Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about our relationships with what we might consider "creative geniuses." These are the writers, musicians, and directors who's works have had an actual affect on our lives either by inspiring us, opening our eyes, making us think or just by amazing us.My internal discussion was sparked by a documentary about J.D. Salinger (author of The Catcher In The Rye). The documentary mostly focused on Salinger's life and what had inspired his stories, but near the beginning of the film there was an especially interesting scene. In this scene, a fan goes to Salinger's home and waits outside to speak with him, when Salinger finally comes down and speaks to the fan, he's left feeling very disappointed. This fan had manufactured an idea of what Salinger would be like. He expected to have a life changing experience just by speaking to his hero but ended up being so disappointed because his hero turned out to be a normal old man. Before the fan left Salinger returned to his home and said to him something in the lines of, "I'm not a psychologist, I'm just a fiction writer..."
This really stuck with me because I think all of us do this to some extent. Salinger based The Catcher In The Rye on really deep personal feelings and experiences and ended up writing one of the most relatable characters in history, but just because you relate with Holden Caulfield, it doesn't mean you will with JD Salinger. While Salinger has admitted that Holden is basically a representation of him, people tend to forget that Holden is also kinda an asshole...In our minds we start blurring the lines between artist and art.
This opened the door to a whole new discussion, where do we have to separate art from the artist's opinions or actions? A great example of this was Roman Polanski, director of Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. Polanski was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Before Roman could be sentenced he fled to France, but years later he did serve his time in prison. Now, while I know no-one except Roman and Samantha (his victim) really know what happened, it's still very screwed up that this director, who made all these fantastic movies (one even insinuating that a woman's sexual frustration and psychosis was caused by the sexual abuse caused by her father) molested a 13 year old?! To be honest, you almost feel betrayed...
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| A photo of Carol from Repulsion. In the film it is strongly insinuated that Carol's sexual confusion and distress was caused by a male family member's sexual abuse. |
That being said, does this make his work any less fantastic? Does it make me a bad person for enjoying his work? In my opinion, no. One way that I rationalize this is that Polanski's work was never directly connected with what he did.
Another, and more recent, example of this is how numerous people and supporters of the LGBTQ-community boycotted the new film, Ender's Game, because the writer of the novel (Orson Scott Card) doesn't support same-sex marriages. While I understand why people are doing this (and I support them for it) I'm still gonna read the book/ watch the movie. Firstly, if someone still doesn't support same sex marriages they are so idiotic their opinion shouldn't even matter anymore... (I mean c'mon it's 2014, get over it!) Secondly, Ender's Game doesn't encourage Card's views. (Although I couldn't help but think twice before I bought the book)
As you guys can tell, I'm still pretty conflicted about all of this but I would love to know where you guys draw the line between an artist and their art.
