Mundane Extremes mini manifesto

The idea of Mundane Extremes is simple: everything is typical and everyone is a dime a dozen, but in that, the nuances of individual existence make for the perceived extremes. To sort of showcase it, I point to media like the My Chemical Romance tour video diary/documentary Life On The Murder Scene. Creative genius aside, there’s nothing out of the ordinary to it, it shows a band and their triumphs and tragedies with all the expected tropes: death, addiction, trauma and drive. It’s not a new tale. The extreme part is the viewing of and hearing the personal insights. Seinfeld is kind of anthemic with this, while “out-there” in that it’s a fictional TV show with character plot armor, the essence is each storyline isn’t out of the realm of possibility— it’s a show about nothing, like real life at the end of the day. To take from Camus and add to that concept as no matter the perspective, life is basically meaningless but what makes it interesting is that it’s a bunch of apes trying to figure out how not to kill themselves. Some do kill themselves though, a typical statistic from catastrophic dreamers. 

The extremes, as said come out of the nuanced circumstances, no matter how dime a dozen it may be. As an extreme example, the Holocaust is held up as this monumental massacre, when it’s not. Genocide was not at all uncommon in the 20th century, nor was it the largest it’s merely the most popular. Armenian, Holodomor (and other Soviet statistics), Africa, Asia and America you name it, all had theirs. But again it makes sense that the Holocaust is the notable one in its unique method of industrialized death. However as with everything the real interesting parts are found in how individuals on every end of the debacle reacted and interacted with the European situation based on their own nuances. Rudolf Hess’ memoirs, Anne Frank’s diary and “the man who broke into Auschwitz” all are the really interesting parts. 

Mundane extremes as such is in some essence the ability to adapt to circumstances. It can be seen in movies like Clerks or Empire Records, the everyday oddities…