I usually only cover local topics here and basically only have a local knowledge of what’s going on, partial at that.
But I’m curious about the wars. It seems like they’re the biggest deal in our lives since Vietnam. It’s hard to imagine that the combination of their cost and the cost of homeland security aren’t what’s really behind most of our economic woes. We had a third of banks close in the S&L scandal of the 80’s and 90’s. Well, not banks but S&L’s, which are basically banks. It was a huge hit…and we absorbed it.
Of course there’s far more to wars (world war?) than cost. Everyone is affected. We’re not all drafted anymore but everyone knows someone. Every neighborhood has someone over there.
A big angle I’m wondering about is the cultural impact. Vietnam was tied into, what, half the music and art of the period. Art was affecting the war and vice versa. Soldiers used the art to try and cope. The public used it to try to understand.
Last time, inexperienced soldiers discovered a new/old jungle world. Many were allured by the civilization.
This time we’re in the birthplace of civilization. There’s a lot of history there. Warlords probably aren’t the most uncool people you could ever meet. Lawrence of Arabia was impressed by some of them.
I’ve seen quotes from our grunts about their tours being hellholes. I see their robo-suits and their sandbags. But not all soldiers are seeing it the same way and having the same experiences, are they? What about the officers? Don’t they ever meet anyone who’s cool?
I recall memoirists of Vietnam Special Forces often being very impressed by their enemy, got to know them well. I recall that some of them also learned from, admired and were inspired by their local counterparts.
So, where’s the art today? Heck, it’s been 10 years. Sure, there’ve been some memoirs.
Where’s the impact on the arts? Sure, it’s here’n’there undoubtedly. Certain sectors, some specialties and niches. War history is probably already piling up. I’m talking about big picture stuff.
Did our leading artists respond to Vietnam in some way back then? What about today?
There were radio war anthems back then. “Fortunate Son” was big. Still is. How about today?
Cutting edge novelists and poets confronted Vietnam. Today?
Let’s not forget that there’s never a vacuum. Silence means something. Also, art isn’t neutral. It can be misused. I’ve seen news items about soldiers using art to pump themselves up, to get psyched. War music has always worked like that, but it’s a different kind. Sure, there’s martial art. Then there’s R&R art: to distract and help you forget. …But there’s so much more. Remembering and thinking art. New views and ideas. Truth art. Bold and daring. Art with jail sentences.
I’m not much in the loop, but when I hear of new novels and music today it’s all pretty cute. Clever, stylized, atmospheric, posed. In fact, lack of overt content is often a trademark of cool today. Harvard-based hipster magazine N+1 was compared by the UK Guardian newspaper to an impoverished upstart literary activism group, the ULA (that some friends and I did). We made great strides then imploded. An N+1 founder just got a $650k advance for his first novel, about a neuroticly jittery baseball player. Wasn’t George Will a bit older when he took on baseball? It takes a lot of patience, and likely a need to recover from stultifying work, to sit in bleachers for 3 hours at a shot and study statistics. Where did a rich young hipster find the time, and why? Isn’t there anything more important going on today for an artist? That’s a gauche question, I know. Of course, artists often work indirectly. Maybe Jonathan Franzen’s recent birdwatching novel secretly relates to the war, galvanizing readers.
I wonder what the soldiers are reading. Beyond escapism. Paperbacks in hip pockets. It may not be cool here anymore, but who knows what works in a bunker. Maybe sand gets into iPods.
I just read that there’s quite a bit of new music being created by soldiers. Not so much, perhaps, by the artists trying to make sense of the world (trying to get grants? to progress in their grad program? get tenure?) but the soldiers are still out there, NEEDING the help that music and art are meant to provide. So they’re doing-it-themselves. It’s a great tradition. One I adhere to. It just seems too bad that the biggest thing in our generation has to be dealt with in a no-budget, homemade fashion. No, it’s good they’re doing it. I’m just shocked that it hasn’t caught on back home in the studios.
So…a lot of music is now being made in bunkers. It’s so easy to do, what with laptops and Garage Band. …Again with the surprise that “real” artists aren’t taking it up more.
…Don’t artists and writers KNOW any soldiers? Have them in their families? HELLO?
So these guys in platoons are making music. You wanna know the biggest reason why?
…When one of their friends gets killed someone writes a song for him.
There’s been compilation CDs burned of these songs.
These soldiers write because it’s the decent thing to do and because they have to. They can’t just let their friends go unsung. That was amazing for me to read. That’s an old tradition. (It’s probably old hat to those who keep up better on the news.)
Here’s the story. It’s not from America. I hadn’t yet read anything more relevant about soldiers and culture: www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1094973.htm.
I recall the movie “Backbeat” where John Lennon said they were making music because they were desperate.
That’s the root of all the best, realest art, isn’t it? Artists are supposed to have a calling.
