Rectangles
In consumption of virtual content, there is a fatigue, ushered in after the enforcement of the lockdown. A mental and social fatigue with the death of consideration and thoughtfulness as the rectangles of the world provided a sense of security, aided by the helplessness of the lockdown which catalyzed the imminence of the transactional, underlying interpersonal relationships. These ethical reflections border general platitudes, which are derived from a pessimistic/realistic non-existent glass, from a screen.
The chance to look at a picture, painting or anything for that matter has a vast difference in experience when perceived from a screen, filter or an intermediate medium, opposed to its direct perception. There are differences experienced; why listen to live music or watch plays in person? This extends out to recordings of live concerts as opposed to studio tracks or even going to the stadium to watch a sport live when the television broadcast provides comfort and convenience.
The real glass of the screen does not exist anymore, it has broken the space and time continuum. By invoking this glass, we invoke an imaginary figurine, framed via the perception of superficial glasses, which makes this glass by extension an image. It is reality, a reality that encompasses the image, however, it is not real.
Real is the intermediate medium, presented to us as convenience in the form of rectangles. Rectangles are omnipresent. Immanent in much of the life from cot to grave, it is subtly present in the corner of each image of our thought and perception. This is where the structure of the glass resides, and this is where the illusion of originality resides.
Rectangles are wonderful, they have enabled me to watch mesmerizing movies, beautiful people, thought-provoking books and the faces of people close to my heart. The heart unfortunately is not a rectangle.
Rectangles are magnificent, in their construction and idea. As a concept, it is an all encompassing shape, which two dimensionally encompasses other shapes with space to breathe. There are very few instances of naturally occurring rectangles, or other perfect shapes for that matter. This is why geometry is a wonder and something incomprehensible while so natural to the human brain. Socrates also demonstrated this point in a dialogue with a slave boy, however that was about triangles.
The etymology of the word is very peculiar as well, deriving from the latin ‘rectus’ for straight and ‘angulus’ for an angle. It was also known as a long square in the mid-17th century. The latin term for it is ‘rectiangulum’ which means a triangle having a right angle.
This raises various questions in my mind, the most prominent being, why is the rectangle so disrespected and neglected. It has great competition with the likes of squares and circles being ideal and perfect representation. Something akin to a Russian woman as described by an unempathetic Indian male. Is this why the rectangle is ignored, because the world that is the Indian male has their whores to look at.
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This explains the slow takeover by the rectangle. The most prominent of rectangular usage stands out in the imagery of books and cinema screens, domains said to enrich the human brain. These are objects about which much is written, they encompass everything from philosophy to self-help. The intellectuals think and ponder on both. They showcase how and what, they dive deep into the depths and excavate from the vast ores of ideas, which are refined into words, jotted down as knowledge into new rectangular pages.
This is where the rectangle plays with us, it is the formidable and strong shape. Carrying on its back art, literature, wisdom and words. All while being neglected because the men ogle and drool over the circle, square and triangles (equilateral or hypotenuse). There is a separate politics of triangles, but we shall not get into that here.
The rectangle, the donkey of the shapes has realised its potential. The end goal is enslavement of life, as we know it. It has let out its silent fart, now the world smells. We are all smelling the stink of the rectangular fart, because a few men choose to be horny.
Its brilliance is in capturing a monopoly away from the squares by presenting itself as efficient. Early screens were square, primarily to accommodate the electrons. The rectangle here catches the eye of technicians and solidifies its position in the market, via efficiency. Square phones, monitors and screens seem unnatural and outdated. This is the strategy of the rectangle which capitalizes on the tendency of human beings by seducing them with the very factor that will enslave them. This shape has managed to establish itself as the market leader of shapes, waiting patiently, carrying everything on its back.
Here lies the difference between the circle and rectangle. Both have worked equally hard across history in the transportation and preservation of the human race respectively. The circle gets its fair share of recognition and praise. Case and point, praise of the wheel, the moon and so on. The rectangle is silent, pushed to the corner. This allows the rectangle to plot its scheme for dominance.
This is where the glass comes into the picture. By taking the glass into its domain, the rectangle establishes its dominance. This is where the construction of an image and an illusion begins. This is a construction of enormous magnitude, unfathomable to people distant from poetry. This is because the illusion is an image, a metaphor in itself. This is a metaphor that is a wall with a mechanism of deception built into it. The glass invoked now is merely a product of this metaphor which is unreal, the real glass is with the rectangle. Time is frozen and in flux, the glass floats in this timeless domain and as a consequence frozen in space which shakes and shatters. The glass floats in the rectangle, inaccessible unless by deciphering the metaphor. This freezing space and time has a pull. This is the genius of the rectangle, which makes one pull towards it. It is always the case of attraction, not because of beauty, but because of the glass. The mechanism of the metaphor, has consequences in the real world, which make one wanting to take refuge in the unreal, which is also reality. This is no notion of the ultimate, or the absolute. This is merely that which is, that is also reality. The pull of the rectangle is strong to make one think it is their own doing and creation. Whereas, this is all the game of the rectangle, leading humanity towards controlled insanity, labeling human behaviors on a spectrum, making them question themselves.
Guy Debord deriving from Marxist commodity fetishism speaks about the Society of Spectacle. There are many definitions and I am not going to add my own (you can read those up). Essentially Debord says we are living in a spectacular society, everything is a representation, not reality, around which we live and that we hold up to value. These commodities from which we are alienated derive their value from the social connections, which are generated (created in a way, the value is essentially artificial). Now this is not a writing about philosophical theory, but Debord does make a significant point. This is also echoed by thinkers such as Krishnamurti. We are not engaging with the underlying reality, but are quite content with surface level representations — or images for Krishnamurti.
This started when the rectangle started projecting, as the screen. The shift ushered in when it went from being that which is projected upon, to that which projects. The rectangle capitalized on the phenomena of commodity fetishisation, and enabled it to accelerate greatly. Singularly emerging as the shape that is the most efficient in entrapment and creation. It creates a world of images and representations; notice how the majority of the canvases are rectangular. This works because of the shape and nature of the rectangle, it is not as ideal as a square or a circle and it is not as chaotic as an isosceles triangle. It is a wonderful balance of simple, perfect and flawed. This is what enables the rectangle to keep the charade going on for so long with such ease and efficiency.
