A prevailing wind that many authors and artists must navigate these days is the notion that they should shut up and entertain… that art should not be political or delve into sociological concerns.
In wrestling with this, I think about the popularity of the Little Rascals and Shirley Temple during the Great Depression. The need to escape and to laugh is profound. I get that. After all, I’ve chosen fantasy, science fiction, and humor as the major outlets for my prose. In addition, I think popcorn can have great value. For example, after going to the Holocaust Museum for the first time I fled as fast as I could to see the stupidist, dumbist, most innocent, and funny movie I could find.
So, there is a value to escape, to silliness, to empty, to vacuous, and to the frilly, and fluffy.
That said, all of it comes with a point. None of it is as empty as it seems. Remember, only the court jester/the fool was allowed to tell the king the truth. That humor mixed with satire was intended to impart warnings and sage advice.
Nothing is made without a message.
On a simpler level, none of us live in a vacuum. What artists and authors create stems from a source. It is carved from our experience, philosophy, culture, education, and a couple of other factors.
So, everything written has a point. Even the silliest bit of slapstick comes from a reaction to something. Perhaps, the kernel of the story is in response to a break up, a news story, a tragedy, or even the most wonderful of surprises. Just as likely the creation is made so that the author can in his medium debate, wrestle with, or contest something that causes them pain or confusion.
Writing can be the artist working through a problem. Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring is believed not to be a grand work of escapism, but the author’s attempt to reconcile what he experienced in World War I with his Christianity.
Art is supposed to have a point. It’s unavoidable. More, it’s useful. Why else would we have developed language if not to communicate ideas? The earliest stories are rife with morals… or stories with a point.
If you read a story about pointlessness that in itself carries a profound message. Our stories are not monologues. The best art is the opening to conversation. The idea is to engage. The relationship between an artist and their audience is one of give and take not. Your feedback, interpretation, and argument carries weight.
The debate matters.
We may disagree with the point, the artist’s point may be baseless or even wrong, but it’s important that ideas are voiced. This idea that artists should laugh is hurtful… not to the artist, but society. Similarly, this dismissive use of “fake news,” best translated as “news that is critical,” is a horrific idea because the more we fear to express our ideas the less we will be able to do.
So, writers write. Artists paint, draw, sculpt, and create. Singers harmonize and create dissonance. Let’s celebrate that we are free to express ideas. Let’s then debate the merit of these ideas as readers, viewers, and listeners.
Let’s not try to suffocate ideas. After all, burning the book never leads anywhere good.
