Margaret Atwood: What Art Under Trump?

[demmiblue]

In a time of crisis and panic, artists and writers can help remind us that we are more than just voters and statistics.

Source: The Nation

Of what use is art? It’s a question often asked in societies where money is the prime measure of worth, usually by people who do not understand art—and therefore dislike it and the artists who make it. Now, however, the question is being posed by artists themselves.

For American writers and other artists, there’s a distinct chill in the air. Strongmen have a well-earned reputation for suppression and for demanding fawning tributes: “Suck up or shut up” has been their rule. During the Cold War, many writers, filmmakers, and playwrights received visits from the FBI on suspicion of “un-American activities.” Will that history be repeated? Will self-censorship set in? Could we be entering an age of samizdat in the United States, with manuscripts circulating secretly because publishing them would mean inviting reprisal? That sounds extreme, but considering America’s own history—and the wave of authoritarian governments sweeping the globe—it’s not out of the question.

In the face of such uncertainties and fears, the creative communities of the United States are nervously urging one another not to surrender without a fight: Don’t give up! Write your book! Make your art!

But what to write or make? Fifty years from now, what will be said about the art and writing of this era? The Great Depression was immortalized by John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, which described in detail what the Dust Bowl years felt like to those living through them at the lowest level of American society. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible provided an apt metaphor for McCarthyism, with its witch hunts and mass accusations. Klaus Mann’s 1936 novel Mephisto, about the rise of a famous actor, showed absolute power corrupting an artist absolutely—a fitting story during the reign of Hitler. What sorts of novels, poems, films, television series, video games, paintings, music, or graphic novels will adequately reflect America’s next decade?

Read more: https://www.thenation.com/article/what-art-under-trump/

[Girard442]

1. I hope "The Handmaid's Tale" isn't the one -- but it might be. NT

[longship]

2. The theocrats are cheering Drumpf.

Check out Right Wing Watch for daily details.

Get a bowl, a spoon, and some milk, because these people are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

[Zoonart]

3. I'm an artist and a writer...

and Margaret Atwood is my personal artist hero. For those of you whose acquaintance with her genius begins and ends with Handmaids Tale, is encourage you to dive into the Madd Addam trilogy, and Stone Mattress. You will not regret reading them. She has a clear eyed grasp of what the future could bring.

[Girard442]

4. "... a clear eyed grasp of what the future could bring."

In the immortal words of TV's Adrian Monk, "A blessing...and a curse."