“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering; these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love — these are what we stay alive for.”
— Dead Poet’s Society
In the fight against fascism, art is not only necessary, but essential
I can’t say for sure when it happened — maybe it was always this way — but at some point in the last century, we were brainwashed into believing that art, and the making of it, was somehow frivolous, inconsequential, and at times, even dangerous. Art was not a serious profession, and serious people did not become artists. At best, it was a whimsical distraction; at worst, a tool for the insidious subversion of impressionable youth.
On the one hand, you had Shakespeare, Rembrandt, and Mozart; while on the other, you had pornographic art, books, and music that vandalized the culture like so much graffiti. You could be innocently reading the Bible one day, and suddenly find yourself devouring Judy Blume while listening to Prince and thinking impure thoughts about your Sunday School teacher. It was a slippery slope, and the best way to avoid your own descent into hell was to never set foot on its path.
We have long flirted with anti-intellectual sentiments in America, and found ourselves driven by populist notions of what ordinary Americans wanted or expected out of life. Art, music, literature, and theater have too often been viewed as the playground of effete intellectuals and coastal elites. Music, dancing, movies, and books were all capable of being infected with subversive ideas that would lead to moral corruption — or so we were warned.
It wasn’t that music or literature were themselves inherently dangerous, but they were capable of stirring up emotions and desires that did not fit with what was deemed polite society and moral values. Country music and square dancing seemed wholesome enough, but it wouldn’t take long before a gay discotheque would open up over a vegan bookstore, and the whole goddamn thing would go to shit.
Vigilance was required.
The Politics Of Art
As a general rule, I don’t allow for politics in this publication. There are other places to get into the nitty-gritty of the disastrous choices we have made as a people and the morons and crooks we’ve elected. I made this decision for editorial clarity, rather than any desire for a peaceful, partisan-free community. Passionate discourse is required for critical thinking, and single-mindedness leads to extinction. Diversity of ideas and perspectives is what makes the fabric of society so vivid and interesting, and what allows us to evolve and grow and learn.
You may believe that the subject of your art has nothing to do with the government, politicians, laws, or civic life at all, and is therefore apolitical, but I would argue that the only reason you believe this to be true is that until very recently, you were free to create anything that struck your fancy, or so you believed. The moment that is no longer true is the moment art becomes political. We are now living in that moment.
Last week, the US government leaned on a private company, which in turn suspended a contracted artist, a comedian of all things, because someone in power didn’t like what they had to say. The Supreme Court, back when it had some integrity, had previously ruled that type of governmental overreach had “a chilling effect” on free speech and amounted to a clear violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
We have long taken for granted that as citizens of America, we have a fundamental right to speak freely, without recrimination or retribution by the government. If that essential right is no longer sacred, no longer valid, then none of our so-called rights are sacred, none of them valid. The entire document becomes null and void, and we are left with a failed system of baseless laws and servile courts. The reason behind all this is a problem for another day, or at least another publication, but it does lead us back to art and why it’s so important to make things right now.
The making of art in any form is a political act and always has been. Here at Ellemeno, we talk about the art of writing, and for that art to have any value, we must be able to speak freely and honestly. We seek the truth. That’s what writing is. Speaking truth to the mind of the reader, whoever they are. Without freedom of speech, without freedom of expression, there can be no truth, and therefore no authentic art.
The Value and Purpose of Art
Art is not only essential to human society and culture, it is inherently political, as well as spiritual, personal, and communal. Art is what makes us human. It is how we connect with the world around us. Most of what remains of thousands of years of human history is in the form of art. It’s the only reason we know anything about most of those who came before. It is what remained after the people who made them had long since disappeared and been forgotten.
Cave paintings and pottery, music and architecture, books and fashion. It’s what they left behind. In many cases, it’s all they left behind. Their importance goes beyond the historical record, of course, and encapsulates how and why these artifacts were important to the people who made them, as well as the culture that appreciated and treasured them.
Who among us has not been deeply moved by a lyric, melody, picture, or movie? Our lives are a vast collection of the shared dreams of authors, musicians, painters, filmmakers, sculptors, playwrights, and actors. Our homes are filled with books and films, art and music. Other than chairs to sit, tables to eat, and beds to sleep, the rest is dedicated to displaying and enjoying our artistic interests and endeavors.
Anything that you create out of the thoughts in your head and make manifest in the world around you for others to enjoy is art. It need not be fancy or intellectual. It could be the ecclesiastical appreciation of athletic achievement, or the transient beauty of a single cut flower. In the right hands, it could be a fried egg, a piece of paper, or a bit of clay.
How Art Changes Us
There is a reason Adolph Hitler was a shitty painter and a failed artist. It’s the same reason you’ve never seen Donald Trump laugh. There was no empathy, no connection to the soul of their fellow man, and therefore, no connection to their own. There is a reason why most successful artists are liberal-minded. The person who is perceptive about the pain of others seeks a government that believes its job is to care for its citizens, and is the same one capable of writing the sonnet or melody that captivates and moves you. One is not necessarily caused by the other, but they are correlated.
Insight, compassion, and empathy are necessary for finding our common humanity, and once you feel connected to your fellow man, it’s much harder to demonize them. Successful art is effective in changing people’s minds and requires an ability to reach a place deep inside another’s soul. That place where we recognize the other. We have to be in touch with ourselves before we can hope to influence others.
Gandhi famously told us to be the change you wish to see in the world, and when we make art, we can’t help but be changed. When we create with honesty, integrity, and courage, the world is changed because we are changed. We have shared a piece of our soul with the world, and that alters both us and our relationship with everyone else.
The most profound, lasting, and surprising effect of art is that it’s singular in its connection. It’s personal. You could be in a massive arena, listening to the same piece of music with an enormous audience all at once, and while you might be sharing a common experience, you don’t experience it commonly. If you are moved or changed, it is a singular experience. You require no one else to change or be changed. It is your personal history that allows the work of art to be a catalyst for change in you. Powerful art can reach an infinite number of people, but the effect is always singular. Art changes people one at a time.
If art is an essential part of the human experience, and the effect of art on each person is singular, then creating art is one of the best ways to change people’s minds because we share it individually, and the effect is personal. The irony is, most of us are not defensive about art. Unless the content is intentionally political, confrontational, or otherwise controversial, we tend to react positively to artistic expression, especially if it was created by someone we know personally.
There are, of course, works of art that are intentionally political or offer an analysis of the social issues of the day. Whether it’s Sam Cooke singing “A Change Is Gonna Come,” or George Orwell penning “Animal Farm,” influential social commentary is often found in our great works of art. That doesn’t mean it’s the only art that can make a difference.
Even the most introverted among us are forced to recognize the need for human connection. Making art changes us, but sharing our art has the ability to change others. It allows us to connect on a deep emotional level with another human being, one person at a time. It’s an intimate exchange, and in this era of digital isolation, that sense of connection is like oxygen. We can pretend we don’t need it, that we have everything we need in the palm of our hand, but that is a distraction and a promise of false hope.
As George Orwell wrote, “Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”
We must be selective about what we allow ourselves to be filled with.
Make Something
So many of the problems we experience all around us are impossibly complex and entirely beyond our control. We can no sooner alter the rotation of the earth than tackle climate change, fascism, or global inequality on our own. It requires a community to come together. If we want to enact large-scale change, we don’t start with the world, or even our own country, for even that’s too grand. We consider our state, county, city, or neighborhood. We start with our own circle, and we move outward. We make things and we share them. We encourage others to make things and share them.
To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life! Of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer: That you are here — that life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.”
What will your verse be?
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