When fandoms and politics collide, and other musings

[selenak]

You definitely know you're in fannish love when artwork featuring two middle-aged aliens and a song collection printed on same makes you squee in delight. kakodaimon, and other Babylon 5 fans, have a look at Londo and G'Kar goodness . Of course, the other thing that evoked unbecoming gurgles of delight from me was the news sabine101, though still very busy fighting the forces of darkness getting Bush out of the White House and Kerry in, is back online. And speaking of that worthy endeavour, karabair has a report on Joss Whedon's efforts for the cause.

Which brings me to: depending on the partisanship of the blogger and the celebrity in question, I've seen various reactions to show biz people engaging in poliltics over the years, mostly, not surprisingly, finding it good if there is agreement in politics and being ticked off if the political views are at odds. There is, however, a third group who take the "they should just shut up and get back to acting/writing/directing/whatever" line no matter what their own pov on politics is. Which I can't understand. To take some present day examples, I happen to agree with Joss on the current US government and the need to remove it, but if he were convinced that Bush is the best thing since sliced bread and would campaign to get him reelected, that would be his right, too.

One reason for general distaste for political views by writers, actors, singers, whatever, might be the idea that one can't enjoy the product of their creativity untainted anymore if one disagrees about their partisanship. So far, that hasn't been the case with me, which I'm grateful for, since it would have stopped me enjoying a couple of films (say, Maverick, or anything Charlton Heston is in) or novels, or, for that matter, fanfic I like, or even love. Which would have made it a poorer world for me.

Mind you, conversely I don't think just because someone is vocal in his or her political views it improves his or her acting/writing/singing/whatever. For example, John Le Carré's novel Absolute Friends might be the product of a very understandable and very deep anger over the Iraq War and the neocons gaining power before that, but that doesn't make it a good book. (And it doesn't help that one of the main characters is just the sort of selfrighteous tiresome Altachtundsechziger I recognize from life and various "I'll get my Nazi father" autobiographical diatribes.) He can do, and did, far better in the past. I'm curious about David Hare's take on Dubya, Rumsfeld & co., Stuff Happens, but going by rozk's review, it's a mixed affair. So far, the most artistically successful result the Bush years have inspired seems to be the Laura-Bush-talks-about-Dostojewski scene from an unfinished play by Tony Kushner. I do wonder whether anyone will manage to capture Bush and assorted allies in the way Joe Klein did Clinton in Primary Colours. But then, Klein never hated Clinton when he wrote that funny and immensly readable novel which manages to be a satire with three-dimensional characters. And he wavered between being fascinated (in the admiring sense) and appalled ever since, which makes his non-fictional take on Clinton and the Clinton presidency, The Natural, imo the best thing on the subject, as opposed to Hitchens on the contra and Blumenthal on the pro side. Will Bush and the Bush presidency ever find their Klein? So far the pro Bush journalists and writers don't seem to have the necessary element of being appalled, and the anti Bushs hate too much for seeing anything good in the guy.

Meanwhile, the guy stuck with the description of being "the best ex president the US has ever had", Jimmy Carter, wrote a novel himself. (Set in the 18th century, just so there are no misunderstandings.) The journalist interviewing him wasn't impressed by the novel but very much by Mr. Carter, which resulted in this portrait. You know, somehow Carter and Reagan always struck me as embodying the Aesopian fable of the flashy hare and the unpretentious and somewhat dull hedgehog. No cookies for guessing which is which.

Lastly, and because both in Europe and the US when talking about the immediate past and present, the people getting space in the media are usually not Iraquis: Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger (who did support the US invasion because of the removing Saddam factor), went to Washington for two weeks, resulting in some very readable reports. Choice quotes:

And that is another thing that seemed to be incomprehensible to one of my new Washington friends: when we were talking about the popularity of the clerical militia chief Moqtada al-Sadr I was asked how anyone could be fooled by someone who so obviously used religion to boost his own popularity and went for the lowest common denominator for popular appeal? I was saved by another guest who asked if we were talking about Bush or Sadr here.

And, something I empathized with because it's something that struck me when visiting the US for the first time at age 14 and on every visit in the 20 years since, completely independent from who was in government at the time:

The news channels here are not like the news channels I am used to. You should try watching al-Jazeera - Bad news! Serious news! More bad news! - and see what it does to your day. These people here are doing a live entertainment show, not news. The breakfast shows are the ones that annoy me most. I can't stand all this happiness this early in the morning. News about explosions in Baghdad and American troops refusing to follow orders is sprinkled with the cheerful banter of Mr Weatherman and jokey Miss Anchorwoman, and it all gets watered down.

