Gravitas

[randy_byers]

I've been meaning for a long time to wish out loud that people would stop using the word "gravitas," but I can't quite pin down what bugs me about it. Is it that I don't like the word, or is that I don't like the concept? Where I see the word used most frequently is in film criticism, and usually it is used to note -- and almost always to decry -- a *lack* of gravitas. Today I saw it used in a review of Be Kind Rewind -- a very positive review that ends, "Good-hearted and intelligent, Be Kind Rewind still lacks for the gravitas of The Science of Sleep." As if that's a bad thing!

"Gravitas" has a sense of "weightiness" that I recoil from instinctively. "Seriousness" and "dignity" are also given as definitions. I dunno, I'm still torn between whether I find it a form of latinate pretentiousness, or if I'm just against dignified weighty seriousness in general. I tend to like words of all kinds, including the latinate, so I'm thinking it's weightiness itself that I object to. Give me the baroque and the absurd, that's what I say. To hell with gravitas.

(Hm, I just googled "lack of gravitas," and the first page is mostly about politics. "Does Obama Lack Gravitas?" Kill me now! Well, later I see a consideration of whether Ovid lacks gravitas. I'm beginning to hope so.)

Comments

[jackwilliambell.livejournal.com]

Thus why I call my LJ 'Antigravitas'...

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! I think I'm going to start complaining about the lack of antigravitas in movies and politics.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "gravitas" is taking seriousness too self-seriously. (Although I'm also seeing that gravitas was considered a virtue by the Romans, so we could be seeing my anti-Roman bias peeking through. I mean, what have the Romans ever done for us?)

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I think I don't like "gravitas" because it seems to be commonly used to imply both "seriousness" and "solemnity", either separately or at the same time. I happen to approve of the former, in general, and disapprove of the latter, so I dislike a word that fails to distinguish between them.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

It's as if the accusation of a lack of gravitas lacks gravitas. D'oh. I think I just fell in the trap!

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

If it's a liberal candidate with extensive life experience, conservative pundits will say he/she "lacks gravitas." If it's a conservative candidate with a C average in school and a life history of failures and being covered for, conservative pundits will say he/she is a great person to have a beer with.

Also, it's amusing to think that someone says Be Kind, Rewind lacks the "gravitas" of Science of Sleep, since it was the gravitas what did SoS wrong.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I think I like SoS better than you, but you may be right about the nature of its flaws. Perhaps Gondry was taking his childishness and id-selfishness a bit too seriously.

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

If you ask me, I think this age is sadly lacking in stoicism. Hardly anyone even know what it means. But I wasn't sure so I did a web search on "stoic gravitas" and got Cate Blanchett, Abraham Lincoln, and Randy Travis. Sheesh.

A good alternative to gravitas would be granitas. It's refreshing and comes in many tasty flavors.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but what does Zeno?

[kim-huett.livejournal.com]

I don't care, roasted gravitas on a sweet potato mash with steamed green peas and a little honey sauce is still delicious.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

"The sweet potato mash was delicious, but lacked gravitas."