art vs industry

Elsewhere a friend posted an image of all the upcoming/in development Marvel projects, of which there were…many…like, over 20…and made a comment about whether it was art or industry.

It turned out I had some feelings on that. :)

I think Marvel walks an interesting line between art and industry. A lot of it’s industry, which is fine because it IS an industry. And since I find, IDK, probably 80% of that industry’s product to be entertaining, I’m pretty happy with that. My problems with the industry aspect of it lie in where they are overworking and underpaying the people, especially the VXF artists, who are carrying so very much of the weight of these films, and in where they’re rushing things that could be good and fail to be because of the headlong pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. So yeah, on that front, I find the industry side problematic.

On the other hand, it’s an artistic industry by its nature, in which they occasionally they strive for and achieve Art, and I think those moments, those films, are sublime, and they actively bring me joy: Winter Solider is as good a spy film as there is, and Black Panther is a stunning achievement on basically every level.

But I also get to-my-toes-thrills out of many of the rank commercialism moments: Bucky flipping that motorcycle makes me go whuff every time, I was in the theatre shrieking my head off when Cap finally said “Avengers, assemble!”, and I burst into tears (I am in fact tearing up now remembering it) when they brought all the Marvel women together for that one big shot. That’s what I wanted. Was it art? Hell if I know, but it made me happy, which is what really matters to me.

I think I’m really not very precious about ‘art’, though, honestly. I’m a working artist. I make my own living mostly through industry: I write paranormal romance because it sells and I need to pay the rent and the bills and for my kid’s clothes. Out of the 50+ books I’ve published, I think probably three of them are what I’d consider art, and that, IDK, 60% of the others have moments of the sublime/active artistic beauty and merit. I think the other 40% are fun, and that’s their job. They’re meant to be escapist. Maybe there are some life lessons or really important moments in them for other people. I’d like to think so, but mostly I want to make readers happy for a little while, and I’m told it works.

And that’s what most Marvel movies & tv do for me. If I want Art with a Capital A, I’ll watch something else. I’ll watch, IDK, August: Osage County, which is the last film I went to on purpose that I thought would make me cry (the last one i went to that i DIDN’T think would make me cry which i FRICKIN’ SOBBED THROUGH was IF, holy god, I was not prepared, Jesus H Christ). I’ll watch Portrait of a Lady on Fire, or…IDK, man. There’s plenty of it available if that’s what I’m after. But the truth is, I’m usually not looking for Art. I’m already emotionally ground down and worn out and I rarely want to watch movies that are going to depress me or making me cry or even, honestly, expect me to think all that much, most of the time. Too much of what we sell as Art is bleak instead of uplifting, and man, there’s enough bleak to deal with already.

I suppose the point is mostly that I don’t think art and industry are separate beasts. I think the idea that artists shouldn’t make any money to keep their art pure is fucking nonsense. I think the Marvel films employ tens of thousands of people in artistic endeavors ranging from headline actors to costumers to lighting designers to construction workers and on and on. From that perspective, arguably there’s very little as artistic as a Marvel production in the modern world.

I don’t think that most of the time they’re…they’re not Loving Vincent kinds of Art, where a film about Vincent Van Gogh was turned into a living painting in an act of single-minded dedication and passion, but it’s difficult to argue, in my opinion, that the Marvel films don’t have something to say about the human condition. We love the visual theatrics of the superhero powers, but it was Vision’s line, “What is grief, if not love persevering?” that actually brought us to our knees. Tony’s and Cap’s ability to almost connect and then the frustration of their failing to is what twists our heart. If Rocket’s excavated rage in Guardians 3, and the entirety of Wakanda Forever, offering catharsis to hundreds of millions of people who had suffered a shocking loss together, isn’t art, then I don’t know what the hell is.

So, yeah. I guess I think it’s a false dichotomy, and I get why people are frustrated with the commercialization of the art, but, like. That’s how it works! Comics have always been commercial! Pantheons have always been there to sell you something! Movies are a commercial product! Do I think it’s arguably problematic that it seems like the only movies/tv people are watching (or at least, going to the theatre for) seem to be the big smash-em-up escapism thing?

…no. No, actually, I really, really don’t. I think the problem is that the world is exhausting and movies are very, very expensive, and if you’re going to choose A Thing to spend your probably-very-limited entertainment budget on, it’s completely reasonable to choose The Thing that everybody else is going to see! The water cooler movies! We all went to Barbenheimer! We all went to Deadpool & Wolverine! We’re all gonna go to…I don’t actually know what the next actual must-see movie is gonna be, let’s call it Minecraft bc that seems sure to make pundits mad that people are going to it instead of, IDK, The Bikeriders!

We’re not doing that because we Hate Art, we’re doing it because there’s still a pandemic on and we can only afford a theatrical release film once a quarter if we’re lucky and if we’re gonna go to one at all we want it to be the one we can talk about with everybody else! The rest of it can wait 3 months (or less!!!) until our family of 4 can watch it for the cost of the streaming service that we’re paying for anyway, with homemade popcorn and a pause button for when we’ve drunk our body weight in Pepsi but don’t want to miss any of the movie!

Did I get off track? Yes! Do I feel strongly about this? Also yes! Did it turn out that further discussion with my friend determined we meant different things by ‘art’ and ‘industry’ and am I going to yhave to write an entirely different post in response to that? Also-also yes! Am I going to stop writing now because I can’t think of a good wrap-up paragraph? Also-also-also yes! :)