Though by now, we do have these relentlessly cheerful breakfeast shows as well in Germany. "I can't stand all this happiness this early in the morning" is my favourite phrase of the day.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I'm curious about David Mamet's take on Dubya, Rumsfeld & co., Stuff Happens

[Polite cough] David Hare.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Arggh! Yes. Thank you.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I think what always strikes me about US media, especially the papers, is the complete lack of political diversity among the papers. In Belgium, you've got the conservative paper, the socialist one, the more right of center ones, etc., and I was under the impression that that's the case in most of Europe. BUt in the US, nope.

Also, I have a soft spot for Jimmy Carter. He was nice! He's pro-gay rights! What's not to like? :D

[selenak.livejournal.com]

In Belgium, you've got the conservative paper, the socialist one, the more right of center ones, etc., and I was under the impression that that's the case in most of Europe. BUt in the US, nope.

Which is why I was very surprised the first time I came upon the catch phrase "the liberal media". I mean, WHAT liberal media? Sure, there is a difference between, say, the New York Times and anything controlled by Rupert Murdoch, but compared with the European diversity, it's still very homogenous.

Also, I have a soft spot for Jimmy Carter. He was nice! He's pro-gay rights! What's not to like?

Nothing. A very decent man, proving that one can be a top level politician and religious without shoving one's religion into everyone's face and claiming to be inspired by the Allmighty, instead proving his principles via continually working for peace.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Which is why I was very surprised the first time I came upon the catch phrase "the liberal media".

I think according to the people using said catchphrase, all media are "liberal". For "more left than us" values of liberal, of course, which is pretty much everyone.

And Jimmy Carter is the best ex-president of the US ever. Closely followed by Clinton. Love!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I think that it's a question of economic policy versus social policy. So leftists argue that the American media is essentially conservative because of its bias towards free-market capitalism (OK, there are ritual digs at businessmen, but no alternative model is ever suggested), and rightists complain that the media is liberal because it mostly suggests that only small-minded creeps are opposed to non-marital sex and homosexuality.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

You always have really fascinating blogs, friend. I totally missed that Salam was back writing, which cheers me up. And Joss Whedon has interesting things to say, fandom-wise.

And I quite agree you about literature and Bush. We have yet to find the defining piece of creative work made about this political era. We shall see if we ever find it. Although IMHO, "In the Shadow of No Towers" is far and away the best of the 9/11 creations.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

By Art Spiegelman? I've heard of it but haven't found a copy yet. As 9/11 creations go, I do like Bruce Springsteen's The Rising, and admire how JMS handled the issue in Spiderman (though with hindsight, it's sadly optimistic in some parts), but haven't found anything yet in any medium that I'd regard as definite.

A take on Bush, of course, would probably have to approach 9/11 from the outside, only through its impact...

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

It's impressive and fascinating-- and I recommend it. It's easily the best thing he's done since Maus. (Spiegelman seems to be one of those authors destined to make one, or two serious contributions to literature, and spend the rest of his life working on side projects that enthuse him, but won't last. Not really a judgement on my part so much as an observation.) The only piece of music about 9/11 I've liked yet is Tori Amos's "I Can't See New York", from Scarlett's Walk. And the Spiderman run, yes, was not bad at all.

Right. If I were writing the book on the Bush Presidency, I'd probably skip over the actual events of that day as much as possible. I'm not sure how far you can go with excising it completely, as according to all I've heard, there were several little comments about Iraq even then...

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I totally missed that Salam was back writing, which cheers me up.

Yes, I was only saying to a friend a few days ago "Where's Salam Pax gone?" And then, suddenly, four-page spread in G2! With pictures! And clubbing!

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I am so Salam Pax's fangirl. He's such a cutie.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

It always seems to me that the "shut up, you're just an actor/musician/whatever" response is a solely right-wing phenomenon. Leftists upset at remarks by right-wing celebrities have been known to ask for boycotts and so on, but they always go for the actual ideology and not simply deny the person's right to comment.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I heard it far, far more from the right-wing, but I did hear it on occasion re: Mel Gibson and Charlton Heston from the left.

Though I've yet to encounter anything like whatever-the-baseball-organization-is-called banishing Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins from celebrating the anniversary of that baseball film, or the Dixie Chicks hysteria. (BTW, I wouldn't have known the Dixie Chicks were the ladies on Fred's poster in season 5 if someone hadn't pointed it out online, not being into country at all.)

