Make Art Complicated Again
Good art isn't supposed to be an endorsement. But scolds keep demanding representation without nuance.
âModern movies arenât morality tales, but audiences sure do seem to want them to beâŚIt genuinely seems like audiences are now super uncomfortable with ambiguity of all types,â writes Stacy Lee Kong in this piece on the discourse about Teyana Taylorâs character in One Battle After Another.
Itâs not just movies, itâs everywhere. I get it, we all want representation for our group onscreen and elsewhere. But social media activists/scolds seem incapable of understanding that art is not supposed to be an endorsement of behavior.
Not everything is supposed to be a proud representation of your gender, race, tribe, etc. Nor do villains need to be one-dimensionally evil so we all can dunk ruthlessly on them. In fact, those things are the seeds of crap art. We shouldnât insist on turning every production into an afterschool special/âvery special episodeâ morality play. Let go of the childish notions of identity and representation tech platforms incentivize.
John McWhorter, professor of linguistics at Columbia University, explains:
The recently fashionable view of American (or Western) history as just one extended hit job, with whiteness always the oppressor and people of color always the subaltern, is ultimately a childish temptation, excusing us from engaging detail and nuance. Humans of all shades have quite often been awful to one another. Our job is to work against that tendency, not to pretend it doesnât exist. And to celebrate those who overcome it, whatever their race.
Nabokov merely depicted Humbert, he wasnât telling readers to behave like him.
Wait, I forgot that no one reads anymore. Lemme try again:
David Chase is showing you the life of Tony Soprano. He isnât telling you to be Tony Soprano.
In fact, true equality is letting fictional members of your group sometimes be the bad guy, the fool, or the klutz. Fleabag is a wonderful show in large part because the main character (written and played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is awful. That isnât a blow to feminism. It IS feminism.
Please allow artists to treat members of [insert marginalized group here] like complicated adults who live inside nuanced worlds. Otherwise weâll be left with nothing but cartoonish slop for simpletons. And these days, weâve got enough of that in politics.
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