[Stephen Gerringer]

Norland,

I’m generally more interested in the mythological and archetypal perspective myself. Hard not to imagine Will Smith was driven to some extent by unconscious impulses. Watching this unfold in real time, the anger seemed clear and cold, defying rational thought and oblivious to consequences (if he’d thought about it, seems he would have known there would be consequences). Twenty minutes later, after Smith had a chance to absorb the reactions and realize what he had done, the confidence of his actions melted away into a rambling, disjointed, quavering, self-justifying semi-apologetic acceptance speech. I doubt he consciously, intentionally planned to make a fool of himself in public, have to resign from the Academy, lose out on more than one multimillion dollar project and risk being “cancelled” . . .

(Though I’m not sure Love is entirely to blame – seems there has been a longstanding personal drama in play – and then I am also intrigued by Will Smith’s vision on ayahuasca, shared with David Letterman before the Academy Award ceremony, that his career would be destroyed and he would be cancelled . . . a wild and shattering premonition!)

But that episode is not what your essay is about – it just provides a catchy entry into the subject – so though everyone has thoughts about “the Slap,” don’t worry about falling down that rabbit hole; there’s no need to re-litigate a subject that was debated ad nauseam over social media.

Returning to your theme, a “mythic perspective on Love rather than a moral, ethical, or spiritual/psychological one,” isn’t it Ovid who avers Eros was the first of the Gods? Is that resonant with your point that “the phenomenon of Love comes fresh out of Nature, in the savage reproductive power of life”?