Contemporary Art, i: About The Influence of Society

Alright. Let’s get to it.

For the last few days, I’ve been longing to write about art in my life. That meant mainly the music of Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, which had been a huge part of me for the last few months. But, in the last 2 days, I watched Kynodontas(Dogtooth), Moonlight and read that works of architect and designer Le Corbusier, plus the surrealistic film The Holy Mountain inspired Kanye West to make an album that eventually became Yeezus. All of this promptly elevated the concept of art for me. By the end of this, I hope you’ll ultimately take a grasp of that, among other things. Spoilers ahead.

When I watched this Greek movie Dogtooth(originally Kynodontas) by critically acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos, I was deeply disturbed. It was not a pleasant experience by any means. I’ve never sworn so much during the movie as I did while watching it. In essence, it depicts family, where the only person who goes out is dad, for work. His wife, son and two daughters never leave home. In fact, children were raised in a way that they have never left the house. It’s an interesting, creepy and evil premise all at the same time. Let’s have a look at Lanthimos’ interview, where he explains how he got the idea for the film:

It didn’t really start as a story about family dysfunction as such. In the beginning, I was wondering about family life and parenting in general and if the way we think about it would ever really change. But I had a conversation with some friends one day, and I was making fun about the fact that two of them were getting married and having children, because today many people get divorced and kids are being raised by single parents, so I said there was no point in getting married. But although I was obviously just joking, all of a sudden they got extremely defensive about what I had said. This made me realise how someone I knew and who I would never have expected to react that way freaks out when you mess about with his family. And that’s how I got the initial idea about this man who would go to extremes to protect his family, and who would try to keep his family together forever by keeping his children away from any influence from the outside world, being firmly convinced that this is the best way to raise them.[1]

So, basically, Lanthimos took an already absurd idea of raising children without any contact to an outside world, and stretched it and stretched it to the extreme ridiculousness, to the level that some people even found it funny(David Lynch said that “it was a fantastic comedy”). Personally, I think that the film can be referring to certain societies that existed throughout history(totalitarian regimes), and also adding some bizarre experimental thought as well. It’s purely fascinating and frightening at the same time when you realize that human identity is almost entirely comprised of interactions with the world and with one another. The fact that not only they lack information but they are also fed false facts constantly, really helps to understand the theme.

The new words of the day are: Sea .. highway … roadtrip … and shotgun. “Sea” is the leather chair with wooden armrests like the one in the living room. Example: Don’t remain standing, sit down in the “sea” to have a chat.[2]

For me, all of this adds up to one topic — how society influences us, deliberately or not deliberately, for the better or for the worse. This, coincidentally, proves to be Moonlight’s central theme.

Moonlight is essentially divided into three parts — i. Little(when he is a child), ii. Chiron(when he is an adolescent), and iii. Black(when he is an adult). The main character being an African-American gay person is, frankly, perfect for narrating the story with a theme like this. Yes, the main character being part of the tight, oppressed group(within the very same community that they’re part of, in this case) is perfect for depicting the struggles of human identity exploration. It’s also very important to mention that racism per se isn’t really discussed in the film, but instead, it gives us a society suffering repercussions from actions taken by the establishment. Let’s carefully reference this. Making the main character black person had one crucial purpose in my point of view — that is, crafting a setting as realistic as possible.

The first character that we see in the film is Juan (played by Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali), who appears as an empathetic, nice person in the opening scene and beyond. He is the closest to a father, a role model that Chiron ever had.

But, he happens to be.. drug dealer to Chiron’s mother. Thus, effectively being a contributor to the misery that the kid endures. Constant bullying starting from early childhood, dysfunctional single-parent upbringing, a community filled with drugs, in which he feels that he has no place — forces him to change. Change without substance, and for the worse.

Adult Chiron is a product of society. In this case, a specific society which willingly or unwillingly(I’d probably go with the latter) aligns masculinity with drugs, and gangster-ish toughness and ultimately removing individuality. That’s why adult Chiron is so muscular, sells drugs, and wears a gold chain.

