Is writing always political?

Well I've heard the exact notion that "all writing is political" posed to me by a friend who supposedly wasn't a writer. What they meant was that relationships; how people relate to one another, what sorts of lies they've told, what promises they makes, the alliances they form, and bonds they break: all determine the flow of the story, and make up - in essence - all drama. From the very intimate and personal, to the grand and epic. It felt like an astute observation. If you ever watch something like "Sons of Anarchy," there actually seem to be intentional flavor to proceedings that call to mind things like the Roman Empire, and the assassination of Julius Caesar. But I happened to be watching that show, at the time that she mentioned it. Even sitcoms like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air deal in minor but not at all insignificant ways with issues of class, the difference between status and wealth, how one would like to be perceived, conflict of authority etc. Will Smith's character butts head with his uncle because he doesn't come from the upper crust as the others do. One of the characters, Carlton, never seems to command any respect because of how much of a "dork" he is. That's part and parcel to the kind of frivolous hierarchy that litters these innocuous family shows. The presence of any hierarchy leads to similar conflicts, as other dramas, on a much smaller (suitably less dangerous) scale.

On a different note, some shows deal with issues of good and evil. As the blight of self-assured readings of moral relativism, and post truth society take over the internet, consensus on what exactly constitutes an "act of evil" wanes - Humanitarian concerns have "become" a political issue, more specifically a "leftist" political agenda. By this token, the sheer scope, the broadness, of "politics," as you spoke of it, means that by modern interpretations writing can't help but be "political."

Take Samurai Jack. Ostensibly a children's show, there are hardly any of the relationship dynamics I spoke of. - Prominently featured. Jack is a lone wanderer, he rarely comes across characters more than once, and always positions himself as an ally to harmless strangers. While Aku the evil sorcerer is the all powerful demon that commands the planet Earth, he is also frequently seen plotting alone. Sure, he has subjects, he even makes decrees. But one of the only episodes that deals with perception is of Aku trying to convince children that Jack is not a hero, by making him the villain of every nursery rhyme and fairy tale in existence. There's no scheming, no changing of hands in any permanent way. For the most part it's Samurai-Good, Sorcerer-Evil. - Never shifting.

Yet, in addition to micro conflicts where - for example - Jack may help some village only to have them betray him for better treatment, that's never granted, forcing them into asking Jack for his help again. There's also the fact that the first thing Aku does is enslave Jack's people. You would think on a list of things that might objectively be considered evil, slavery would be right near the very top of it. Still you can find people defending it, in the many forms it takes, from private prisons, to outsourced labor, to migrant farm workers, and even the historical context of American race based slavery itself. Where some people insist that "It must have been nice to go work outside all day, and get food, and clothes and a roof over your head."

All of the writers I respect, and whose work seems to last, have a humanitarian bent them. They're not sociopaths, in other words. On the other hand they rarely deal in absolutes either. I think good writing is about digging down deep to find the questions that are hard for any thinking person to answer. A situation where people struggle to answer "Is this right?" Is always better than one where they say "Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?" Or "No, obviously not." Stories that take the question that inspires the first response and self answers with either of the latter two is especially dangerous to me, because then it's just propaganda. It's important that we recognize and appropriately convey the consequences of hard choices, because as a species they're questions we will have to confront. Most of which we already have, so we know there aren't easy answers, and pretending there are is irresponsible.

So to me, writing is about honesty, and sometimes the honest answer is "I don't know." But I don't think "I don't know" is enough to keep it from being chiefly political.

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There's no such thing as the establishment. Everyone knows that!

Rahm Emmanuel, the mayor of Chicago (a politician, no less) says that whenever someone asks what a movie is about he says, 'Man's inhumanity to man.' Because you can interpret any movie to mean that.

I personally think every story is a love story -obviously not just romantic love. I know that anyone can come up with some similar phrase that will fit any story just as well (every story is about loneliness; every story is a travel story) but I also think that it means something, and something very profound, that the 'empty phrase' that means so much to me is that one because to me it's very much not empty. It's...from where I'm sitting, that's what I see...and what I need to see.

So, to answer your question of is writing always political. Yes.

I would very much like to say something both incisive and insightful.

You can't always get what you want...

SPEED
Don't mistake my silence for weakness. Nobody plans murders out loud.

Yes in the broad sense that you are engaged in expression, an act that necessarily implicates your moral and political right to do so freely.

No in the narrow sense that not all writing is politically partisan. In fact, one of the things I love about film and television is that people of wildly divergent beliefs can find and share common ground. At least, until some polititard ruins it.

TV: http://ihatemydvr.blogspot.com
LOST:http://eyemsick.blogspot.com

Now you can take 'political' to mean anything from its narrowest definitions to its broadest. Well, when you put it like that, then of course it is.

I think it's opinionated; I think it's personal. Whether or not that equates "political," I'm not sure.


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Pidder Padder? Make my Heart go Boom Bap and Then We'll Talk!