What, If Any, Responsibility Does An Artist Have?--Stanek's Comment

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. – John F. Kennedy, mythical American character

An audience can be a dangerous thing. As Teshale hinted, audiences can distort, misinterpret, or misrepresent any message that they encounter. Knowing the frailties of her audience, is an artist responsible for taking them into account? One way—far from the only way—to explore the audience-artist relationship is to ask how much control the artist should exert over her audience. In many ways, the artist has a key role in the production of reality. Certainly there exist verifiable facts but a collection of facts does not a reality make. The linkages between facts, the interpretations, the meanings assigned to facts are at least as important—perhaps more so—as the facts themselves. I assume one of the goals of an artist is to convince her audience to see something in a different light or otherwise influence perceptions of reality. These manipulations (what a cold description for such a beautiful gift!) are part of any purposeful human interaction, not simply cultural exchanges.

History is replete with examples of art (broadly defined) altering or shaping public perceptions. Novels like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Jungle helped to turn public opinion against barbaric status quos. Famous photographs of Florence Owens Thompson and Phan Thị Kim Phúc put a face on an economic depression and a war, respectively, and brought home the suffering of millions. A series of four oil paintings helped convince and remind a nation of the righteousness of its cause during one of the great military struggles in human history. These feats were not accomplished by accident: the artists responsible for these works designed them to shape popular perceptions of reality. South Park, with its blatant moralizing and politicizing, often has purpose lurking beneath its jokes. Whether it be to expose the ridiculousness infusing the Terri Schiavo fiasco or the silliness of prejudice—against gingers or otherwise—South Park ‘s writers have a way of seeing the world that they want to share with you.

The same is true of all artists, whatever their particular craft may be. The subject need not be political: sometimes people paint fruit bowls or smeary, scribbly rubbish masterpieces. Self-expression is all about bringing what’s bubbling underneath to the surface. The focus here is on art with some sort of political content—as opposed to, say, art attempting to make some existential point—because that sort of art has some point to make about society and that can have consequences, intended or not (and thus presumably entails responsibilities, as well). Sometimes it’s as simple as bellicose innocuous political rhetoric or a carefully-crafted memo that dehumanizes our enemies and OMIGOD THERE ARE PICTURES OF OUR DETAINEES BEING STACKED LIKE CORDWOOD. Hmm, apparently we do have to be careful about the way we influence people.

For every piece of art that arguably changed the world for the better, we can find examples of art that made the world a darker place. Nazi propaganda films are the easiest culprits to identify but there are other examples that are equally damaging but less viscerally offensive. Good or bad, ultimately creative or destructive, artwork often helps to create or perpetuate the myths that JFK found so dangerous. To clarify, lest someone think I am attributing too much power to artwork, a specific piece of art contributes to the construction of a broader mythos. It paints a picture—sometimes literally, sometimes in a more figurative sense—of the world that the audience can choose to reject or accept, integrating it into their conception of the world.

How a person interacts with that picture of the world is largely their responsibility. As a prophet once said, “I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.” In the end, we choose the myths we embrace; or, since I suppose there is probably a strong subconscious component to the process, they choose us. The artist is responsible only for striving to get her message across in the best way she knows how (and if her purposes be nefarious, she is responsible for that). Audiences that wish to distort the picture and see things that are not there will do so no matter how careful the artist is. Where some viewers will see simple propaganda, others will see a subject or message for which they have a deep ideological affinity. An artist can attempt to fight ignorance but it is a losing battle. Art is better suited for advancing personal truths or myths than educating the ignorant with facts.

Indeed, if the 35th president is to be believed, art can be the great enemy of the truth. Certainly we can analyze the content of art with our minds (some might say we should) but often we are impacted by art on a more primitive level: we are moved emotionally. Rockwell's painting of the lone dissenter exercising his freedom of speech is capable of stirring all of the patriot's impulses of pride and affection for his nation's history, premise, character, and people. That is a nice feeling--especially useful in the middle of a long and demanding war--but that mythical picture can and should be challenged when necessary. Too often it is not questioned.

Is Rockwell responsible for the actions of Americans who are pushed to hubris and jingoism? No, he did not light the fires even if he (perhaps inadvertently) stoked the flames. The mythos to which Rockwell contributed existed before he ever put paint to canvas and it would have been perverted if he had never expressed it in his artwork. The picture of reality that he created may or may not contain "truth" but it serves a purpose--a purpose that in JFK's opinion makes it an enemy of truth. But people make their own truth. The artist can help them along in the process but ultimately the individual is responsible for the shape her truth takes and the message she chooses to retain from artwork. Artists, in their capacities as audiences and individuals, are in turn responsible for the personal truths they choose to accept and put into their artwork. Your life and your choices are in your own hands; your failings are yours and belong to no one else.