Separating Art, Artist, and Enemy

Notes on Hogwarts & 1984

I’ve recently had multiple conversations about a perpetual question posed in art circles for time immemorial. Is it possible, and how, to separate the art and the artist?

There are many different ways to approach this question, but I want to bring up two complex examples incredibly significant in my life, George Orwell and J.K. Rowling, and if you’re a regular reader here, I think you’ll find them significant, too.

The George Orwell Issue

In the US, Orwell has been required reading across a good portion of schools. Perhaps you yourself were required to read one of the two typically assigned: Animal Farm or 1984.

When I bring up either of these books among US readers, I ask what they remember about the book. Since it was likely high school when they read the book, whichever happened to be assigned, the only thing they remember is that the book was about the evils of socialism or communism– most Americans don’t really know the difference between these two, and tend to equate them or describe socialism as essentially ‘Communism-Lite™.’

They are almost ubiquitously understood in this country as anti-socialist texts, it seems. This is an unfortunate, and quite awkward, interpretation that has been pushed onto American students. Why so awkward? Well, quite frankly, it’s because George Orwell was an outspoken socialist. He wasn’t just outspoken, he even fought with the Anarchists in the Spanish civil war– I should also clarify here for many of my less politically-savvy readers (no shame!) that anarchism is itself a particular form of socialism, and I’m quite happy to discuss further on a separate occasion. Orwell described himself as a Democratic Socialist but was quite fond of, and willing to risk his life for the sake of the Anarchists and wished he could have done more for their cause.

So, here we have a couple of books taught as anti-socialist but written by an anti-capitalist, a socialist. When this book is taught or interpreted in this distorted manner, it can only be done by separating the art from the artist. When you add in the artist, it forces you to take his intentions into account, which was anti-authoritarianism (hence his propensity for both anarchist and democratic forms of socialism), whether that authority stems from communist dictatorship or from a fascist capitalist system.

Now, I believe these books are both incredibly valuable pieces of literature, and allegorical similarities drawn from present times are inescapable. The books are meaningful for socialists and capitalists alike, and I believe also work as a bit of a bridge for understanding between the two and the common sense of struggle between socialists and capitalists, even the prescriptions are vastly different.

Let’s add the next relevant piece to the Orwell issue.

Orwell did some really terrible things. Briefly: he has been credibly accused of sexual assault, and he also created a list for the British government of people he knew or suspected to be homosexual, Jewish, or black, as well as people to be blacklisted for their political affiliations based on a journal he’d kept for years.

When I think of his books, I think of their value, and I respect much of the work he’s done and the values that he lived for, but when I think of the author, and especially of these particular events, I want to vomit.

Let’s set aside Orwell briefly.

The J.K. Rowling Issue

Speaking of vomiting, it hurt just typing that woman’s name. This is a woman who has brought countless children a sense of fun and happiness growing up with her books and the movies made based upon them, let alone countless other types of derivative media. She’s a billionaire, one of the highest earning authors of all time.

She’s also a bigot.

I don’t want to downplay the hidden anti-semitism written into the goblin bankers, and other issues, but given the nature of this newsletter, I want to focus on the trans part. This woman has a pen name that she uses bearing the same name as the inventor of ‘conversion therapy’— an innocuous term for an abusive practice used against children attempting to ‘convert’ them away from being trans or gay. Under this pen name, she writes books which demonize trans existence. She tweets consistently against trans people and human rights. She has shown much support for anti-trans activists. She has written at length against trans existence and human rights. She spends money supporting anti-trans organizations. She is vocal about supporting laws and actions which harm trans people.

I grew up when the Harry Potter books and movies came out, enjoyed them, though admittedly I was never a dedicated fan– I have many recommendations for more stirring fantasy. My wife also enjoyed the books and movies, as have our four children.

But when we began to catch on to J.K. Rowling’s blatant transphobia, it quickly became much more difficult to enjoy these pieces of media.

This is a woman who wants to end my existence and take away my human rights. I can’t see or hear anything related to Harry Potter without feeling a swirling range of negative and sometimes painful emotions.

Separating the Art & Artist, but what about the Enemy?

I actually recommend reading Animal Farm and 1984, and I even recommend reading a little bit about George Orwell’s life and exploits, too. I’m not saying you should like him, I’m just saying there might be value in learning. I can also read speeches by Stalin and learn the history of Napoleon. I live in a country whose first President is venerated as a ‘founding father’ whose teeth were forcibly pulled from the mouths of people he enslaved in order to be used as his own. The people were his ‘property’ so why shouldn’t their teeth also be, after all?

However, I can’t recommend reading Harry Potter, watching the movies, playing the video games, going to the theme parks or buying the merchandise.

What’s the difference?

Honestly, the biggest difference is that George Orwell… and Stalin, and Napoleon, and Washington… are all dead. They are not really my enemies, per se, because aside from their ghosts echoing words from the past through their actions and writing, they can’t continue to do more to hurt me or others in this life, despite the harm and atrocities they caused in their lifetimes.

Rowling, however, is still at it. Rowling has the largest platform of any transphobe in the entire world to spew her hatred and incite harm. Her words have have been quoted in a number of court cases and legislative hearings in the growing argument to take away our rights. Any dollar I spend supporting her work is a dollar she can spend to fund programs and efforts to harm me. Any word I speak in support of Harry Potter lends support to the platform that raises her voice above those who are pleading for our rights to exist.

There is a difference between separating the art from the artist on a philosophical level, such as my example with Orwell, and on a material level, such as with Rowling. On a material level, this is an entirely different question altogether, and in this case leads to an incredibly sinister outcome.

What should you do with all this?

I want you to think about not just me now, but your trans friends and family, your loved ones, even the ones that you don’t know about yet because they feel it’s too unsafe to come out, or the ones who are so young that you might not know yet. Can you, in good faith and heart, enjoy and partake in media that might, on its own, have merit, if you could possibly separate the art from the artist somehow, but will undoubtedly lead to the harm of your loved ones?

For that matter, is Chick-fil-A really so delicious that it’s worth spending money in their restaurants which they then use to fund harm against us? How about the cheap junk at Hobby Lobby? Other people and businesses where you spend your money?

I can’t make the decision for you, but as for me, I don’t really have a choice. I simply can’t separate the art from the artist when the artist is alive, with power, money, and have pitted themselves as my enemy. The same goes for businesses.

I simply can’t support anyone plotting to end my existence or of the ones I love. Can you?