In the section on "The Paradox of Blissful Suffering" in Emotion in Life & Music, I wrote that:
"Superficial people make the mistake of dismissing all dark emotion in art on the simplistic thought that “pain is bad and to be avoided; I want to be happy!” A person who thinks that way will only know the most trivial and shallow delight. In fact, he has no true concept of happiness as fulfillment. He has only an associational notion of cheerfulness which refers to smiley faces, cotton candy and jazz hands."
I realized from some reader responses that not everyone knows what "jazz hands" refers to. Here's the report from Wikipedia: "Probably the biggest proponent of jazz hands was Bob Fosse, who incorporated them in nearly all of his Broadway and film musical choreography.... In the basic jazz hands position, the hands are open, the palms face forward, and the fingers are splayed; in addition sometimes the hands are shaken and the fingers are moving... —the motion is rapid and fluttering, as if jingling a tambourine."
According to the Urban Dictionary: Jazz hands is "A cabaret-style dance move, popularized by the musical "Fosse". Now used, usually ironically, to express excitement, glee, razzle dazzle, etc. The move is performed by tilting the head slightly, shimmering the hands with fingers splayed either side of the face and crying "Jazz hands!" with an enthusiastic smile. Think Jack from Will and Grace. As in: 'I'm all for guys getting in touch with their emotions but he's just too jazz hands for me.'
Here are some photos.
"Superficial people make the mistake of dismissing all dark emotion in art on the simplistic thought that “pain is bad and to be avoided; I want to be happy!” A person who thinks that way will only know the most trivial and shallow delight. In fact, he has no true concept of happiness as fulfillment. He has only an associational notion of cheerfulness which refers to smiley faces, cotton candy and jazz hands."
I realized from some reader responses that not everyone knows what "jazz hands" refers to. Here's the report from Wikipedia: "Probably the biggest proponent of jazz hands was Bob Fosse, who incorporated them in nearly all of his Broadway and film musical choreography.... In the basic jazz hands position, the hands are open, the palms face forward, and the fingers are splayed; in addition sometimes the hands are shaken and the fingers are moving... —the motion is rapid and fluttering, as if jingling a tambourine."
According to the Urban Dictionary: Jazz hands is "A cabaret-style dance move, popularized by the musical "Fosse". Now used, usually ironically, to express excitement, glee, razzle dazzle, etc. The move is performed by tilting the head slightly, shimmering the hands with fingers splayed either side of the face and crying "Jazz hands!" with an enthusiastic smile. Think Jack from Will and Grace. As in: 'I'm all for guys getting in touch with their emotions but he's just too jazz hands for me.'
Here are some photos.
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