The Portrait of Dorian Gray ( Archived) (21)

Never saw it,but I HEARD it's a GREAT movie.

never saw it ...never heard of it .... don't care for reading novels ....don't like movies......I do like documentaries tho..

Yes, I remember seeing the original movie as well as reading the book.

I wonder how the CS er's portraits would look? Mine included

The theme of temptation and redemption is a literary archetype that is used by Wilde very astutely in Dorian Gray.

Dorian is rich in symbolism that I, as an artist find particularly disturbing. To wield such power demands an enormous amount of personal responsibility. And my belief is we all unconsciously paint the picture that is our life. A good metaphor for Karma in fact.

It also puts forth the question of the value of man's mortality. Everyone fears Death, but it's a natural function in life, and is an eternal lesson in acceptance of truth. The only truth there is. Everyone must pay the Piper.

I find the aspect of the theme more thought-provoking than I do disturbing. The idea of fearing death so much that you lock your soul away - can never see yourself - and live a life that is empty and devoid of love and/or happiness - I wonder how many people would be willing to live that way?

I bought it and never read it, wish I had. tonight, I feel like I can relate. Did he choose to die and how did he do it. I'd really like to know.

The book really is thought-provoking and in some parts beautiful and in other parts sad......

Don't get me wrong. By disturbing I mean thought-provoking. In a sense that goes beyond words, much like a Zen master striking a student without explanation in order to focus them on the now. A picture paints a thousand-words they say, and if they were of the nature of Dorian's, what a story they would tell. An ever-evolving and decaying portrait, even as Dorian stays young.

There is magic in imagery. Even as we are blind to the reality of the inevitability of entropy so does our mind blind us to the joy of the now in the wake of imagining things that don't actually exist. The reality is reflected somewhere, whether we like it or not.

Life is short. Many people choose to live in denial of this. All we have is what we have, and wherever we go, there we are.

I have secretly felt like Dorian Grey for decades.

I am debonair and charming on the surface, but deep in my heart is a cancerous ugliness full of warts and evil stuff that I do my best to keep well hidden from other people.

Biting the heads off chickens is only a mere symptom of the true evil that lurks below my apparently lovely and innocent character!

Oh well - it's chicken head biting off time!

Toodles!