In terms of "cancellation", how do people feel about still listening to Kanye's music? Or buying his clothing?
Over time, I've come to the conclusion that when enjoying art, I just don't care that much. Terrible people can make incredible masterpieces, and I tend not to pick and choose the works I appreciate based upon how good or bad somebody was.
I'll still watch reruns of the Cosby Show or Roseanne. I still enjoy Mel Gibson movies. Michael Jackson and Eminem made some great music. Hell, I was reading last night that Jerry Lee Lewis ("Great Balls of Fire") married his 13 year old cousin when he was 22. That disgusts me... but I'll still sing along when the song comes on in Top Gun.
Can you separate art from the artist? I think you can, at least usually. I'm sure there are some extreme examples. Very few people want to hang an Adolf Hitler painting in their house, and those who do are probably deranged. But, that's because his evilness far outweighs any artistic merit. What if he was a great painting master? We still wouldn't want to own it, but would we appreciate it? Would we discard it, or ponder how such a black-hearted lunatic could create amazing art?
I go both ways. I loved the Cosby Show, but I can’t watch it without thinking about how horrible a person Bill Cosby was, and how antithetical it was to the show, so it’s completely eliminated the enjoyment I used to get from it. But I can listen to Michael Jackson without thinking about this most of the time. I was never a fan of Mel Gibson, but his rabid antisemitism is a no go, so he’ll never get a chance for me to see something he does in the future.
My personal threshold has probably three components: 1) Is the artist living or dead? If s/he has died, they aren’t profiting from their work any more, so I’m not really supporting the artist but appreciating the work. It’s a lot easier to divorce the art and artist in that case. This is probably why I can listen to MJ. 2) How long ago was the incident? Peter Yarrow did some pretty bad things 50+ years ago. He went to jail and it seems like that behavior stopped, so yeah, my kid can listen to Puff the Magic Dragon. 3) Has the person tried to make amends/changed in some way because of the incident? He’s not an artist, but the example that comes most quickly to my mind is Tim Hardaway Sr. He said some very homophobic things years ago, met with gay rights organizations, listened, learned, and later worked with the NBA and its players to address homophobia in the sport. I don’t need everyone who says something repugnant to become another Hardaway, but the point is that people should be given the opportunity to change. At the same time, one of the positive things about “canceling” is that it can be a signal to that influencer that they have gone off-track, and some time to reflect and learn can be very positive. I’m fine with giving people a second chance, as being a human means being imperfect. But making an effort to change is important.
It’s also difficult, because in many cases the canceled artist has worked with many others to create their works, who are often lower in public stature than the canceled artist. The Cosby Show is canceled, and a lot of other performers have their work erased as well for actions that weren’t theirs. And honestly, a lot of them probably have feelings that run the gamut of the issue.
I have personal experience with this. Many years ago I was a singer trying to make it in the professional music world. I was involved in a recording with a major artist that ultimately won a Grammy. I’ve got a picture of myself with the Grammy, and it was a thrilling moment. But several years later that artist was canceled, because he’d essentially had a long-running sex cult using both his personality but also his power to give musicians jobs. I was completely unaware of this at the time I worked with him, and only learned about it through the news stories (no sex cult for me!) I used to listen to that recording every few months, but I haven’t listened to it since, which has been several years now, because of this. Maybe I will some day, but I haven’t moved on yet.
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Topic: Brown Sticks With West (Read 15936 times)