"If the year 2000 can help us move into the future, that's fine, but I am afraid that people see it as a full stop and that one can take a big breath afterwards - you can't"
About this Quote
Murphy’s line is a dancer’s warning delivered in calendar language: don’t mistake a milestone for a finish line. The year 2000 was marketed like a cultural cliffhanger, a clean break into “the future” with fireworks, countdowns, and a whiff of technological salvation. Murphy punctures that fantasy. His “full stop” is pointedly anti-cinematic: history doesn’t cut to black so we can reset our posture and start fresh.
The subtext is about momentum and discipline, the unglamorous truth behind performance. A dancer can’t “take a big breath afterwards” because the body doesn’t grant that kind of narrative pause; the phrase evokes rehearsal rooms where you learn that endurance is built in continuities, not in climaxes. Murphy translates that embodied reality into a cultural critique: we crave dates that absolve us of unfinished work. Y2K anxiety and optimism both relied on the same myth, that the odometer rolling over would either doom us or deliver us.
His intent isn’t to dismiss the future, but to demote the number. “If... that’s fine” concedes the psychological usefulness of symbols, then immediately tightens the screws: symbols become dangerous when they sedate. Coming from an artist whose medium is time, phrasing, and the refusal of stasis, the warning lands with extra bite. Murphy is arguing for continuity as ethics: the future isn’t a party you arrive at; it’s a pace you sustain.
The subtext is about momentum and discipline, the unglamorous truth behind performance. A dancer can’t “take a big breath afterwards” because the body doesn’t grant that kind of narrative pause; the phrase evokes rehearsal rooms where you learn that endurance is built in continuities, not in climaxes. Murphy translates that embodied reality into a cultural critique: we crave dates that absolve us of unfinished work. Y2K anxiety and optimism both relied on the same myth, that the odometer rolling over would either doom us or deliver us.
His intent isn’t to dismiss the future, but to demote the number. “If... that’s fine” concedes the psychological usefulness of symbols, then immediately tightens the screws: symbols become dangerous when they sedate. Coming from an artist whose medium is time, phrasing, and the refusal of stasis, the warning lands with extra bite. Murphy is arguing for continuity as ethics: the future isn’t a party you arrive at; it’s a pace you sustain.
Quote Details
| Topic | New Year |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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