In the past, “dramatic” was an adjective that had a location, a purpose, and a protagonist. The performing arts or the world of entertainment were its logical setting and it was there and only there where everything that could be stated as such made sense. It is curious how currently a renewed use of the “dramatic”.
Men are blamed for being increasingly dramatic, what we share on digital networks if it is presented dramatically is more impactful, political communication often dramatizes (almost) everything to achieve greater loyalty and citizen legitimacy. It was foreseeable that this “dramatic wave” would reach Business field, and there was only something missing to precipitate it. In the last biennium this circumstance has occurred in the wake of the COVID pandemic 19.
Growth of technology corporations
A concern for unstoppable growth of technology corporations in recent months, an expectant look at a possible Chinese “Lehman Brothers moment”, a Christmas balance of trade associations or the repercussions of COVID 19 on the labor market, the circumstances are narrated and felt in convergent senses.
The story of what happened in the productive sphere has a repetitive stamp: “Technology corporations are devouring the world like Saturn its son” In the American case, the Swiss directors of small businesses recently declared “être déprimé, frustré et craindre”, the Germans only see a »dramatisch schlechtes« Weihnachtsgeschäft (Christmas business), and the Italians understand that the “Covid crisis has avuto “A dramatic impact on my work, I am colpendo soprattutto and groups più vulnerabili.”
It is perfectly understandable that the radical alteration of the flows, as well as, of the conventional productive and marketing times, generate uncertainty and confusion. But the story, the tone of the speech, the global similarity of all that emotional charge, with nostalgic and melancholic tones, that already contains other keys.
Ways to produce and repair
Melancholic narratives tell us not only about a general state of mind, about what we deeply feel or experience. Melancholic narratives also prepare the ground for develop new ways of producing and repairing, generate a kind of predisposition to walk through unknown lands. The testiness of the terrain, the footprint itself, make up an attitude of restlessness and longing that accompanies this exploratory hiking. Let's imagine a walk through the snow, feeling that “knirschen” (crunch) with every step, as a guide to how and where we should step.
In the 17th century, known as the Grand Siècle, experimentation was a style of temperance vital for a global scenario where religious wars, uncertainties or catastrophes intermingled, forming a dark and disturbing landscape. Hobbes knew how to say in his Leviathan about that century: “There is no place for industry, because the fruit of it is uncertain[,] nor use of the goods that can be imported[,] nor calculation of time[.] And, What is worse than all, there is continuous fear.” With these phrases recorded in his most famous work, Hobbes seems to be a visionary of our pandemic time, very similar to the one in which he lived. And yet, the number of experiments, practical solutions and innovations in different scientific fields is something quite significant that is always remembered from the Grand Siècle
With the predisposing emotions of experimentation, theoretical and practical knowledge can be built, the humans of the 17th century attest to this. Repair more than produce, innovate by trusting more in the technological craftsman and not so much in the sophisticated apparatus, to reflect nostalgically and something that was elevated in the Renaissance Quattrocento, to create from melancholy.
That could be a accurate guide for pandemic times, rearm ourselves from the drama, extract the experimental side of our emotions, make uncertainty fruitful. Companies can be that “Spanish soldier of the Tercios” that Calderón de la Barca praised so much. Because the 17th century was also the Golden Ageor the Spanish Baroque, and many of its thoughtful, creative and vital clues continue to be appreciated and useful today. Let him despair who has failed in his promised hopes, Miguel de Cervantes said very well. In uncertain times, there is no room for a desperate or hopeless attitude. Wait and trust in our own ability Experimental, even with the globalized dramatic situation, is not a bad business, and could be extremely fruitful.
Bibliography
Parker, G. (2013). The cursed century: Climate, war and catastrophe in the 17th century. Planet. p. 25.
Center for Biomedical and Environmental Technological Research (CITBM). Visiting Research Fellow Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London.
https://www.monde-economique.ch/consequence-du-coronavirus-un-commercant-sur-cinq-a-peur-de-lavenir/
