So . . . last week in my blog post I made a passing reference to a film that is due to come out. Even the title might upset the squeamish, and I don't want to turn off any of my three loyal blog readers (yes, I'm kidding, there are at least five), so if you're interested in reading about the movie click here. This got me thinking about the movie and why someone would endeavour to create it. Some (including British censors) would say that it shouldn't even be allowed to exist, as it has no societal merit (it likely won't be a big moneymaker, and its artistic value is dubious). I'm more of the belief that, hey, if someone wants to make a movie about . . . . this, let them.
I don't understand art. I know what I like to see, I know what speaks to me, but a lot of it just goes over my head. I think a lot of people feel this way. Unfortunately, some believe that they have the right to decide for others what is art and what isn't, and what is harmful and what isn't. I know lots of people who would think that Robert Mapplethorpe's photos are art and Barney is harmful to kids.
Because that's the argument most frequently floated, right? That art (or someone's conception of art) will harm kids. If someone is exploiting children and involving them in damaging situations, that's harming kids. If someone is making a movie, or writing a play, or decorating a picture of the virgin mary with elephant dung and pornography, and it is possible that a kid might someday see it, that is not harming kids. We might as well ban knives from kitchens because, well, kids can be in kitchens.
And we here in society have methods to try to keep kids away from stuff that they can't process yet (hell, I can't process much of this stuff). We also have a mechanism to keep adults who might be offended by the film I mentioned or dung-art away from it. It's called choice. I really can't see a situation where someone will happen upon seeing a performance artist shoving yams into her orifices. I really think you would need to make a conscious decision that you wanted to see something like that. As the film's director says, banning it provides a marketing opportunity.
Do I want to see the movie that I mentioned earlier? Hell no. Just the thought of it creeps me out. I don't even want to see the trailer. But that's the beauty part! I don't have to. I don't want to see Hostel or I Don't Know How She Does It either. And I don't have to. No one does (for the latter, it seems no one will). Plus I'm allowed to think that those who want to see such movies are deranged. All thanks to a free society.
One of the articles I linked to above mentions that A Clockwork Orange was also banned by British censors when it came out. In my opinion, Clockwork Orange is one of the best films ever made. I could say something like "will this other movie also make that list? Time will tell." But I won't, because I really don't think it has a chance. But the point is that it's not up to me, or any other individual either. Because isn't that the point of art? To express yourself and allow the world to come to their own opinion of it? So let the "artists" make "art," with or without the sarcastic quotation marks.
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