I consider myself an artist. Not only do I write this blog, I am also writing a novel and a short story collection. They are definitely still in progress, but it is my hope that someday they will be complete enough to share with the world in hopes that others will enjoy the time and energy I put into telling a good story. I also do theatrical work, both on stage and behind the scenes. All of this to say that I consider the arts to be a fundamental part of my existence. I feel out of balance when I am not creating.
But you may be wondering what do these two things have in common? If you read or listen to certain political pundits and commentators, it should be nothing. Somehow we have come to conclusion that artists should stay out of politics and vice versa. That actors, musicians, authors, visual artists should keep their political opinions to themselves. I can certainly appreciate the sentiment on some level. No one likes to feel as though they are being preached to, especially when they do not think that person has the credibility to do so. But this is a lie that we tell artists.
It is the duty of the artist to reflect the world and life around them. To quote Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “… the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.” If it is in fact as Shakespeare says the duty of the “player,” in his case meaning the actor but it’s safe to extend that to all artists, the artist’s involvement in politics is a necessary truth as politics is deeply ingrained into our world and experiences.
Yet, the intersection of these is often met with derision, mostly when the “truth” that the art is telling us is uncomfortable to hear. However, I can’t help but notice that the derision tends to fall on two particular groups more than others: women and minorities. The backlash to Meryl Streep’s Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award speech is really only one instance in a long history of this. We only need to look back a couple of months to see the backlash faced by the cast of Hamilton, a cast populated by minorities, when they so politely and eloquently asked Vice President-elect Mike Pence to listen to their plea that the Trump/Pence administration work on behalf of all Americans and protect the freedoms and rights of the minority groups that they represent. We heard that theater should be a safe space. Theater has never been a space free from politics. We can look back to the very foundations of the art form in ancient Greece to see that.
While not involved in the arts but a public figure nonetheless, we’ve seen Colin Kaepernick be ridiculed and told to “just play the game” because he is exercising his right to protest by silently taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. ESPN analyst and former Buccaneers QB, Trent Dilfer, noted that Kaepernick should worry about the game and his team above social injustice issues. It was basically a “shut up and do your job,” which some likened to a “slave mentality” when dealing with players of color in professional sports.
We only need go back about 16 years to the Dixie Chicks who received death threats because lead singer, Natalie Maines, declared her objections to the war in Iraq by saying that she was ashamed that President George W Bush was from Texas. The protests saw these artists essentially expelled from the country music community because they were “un-American.” If we go back even further to 1992, we have the example of Sinead O’Connor who was banned from SNL and lambasted because she tore a picture of Pope John Paul II into pieces on live TV in protest of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. It would be 10 years later when the Boston Globe broke the story of rampant sexual abuse within the Catholic Church here in the US. It was their job to just “shut up and sing.”
On the other side of the coin, we have musicians like Ted Nugent. Ted Nugent was a vocal opponent of President Obama. He went so far as to call Obama a “chimpanzee” and a “subhuman mongrel.” Nugent has gone so far as to call for the trial and execution of Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton over Benghazi. Yet, his comments are mostly ignored by those who call on liberal artists to “shut up and sing.” While not so blatantly racist but just as politically charged, Charlie Daniels penned an open letter to President Obama outlining what he felt was wrong with the country and Obama’s political agenda. Daniels was lauded by the conservative media and others. And then there is our President-elect Donald Trump, a real estate developer turned reality TV host. He built his political career on insisting that President Obama was not born in the US and ineligible to be President. His supporters and surrogates talk about how entertainers should not be involved in politics, when his Presidential campaign is exactly that. The measure by which most conservatives measure Presidents, Ronald Reagan, was a former actor turned politician. It seems that if you’re a white male, that you are free to express your political sentiments no matter if you use vile language or not.
As citizens, it is our duty to remain engaged in the political process regardless of whether or not it is an election year. This means that we should use our voices and platforms to express dissent when necessary. Yes, it’s true that entertainers and celebrities have a bigger platform than most, but they are citizens just like you and I. The slogan of the post-9/11 world is “if you see something, say something.” This doesn’t just apply to possible terrorists. It’s every citizen’s job to be vigilant, and that includes entertainers like Meryl Streep voicing her concerns. They're citizens too.
No comments:
Post a Comment