Lance: If you're all right, say something. Mia: Something.

"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here...

rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth."

(Into The Wild)

Tyler Durden: Do you know what a duvet is?
Narrator: It's a comforter...
Taylor Durden: It's a blanket. Just a blanket. Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then?  
Narrator: ...Consumers?
Tyler Durden: Right. We are consumers. We're the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.
Narrator: Martha Stewart.
Taylor Durden: Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha's polishing the brass on the Titanic. It's all going down, man. So fuck off with your sofa units and Strinne green stripe patterns.

 

Andy Dufresne: That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.
Andy Dufresne: Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Red: Forget?
Andy Dufresne: Forget that... there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.
Red: What're you talking about?
Andy Dufresne: Hope.

Jesse: This friend of mine had a kid, and it was a home birth, so he was there helping out and everything. And he said at that profound moment of birth, he was watching this child, experiencing life for the first time, I mean, trying to take its first breath... all he could think about was that he was looking at something that was gonna die someday. He just couldn't get it out of his head. And I think that's so true, I mean, all - everything is so finite. But don't you think that that's what, makes our time, at specific moments, so important?
Celine: Yeah, I know. It's the same for us, tonight, though. After tomorrow morning, we're probably never going to see each other again, right? We, maybe we should try something different. I mean, it's no so bad if tonight is our only night, right? People always exchange phone numbers, addresses, they end up writing once, calling each other once or twice...
Jesse: Right. Fizzles out. Yeah, I mean, I don't want that. I hate that.
Celine: I hate that too, y'know.
Jesse: Why do you think everybody thinks relationships are supposed to last forever anyway?
Celine: Yeah, why. It's stupid.

&

Celine: You know, I've been wondering lately. Do you know anyone who's in a happy relationship?
Jesse: Uh, yeah, sure. I know happy couples. But I think they lie to each other.
Celine: Hmf. Yeah. People can lead their life as a lie. My grandmother, she was married to this man, and I always thought she had a very simple, uncomplicated love life. But she just confessed to me that she spent her whole life dreaming about another man she was always in love with. She just accepted her fate. It's so sad.
Jesse: I guarantee you, it was better that way. If she'd ever got to know him, I'm sure he would have disappointed her eventually.
Celine: How do you know? You don't know them.
Jesse: Yeah, I know, I know. It's just, people have these romantic projections they put on everything. That's not based on any kind of reality.

Ron: I'm going to miss you when you go.
Chris: I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.
Ron: Yeah. I am going to take stock of that. You know I am. I want to tell you something. From bits and pieces of what you have told me about your family, your mother and your dad... And I know you have problems with the church too... But there is some kind of bigger thing that we can all appreciate and it sounds to me you don't mind calling it God. But when you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines through you.
Chris: Holy shit!

John Keating: They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

&

John Keating: We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

Dwayne: I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this crap-high school and everything-just skip it.
Frank: Do you know who Marcel Proust is?
Dwayne: He's the guy you teach.
Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that. 

Dwayne: You know what? Fuck beauty contests. Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. You know, school, then college, then work, fuck that. And fuck the air force academy. If I wanna fly, I'll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest.  
Frank: I'm glad you're talking again, Dwayne. You're not nearly as stupid as you look.

Uncle Pete: I read this study the other day about, uh, people who are happiest with their lives. And, uh, the ones who have followed their passion, right, even if they weren't, you know, technically successful, right, when they were looking back at their life, they had fewer regrets.You know, they felt their life had been more fulfilling.

Amber:  Yeah, that makes sense, I guess.

Uncle Pete:  Yeah, it does. So, bottom line is, do not listen to me. Do not listen to your mother. Listen to yourself.I mean, if you wanna be like everybody else just do what everybody's telling you to do.

Amber: Hmm. And what about you? Are you doing what you always wanted to do?

Uncle Pete:  Well. if i jump back to when i was your age, no, i don't think i would be wildly impressed. But you know,I'm all right with what I'm doing. And you know, i'm really all right with what  i'm not doing.

