Your Fave Is Problematic
I was three when I heard ‘Black or White’. A little older when I saw the video of ‘Earth Song’ and wept. About eight when I danced jazz to ‘Dangerous’. I sang ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ at uncountable karaoke nights. And I was twenty-one when I learnt the one who brought and shaped so much of my music and dancing, was in fact, a paedophile.
Today when his song comes up or when I see someone do a cover on him, I feel painfully uncomfortable to sit through it. At the same time, changing the track means saying goodbye to a huge part of me, a kid who fell flat on her face a thousand times while trying out the 45-degree tilt.
While Michael Jackson’s example is as polarized as it can get, it made me think — can ever separate the art from the artist? What that means is, can we forgive the human/inhuman sides of a person who has otherwise contributed to the world in more ways than one?
There isn’t a scale, meter, or calculator that can answer this. This topic is as subjective as it can get. Some of us may say that there isn’t a question, of course, you need to cancel, ban, and stop consuming art from them and not contribute to their income in any way. And in several situations, the majority will agree. For instance, when the Me Too revolution put the terrible in the spotlight, we did not flinch once from shunning Kevin Spacey, Louis CK, or MJ Akbar. We made sure that these many famous individuals, got nothing of our adulation.
But very few things are this straightforward. In contemporary India, artists get shunned for having a social or political opinion. Or for not having one. It is a double-edged sword since it is impossible to please everyone, and in India, every side has clout — the conservatives in their numbers and the liberals through their articulation. Separating the art from the artist during such instances is both inevitable and in many ways required.
So perhaps there is a scale, for me. As you can see, I drew the line on sexual misconduct and was more accomodating when it came to a difference in opinion. But this does not take away the pain I feel when I hear the opening beats of They Don’t Care About Us.
A wonderful article published in The Hindu made me push this line further. The argument was that most art we consume today is made by a “problematic person”. If you love Good Will Hunting or Pulp Fiction, stop it — it is produced by Harvey Weinstein. If you love Charlie Chaplin, stop it — he married and divorced four wives all under the age of 18 when he himself was over 35. Enjoy Picasso? Stop it — he brutally mistreated women. The list is heartbreaking and really endless.
Some respite comes from the philosophical direction provided by a running page on Tumblr — Your Fave Is Problematic. It makes space the fact that most, if not all, of our favourite artists, are problematic. Some more than others. It persuades everyone to be aware of this situation and separate the art from the artist. Because at this rate, they are afraid, we will have nothing left to consume, especially from the days of yore.
Do you have a problematic fave?
