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On the separation of artists from their art | |
February 18th, 2019 | |
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A stray boost on Mastodon got me thinking about the value of works | |
by horrible people. Do we damn the works, the art, the music, the | |
films once we discover something damning about the creator which? | |
Do you separate the art from the artist and think of each as | |
distinct? | |
I generally try for separation and I'll explain why. For me it | |
comes down to four things: | |
- Ownership of ideas | |
- Compassion | |
- Outrage | |
- Pragmatism | |
The most complex idea floating around in my head has to do with | |
the idea of ownership of artistic works. Does an artist own their | |
creation? While one might quickly argue in the affirmative, that | |
is owing to a legal point of view. Ownership has a cognitive | |
influence on our relationship to ideas which goes beyond the | |
courts and governments and fits more squarely into cultural mores | |
and moral frameworks. How you react to someone else's pen might | |
vary wildly depending on your cultural upbringing, for instance. | |
Where are lines drawn? How firm are they? Is there a gray area? | |
Lets take a specific example of a disgraced artist and his body of | |
work: Bill Cosby and the Cosby Show. Given the vague nature of | |
ownership, it's easy to attribute something of that sort here. | |
Bill Cosby was the star of the Cosby Show, certainly, and while he | |
might now own the rights to it, he was fundamental in its | |
creation. Great! | |
But there's more to it. Hundreds and thousands of other people | |
contributed to the show as well. Just considering actors alone, | |
can we really dismiss the contributions of the other co-stars? | |
Some of the children literally spent their own childhoods | |
dedicated to that art. They have equal legal ownership of the | |
product, and clearly as much personal investment upon creation. | |
There's also the ancient idea that art is created for the people. | |
Even our copyright law and patent protections in the US are | |
designed to recoup the losses of research and development of the | |
idea, not to form some perpetual ownership of intellectual | |
property. That would be ridiculous! Ideas belong to the people! | |
So where is the line here? Is it gray? Do we grant the ultimate | |
position to Cosby because his name is on it? Certainly, if we | |
can't attribute it to him then we can't in good conscience dismiss | |
the art with the artist. If it's not his, then he has no impact on | |
it. If we find out that Bill Cosby went to a certain high school, | |
should we shun it? Should we shut it down? It's irrelevant, right? | |
It would also be a disservice to those others who were involved. | |
Do we punish them? It was their art as well. | |
But now we're approaching my second point: compassion. Let's | |
assume compassion for possible other artists (who may have | |
suffered from the disgraced artist!) is a given. Besides that | |
point is the subject of the artist. This part may not be popular | |
with everyone, but I think it's important to keep out hope for the | |
forgiveness of the asshole. This is a Christian ideal and one | |
I can't always live up to, but I think it's important to aim for. | |
If an artist is disgraced along with all their works then the | |
message to them and to everyone is that a horrible thing can | |
completely define you. Any other good you might have done is wiped | |
away as a result. What hope is there for redemption in that? What | |
lesson to bother trying? I try to have compassion for the artist | |
here by not throwing out their good works with the bad. Let their | |
reputation be damned. Let them suffer prison time if appropriate, | |
but don't throw away the good with the bad! | |
And that brings me to my third idea: outrage! Why the actual fuck | |
would I give up something I enjoy because the creator was a dick? | |
Why am I punishing myself for something that asshat did? Fuck | |
that! The Cosby Show is fucking brilliant and funny as hell. It's | |
still relevant and touching and a genuine joy. That selfish fucker | |
can go fuck-off to prison now and suffer for what he did, but he's | |
not taking Rudy from me. | |
Oh, and then there's pragmatism. I've been talking about the Cosby | |
Show up until now, but how about the douche-nozzle that invented | |
the transistor? Don't know about his brand of awful? [0] I'm not | |
about to give up using electronics because of some guy whose name | |
I don't really care to know. His ideas belong to the people. I'm | |
going to use stuff, watch stuff, listen to stuff, and while I may | |
on occasion also throw up a finger toward the heavens while doing | |
so, IMMA be me. | |
[0] William Shockley |