She wishes she could be more monster herself. She’s less interested in discussing so-called cancel culture than how people wield that phrase to self-serving ends. In fact, she wants the book to be a self-indictment of her own conflicts, a book-length argument with herself. (Knopf)Ī day later, on a bench in Lincoln Square, Dederer sighed: “People really just want to know what to do.” And yet, she will not tell them how to feel. "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma" by Claire Dederer. If this conversation only focuses on those things that are wrong, there is no dilemma, and no acknowledgment of the love which has brought us all to this room, at this moment.” “Love of an artist can be incredibly important, even lifesaving for a lot of people. “A lot of this happens in a way that we are not even in control of,” she told the class. She refers throughout the book to “the stain,” the way the ugly details in an artist’s life become more indelible than those voices who insist we can separate an artist from their art. And now she finds it impossible to see past the opening of “Manhattan,” in which Allen and his 17-year-old girlfriend (who is still in high school) have dinner with a couple in their 40s. Dederer herself, in “Monsters,” wrestles with the question of how to watch Woody Allen movies: If she watches “Manhattan” at a friend’s house, not paying herself for the video, maybe it’ll be better? Like many in the 1970s, she once thought of Allen and his films as a blueprint for how to be an adult. Rowling, whose Harry Potter crafted a world for many, then excluded many of those same people when she made controversial statements about transgender identity. Kanye was not just a rapper but an example of how to create fearlessly. Bowie was not merely a singer but, for generations, a way to move through the world. And it’s not necessarily true.”īut the “scorched-earth way we discuss this” tends to skip past how much we do identify with beloved artists. You need to identify with what you consume. I feel like in America we hold this belief that you need to consume media that reflects your personality. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Ī student interjected: “If we are consuming media from someone who has abused women, that does not mean you have abused women, or even support women. “Yeah,” Dederer said, “my kids are not getting to have their innocence.”Īuthor Claire Dederer speaks with students during Eileen Favorite’s class called “Love the Art, Hate the Artist” at the School of the Art Institute. “You know, I was talking to an interviewer last week and he said he felt sorry for my children, because they would never be able to take in Picasso’s work now without the context.” Gauguin made Picasso possible, behavior-wise, Dederer noted. “Another strike against Salinger,” Dederer said, “was he hated ice cream.”ĭederer read a chapter from “Monsters” that described taking her children to see an exhibit on Picasso and the women he painted then she asked Favorite’s 18 or so students, seated in a wide circle around the cold, spare classroom: “Do you think there is more institutional awareness of this stuff now? I mean, call a show ‘Picasso’s Women,’ and considering his abuse of them - I’m not sure if you could just call it good art now and still get away with it.” A student said she was at the Art Institute recently and noticed Gauguin is shown without mention that he had sex (and children) with Tahitian teens he painted.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |