MovieChat Forums > Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (2013) Discussion > You say you want a revolution...well, yo...

You say you want a revolution...well, you know.....

posted 11 years ago by ween-3
13 replies | jump to latest

Mapplethorpe's "Piss Christ". "The Rite of Spring" ballet premiere in Paris. Art for provocation's sake. There's a rich worldwide history of the stuff, and Pussy Riot is the latest in the crosshairs of art vs. censorship. Any time the forces of church and state mobilize to suppress the artist who brandishes nothing but a guitar, a paintbrush, a camera or a pen, it's a bad day for free thought...and it can, and does, happen all over the world, (including right here in the US of A...we ain't immune).

Orwell called it "thoughtcrime"...and that's pretty much what Pussy Riot's been convicted of. When you lose the ability to think for yourself or laugh at yourself, you're setting yourself up for big trouble at the very least, or a totalitarian state at the very worst.

These women are proudly waving their middle finger at what they see as wrong with their society. Nothing wrong with that. They're not waving AK-47's. They're not issuing fatwas. They're not threatening lives or property. They're just playing guitar and singing. Pretty badly, too, but that's the point. And they're willing to suffer for their art, even to the extent of a prison sentence. That takes some righteous balls. Good for them. They've already affected their milieu, and that's exactly what they were looking to do. As our ol' pal Chuck Sheen would say, "WINNING!!"

Thanks to HBO for airing this documentary

[–] Miss_Sui_Generis 11 years ago

Righteous balls indeed.

Send lawyers,guns and money/The *beep* has hit the fan

[–] mrmanifest71 11 years ago

Well said, basically. Finally saw it this a.m. & these gals "paid 2 play". Gauging from the elder of the trio's appeal success- I believe in hindsight, not a single one of'em would've

[–] mrmanifest71 11 years ago

Miss_Sui_Generis replied 11h ago
"I am not even a religous fanatic or catholic."
This has nothing to do with Catholicism. Are you confused or just unfamiliar with The Russian Orthodox Church?

Send lawyers,guns and money/The *beep* has hit the fan
fortunate1 replied 9h ago

Burning unholy sluts at the stake -another symbol of religious tolerance, (c.1550).

Organised religion wreaks so much damage in the world, serving as it does as a haven for small-minded, misanthropic hubris. 'Pussy Riot' is valuable precisely because it exposes, in the case of Russia, the unholy bargain the patriarchate has struck with Putin et al. -legitimising undiluted, unrestrained fascism.
thebilliejean replied 8h ago
Is not my fault if you misunderstand my post. I am Jewish and I DO NOT AGREE WITH BURNING WITCHES OR ANYTHING AT THE STAKE, BUT THEY WERE SACRILEGIOUS YOU RESPECT HOLLY PLACES END OF THE STORY. Also I AM A AGNOSTIC JEW.
fortunate1 replied 7h ago

There's no need to shout, bj; that you're Jewish and agnostic is irrelevant to the argument (unless you want to talk about the alliance between Shas and the Likud, quite like Putin's alliance with the Orthodox church -then read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/opinion/israels-ultra-orthodox.html.
You yourself brought up the subject of burning at the stake, and then called the women "sluts" -that's all I need to hear to know what you understand of "holliness" [sic]. And that's the end of that story.
thebilliejean replied 7h ago
You can think what you want but what they did was wrong and I do not agree with burning people at the stake and you see to be close mind so I would not argue with you. In fact I leave this board now I am not put *beep* of anyone and I put you on ignore user, cause I am right you are wrong I believe and I do believe in you shall not kill and what you do good it will return three time better and viceversa. SO END OF THE STORY I am right you are wrong what they did was wrong.
New topic
Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer
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[–] Bobby_vs_Satan 11 years ago

But the big technical question of the documentary wasn't "Is what they did wrong?". It was, "Is what they did illegal?" I found this doc very interesting. As much as I sympathize with the band I couldn't totally dismiss a possible valid argument for impinging on someone's religious freedom by performing inside the the church and obviously being very offensive to those there. Just like beauty, offense is in the eye of the beholder and hopefully the laws are clear enough to decide when it's crossed a line or people just need to not be so damn sensitive and deal with it.

To anyone who thinks they needed even more time in jail, grow the F up. "Learn their lesson". What lesson? Their lives would be completely ruined and a Mother would hardly know her almost teenage child.

Still glad I live in the ol' USA. At worst they might have got trespassing or some other misdemeanor as long as nothing was vandalized. But even then I'm not sure if a Church can be considered private property in that circumstance, per se, as they extend an invitation to anyone who cares to come.

