(Nov. 17, 2022 ● Oslin Pierrette)
The Tár professor scene is one of my favorite scenes of the year. She questioned people’s intention of music and art. Noticing people using all these outside instances to judge someone’s craft. Like using someone’s personal life to dictate their music. Music and virtue signaling have a strong relationship in today’s time. Where she feels judging art should solely be on the craft. That’s where the beauty comes from. From being an innate human being expressing, whatever that is. It may not be the prettiest or most presentable, but it’s honestly what they expressed, and that’s where the beauty comes from, truth.
Where do I fall into this? Watching the film, I deeply felt and agreed with Tár. Art is art. I love it, and I’m seeking art that evokes beautiful emotion, art that deeply affects me. And where does that come from? Typically great art comes from truth, honest and genuine vulnerable expressions. Art that taps and pokes at deep untapped emotions within you. Art that evokes truths that you didn’t even realize you felt. Beautiful art can come from dark places, from dark people. And art can be one’s redemption and healing process, and it’s beautiful to see that story arc of a dark, but redemptive human. That many can empathize and can be comforted with. But there’s also dark art that stays dark. Where art is their only escape in their torturous life. And we get to vulnerably see the life path of someone who can’t escape depression. And that can be comforting to someone that won’t feel alone anymore in their darkness, because someone decided to vulnerably express their forever darkness on a canvas. Also can be a profound understanding for other humans to understand. To experience and put someone’s shoes on through their art, to understand that profound perspective. These aren’t the nicest people all the time. They don’t have the cleanest track record. These are real humans that are having a real human experience. People like this, their mishaps can maybe be a microcosm, a branch of a deeper honest issue. Like someone stealing hundreds of dollars from their mom or store is bad, when you single it out like that. But when you understand that maybe they lost someone important to them, they haven’t been able to deal with life, and got into a life of drugs. Being an addict maybe led them to stealing the money, because they desperately needed it for a fix and they were also very hungry. Not excusing the wrong doing, but I understand someone is just having a tough time dealing with life. I don’t just look at the offense to judge them. You look at the why did that happen, why did their life take them to that point. And you’ll see, there is still an obvious humanity that lives within what others judge to be a criminal and bad person. You don’t always just look to cancel them, but offer them grace, redemption can be offered, especially if someone hasn’t gone too far.
Not saying you should victimize everyone, sometimes heinous is heinous and unredeemable, and it doesn’t matter how dark your past is. But today there’s this culture of everyone, including artists, having to fit in this tight mold. You’re out of the mold, you slip out, and you’re disregarded. And I’m not allowed to understand someone going through a human experience, who has been disregarded. All art is supposed to be safe enough, censored enough, perfect enough to express. And better not make anybody feel uncomfortable. Even if it’s your truth. It’s a new day and now you better be aligned. I’m not saying it’s blatantly said guidelines to adhere to. But everyone senses the pressure to. If your art is too raunchy and crosses the guidelines, you’ll be collectively canceled by the mob, your livelihood will be canceled. Which has put this fear in most artists. Even the raunchy lifestyle of a stand-up comedian. Where they are supposed to teeter on the line of crossing the line and going too far. Which has visibly affected multiple comedians’ performances, making these safer performances. That abides by the rules, and won’t trigger cancellation on them. “I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.”- George Carlin. Then every once in a while, you’ll see someone not abide by the cancellation rules. They played a dangerous game, but the art is genuinely appealing, it evokes life. People connect with it. That’s when it’s understood. Humans just naturally live in that danger zone, or at least teeter on the line of chaos and safety. It’s called taking risk, and allowing your human to be. It’s the natural balance of being human. The more you practice being yourself, the more confident you become teetering on that line of chaos and safety. Where you’re seasoned, and not afraid to be yourself, and ok with whatever outcome, especially if you’re doing it righteously. “Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don’t want it.” – Duke Ellington. In mass culture, a lot of people aren’t being their full self, it’s how it’s relatively been my whole existence, and art has been the only thing that sought out this intimation of real meanings of life. Which brings people to see and experience true beauty. People get to feel something, because someone decided to be dangerous, they are painting and evoking a real human. People through art get to experience a real human, something that the general public is vastly void of.
I felt frustrated about how snobby that kid was, about canceling out self admittedly good art, because the artist was flawed. I liked when she rebuttal by saying it was narcissism to claim this moral high ground within the craft of art. Condemning his conformity that promotes boring. Because it honestly felt disgusting to place that snobbiness in such a place of beauty. But I also felt that I’m “supposed” to agree with the kid. It feels dangerous to oppose. Because that cancels you, when you going against guidelines. Putting your livelihood in danger. But accepting his way or the way of the construct feels like I’m canceling myself. Invalidating how I feel, canceling my soul. And that feels like an active death. Self gaslighting. Actively destroying my soul, accepting such a filthy construct. That makes it abundantly clear, this construct is attempting to void the human. A construct where everybody agrees. A construct enforced by fear, and not critical thinking or genuine human emotion. Just a harsh invisible ruler(the ruler is actually visible, but that’s a totally different convo), and they are trying to raise a strict zombified obedient army. So anybody trying to be a human will be penalized. Anybody influencing people to be humans, to feel and value themselves, have standards to live by, to create things for themselves, think for themselves, will be penalized. That’s why it feels so dangerous to feel naturally human. Where you’ll see a culture convinced that 2+2=5 and you’ll be ostracized if you challenge that. This moral high ground living, this virtue signaling living feels so fraudulent. I don’t want to live in a construct akin to the construct of whatever that kid was saying. That soulless zombie world. I rather live dangerously, be human, and choose beauty. Which honestly makes me cherish the beauty even more.
