Moral Art

In her song “Poem About Death” Agnes Obel speaks on death. More specifically, society’s odd fascination with the afterlife. She talks about how strange it is how much we as a society think of death, even if we are not close to anyone who has died. Then she speaks of how she dreamed of death and the “room of the dead.” She described it as “a landscape that travelers have often spoken of,” made up of stones and bushes. This created the image of a foreign, undiscovered place. One no one truly knows.

“Poem About Death” is just one example of how artists use their work to give commentaries on life and society. One among an infinite list of others. The writings of Oscar Wilde, The Works of Rick Riordan, Noah Kahan’s album, “Busyhead,” and Wendy Heard’s novel, She’s Too Pretty To Burn. I could go on forever, but they all delve into some topic, something real, that they only know how to portray in their art. It’s what people tell you when you start getting into art. “Draw from life.” Well, that’s what they did.

While Heard’s novel is not a direct reflection of her own life, it is still a worthwhile commentary on artists and their messages. More specifically, how far is too far when getting your message across? One character more obviously went too far. Nico went so far as to put people in danger and kill his teammates to portray his distaste for the current governor. For Veronica, though, it’s not as clear. Veronica is a photographer. She takes a photo of Mick. She wasn’t supposed to take the photo in the first place, she said the role of film was empty. She proceeds to post the photo on social media, and when a magazine company reaches out to her about it, she pressures Mick into letting her send it out.

It seems harmless. It’s just a black and white image with her face in it. Her name doesn’t even have to be present. But the whole kickstarter for the story was that Mick didn’t want to be in pictures. Her mom is a model who tried to convince her to do a magazine shoot with her for a bit of extra cash, and Mick was repulsed by the idea. So the fact that she is right back where she started is upsetting to both the character and the reader. It presents the question of is it too much? Did she go too far? Heard wrote this plot to make the reader think about the morals of the characters and the works of other- real life- artists.

By the end of the book, Nico had set off a chain of destruction. Setting off power plants, blowing up water tanks, arming children and homeless people with bombs to set in buildings, it’s a horrid scene. By this point, he’s killed people on his side, committed arson, attempted to murder the same man several times over, almost burned Mick alive for the sake of preserving her forever, and threw Veronica off a cliff, but he manages to look at the bloody carnage he’s caused and call it art.

This could be a commentary on how art is all about perspective. How a warped mind can look past the mass destruction, and see the small bit of good, how a kid drawing on the walls in Sharpie could be considered art from the right perspective, but I say otherwise. While sitting in his hotel room, staring out the window at the smoke rising in the distance, he ponders how “if you want people to see the failings of the system, you have to attack the machine” (Heard, 320). It’s something we hear all the time, now. In the light of third wave feminism, Black Lives Matter, and the LGBTQ+ rights movements, we see people marching and protesting. We see what it’s doing on the surface, but the goal is to get to the root. To get back to the government. All of these issues are the result of systemic causes. Biased rules and twisted histories.

It’s the same with Nico. We are able to see what he’s doing. We see the smoke, and the blood, and the murder. What we don’t see is the governor. We don’t see how he feels about it all. After having read and analyzed the book to pieces, I can’t even picture his face. It’s real, it’s what’s happening now.

She’s Too Pretty To Burn is a retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Veronica is Basil, the artist entranced by their subject. Mick is Dorian Gray, the subject turned victim. Nico is Lord Henry, the friend turned enemy by their desire for greatness. The characters mirror each other and so do the plots. Mick is driven to the point of almost becoming the villain by the words of Nico. She saw something she agreed with and clung to it, eventually driving herself to the edge.

Like Nico, we simultaneously see so much and not enough of Wilde. He talked all the time, but if only he had more time. He was imprisoned for being gay at the age of forty, then died five years later after being released for three. In only forty five years he managed to write about everything. It seems that almost every word that even tickled his thoughts got put on page, even if it was never published. But that’s just it, surely not everything was published, and we as the general public have no right to his private thoughts.

We have no right to ask why he chose to publish what he did. Why he seemed to seek out criticism. He had to have known that people didn’t want to hear what he had to say about the church, society, artists, the general public, any of it. That’s part of him now, his thoughts laid to rest or yellowing on the page.

The irony of it all, is that the public’s words are the exact opposite of Wilde’s intentions. The whole Prelude to The Picture of Dorian Gray is about books, and how books can’t be “moral or immoral” they are either “well written” or “badly written” (Wilde, 5). Every book, every work of art, is created with a single purpose. To speak. To share a glimpse of a moment in time where the artist had a very strong stance on something.

