2 votes

What Kendrick Lamar and The Joker tell us about art

2 comments

  1. [2]
    Mumberthrax
    Link
    Video produced by 1791 on youtube on the topic of artistic expression contrasted with political expression in similar medium. My assessment is that it is essentially a celebration of the endeavor...

    Video produced by 1791 on youtube on the topic of artistic expression contrasted with political expression in similar medium. My assessment is that it is essentially a celebration of the endeavor to convey to an audience the inner human experience, and in a way a chastisement of political propaganda masquerading as art (though it acknowledges the value and importance of political messages skillfully expressed through those technical media which art shares).

    The video has peppered within it plain expressions of the producers' own political biases, which may differ from the audience on Tildes - I do not believe this detracts from its overall value as a celebration of art, and a nudge of focus upon the distinction between that and that which merely shares a technical medium with it.

    I found the technical quality of the video to be high, and aesthetically pleasing. I hope that someone here enjoys it as I have. It's left me with a glint of optimism for our future, and has sharpened my respect for artists who genuinely make an effort to convey what is hard to express and hard to understand and hard to grapple with within us. Thank you for reading, and thank you for viewing the video and allowing me to share in it with you.

    (I previously posted this, but the video was deleted due to technical reasons between the time I viewed it and the time I posted. It's now been uploaded again, hopefully for good now.)

    1 vote
    1. cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      You're right that a fair bit of bias is clear in the video, particularly in the views he expressed on socialism. However despite that it was still a pretty good video. I particularly liked his...

      You're right that a fair bit of bias is clear in the video, particularly in the views he expressed on socialism. However despite that it was still a pretty good video. I particularly liked his defense of Kendrick and Joyner Lucas and breakdown of the shortcomings of the standard criticism leveled against them. However I really don't agree with his criticism of Gambino, particularly "This Is America" being "pointless" since, while it is undoubtedly shallow in terms of lyrics, the video is a masterpiece of visual allegory. I also find it ironic that he criticized Gambino for being politically shallow but then a few minutes later defends, of all people, Kanye who is by far the worst offender of all.

      My only real problem with the video was the creators... annoying Shatneresque... vocal affectation... of pausing... after... every other.... word. It's a self-important style meant to add gravitas to what people say, but it honestly has the exact opposite effect for me. His choice of ominous music playing in the background throughout was also incredibly detrimental to the video as well, IMO.

      Overall, not bad though and I enjoyed it. Thanks for posting.

      4 votes