Mia: Don't you hate that?  
Vincent: What?  
Mia: Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?
Vincent: I don't know. That's a good question. 
Mia: That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.

Cole Sear: [of his dead grandmother] She wanted me to tell you...  
Lynn Sear: Cole, please stop...
Cole Sear: She wanted me to tell you she saw you dance. She said, when you were little, you and her had a fight, right before your dance recital. You thought she didn't come see you dance. She did. She hid in the back so you wouldn't see. She said you were like an angel. She said you came to the place where they buried her. You asked her a question? She said the answer is... ”Every day." What did you ask?
Lynn Sear: Do... Do I make her proud?

Banksy, Himself

"The greatest crimes in the world are not commited by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre village."

(Banksy)

Abad 21 telah sampai di edisinya yang kesepuluh. Satu dekade baru saja terlewati dan edisi baru sepuluh tahun mendatang telah membentang di depan lengkap dengan karpet merah yang siap diinjak oleh kaki-kaki dan langkah-langkah perubahan dan inovasi. Sepuluh tahun belakangan telah begitu banyak melahirkan sejarah baru, peristiwa yang tidak terlupakan, dan pergeseran nilai budaya serta peradaban yang berubah bentuk secepat koneksi internet. Internet sendiri merupakan satu kata yang telah menikmati peran sebagai “Tuhan manusia modern” selama ini. Sementara kata-kata lain yang menghiasi etalasae yang sama diantaranya adalah WTC, Guantanamo, Global Warming, teroris, Osama, Obama, krisis global, American Idol, reality show, SMS, Blackberry, dan Paris Hilton. Dan bagaimana cara mengeja semuanya? Mari kita mengeja satu dekade terakhir dari awal millennium ini dengan B-A-N-K-S-Y. Banksy!

Banksy bukan hanya sebuah nama tapi juga bisa diartikan sebagai semacam identitas moral anonim dari segala kecacatan hasil persalinan globalisasi dan kapitalisme dunia. Banksy bukan hanya sosok seorang laki-laki, tapi sebuah antitesis dari dunia citra atau imej yang lengkap dengan benteng pertahanan berupa penutup kepala serta keenggannannya untuk difoto, dipublikasikan, atau diketahui wajahnya. Banksy bukan hanya karya seni jalanan tapi adalah karya seni dalam fungsi teratasnya sebagai media komunikasi yang menampilkan potret (yang harfiah maupun metaforis) realita kehidupan yang telah selama ini terhapus di jalanan oleh jembatan, beton, dan gedung tinggi. Banksy adalah suara dari ruang bawah tanah di Bristol, Inggris yang mewujud dalam entitas baru —karya visual, vandalisme, corat-coret, apapun namanya— yang dalam diam dan ketersembunyiannya lantang meneriakkan keretakan pada tembok-tembok peradaban modern.

Sebagai seorang seniman jalanan, Banksy telah mengangkat grafiti dari sebuah lukisan dinding yang dilewati ribuan mobil di jalan raya setiap harinya menjadi sebuah provokasi yang membuat orang-orang berhenti untuk melihatnya dengan disertai kerutan di kening, kekaguman, senyum kecil, tawa, dan bahkan renungan. Padatnya pengunjung dalam sebuah pameran karya-karya Banksy yang baru-baru ini digelar membuktikan nilai semprotan catnya telah bisa disamaratakan dengan sapuan kuas di atas kanvas. Dia mewarnai karyanya dalam palet anti-perang, anti-kapitalisme, anti-kekuasaan, dan anti-kemapanan yang dipadupadankan dengan campuran cat kreatifitas, selera humor, dan satir tajam. Pada satu titik, Banksy adalah inspirasi bahwa suatu visi disertai pesan sosial yang kuat dapat menjadi amunisi propaganda yang handal bagi jiwa manusia; dan seni adalah senjata yang dapat dengan tepat menembakannya ke sana, apapun bentuknya.

