Last week, I attended a lecture by the journalist Uri Misgav on the
subject of the songs of Mati Caspi, an Israeli musician, singer, arranger, and producer
responsible for over 1000 songs over several decades. I am familiar with his
songs as are most people in Israel but was less than enthusiastic about this
lecture because I find his performances unexciting at best because of his
persona on stage. Specifically, he looks and acts like a dead fish. In his
case, I find it difficult to ignore the person and fully appreciate his work.
However, in many art forms, fans can and do ignore the person beyond the work. They
are able to relate to the art form and ignore the character of the artist behind
it even when the character is particularly loathsome in some ways.
Many gifted writers were unpleasant people. Dostoevsky
was a virulent anti-antisemite and misanthrope in general. While those
characteristics may have had a positive role in creating his literary
characters, I would not have wanted to meet him (nor the other way around, I assume).
Leo (not Alexei) Tolstoy, for all his literary and philosophical heights,
abandoned his wife and eight children so he could consider more mystic
thoughts. George Simenon, the creator of amazing Jules Maigret detective
stories, told his wife in the middle of the German occupation that if she did
not like him sleeping with the maid, she could go to the Germans and complain.
How charming and sensitive! Many Académie française writers, notably
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, were fervent Nazis and virulent antisemites. In the UK, Rudyard
Kipling was an unapologetic supporter of colonialism long after its warts had
begun to show. Yet, it is possible to read the books of these writers with
undiminished pleasure and ignore their political views, possibly because we do not actually see the person.
Artists in other media have also shown a mean streak.
Among the musicians with a spoiled reputation (at least among some people) is Roger
Waters of Pink Floyd fame due to his anti-Israel and antisemitic calls and
political action. In Israel, a certain famous singer is infamous for alleged
aggression against women and those critics that dare raise those allegations in public.
Some actors also exceed the bounds of acceptable behavior. Many French are not
thrilled by Gérard
Depardieu leaving France for Russia to avoid French tax, not to mention his
alleged sexual offenses. In the United States, Charlton Heston may have starred
in some famous movies but he was also president of the National Rifle
Association, whose agenda is not exactly mainstream. Personally, I find it
difficult to separate the person from the art in these cases, again possibly due to the artist's actual presence on a stage.
The
saying is that the way to hell is paved with good intentions. Maybe the way to
heaven is filled with sharp pebbles. Depending on the level of clash between the
audience and the artist as well as the genre of art, many people can overlook the
unpleasant aspects of a creator and focus on the result itself. In other cases,
the leakage or linkage is too strong to ignore, significantly reducing the
greatness of that artist in some way. Ultimately, each person chooses to focus
narrowly on the genius or include the whole character.
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