So, in Susan Sontag’s essay The Truth of Fiction Evokes Our Common Humanity, she talks a lot about literature, which has my utmost respect, but I’m usually a lot more interested in the visual arts. This being said, her essay does not hark solely on the benefits of literature and writing. It has enough far-reaching concepts that its umbrella easily brings both the visual and musical arts under the canopy she has created as well. It could even be said that Susan isn’t really speaking of literature at all, but of simply our duty to humanity that we all share, regardless of artistic vision and ability. That being said, having artistic vision and ability obviously help in telling the story of humanity’s downfalls and atrocities. She brings up a very poignant quotation by Voltaire. “Lisbon lies in ruins and here in Paris we dance.” How beautifully poetic and to the point. This sums up every spark of denial and lack of sympathy to others that humanity continues to muster up. It is much like the case of the murder of Kitty Genovese, in which she was stabbed to death while many neighbors heard her screams, yet did absolutely nothing but probably draw their blinds. It sparked the study into what is now known as the bystander effect (or “Genovese syndrome”).
Now, you might say that it is a different scenario to have someone being murdered just outside your window, than to have them being murdered thousands of miles away. But is it really? All it takes is a soundproof wall to bridge the gap between those two scenes. Now, Sontag definitely seems to be speaking of a much bigger picture though. She’s not speaking of the mugging down the street. She speaks of the great atrocities of mankind and our duties as creators to create new worlds and stretch the limits of the public’s imagination. In doing so, we give the masses the possibility that they might be able to imagine more clearly the reality that exists before them.
I’ve always felt a duty in my design to never be wasteful and to bring attention to something bigger than myself. I truly love the way in which Sontag is imploring us to use fiction, rather than raw, unfiltered reality, as a means to do service to mankind.
During my freshman year of college, I became extremely political (like, we’re talking “start the revolution” political) and all I wanted to do with my art background was find ways to raise attention to issues that I held dear such as human rights and censorship. It became clear pretty quickly that if I said directly what I felt, I would get a lot of support from those who already shared my opinions, but it would not change the eyes of any others. It is a problem of the preacher. You can’t speak to others in a language that leaves you as the almighty solution and them as the fat kids who can’t keep up. It just doesn’t work. So, if I was ever to be successful, I found that I would have to use subtlety and analogy, which leads perfectly into creating a fictional narrative.
Share Your Thoughts