6 minute read
OPINION|The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fact
aNEILitically Speaking
Neil Mark Galvez
According to the renowned poet, author, educator, and human rights freedom fighter, Cesar A. Cruz, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”. As much as it sounds so empowering, it's hard to ignore that this artistic statement was very overfamiliar. It was adapted in the most overrated and distorted way by some well-known artists and politicians, particularly in the Philippine mainstream media. It was patronized by few of the most controversial personalities, like dir. Darryl Yap, Sen. Imee Marcos, and the Filipino actress, Giselle Sanchez—who took the role as ‘her character’ from one of dir. Yap's infamous film, Maid in Malacañang, about the last 72 hours before the Marcoses fled after their ouster.
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Of course, the majority can agree that the particular names mentioned were few of the subjects that monopolized and brought national conversations about art, history, and politics. On August 1, 2022, in a Facebook post on why Sanchez accepted the role, the Maid in Malacañang actress sees the film as art and that she wanted to work with dir. Yap. Referencing Sen. Marcos, the actress wrote and mentioned, “Art should disturb, it should confuse, it should provoke, it should seduce, and it should agitate”, akin to the former First Lady Imelda Marcos' “Perception is reality, truth is not.”
Floy Quintos, a respected playwright, gallerist, and director, responded to the actress' viral Facebook post, stating, “How can a movie that is already condemned for falsification of history, for an overwhelming bias and for sheer bad taste, possibly be Art?” The award-winning director also added, “Your movie is in no way, Art. No matter what your patroness/producer says. It is simply a piece meant to provoke and irritate... Will you be proud of what you have done as an Artist and as a Filipino? Your long answer even now sounds like a desperate attempt to convince yourself that you made the right artistic choice.”
ART'S COMPLEXITIES AND CONSEQUENCES
With Yap's profession and unapologetic reputation as an artist and director, the “#Jowable” and “Gluta” director frequently use the subjective idea of ‘art’ to provoke conversations—whether for promotion for a next project or just smearing satires behind the skirts of some certain personalities. The film was complimented and praised undeniably by the 31M movement, respectively, expressing it is just fair to look at both sides of the coin; when the truth is there's no such thing as flipping the other side of the coin because it was already been flipped long before the negative distortion of misinformation and disinformation has been cultivated in the vulnerable minds of people that were exposed in false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy—a logical fallacy that limits and presents an incomplete list of alternatives. But the question is:
What's art if it has no boundaries?
In an artist's point of view, the sky's the only limit. Since art is abstract, complex, and a freedom to anyone, in my opinion, art can be seriously dangerous if it goes extreme. According to Donald Preziosi, author and Emeritus Professor of Art History and Critical Theory, “Works of art had the po- tential to cause individuals to imagine realities differently than what was promoted as real or natural by those holding or desiring power.” Preziosi also mentioned that, “The awareness of the artistry or facture of a work of art—the fact that it is a product of human creativity—makes it possible to imagine that the reality it portrays or projects might be imagined otherwise.” These human creations dwell with anything that goes beyond and challenge extremity that give artists an excuse in the philosophical name of art—which simply makes the limits with no boundaries vulnerable to destruction.
ART AS SCAPEGOAT
Because art is overused in a wide spectrum of size, shape, expression, or ideas, some artists use art as a scapegoat to avoid accountability. If art can be used by anyone, then art can be abused by anyone. If an individual uses art to weaponize, especially to cause confusion or negative distortion, it only sets the right time to be weighed objectively. And to weigh the truth, we have to base it on facts and academic research. As Sanchez noted about the film, “Direk Darryl Yap would like to remind everybody that Maid in Malacañang is NOT a biopic [biographical picture]. This is a story of a family”, it's simply just art for fictional stories—contradicting the latter's ironic Facebook post explanation, “Let's give a chance for the Marcoses to tell their side of the story.” But whose story should we listen to and sympathize with? The version of a powerful family or the victims who suffered from the latter's dictatorship?
“Art should comfort the oppressed. Art should disturb the oppressors.” We cannot just assume and classify anyone—who was a former fascist and dictator, or a person with 3,000 pairs of shoes and 413 pieces of jewelry—oppressed. If anyone that art should comfort, it's the families of 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 'disappeared', and 70,000 incarcerations that happened during the Marcos dictatorship. Instead of taking out the context of “Art should disturb, it should confuse”, wouldn't it be better if “Art should comfort and light the truth?”
For the record, people in power (with a billion dollars [or much more] in their pockets) will never be called ‘oppressed’ especially if there are proofs and pieces of evidence that were presented by historians, judges, court rulings, journalists, and professors of pioneers that took account in the most legal way. This confusion that these certain people are trying to paint through art can only cause and inflict a wide variation of confusion especially to people who can easily be taken advantage of—if not properly addressed by the refutable side of historical data accuracy. Instead of using art to whitewash the past, one should learn the difference between facts and fiction—that there should be an equal room for creativity and taking accountability.
