{"id":16113,"date":"2021-03-09T12:42:54","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T17:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=16113"},"modified":"2021-03-09T12:42:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T17:42:54","slug":"mile-long-mixtapes-ep-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2021\/03\/09\/mile-long-mixtapes-ep-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Mile-Long Mixtapes: Ep. #6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMile-Long Mixtapes\u201d: Ep. #6<\/span><\/p>\n

Catharsis<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

by Kellie M. Beck<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aristotle\u2019s <\/span>Poetics <\/span><\/i>defines the term \u201ctragic catharsis\u201d as a type of purgation. The idea behind tragic catharsis is that when we see something deeply tragic, we experience a purification process of a sort. Described as a \u201ctragic pleasure\u201d, we experience a certain satisfaction in witnessing difficult emotions in the media we consume.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Phoebe Bridgers\u2019 sophomore album is full of opportunities for catharsis– even the title, <\/span>Punisher, <\/span><\/i>alludes to it to a certain extent. But it\u2019s the album\u2019s second single, <\/span>Kyoto, <\/span><\/i>about Bridger\u2019s estranged father, as well as the ending track (really quite a finale), <\/span>I Know The End<\/span><\/i>, are the ones that ring the truest when it comes to my own personal catharsis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I was in high school, I had a boyfriend, who, to make a long story short, was emotionally dependent on me, two years younger than him initially, at fifteen. While our actual relationship was short-lived, he haunted my life for three and half years afterward– he would show up out of the blue at my theatre productions, or send me a text late at night, asking how I\u2019d been. It\u2019d be fair to say I should\u2019ve blocked him, ignored him, been firmer in telling him to leave me alone. But he knew all too well what to say to get my attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listening to Bridgers\u2019 <\/span>Kyoto <\/span><\/i>for the first time, I burst into tears– not the gross, sobbing kind, but rather that kind of emotional response you\u2019re not sure where it comes from. Bridgers\u2019 lyrics are blunt– they cut to the chase.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t forgive you<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But please don’t hold me to it<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Born under Scorpio skies<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I wanted to see the world<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Through your eyes until it happened<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Then I changed my mind<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even though Bridgers is referencing her father, one of her major skills is writing her personal stories to be universal. The most interesting thing about <\/span>Punisher, <\/span><\/i>to me, is its use of both themes of masochism, as well as tragic catharsis, that makes me wonder if Bridgers herself finds tragic catharsis in her own pain. A better question might be, can we process our traumas and hurt through art so that we ourselves might find catharsis in them? But perhaps that is why creating art is so seductive– to play a character outside yourself, to write a story from another\u2019s point of view, to write your story down through lyrics– isn\u2019t that what most artists pursue?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The boyfriend moved to Frankenmuth, of all places. He asked me to visit for a day– god knows why, but I said yes. We had a fine day. In fact, it almost felt normal. After that day, we never saw or spoke to each other again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catharsis is a kind of relief.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMile-Long Mixtapes\u201d: Ep. #6 Catharsis by Kellie M. Beck   Aristotle\u2019s Poetics defines the term \u201ctragic catharsis\u201d as a type of purgation. The idea behind tragic catharsis is that when we see something deeply tragic, we experience a purification process of a sort. Described as a \u201ctragic pleasure\u201d, we experience a certain satisfaction in witnessing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2232,"featured_media":16114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16115,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16113\/revisions\/16115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}