When it comes to art, I am not a fan of cheap shocks. Or cheap socks either, for that matter. There is no excuse for poor quality footwear. Neither is there any excuse for art that has no purpose aside from upsetting people. That doesn’t mean I am against any art that contains shocking content. I just prefer it to have a good reason for including that content. For the most part, there seems to be three different categories of art that contains shocking or taboo elements:
- Art that is trying to challenge its audience, or raise questions about important issues.
- Art that just happens to be shocking.
- Art whose only purpose is to shock/disturb its audience.
I have no problem with the first two, as long as they are done well. The third, on the other hand, is something that I cannot stand. It’s juvenile, offensive and just not nice. If type three was a person, it would be the kind of obnoxious douche who shouts all the time, even though they don’t have anything interesting to say. Anyone can provoke. That part is easy- which is probably the reason why so many people try to do it.
Art should not be a victim of censorship, and artists should be allowed to express themselves. But artists are people, and they have to follow the same rules that everybody else has to. First of all, there’s common courtesy and basic decency. While an individual might be allowed to speak their mind, that does not mean they have the right to go up to someone else and start insulting them. The same can be applied to art. If a work of art is deliberately offensive just for the sheer sake of it, that’s not edgy or ground-breaking, it’s just rude. Secondly, being an artist is a job. If you have a job, you’re expected to put some effort into it. An artist without a strong work ethic doesn’t deserve much respect.
Of course, the hilarious thing about most of these so-called shock artists is that they aren’t actually that shocking. Nasty and disgusting, yes, but shocking? They’re too culturally illiterate to generate any long-lasting reaction from their audience. They strive to be progressive, mostly unaware that it’s all been done before, most of the time by people a lot smarter and way more talented than them. Shock art has no subtlety to it, and zero maturity. If you want to be treated as a serious, adult artist then act like one. Shock art is only for self-obsessed teenagers with a bad taste in clothing.
Great post – I completely agree. The whole point of art, like writing, is to challenge ideas or to make a socio-political point. Shocking for the sake of sales is the equivalent of putting the words sex-tape in a headline of a completely unrelated story. Curious to know what piece of art provoked you to write this post..?
Thank you. 😀 I think that another point of art is just to be beautiful or meaningful in itself. (Which is the type that interests me the most.)
Shock artists are really just looking for attention.
I’m not sure if any one piece of art provoked me in particular, but I guess the two that would have annoyed the most are Family Guy and Marilyn Manson. I can’t stand either of them. 😛
Haha again, in agreement – both are gross.
It makes me happy that you don’t like ‘Family Guy’. It’s really unpleasant hollow nihilism and genuinely culturally insidious!
I find Marilyn Manson quite funny in a kitsch sort of a way, but I can certainly understand not liking him.
I really dislike shocking things if they feel hypocritical or disingenuous… the film ‘Kids’ is probably a work I’d put in that category since it both seemed to be trying to whip out moral outrage while simultaneously revelling pornographically in its young performers.
I’m glad that other people dislike it as much as I do. 🙂 It’s a bad copy of The Simpsons that fails to recognise just what made The Simpsons so funny.
I guess I dislike Manson so much because I used to be a genuine fan of him, which is something I’m trying to make up for now. 😛
“Kids” sounds awful. There’s a really sleazy element in a lot of that sort of thing. Even a few artists I do like seem to indulge in that hypocrisy a bit, to the point where I can’t tell if they’re criticising something or praising it.
I think a lot of kids who like Manson go on to like more interesting music… I think my girlfriend was a fan when she was a young teenager and now in her 20s her favourite band is Sparks! I like that ‘I Don’t Like The Drugs’ track because the gospel choir always used to make me laugh, but he certainly is one for trying too hard. I think he’s a little like ‘Mindless Self Indulgence’ in that respect, a band who combine Manson’s shock tactics with Family Guy’s nihilistic ‘post-irony’. hmmm!
The first decade of The Simpsons really was remarkably good. I just rewatched the episode when Marge gets arrested for (accidentally) shoplifting earlier today! Just such a high density of good jokes and warm feelings!
‘Kids’ sits alongside ‘Sin City’ as a film lauded for being edgy and cool that I just found utterly repellent and totally morally void!!
Sparks sounds interesting (just checked their TV Tropes page)…I really need to listen to them now. I think I’ve heard a cover of them by Siouxsie, though. Thanks for another great recommendation! 😀
It can go the other way, though, unfortunately. I was unfortunate enough to encounter some very nasty Manson fans online, and I have the feeling they’ll never move on to anything else. (They’re another reason why I have such negative feelings for his music at the moment.)
