Writing

Politics and Art: Power Gently Resting In The Palm Of Your Hand

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let’s get this out of the way: Politics definitely belongs in art.

People are inevitably political; we form alliances and tribes, we try to figure out how to reach our goals. We are political with our friends and family, co-workers and enemies, and everyone else. Politics is human, and humans make art, and all art is a statement on the person and the time it is made – politics is always there.

Politics is human, art is human, all art is political.

You cannot remove art from politics, and anyone telling you that you can wants you to obey their politics. They’re not telling you to “take something out” when they say they don’t want politics, they want you to conform to them. They’re liars (which often makes them poor artists)

Attempts to remove politics from art really is an attempt to make art conform to someone else’s politics.

If you attempt to remove politics from art, even sincerely, you flush it of everything that makes it real. It is unemotional. It lacks context. It avoids cause and effect. Not only is it essentially impossible, any attempt to do so makes it boring.

Even if you try to remove art from politics, you will only destroy the art while trying to conform.

Therefore the only thing you can do is embrace the political in art, to take it all the way. Dive into the experience and make good art. Good art stands on its own, speaks for itself, and is true – even if the truth might be hard, or worse indicate your art is bad. At least you know.

We might as well dive deep into politics in our art because it will make good art – or reveal our own flaws.

It is inevitable if we dive into making art sincerely, to embrace ever side of it including politics, that we will surprise ourselves. Art is a process of realization, and as we all know a work inevitably changes as we create it. That surprise is a sign we’re doing it right – as we express things (including politics) we learn about ourselves, our ideas, and what they mean (or that our ideas aren’t so good).

Good art shocks you and surprises you because as you make it you are learning.

If you are not surprised by your art, if it does not lead you to new paths and thoughts, then something is wrong. You’re not creating, you’re just churning things out, you aren’t learning. If your art is exceptionally political, then it’s likely you’re not exploring your ideas.

If your art, especially art that is intensely political, isn’t surprising you then you’re not learning anything.

I find the best way to approach art and politics is to hold your work “lightly.” Don’t grasp it tightly and try to force it into one form, but let it grow and evolve, let new ideas flow into it and lessons flow out of it. By letting your work grow you grow.

Don’t cling to your art much, let it grow, so you grow as well.

Finally, be ready to let your art into the world. Each time you create you grow and expand. Each work created that way will affect people and make them think. From this you’ll learn even more – to make your next work.

Let art have contact with others so they and you can grow to make your next work.

Of course, you may realize that a work created sincerely, openly, evolving and growing could be a very dangerous work indeed. What can you make without giving in to fit current politics, or to fit into your current ego? What dreams can you make that may change the world for the better?

Well, why not find out? Don’t be afraid . . .

. . . but people that should be afraid of what you can create should fear that somewhere out there, someone is making the art that will challenge them.

Steven Savage

Why I (Co)Wrote It: Her Eternal Moonlight

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

So somewhere among books on careers and worldbuilding, I co-wrote a book on how Sailor Moon impacted female fans in North America with my friend Bonnie. To this day it stands out a bit among my writings, and that is a worthwhile journey to explore in this series.

It was born at Fanime, a Bay Area anime con. Bonnie and I observed the large amount of Sailor Moon cosplayers at a gathering, and it got us asking if anyone had written about what Sailor Moon meant to people. We saw cosplayers who probably hadn’t been born when Sailor Moon first aired in the US. We remembered the impact it had from our younger days. Someone had to have written about this . . .

. . . and we checked the internet and were very disappointed. So somewhere during the con or after we agreed to write a book on it. To this day we couldn’t remember who first came up with the idea or suggested writing a book. But a book we did write.

Our idea was to simply interview as many fans as we could find of Sailor Moon of any age and interview them. We also wanted to focus exclusively on female-identifying fans so we told their story specifically. For years we had heard from female fans what Sailor Moon meant to them, and it was time to see what they had to say.

Finding people was easy and people were anxious to jump on board. We had a standard interview form, we also talked to people by various means, and compiled our notes. Every interview brought stories of passion and interest and transformation – it was humbling.

We were on the right track.

Of course we wanted to research more on what else had been written on Sailor Moon, and I ended up with a pile (virtual and otherwise) of anime books and references. It was honestly underwhelming – Sailor Moon often got shortchanged, and in a few infuriating cases written off as a “girl thing.”

It only inspired us more.

Once we had the interviews we compiled them, and found something that further inspired us – clear patterns. In the end we identified nine common ways Sailor Moon transformed people’s lives, from identification to careers. No one had the same experiences, but everyone’s experiences might touch on a few of these nine categories.

Also it allowed us to make each chapter a reference to a given Sailor Scout’s attack. Because we were not going to let that possibility slide.

The result was each chapter tightly focused on one major impact, exploring personal testimonies from the interviewees. We must have done well – when we sent people test copies they were happy!

Finally, the cover. We had to have the right cover, and Fanime had provided as well. We’d met the incomparable Jennifer Cox at Fanime, and were impressed with her style – one of her strengths was taking various ancient art styles and doing pop culture pictures. We asked for a Sailor Moon one with a Grecian theme, and she made something perfect.

So that was the story of the book. Inspired at a con when we saw something that just had to be done. Inspired by the people we talked to. Confirmed when we saw a void of thought about Sailor Moon and even disrespect in some circles. Wrapped up in a gorgeous cover.

If there’s a story to take away from this it’s that sometimes you know you have to write a book. If you know when those moments truly appear, that fire can power you through the process and even be rekindled to burn brighter.

Steven Savage

Why I Wrote It: Religion and Worldbuilding

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I’d like to say I wrote this one with noble intentions. But the main intention was “save me from badly worldbuild religions.” This is a personal thing for me.

As a youth I was fascinated by theology. When tested for career inclinations, Minister was in my top five. I probably would have ended up a Unitarian Minister under different conditions.

Theology is amazing, and is really a broad wrapper on a variety of things. It encompasses vast pantheons of gods and cultural traditions. It can be about powerful psychological and mystical processes and practices. In the end, it’s about humanity’s place in the universe and trying to make sense of it all. Well, that, and the legions of a-holes that often mess it up.

You can imagine why I took to it. It was probably one of the reasons I did a BS in Psychology.

But also I would see religions created in fiction and RPGs and they could be as fascinating as our world’s – or they could be derived from our world in obvious and unoriginal ways. One of my pet peeves about fictional worlds is when it’s clear that parts of our world were dropped into something not our world. I saw it too much.

I also get why it happens. We want our fictional religions to be relatable. We might not know how to make interesting fictional religion. We’re used to others “lifting and dropping” our world into other worlds. Also how many people really are interested in theology or get much exposure to it.

So? I wrote a book on it.

As much as I got annoyed by badly made fictional religions, I knew why they happened. I also had that theology interest so I could make a series of questions to help people.

It’s a weird thing really. Annoyed by something, then realizing why it happened, then trying to solve for it. But it looks like a book people responded to, and I’m glad I could help them out.

Steven Savage