"Hell’s revenge burns in my heart! Death and despair burn all around me!"
Lyrics from the latest Marilyn Manson album? Actually it’s the "Queen of the Night Aria" from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Two years ago the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra offered its audiences the tale of a woman who uses sex to lure a policeman into her smuggling cartel, only callously dumps him for a celebrity. After stalking her to the new lover’s hit show, the policeman murders her. This tale of sex and violence was Bizet’s celebrated opera, Carmen, whose tunes – including the "Toreador Song" – are enjoyed even by those who don’t like opera. The recent Grammy nomination for rap artist Eminem has critics debating. Eminem’s latest album celebrates mother-raping, gay-hating, brutality towards women and rejection of society in general. Yet we must ask what the difference is between pop artist Eminem’s rap lyrics and the librettos of high-culture icons Mozart and Bizet.
Like many others, I disapprove of Eminem’s work. But isn’t this just hi-brow hypocrisy, to condemn what the rapper does while actually presenting Carmen’s sordid story? What is the difference? Isn’t it all subjective, just a matter of taste?
Before getting to the heart of the matter, let us clear away one question. The issue is not one of talent. Just as our orchestra’s musicians can do things with their instruments most of the rest of us cannot, Marshall Mathers (Eminem’s real name) has a genuine talent for rhythm and use of language. Increasingly, classical artists and composers are recognizing the authentic musical values of contemporary rock music. Talent and format are not the issue.
The pertinent question is, "What is art about? What is art for?" The purpose of art is to represent something of our possibilities, to show us what can be or might be or could be – from a certain point of view. The artist does not tell us, "This is how it is," but "This is how we can see things." In his "Pastoral Symphony" Beethoven has woodwinds evoke the feeling of hearing birds in the woods. But to reproduce how a bird really sounds, get to a tape recorder. The artist paints a musical picture to suggest something. The scientist tells what the facts are. No one believes that a teacher named Ishmael really went out on a boat that was sunk by a whale. Moby Dick is a novel, not a history.
The artist is not constrained by reality or the demands of scientific truth. Wagner’s operas tell of gods and a magical ring. Tolkhien and Spenser write of fairies and elves. The artistic challenge is to maintain and develop the inner logic of an artistic idea within a certain medium. This is the artist’s great advantage – to create a world of sound or sight or impressions and within that world to work out his vision of how things might be. Such a vision can captivate us and open our eyes to see the world and our lives in a fresh way.
While free from the demands of scientific or historical fact, the artist is not free of the demands of mortality and morality. The fundamental drama of human life is that we have but a limited time, and during that time we have irrevocable choices to make. Art helps us come to grips with this drama. From Oedipus Rex to the Godfather film trilogy, the evil that men do demands a price. Self-delusion and foolishness have consequences. The artist may rearrange space and time and create fantastic new monsters and demigods. It is when he ignores the consequences of evil that he falsifies his art. Carmen knows she will die young, even if not at Don Jose’s hands. Despite his repentance, Michael Corleone cannot slip into a peaceful old age. Weakness, evil, folly and death will have their say. Art gives us tools to look at our mortality and morality.
This is not to say that art should preach – far from it! Indeed this is my complaint against Eminem; the rapper is preaching. Racism and hatred of gays are both real evils. Harper Lee (in To Kill a Mockingbird) presents racism’s face; Eminem preaches hatred of gays. Talent is not enough to make one an artist. Better than the best actors of his time, Hitler could hold an audience spellbound, but we don’t admire his art. When the artist boasts of his personal deeds, spews his own fantasies or encourages others to violent or deviant behavior, he has crossed a line. He is no longer doing art. He is not presenting the drama. He is advocating a pretty nasty point of view. Therefore we must disapprove and censure his ranting – even if it is artfully done.
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