I did find it ironic that the religious folks (The Orthodox) were the ones sending death threats. One of the many reasons I'm not religious.

[–] fortunate1 11 years ago

from the NYTimes / 2 June, 2013:
In his criticism of both Republicans and Democrats, and his calls for much closer collaboration with the Russians, potentially including joint military exercises, Mr. [Dana] Rohrabacher [R.- California] strayed far from his own party’s traditional distrust of the Kremlin. And he said that President Vladimir V. Putin had been unfairly maligned in the United States.

“Everything that the Russians do that can be described in sinister words and anything that Mr. Putin does that can be described in sinister words are described in sinister words in the United States,” he said.

After Mr. [Steve] Cohen [D.- Tennessee] took a moment to criticize Russia for its prosecution of members of Pussy Riot, the band that carried out a “punk prayer” protest in Moscow’s main cathedral, Mr. Rohrabacher said he disagreed.

Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, also said the prosecution seemed justified. “If anyone came into my church,” Mr. King said, “and did that, it would be difficult for me to stand up and say they had a human right to do that.”

Former Soviets and American Republicans: unlikely political bedfellows at first glance, and on second thought, utterly compatible.

[–] ween-3 11 years ago

After Mr. [Steve] Cohen [D.- Tennessee] took a moment to criticize Russia for its prosecution of members of Pussy Riot, the band that carried out a “punk prayer” protest in Moscow’s main cathedral, Mr. Rohrabacher said he disagreed.

I'm shocked. A Jewish Democrat in Tennessee? Holding political office? Really? Isn't that one of the 7 signs of the Apocalypse?

As for Rep. King of Iowa, one more bullet point for his resume which he will eventually submit to Fox News, I guess.

[–] inko8 11 years ago

Andres Serrano did piss christ.

[–] ween-3 11 years ago

I stand corrected. My bad.

Punishment, as always, should fit the crime.

As penance I will say a novena, take the water at Lourdes, and force myself to listen to 2 uninterrupted hours of my local classic rock station. I hope this mea culpa meets with your approval.

[–] inko8 11 years ago

very denominationally correct of you!

speaking of religion, yes, jewish people do live in the south-- believe me! i interned for steve cohen when i was in college, and he's a legendary character in local memphis politics, too-- very hot-tempered about a certain alfa romeo, as i recall...

"Ugh! I don't like this." --Ambrose Bierce

[–] HwajangshilAgashi 11 years ago

"They're not threatening lives or property."

I guess you missed the parts where they were chanting "Kill all sexists", "kill all conformists", "kill all Putinites", "explosions set off at security headquarters", "riot is here to abort the system" (abort = kill), "an attack at dawn? don't mind if I do"... and that's as much as I care to list.

Then there's that other question of "art"...
Who is an "artist" anyways, and does "art" have limits? Is it okay to kill for the sake of "art"? Should these killings have no consequences?

I'm not saying that Russia doesn't have any problems, or that Pussy Riot doesn't have a reason to demonstrate. But they did break laws, and were not just convicted of a "thought crime".

[–] fortunate1 11 years ago

Differences, I regret that you appear to live in the sort of intellectually stunted culture that has no compunction about putting its jack-boot on the throats of GIRLS PLAYING GUITARS! Watch out, everyone: those words can kill! Words delivered by unarmed females playing music: how dangerous is that? It makes Moscow 1936-8 look positively wonderful; it makes Shostakovitch look like a well-respected citizen. Super-Danger now, though, because vaginas are involved: those (state) organs are the worst!

And if that frightened, ugly, gynophobic oppression isn't a (Russian) crime against (free) thought, then the words 'thought', 'freedom', 'art', 'rights' and 'woman' clearly have no meaning for you -other than as threats to chain to the wall of a cell that only you have the key to.

[–] lola_mento 10 years ago

You're an idiot if you think they meant literally kill

[–] BulmaPunkRocker 10 years ago

I totally agree.

I'm from a country very different to Russia and USA. Here in my country, we had an exrtreme-right-wing military dictatorship. People were murdered and disappeared just for thinking different.
Now we have a pseudo-democracy. Our (female) president is socialist, but our society is already corrupted by capitalism.

This documentary help us to understand what's going on in present Russia. How adults and elders changed their former "atheist" to extreme Christian Orthodox, a very repressive religion (even more than the repressive Catholic that still have power over the laws and Congress decissions here in my country).

I can feel related with Pussy Riot members, and I can learn how a country that had the opposite background that the one I'm from, still can be very sexist, religion-biased and messed up as the country where I come from.

We are very different, yet we can share very similar feelings. That amazed me.

I'm glad the three of them are free now.

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.