The flaneur - for our mutual understanding.
The flaneur:
The flaneur is a concept derived from art criticism of Charles Baudelaire, encompassing more of an ideal rather than a definable person. The traditional flaneur is male, upper classed, with an ease of lifestyle that disposable income such as inheritance allows. The flaneur is the strolling yet idle observer of metropolitan life, examining every nook and cranny of the streets and the faces of fellow occupants in his crowd. The flaneur revels in his anonymity and the power his social position affords him, gaining pleasure from his voyeuristic imaginings of the lives behind the faces he sees about him. Imagination is an important aspect to the flaneur: not only are the secrets of those about him revealed by his "insightful" observation, but he is also able to imagine different scenarios for himself, one which does not include the monotony of the private realm where family responsibility burdens the artistic freedom inherent in the man of the city streets. The cityscape enables the flaneur to imaginatively create rather than happen upon his own realm, in which he is the dominant and controlling force, the always present but not ostentatious hero, discerning what others cannot. The flaneur embodies the dichotomous qualities of city life: despite his ubiquity, he is mysterious, obscure, fleeting, transitory. These impressions evoke the experience of city life itself: the flash of colour, snippets of conversation, momentary physical contacts with passers-by. However, the flaneur, while appearing to prefer his public world to the domestic realm, in all actuality feels insecure and inadequate in this modern landscape. Despite all of his strolling and intense observation, he attempts to slow down the increasing speed of modernity and to rein in the rampant progress technology and industry have fostered, thereby suggesting a sense of nostalgia for the relative quietude of bygone times. While appearing to have a neutral outlook on the world about him, his active observation, coupled with his elevated social status, places the flaneur into a precarious position of seeing the problems of urban life but with little desire or motivation to change what he sees, at risk of changing what offers him so much pleasure.
-- me.
It's quite repetitive in parts, but sometimes it's meant to be like that. I used ubiquity, go me.
The flaneur is a concept derived from art criticism of Charles Baudelaire, encompassing more of an ideal rather than a definable person. The traditional flaneur is male, upper classed, with an ease of lifestyle that disposable income such as inheritance allows. The flaneur is the strolling yet idle observer of metropolitan life, examining every nook and cranny of the streets and the faces of fellow occupants in his crowd. The flaneur revels in his anonymity and the power his social position affords him, gaining pleasure from his voyeuristic imaginings of the lives behind the faces he sees about him. Imagination is an important aspect to the flaneur: not only are the secrets of those about him revealed by his "insightful" observation, but he is also able to imagine different scenarios for himself, one which does not include the monotony of the private realm where family responsibility burdens the artistic freedom inherent in the man of the city streets. The cityscape enables the flaneur to imaginatively create rather than happen upon his own realm, in which he is the dominant and controlling force, the always present but not ostentatious hero, discerning what others cannot. The flaneur embodies the dichotomous qualities of city life: despite his ubiquity, he is mysterious, obscure, fleeting, transitory. These impressions evoke the experience of city life itself: the flash of colour, snippets of conversation, momentary physical contacts with passers-by. However, the flaneur, while appearing to prefer his public world to the domestic realm, in all actuality feels insecure and inadequate in this modern landscape. Despite all of his strolling and intense observation, he attempts to slow down the increasing speed of modernity and to rein in the rampant progress technology and industry have fostered, thereby suggesting a sense of nostalgia for the relative quietude of bygone times. While appearing to have a neutral outlook on the world about him, his active observation, coupled with his elevated social status, places the flaneur into a precarious position of seeing the problems of urban life but with little desire or motivation to change what he sees, at risk of changing what offers him so much pleasure.
-- me.
It's quite repetitive in parts, but sometimes it's meant to be like that. I used ubiquity, go me.