I recently read a book review about a biography of the Author Robert Heinlein. The review itself wasn’t all that great. In fact it made me seriously wonder if the reviewer had actually ever sat down and read any Heinlein at all. The review had many glaring errors and the reviewer drew totally wrong conclusions from his apparently cursory study of Heinlein.
But it did serve to spark a question in my mind. What happens when you don’t like the author but like his message or when you like the author and don’t like his message. Are the two inseparable? Or can we look at one without noting the other?
Last year a movie based on the novel Ender’s game was released with a dark cloud of controversy centering on the author Orson Scott Card and his views on homosexuality. The novel itself came out to great acclaim in the mid 1980’s and won several accolades and awards. Some in the military study it for its lesson in tactics and leadership.
Card wrote some articles in the 90s that were against same-sex marriage and when these came to light they caused several boycotts to be declared against the movie. The movie itself bombed in the box office and plans to film the sequels to the novel were permanently shelved.
Card is hardly the first writer or artist to have controversy swirl round his name that would taint his artistic contributions. The writer, William Burroughs, shot his wife in Mexico and exited the country before he would have been prosecuted. The director, Roman Polanski, was convicted of rape and to this day will not set foot inside the US. In their cases however their artistic careers remained largely intact. Fans seem to have forgiven them for their actions.
This “forgiveness” seems to be tied into the personality of the artist or how popular that their work is. H.P. Lovecraft is widely reckoned to be the grandfather of the horror genre and most modern horror writers acknowledge his contributions. What is less acknowledged is that he was an extremely prejudiced individual. Most supporters quickly apologize for his behavior by saying that his attitudes were commonplace for the era that he lived in.
I find it to be a very complex question. Bad behavior cannot and should not be brushed aside. People have to stand by their actions and words. On the other side of the coin is the argument that a marvelous piece of art or idea is a marvelous piece of art or idea. That also can’t be just brushed aside.
What’s the answer?
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