Homework 1: Reaction to the Founding and Manifesto of Futurism

Before reading the article I've only heard of the name. After reading, Futurism seems to be an interesting paradox. On the first page, the person says, "Mythology is defeated" and "We're about to see the Centaur's birth." Or I could be misreading it. Perhaps the person means to say that mythology is at "last conquered," and thus we normal humans can enter the world of mystic ideal and mythology. Regarding the paradox, mythology is something of the past but to make it something of the future is a paradox of sorts. The mythology is a metaphor for something. For example, the person says "three snorting beasts," referring to his/her car. I suppose a part of Futurism could possibly be to make the old a part of the new, describing the new through the old which creates something amazingly new. As I read the first two pages I was enraptured by the descriptions and the prose.

The most fascinating part of the article was the manifesto. I didn't realize that Futurism began in Italy. Though this fact is not the reason the manifesto is so engaging. The rules are stated with such enthusiasm and mysticism that I want to get up and join the fan club of Futurism even if I disagree with a few of their ideologies.
The part after the eleven rules is more enthralling still.

The whole Futurism concept reminds me a lot of capitalism. Capitalism is about the immediate future with no regard for the past, except for the previous revenue statement, and speed. Futurism denounces the museums which is respect for the past. Capitalism for it to grow needs to disregard the past. Capitalism can never stop growing, if it were to stop, it would crumble. Growth is the future, moving forward at a violent speed. Because growth is so important, if competition is included, everyone would want the immediate fastest growth possible. Since capitalism is about money, it can also thrive very well during periods of war for certain industries, such as the munitions and technological R&D companies. The Thirty could be likened to thirty CEO's who want their companies to keep on growing to unprecedented heights. As the person says, "younger and stronger men will probably throw us in the wastebasket like useless manuscripts-we want it to happen." Which means when the CEO's are old befuddled men, they want capable men to replace them to carry on their companies' power and might. The new men will hate the Thirty because they are jealous that the Thirty were able to carry the companies this far, but they will also admire the Thirties' business capabilities.