Mind you, when watching The Deal, Stephen Frears' TV film about Blair and Brown, I always wondered how accurate Tony Blair's reaction to spotting one of the stars from Eastenders is (he points her out to the TV ignorant Gordon and says "that's real power" *g*)....

[hobsonphile.livejournal.com]

What makes me wince when celebrities get political is the fact that they are too often treated as authorities on the subject, rather than what they truly are, namely: private elites with more power to seize media attention, but who are no more or less informed than the rest of us here on Earth.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

How well informed any of us are surely depends on how well-informed we make the effort to be; private citizens run the whole gamut of being qualified to speak intelligently on a subject, from not very to extremely knowledgable, and, in that, celebrities are no different from any of us.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

As redstarrobot says below: how well they are informed depends on the celebrity in question, just as it depends on the private citizen. They have their opinion, just as we have ours, and of course they try to use what influence they have to promote whatever cause they believe in.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Bad news! Serious news! More bad news!

This sounds pretty much like Russian media. Which, by the way, for all the “freedom of press in danger” hype- often justified- is far more critical of the President of Russia than US media is of the President of USA.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, our news is the same. (Cheery breakfeast shows excepted.) Mind you, it's not as if the bad news isn't true.

I'm tempted to say that most media in the world, dictatorships and Italy excepted, is more critical of their government than the US media is of the US President, but that would be unfair. For starters, criticism has made a comeback in the last year or so, and secondly, the US media by and large was non-stop critical and often downright vicious during the Clinton years.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

ok, I don't have an experience with Clinton era media, living in North America since the end of 2000, so much for sweeping generalizations, right?

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

I'm so terrified that Bush will win that I almost can't bear to read the newspaper.


Your icon brings tears to my eyes.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

To use a cliché, hope springs eternal. I believe there is a genuine chance he won't win. Though of course I'm terrified along with you of the (equally genuine) possibility he will, because of the world-wide consequences.

Icon: thinking LotR thoughts when rewatching the show made me think of it, and hobsonphile very kindly made it. The scene - well, scenes, both the LotR one and the Fall of Centauri Prime one - always makes me cry anyway, you know?

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

hope springs eternal.

Or maybe, "Hope is all we have"?

The scene - well, scenes, both the LotR one and the Fall of Centauri Prime one - always makes me cry anyway, you know?

Yes.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

thanks for the pimp ;)

on the "entertainers should keep their opinions to themselves" -- I think the bad rap comes from people who are obviously uninformed and show up at political events just to be seen. this may just be an American thing, but there was a lot of it during the Clinton era. But if an intelligent person is saying something intelligent about politics -- whether its Joss or Bono or Sean Penn or whoever -- then I think that's a good thing.

As far as how it informs art, I just have to repeat what Joss says because I love it so much: "If I write a work of fiction that can't be enjoyed by someone who doesn't share all my political beliefs, then wha I've written isn't a work of fiction."



thanks for the Baghdad Blog link as well, that looks interesting!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's a great quote, and as often, he's perfectly right!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Jimmy Carter; I think he's one of the best presidents the US had, but few seem to realise it. The man had ethics.

What's an 'Altachtundsechziger ' / old 68er?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's a nickname for former revolutionaries from the 60s. I like the 60s as a decade, and resent the bashing of them, but you know, here in Germany they also spawned some truly tiresome people along with some truly interesting ones, and Le Carré's novel has one of these as a main character, dead on type, which wouldn't be bad except that the reader is supposed to like him. As someone who heard the rants in real life already, both on tape and when meeting some people, I was hard pressed to.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah. Thank you for that. Why 68 in particular though? Sorry to be so ignorant.

When I hear about the 60s I feel rather sad that all that hope for a new world came to nothing.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

1968 was the year of the student revolt here in Germany. (Also in other parts of Europe, such as France, and ironically the year where the so called "velvet revolution" in Checheslovakia ended in tanks and bloodshed.)

The 60s in general: Oh yes. I mean, some of the achievments are still with us - no matter how hard certain parties try, this is not the world of the 50s anymore - but it's so much less than what that generation hoped for.

[kakodaimon.livejournal.com]

Oh oh! Thank you! This is a delayed response, but that is most excellent. I must hear these songs and comment on the person's journal.

Oh, what happens when musical and fan geeknessess interact...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The results are fun.*g* I knew you'd like it.