Can you separate the art from the artist? Should you? How? When? To what level?

Content warning for mentioning names of famous people who’s works I have enjoyed up until finding out that artist/creator is/was a Garbage Human. I will not be discussing the things they did to get on this list; this post is only about separating (if you should) the art from the artist.

Sigh. The list of people in general is much longer than this, but these are ones that are just on the top of my head.

Marion Zimmer Bradley
Bill Cosby
Gary Glitter
Joss Whedon
Roman Polanski
J. K. Rowling

and now [heavy sigh] Neil Gaiman, someone I’ve known of since my late teens, and actually known since my early 20s (through family – the F&SF field is small).

I can’t find the exact Daniel Radcliffe quote, but I remember reading something he said about how your relationship is with the art, not with the artist. If that piece of work (the book, the movie, the song, whatever) is part of your core, but the person who made that work turns out to be a piece of garbage, let them be a piece of garbage and let them go, but don’t let them take away or sully the relationship you had with the work they made.

Boy howdy is that hard sometimes.

I mean, every time I hear someone talk about Rowling, I want to be like “Yeah? Have you ever heard of MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY???” and then I try not to steamroll their Harry Potter discussion with a verbal vomit about the legend of King Arthur told from the point of view of the WOMEN and can you even comprehend how much that work meant to thousands of young women who had never before seen themselves represented in that way, only to find out what the author was doing behind closed doors?

Roman Polanski isn’t exactly a household name any more (not like Woody Allen… hello? Kids? Ask your grandparents!) and I’m disgusted by what he did, but, also, how much do I love Ruth Gordon and seeing her as a little old evil witch-next-door in Rosemary’s Baby is just fucking delicious!

I never really got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but put me in the line of legions who loved Firefly and Serenity. But if Joss Whedon was on fire and I had a bucket of water? I’d drink it.

Why do I have to like that damn Gary Glitter song so much (it’s just so dang catchy!) and why did they have to use it in such a great scene in The Full Monty?

Anyway.

I have a hard time with the attitude of “that person is completely cancelled, fuck everything they’ve ever done and fuck anyone who still likes their stuff”… mostly because I do still like some of the stuff. And it is possible to separate the art from the artist, although some people do that better, some don’t do it at all, and some (like me) waffle back and forth, dithering.

Some people, when they learn of scandal, close that door immediately, and maybe burn the house down for good measure. Some people can get to a place where they separate the work from the person who made it. Some people don’t care about it, or don’t want to “cancel” the person AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT, ALL OF THAT IS FINE. You do you. I’m not going to cancel a friend for not cancelling a garbage human. We’re all individuals and we all handle things different ways. Fuck, maybe we’re all struggling with this a little right now. I know a lot of my Facebook friends are, with this… latest thing that came out Monday, which I’m sure you already know about.

AAAAAAAAAaaaaanyway.

If you’re in a spot and you’re wondering how to get to a place where you can still feel nostalgic love for the work of someone you no longer want to support, maybe it would help you to ask yourself some questions. Because for me, personally, I think it’s possible to still love the work for what it meant to me at whatever stage in my life I picked it up…. but to also not necessarily feel that I need to re-read/re-watch, or buy new things if the creator is still alive and making things. Here are some questions that I ask myself, and you’re welcome to them:

• have I already consumed (read/watched/seen/listened to) the work?
• is the work important to me?
• will boycotting the work lump innocent people into the boycott?
• will I continue to spend money on this person’s work?
• will I cease to enjoy other works that contain the offending artist’s work?

Now to expand on those questions….

• have I already consumed (read/watched/seen/listened to) the work?

I’ve already read Mists of Avalon, Sandman, Ender’s Game. I’ve already seen Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Annie Hall. I’ve already watched Harry Potter, Neverwhere, Firefly. I can’t unring those bells. But if it’s something I’ve never seen, heard, or read, and I find out before seeing it, hearing it, reading it, that the creator of the work is what I would consider to be problematic? Easy answer. I don’t consume it.

• is the work important to me?

If no, no big deal.