Grafiti Banksy, berikut karya lukis dan seni patungnya, kurang lebih memberikan petunjuk dari mana atau apa yang menyebabkan sosok ini muncul. Ia menyampaikan kegelisahan atas konsep kenyamanan yang telah diakui luas, kesedihan atas kegembiraan yang sifatnya komunal, komedi atas aib dalam sistem norma masyarakat umum, di mana di dalamnya setiap orang dapat merasakan napas protes yang ia hembuskan dengan berat. Banksy adalah produk cacat dari era globalisasi. Seperti kita, ia muncul di atas dunia yang dipenuhi oleh billboard, di mana uang menjelma menjadi substansi utama dalam setiap aspek kehidupan, di mana uang seolah-olah daratan yang luas dan setiap orang adalah Christopher Columbus dalam kapalnya masing-masing, di mana mall adalah gereja, brand adalah pendeta, dan berbelanja adalah bentuk ritual agama, era di saat terorisme dan perang bergantian mengisi berita di ruang keluarga hingga akhirnya semuanya menjadi biasa saja, saat-saat ketika privasi —seperti keperawanan— tidak lagi memiliki makna yang subtil, sebuah periode di mana kapitalisme telah bertransformasi dan beradaptasi sedemikian rupa untuk dengan pelan-pelan merasuki sela-sela kepala manusia lewat konsep sederhana berupa kesejahteraan, keuntungan, dan kesuksesan kalau tidak mau disebut kekikiran. Dunia yang seperti itulah yang tercetak di dalam kepala Banksy sampai akhirnya ia tuangkan lewat grafiti untuk membuat orang-orang akhirnya berada pada suatu kondisi kesadaran yang baru.

Kehebatan Banksy, selain dari karya-karyanya, adalah ia tidak bisa dihentikan. Sebagian besar karyanya harus melalui perdebatan panjang di tubuh dinas tata kota setempat untuk membersihkannya karena dianggap merusak pemandangan namun pada akhirnya Banksy-lah yang menang. Seperti hantu, karyanya muncul begitu saja di suatu pagi. Ia selalu berhasil lolos dari mata penegak hukum yang sepertinya sangat gemas untuk membuatnya tertangkap basah. Tapi keberhasilan Banksy adalah dengan membuat orang yang awam sekalipun atau bahkan hukum untuk bisa menerima coretannya sebagai karya seni yang patut diapresiasi. Mungkin karena kekuatan pesan pada setiap karyanya yang begitu ‘menyentil’ atau mungkin karena Banksy telah sukses membuka mata setiap orang untuk memahami diri mereka sendiri.

Dalam dunia seni lukis, bisa jadi Banksy adalah Andy Warhol-nya generasi sekarang. Tidak diragukan lagi ia memiliki pengaruh yang besar dalam pop art secara global. Untuk urusan pemberontakan —terutama jiwa anti-kapitalisnya— Banksy dengan street art-nya bisa berada dalam satu kelas bersama Michael Moore dengan film dokumenternya atau Noam Chomsky dengan tulisan-tulisannya. Mereka, lewat medianya masing-masing, sama-sama memiliki kefasihan dalam memprovokasi massa. Mungkin terlalu cepat, tapi Banksy memiliki kesamaan dengan Che Guevara (dan bisa jadi ia juga mengidolakannya) dalam hal gerilya serta misi yang ia usung atas nama setiap aksinya (termasuk di antaranya ‘mengacak-acak’ museum Louvre dan mempertanyakan harga dari sebuah karya seni) walaupun ia masih belum terlalu frontal dibandingkan pendahulunya itu. Yang jelas Banksy membawakan suara perubahan di tangannya yang mungkin efeknya akan terus berlanjut di sepuluh tahun mendatang. Banksy tidak hanya seorang seniman tapi juga seorang anti-hero lengkap dengan aura misteri yang ia lahirkan di sekeliling dirinya. Sebuah hadiah yang berharga bagi dunia di mana kehidupan telah dijalankan secara mekanis, dunia yang ia namai ‘One Nation Under CCTV’. Dan seperti para orang berpengaruh lainnya, ia juga mengawali semuanya dengan ide sederhana, yang tentu saja dengan tanpa kehilangan sentuhan selera humornya:

"Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place."

Selanjutnya, apa lagi?