Yeah, I think that, out of all he did, Mechanical Animals had the most potential. I did go on from that to stuff like Gary Numan and so on, so at least there was some positive. 😛
“Post-irony” is a good way to describe this sort of thing. 🙂 I feel that a lot of people think they have to be that way in order to look smart.
I haven’t actually seen as much of The Simpsons as most people have, but that’s something I want to rectify as soon as possible. Its timing is perfect, and it manages to be funny and even dark at times without being unnecessarily crude or nasty.
I think I’ll have to avoid Sin City then, too. 😛
P.S. I bought myself ‘Our Poor, Our Tired, Our Huddled Masses’ the other day! It’s ace! I hadn’t heard some of the singles and a lot of the arguably mediocre albums from the 80s and 90s (‘Cube E’; the latter Moles albums; ‘Bad Day’ and ‘Hunters’) work pretty darn well in concentrated form.
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this before, but if push came to shove, what do you reckon are the best 3 Residents albums? Personally I’d go with ‘Not Available’, ‘God in Three Persons’ and ‘Demons Dance Alone’ – which probably aren’t controversial choices, but there’s all so consistently brilliant and compelling and perhaps more directly moving than some of their other work.
Ooh, I’m jealous! 😀 Where did you get it from?
I’d actually choose the same three as you. They really show The Residents at their best. They all make me feel emotions I can’t fully explain. (The Commercial Album would be a close fourth, though.)
I got it from Ebay, actually – at, if not quite a steal, then a reasonale price! I think my fourth would be ‘Mark of the Mole’… it’s a gloomy piece of work, but it was the first Residents album I bought, so it has a dear place in my heart.
Sparks are totally worth checking out (Matt and Aila over at Kittysneezes did a Sparks before the Residents project, which helped encourge me to listen to more of their albums) ~ ‘Lil’ Beethoven’, ‘Indiscreet’ and ‘No 1 Song in Heaven’ should all be on Spotify or somesuch for your perusal! They’re a lot of fun! 😀
I’m paranoid about any online shop that isn’t Amazon. xD Not sure why. 😛 I love Mark of the Mole. At the moment I’m really into electronic music, so its sound really appeals to me. The first Residents album I bought was Duck Stab, which is also brilliant. Songs like The Electrocutioner, Blue Rosebuds and Hello Skinny are really what got me curious about the band.
If you had to choose, what would you say is their worst album, or just your least favourite?
You read Kittysneezes? 😀 Listening to No 1 Song in Heaven right now- I really like it. 🙂
Probably one of the soundtrack albums… they just don’t really work without the visuals. ‘Bad Day’ is a fascinating game, but the music is pretty MIDI-tastic. Also, I find ‘The Big Bubble’ pretty charmless, with a couple of exceptions. I don’t mind the George Gershwin side of ‘George and James’ quite as much as some people seem too – I think ‘Summertime’ has a languid charm, even if it’s nowhere near as lovely as the original – though the James Brown side is pretty dire, from what I’ve heard.
I’m actually one of the contributors to The Legendary Pink Dots reviews on Kittysneezes! I don’t know any of them in person, but they wanted someone else to help review the Dots and I had commented on a blog post saying that I know their material pretty well!
I think I found your blog, in fact, through the fact that you were commenting both on ‘Weirdest Band in the World’ and ‘Kittysneezes’! 😀
Glad you’re enjoying the Sparks!
Yeah, I think a lot of the soundtracks they do end up being too simple and cartoony. The Big Bubble would have probably worked better if it had less songs on it, like Intermission. I bought it as a two-for-one with The Tunes of Two Cities, which I think made both less disappointing for me.
Really? I’ve only read their Residents reviews so far- I’ll have to the Legendary Pink Dots ones now too. 😀
‘The Tunes of Two Cities’ is a fun collection of ditties… it’s not remarkable or anything, but it can cheer up a day!
It is true! We’ve got a long way to go yet though. LPD have quite the back catalogue.
I especially like Serenade for Missy, Maze of Jigsaws and Smack Your Lips. 🙂
Is Edward Ka-Spel from LPD?
Those are all good ones… I also like ‘Call of the Wild’ (I think it’s called)
And he is – the very same!
Ooh, that song’s nice and creepy. Kind of like a meeting-point for the two styles it explores. 🙂
Edward Ka-Spel is a wizard.