Okay, well, I need to take my mind off something this morning, so inspired by Rina's post, I took a look at the video. One of the problems with K. is that she is the queen of the 'sweeping statement'. She needs to give more thought to what she is saying as her words can be too quickly unpacked and found to be superficial. For instance, her sweeping comparisons between old a new: "the religious melodrama in a society that attends mass maybe once a year" and "Ballrooms in an era where ball gowns have been diminished to a polyester imitation' are two examples. I am sure that there are countless devout people in this world whose faith is still of utmost importance to them. Indeed, life pre-Covid would have witnessed many upscale parties and balls where people are carefully and exquisitely dressed. Kylie need look no further than Guido, who, if you consult the list in the following link, partnered Countess Costanza della Gherardesca, who was wearing couture to a ball.
https://www.lebal.paris/en/editions/le-bal-2003/ . These events still exist if you move in certain circles and know where to look.
Kylie often rhetorically raises philosophical questions which she does not adequately address.
The theatre is pretty, and Guido makes a few valid comments. On the whole, the Pal. Sergardi is charming enough, though it clearly needs restoration. I would not venture to comment on its historical importance to attract state restoration funding. I imagine it is a lovely project for an individual wealthy and passionate enough to restore the building and its interiors to its former grandeur. The way Kylie waxes lyrical as she walks around the rooms reveals that she maybe hasn't been exposed to truly great art or has not learned to differentiate between great art and competent workmanship. She could have mentioned the name of the artist who decorated the building, Luigi Ademollo (1764-1849)
https://paoloantonacci.com/artists/30-luigi-ademollo/biography/ . Ademollo also has a brief Wiki entry.
Again, as we all know, Kylie likes her love stories, which I guess reflects her life phase.
Her comments about making friends or forming relationships in a historic city are nonsense. It is challenging anywhere.
Her reading from the book,
A Soldier at War, with the English subtitles, felt a little clunky and unnecessarily long. This is where she makes parallels with some of her followers. I believe Kylie has a fair amount of elderly fans who have sent her pictures of themselves in their younger days. It is likely that some are military veterans and have shared with her, in letters, stories of their lives in active service.
As you know, I have wondered at times whether we overestimate the extent to which we imagine Kylie cares about our thread. But I also thought that maybe the following excerpt, which she read from
A Soldier at War, was pointedly intended for us. Or perhaps it is my own conscience pricking me:
"People are strange … I observe them a great deal as I do with the majority of people with whom I come into contact, and I have the impression that their greatest pleasure is to be able to deride someone, have fun at their expense without considering for a moment the possibility that it hurts him. And then if they do realise, they're happy having achieved this. It's such low and wretched behaviour, totally devoid of sensitivity."
All in all, it is a superficial piece but probably similar to the type of journalism Kylie produced for the Casino magazine that
@Antonio has mentioned, or the sort of article you'd find in an in-flight magazine. Lightweight vignettes peppered with rhetorical questions which sound deeper than they really are.
She has, unfortunately, taken on our comments about not including art/architecture/culture in her vlogs and made an awful mash up of art history and theory which only highlights her ignorance. We all expected something like this and by setting herself up as a kind of “authority” it makes it even more dismal.
www.fondationcartier.com
Little props that present as “culture” , the kind you might use in a 30 seconds ( Rouje dress ad) tv commercial or toob flog in order to suck in the real money grab . As said I have yet to watch the thing . I wonder if she uses these flogs to leverage work for herself making in house clips for hotels etc ? I don’t know when I’ll watch it I’m not sure I want to take on the irritation it will no doubt cause me and ruin my Sunday
.