I think that people who don’t appreciate art, who don’t value themselves & feelings, who disregard emotions, can’t really feel this construct against beauty and love. Because they are already in the form that the construct wants them in, low on soul to soulless and obedient. So they feel this culture of moral high grounds and virtue signaling is right.
They don’t feel the attack on art, life, and beauty that they don’t value. There’s a lot of people like this. A huge bulk of the general public. Honestly if someone like that understood it wasn’t the way, they may still lack autonomous skill, which then they would still most likely elect to stay on that side. They can’t create value enough to buy them out of that lifestyle. So they have to continue to buy-in and abide by the rules. Just like the lego movie. The people who are gonna save the world from this psychotic soul killing parasitic construct, are the creators. Just like in the lego movie, who do you destroy? The Master Builders, they are deemed the biggest threat to dismantle the evil construct. Because they can influence people to be creatives. For people to believe in themselves. To work on developing skills to be autonomous, so they don’t have to buy in and feed the parasitic construct. Then when people start building that, people will see the possibility of self belief and a creative lifestyle. It builds hope and belief…I’m now realizing why there relatively has never been a major community that promotes happiness, love, and a passionate spirit.
Let’s say we allow the construct of virtue signaling, moral high grounds, and canceling everyone. Where does being this “woke” or “virtuous” person get us as a culture, because people are “so convinced” this is the “right way”. And we see a lot of it already deeply embedded in multiple cultures. And it’s apathy, it manifests into these monotonous apathetic cultures. Canceling out everything outside of the homogenized box we’re “supposed” to be in. The pressures of fear make us stay in the lines, keep it safe. Which makes us cancel everything out that doesn’t align with being safe or whatever the agenda is. Reason in debates, you already know what their stance and talking points are going to be. You already know what the music is going to sound like. You already know what the small talk conversations are going to be. All so formulaic. That’s why I was disgusted when he said I can’t listen to (said person) because of (said non-heinous reason). If that’s your gauge of dictating music and art, then keep yourself out of it. Take your “too good” “too virtuous” self out of the cultures that people cherish and love. You don’t want to appreciate art, especially if you’re searching so hard to be offended by it. It’s like knowing you’re offended by Dave Chappelle, which is ok if you are. But then going to watch his entire next special, to be offended when you’re already privy to his type of content. This addiction to outrage, and when you think about it. Maybe the outrage is understandable. If you live an apathetic and mundane lifestyle, where you’re not getting stimulated by much. Art doesn’t really do anything for you. You don’t have access to the appreciation of it. Outrage is understandable. Outrage is powerful and stimulating. You get to express something about yourself, get to be seen. It feels euphoric. It’s your only access to being alive, that rage, from that perspective, it’s sort of beautiful. That’s their beauty, and it feels better the more outrage you can pour out. Then ruin other people’s parade, it must be a festival for that person ruining it. Use your powerful stimulating rage to cancel the art. It’s an art form in itself, art destroyer, soul destroyer, life destroyer. Not a paintbrush, but that’s their choice of weapon to destroy the canvases with. Because they don’t have access to live life. Artists live to spread love and beauty. And these “virtuous” people and people that live to cancel people, love to destroy that love and beauty, make up any egregious reason to. Not because the art should be canceled, but they already have preconceived notions before the art drops to cancel it. They spread hate. With this understanding that it’s a psychopathic/narcissistic structure, under the guise that it’s “virtuous”. Knowing it’s fraudulence, I’m gonna stand on being me, allowing whatever that is. Express as I feel. Disregard anyone that fits or feels like they are of this parasitic construct. I don’t want that way of life, I want a beautiful way of life, I want beautiful art in my life, and that is far from whatever they’re projecting. Their projections are destroying the art and life that I love. I will not feed that construct, I will not enable that construct, I will not innocently by-stand that construct. I oppose it. It can’t be here for the sake of human beauty and life.
In an optimal world. Humans don’t cancel humans. This sentiment of canceling humans for every little offense outside of the small homogenized construct. It’s literally canceling humans, because these offenses are who we are. We are human, we live honestly, full of mistakes, but with the space to make mistakes, creates a space to learn, space to grow, and that’s where the beauty and love grows. Perfectionism denies true growth, especially one predicated from narcissism/psychopathy. So in an optimal world we don’t cancel humans, we accept them for who they are, and grow from that.
-I understand the person she turns out to be. But watching this film in real time, iIt was an amazing argument, I was in awe of this scene. Like yes, exactly what I’ve felt. And then we were introduced to her weird treatment of people. But still, I love and stand by this point she made-