portrayed through
22:16a man's gaze.
22:18We can go to the museum, go ahead, do
22:20that exercise.
22:21When you go to an art museum, take the
22:23trouble to count how many male portraits
22:26there are and how many female portraits
22:28there are, and see how each one of them
22:30is represented.
22:32You will surely come across the
22:33coincidence that the majority of female
22:35portraits are sexualized or presented as
22:37something beautiful or something
22:39inspiring. And male portraits are male
22:42portraits or war portraits, of course. I
22:45leave you here with this doubt to think
22:47about: are you art, or are you
22:49inspiration?
22:50I'll tell you that every Wednesday at
22:522:00 PM Argentina time and 11:00 AM
22:54Mexico time, I'm doing live streams
22:56talking about different things.
22:59Last week I did one talking about a
23:01certain Austrian painter, and I left the
23:04recorded version only for members.
23:07I'll see how I do that because I want to
23:08give something to the channel members
23:10who so kindly become members. And I was
23:12thinking about this: that the live
23:13streams should be for everyone and the
23:14option to watch it recorded for members
23:16, or one for everyone, one for members.
23:18We'll see, because there are some that I
23:19might want everyone to be able to see.
23:22Most likely, the one next Wednesday will
23:23be open for everyone.
23:25But anyway, remember, you can set a
23:26reminder for Wednesday at 2 in the
23:28afternoon, Argentina time. If you are
23:29from another country, please calculate
23:31what time that is for you.
23:32If you are from Mexico, you already know
23:34I'll be there in January: January 22nd
23:36in Guadalajara, the 23rd in Mexico City
23:38, and February 3rd in Tulum.
23:40Let me know in the comments what you
23:41think about what I told you in this
23:43video, and I'll see you next week or on
23:45the live stream.

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