“The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.”- Sir Francis Bacon
Culture is the ultimate secret weapon. There is no defense to it. No wall can stop it. No bullet can kill it. It opens the mind and the heart. It melts hatred with humor. It dispels ignorance with empathy. It uses light and color and sound to change people’s perspectives; hopefully, for the better.
At the height of Hitler’s power in 1940, Charlie Chaplin boldly thumbed his nose at the Fuhrer, Nazi Germany and Fascism itself with “The Great Dictator.” Mel Brooks’ classic “Blazing Saddles” used vulgarity and hilarity to lampoon the colossal idiocy of racism. Michael Cimino’s “The Deer Hunter” brought awareness to the tremendous struggle faced by many returning Vietnam Vets. In “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, shine a spotlight on the serious issue of sexism in the workplace while making us smile as they ingeniously punch through the glass ceiling. “Will and Grace” was tremendously helpful at bringing gay characters into the main stream. It’s hard to be homophobic when you’ve had so much fun laughing with Eric McCormack’s Will Truman and Sean Hayes’ Jack McFarland. In “All the President’s Men,” Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford show us the blueprint for using the Freedom of the Press to take down a corrupt POTUS. Come to think of it, maybe we should check that one out again….
Crisis as Opportunity
“In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
- Orson Welles as Harry Lime/The Third Man
Here’s the good news. Dark times scream out for art and entertainment to illuminate humanity amidst the swarming shadows.
And, courtesy of Election 2016, shadows we got. The demonization of “The Other.” A government led attack on the first amendment, journalism and objective truth itself. The rejection of the science of climate change. The assault on public education and the National Endowment for the Arts. The normalization and lionization of misogyny, bigotry, mendacity and kleptocracy.
Art and Entertainment thrives when the world is overtaken with madness and despair because it must. That’s when it is needed most.
The Great Depression brought us the fantastic screwball comedies of Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Katherine Hepburn and the remarkable musicals of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. How about the The Marx Brothers, The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges?
We may not be going through the Great Depression, but I find it hard to turn on the news without becoming greatly depressed. Yet, I am excited to see the projects that will emerge from our Orwellian Brave New World to inspire, embolden and entertain. How will they advance our culture? How will they inspire and provide hope when it is needed most?
Love Trumps Hate, Love Trumps Trump
“Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.” - William S. Burroughs
Despite our great leader’s twitter tantrums, hate is not a virtue. Hate is a vice. Narcissism is not a virtue. Narcissism is a vice. Greed is not a virtue. Greed is a vice. Conning the little guy to make a buck (a buck that you don’t really even need) is not praiseworthy. It is predatory and sick and shameful. But I digress, back to the important task ahead.
If you are an Artist and/or a mover and shaker who helps Artists make art, our country and our world needs your prodigious talents now. It’s our opportunity to wield culture against the current political assault on human decency.
We knew the Fascists couldn't prevail when we had Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca on our side.
Opponents of Civil Rights seemed backwards and ridiculous after watching Sidney Poitior in “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner” and Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Nixon’s disingenuous “Fundamentalism” could not survive under the microscope of Norman Lear’s “All in the Family.”
How about Rocky IV? We knew the Rooskies had no shot to win the Cold War when Balboa beat their juiced up golden boy, Ivan Drago.
Nietzsche wrote that “Art is the proper task of life.” Well, if crisis is opportunity, then we are blessed with the opportunity of a lifetime. Come on Showbiz don’t let Democracy and eternity down. Give ‘em hell!