If yes, can I put myself into the following headspace — That piece of work was what I needed in my life at that time, either to appreciate or help me grow or help me through something. Since I’m no longer in that stage of my life I can appreciate what the work gave to me at that point, and leave it in the past. Acknowledge past me and what that work meant to me, and leave it there in the past. Remember the work fondly and nostalgically, but not as something I need in my life now. Like training wheels on a bike, or a high chair; they were helpful to me then but I don’t need them any more.

• will boycotting the work lump innocent people into the boycott?

This is probably always going to be a slight “yes” in that books also have proofreaders (one hopes) and publishers, movies have casts and crews, music has other musicians (usually). And it’s not a question I spend the most time on in my head, because of that. I ask it more to remind myself that art is not produced in a vacuum. I get that folks gotta eat, gotta pay bills – but if other people actively and loudly stop working with someone, or if things make less money because x-name is attached to it, studios and publishers are going to learn (probably slowly, unfortunately) that that big name isn’t the big draw they think it is. I would never shit on people for taking a job to put food on their table, even if it’s with someone who I can’t support. We live in a capitalistic nightmare and everyone has to make money. I can’t control how other people make money, I can only control how I spend mine.

• will I continue to spend money on this person’s work?

Nope… mostly. I might not give or throw away the DVDs or books or CDs (or cassette tapes!) I already own, but I’m not exactly rushing out to see the latest Woody Allen film (does he still even make films?) and I’m sure not buying any Harry Potter merch. If it’s a mostly solo project, like a new album, or a new book, or a filmed stand-up comedy show… nah. That creator doesn’t need my money any more. I can find newer musicians and authors and comedians to support. Movies or TV shows are a little harder, because there are often people I really like tied into them (although, hopefully not, because see what I said above about how a boycott can change studio’s minds). Honestly, with movies, I go with a case-by-case basis. Who else is in it? Do I know anyone who worked on it?

Side note here, sort of an “honorable mention” to Equalizer, The Expanse, and Army of the Dead. Chris Noth’s character in The Equalizer was killed off immediately when allegations came out against him.  Same with Cas Anvar, on The Expanse. And in Army of the Dead, they straight up took Chris D’eila out of the movie altogether and greenscreened Tig Notaro in. Fuck yeah, y’all, A+ on all of that! If anything, actions like that make me want to support those works even more!

• will I cease to enjoy other works that contain the offending artist’s work?

Going back to The Full Monty, the scene when they use Gary Glitter’s song is fucking HILARIOUS. Do I wish they’d used a different song? Well, sure. But I’m not destroying my DVD of it because of that (I don’t think I even knew about Gary Glitter’s scandal when I saw The Full Monty). And now every time I hear that song I just laugh and laugh and laugh thinking of Robert Carlyle (who I’ve loved since seeing him in that, and please don’t let me wake up tomorrow to some horrible story about him!). But if there was a full-length movie about Gary Glitter’s life, would I go see it? Nah. Fuck that guy.

Similarly, I’m not going to suddenly hate Tori Amos’s “Tear in Your Hand” just because she mentions Neil.

Sigh.

All in all, this is just a … I mean, I can’t believe that this is even a thing we have to think about. What the fuck is wrong with humans? And, like… statistically this is more a question for people who identify as men, but… is it hard to not be a garbage human? Because I have a lot of men in my life who make not being a shitbag look pretty easy. I’m pretty dang grateful for them.

ooof. This was a long one, y’all. Long to write and long to read. I’ve had this tab open on my browser for about twelve hours now, writing, coming back to it, deleting some, rephrasing, writing more… anyway… I’d love to know your thoughts. Some of you I’ve already had conversations with about this very thing, over the last few months. Tell me how you do it. Are you one who can just “one and done”? Can you cut something out of your life and walk away without looking back? I’d kind of really like to be that person, but I’m not. I get too tied up in my feels.

Anyway. Ugh. I don’t know how to end this post. Just like I really didn’t know how to start it; I must have written a first paragraph five times.

OK. Thank you. Let’s chat. Your thoughts are important to me. xoxo (and here’s a little Unicorn Chaser, from four of my girls, to you)