It’s impossible not to be reminded of the works of Kendrick Lamar, American rapper, an artist, who’s covered these topics extensively in his three studio albums(Section .80; good kid, m.a.a.d city; To Pimp A Butterfly). Everyone who is familiar with Kendrick Lamar knows that he is an insane poet and storyteller. The main reason why he delivers such vivid stories is that he grew up in 90’s Compton.

Kendrick is known for his ability to craft “concept albums”, i.e albums in which songs and stories in them are interconnected in one way or the other. Many people have noted that good kid, m.a.a.d city felt like a short film(Coincidence? I think not.“short film by Kendrick Lamar” caption can be noticed on the album cover!). He even brings fictional characters to help him tell a story. In the case of Section .80, it’s Keisha and Tammy. Lamar explains that “Section.80 is for people born in the 1980s until now as he dwells on a variety of subjects, such as referencing Ronald Reagan and discussing how the crack epidemic occurred in the 80s. He explains how this is part of the reason drugs are popular for his Generation (e.g. drug dealing and drug addicts.)”.[Wikipedia]

Yes, most certainly the same crack epidemic that plagues Moonlight setting, Miami.

Interesting fact: In the early 1980s, the majority of cocaine being shipped to the United States was landing in Miami.

This is what Kendrick says as the intro, “skit” of the very first song:

Gather around. I’m glad everybody came out tonight. As we stand on our neighborhood corner, know that this fire that’s burning represents the passion you have. Listen, Keisha, Tammy, come up front. I recognize all of you. Every creed and color. With that being said… fuck your ethnicity. You understand that? We gon’ talk about a lot of shit that concerns you. All of you…[3]

I think of it as a very vital decision to start an album and professional career as well. It means that Kendrick understands, and pushes us to sympathize and relate to things he says, even though the listener may not be black, or may not have any relation to 80’s/90’s U.S. and especially Compton. But we should think on a larger scale.

In the song “Poe Man’s Dreams (His Vice)” he says:

Since my uncles was institutionalized
My intuition had said I was suited for family ties[4]

Now that fits very well with Moonlight theme. Both Kendrick and the character Chiron are surrounded by crime and violence and are destined to be swallowed by that culture. But that’s definitely not the case with Lamar, obviously. Let’s see how he continues the narrative in the next album, good kid m.a.a.d city:

My mama called: “Hello? What you doin’?” — “Kickin’ it.”
I shoulda told her I’m probably ‘bout to catch my first offense
With the homies[“The Art of Peer Pressure”]

And here he takes a sharp bite on society and even government:

Society? It’s entirely stressful upon my brain
You hired me as a victim, I quietly hope for change
When violence is the rhythm, .. [“good kid”]

And then he tells us about his first job:

My pops said I needed a job, I thought I believed him
Security guard for a month and ended up leavin’
In fact, I got fired, ’cause I was inspired by all of my friends
To stage a robbery the third Saturday I clocked in[m.a.a.d city]

So we see that Kendrick Lamar had nothing around him to oppose bad, life-threatening, devouring influence. He recalls his fears at the age of 17 in his fourth studio album, DAMN:

I’ll prolly die ’cause that’s what you do when you’re 17
All worries in a hurry, I wish I controlled things[FEAR.]

But, he got out of it. Unlike Chiron, he followed Juan’s advice without hearing it:

At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.

As he concludes it himself:

I do what I wanna do
I say what I wanna say, when I feel, and I
Look in the mirror and know I’m there
With my hands in the air, I’m proud to say yeah
I’m real, I’m real, I’m really, really, real
I’m real, I’m real, I’m really, really, real
I’m real, I’m real, I’m really, really, real
I’m real, I’m real[Real]

Kendrick Lamar is the example of a real person who didn’t let society decide his life for himself. And it’s very detailed and clear in his music. They are experiences that still haunt him, but doesn’t let them kill his life. Quite the opposite. He’s the one who tried really hard to build his identity. And that’s why he, as a person, gains so much respect of me.

When I was into only 5 seconds of Moonlight, my eyes lit up, because “Every Nigga Is A Star” By Boris Gardiner started playing, which came from a sample that Kendrick used in To Pimp A Butterfly opener, Wesley’s Theory. I immediately got an exciting feeling that two great forms of art intersected. And I was not disappointed at all. This is contemporary art.

I’ll be back with Kanye West. Later.