What I find most interesting is how one’s artwork can manifest in different ways. In physical art, people may latch onto the color scheme or shapes. In music, the sound or lyrics. In dance, the style or steps. In writing, the plot or characters. But almost everyone who appreciates the arts manages to find some sort of message in it all while still appreciating the presentation.

A perfect example of this is Circe by Madeline Miller. Miller is known for her poetic writing style and her habit of retelling classic myths. In Circe she focuses on the character of Circe who serves as a minor character in the Odyssey and a plot device to move Odysseus further. It’s beautifully written and is an amazing story that had me hooked from minute one. But what takes a little bit more of a careful eye and a knowledge of history is the feminist undertones.

Throughout history, the concept of the witch has a negative connotation. When children think of a witch, they think of an old woman hunched over a cauldron, stirring a suspicious brew. As one gets older, they start to see witches as a negative name for (most often) a woman who causes someone some sort of inconvenience. In stories, a witch is either the villain, old and haggard, or some sort of benevolent force, but a defining feature is often her sex appeal.

By putting Circe at the center of her own story, Miller revealed Circe’s motivations for what she does and we only see her as she sees herself. We find out why she turns men to pigs and why she saw Odysseus the way she did. But we also see how an immortal being values life and death, chance and effort. Most importantly, how you are not your blood. Circe as a woman may not be seen as more than a person to be married off for land and cows, she still managed to become something great.

Heard, Wilde and Miller use their art to make commentary on the world around them. Things they see and hear. But Kahan’s work is more introspective. The writings of his own life translated into song.

His debut album Busyhead is a “documentation” of the four years leading up to the release of his album (Kahan, 00:10–00:16). Most of his songs describe the ups and downs on his road to fame. “Cynic” and “Mess” talk about the part of himself that regrets everything and how he would do anything for a bit of peace. “False Confidence” is about how he misses his youth and how society thinks it is best to be young. “Save Me” and “Hurt Somebody” are about a relationship that fell apart and how he blames himself for it. “Tidal,” “Busyhead,” and “Young Blood” are about his complicated mental health. And “Carlo’s Song” is about a friend of his who died. Someone he chooses to immortalize in song, and it’s a beautiful thing.

All artists create for their own reasons. Some because it’s therapeutic. Some because they want to share their thoughts. Some because they had a stroke of genius at three in the morning. Whatever the reason may be, the piece of art is the physical representation of hours, days, months, even years of hard work. People who ban or judge these works do it for petty reasons.

I disagree with the religious affiliation.

It makes an attack on a personal opinion of mine.

The characters swear too many times.

Whatever it is, in the end it counts for nothing. While it may be a valid reason for you, personally, to not enjoy something, it gives you no right to judge the artwork other people choose to indulge themselves in. There is no true way to know what is going on in someone else’s life, and why they choose to enjoy what they do.

I’ve read entire stories because a character has a limp and random joint issues. Growing up, I would alter my walk into a warped gate that was borderline uncomfortable because I didn’t want people to ask me about it. Even though the character’s limp was only briefly mentioned, usually in passing, it was a happy feeling to see something I would hide, immortalized in fiction.

This idea presents itself in all sorts of ways. Race, gender, sexuality, disabilities, monetary class, etcetera. I find people judging others with even an odd look, for something as harmless as a book that brings them joy, revolting. I find banning a book for an entire school district or country, even more so.

There is no way to end this. This battle is ongoing, as is this essay. People will always say what they feel, the good and the bad. People will always judge others and hate other’s opinions. And artist’s will always speak, for what is art if not the words others will not say?

Works Cited:

Bates, Kath. “The Tragedy of Oscar Wilde.” Oxford Open Learning, 3 Oct. 2018,

www.ool.co.uk/blog/the-tragedy-of-oscar-wilde/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2021.

Busyhead. Recorded 2017. Performance by Noah Kahan, Republic Records, 2019.

Audiotape.

Heard, Wendy. She’s Too Pretty to Burn. New York City, Henry Holt and Company,

2021.

Kahan, Noah. Video Conference interview. 15 July 2019.

Miller, Madeline. Circe. Edited by Lee Boudreaux, Little, Brown, 2018.

“Poem About Death.” Late Night Tales, performance by Agnes Obel, 2018.

Audiotape.

Wilde, Oscar. “Preface.” Introduction. The Picture of Dorian Gray, London,

Messrs. Ward, Lock and Company, 1891, pp. 1–8.