A month or so ago I saw a post by someone saying "we should all admit that Neil Gaiman has always been a shitty writer." That whole knee jerk revisionism. No, man, that's part of the whole horror. He's an internationally recognized writer. Objectively a good writer. But he's also a fucking monster.
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"I made your childhoods!"
Remember that from that tool, Butch Fartman?
https://www.vulture.com/article/neil-gaiman-allegations-controversy-amanda-palmer-sandman-madoc.html
He is a monster, but his talent is genuine.
You'd be shocked and, rightfully so, terrified at how many monstrous people hid behind the guise of being creative, artistic, or inventive.
It's like how few people notice a serial killer next door. They mask well.
But a piece of art isn't created in a vacuum, and though they taint it, other parts of it are worth saving -
If nothing else, even a poisoned piece of art can still be viewed through the lens of seeing what humanity existed within the monster that was consuming them.
BUT
I can see how you get to this opinion, because it looks that way. There's a good reason for that, and it's basically a sort of availability bias.
Whatever else art needs to be published, it needs to be greenlit by publishers and producers.
There is no correlation between good art and entitled, monstrous behavior.
But there is a hell of a correlation between SUCCESSFUL art and entitled, monstrous behavior.
There’s a ton of great artists who have never been poisoned by fame. Look into indie scenes.
And then you discover who he really is...
And a fucking piece of shit.
Though I do agree in general.
Lang (director) – suspected murderer
Caravaggio and Villon – various crimes, incl manslaughter
Pound – Fascist
I can enjoy the works without 'approving' their creators.
But that’s an issue of taste. Nobody deserves merit points because someone whose work they disliked turned out to be awful
maybe if it had been a different narrator i would have gritted my teeth and finished, for the kid's sake. but no way could i listen to gaiman's voice again
But he wasn't famous because everyone was fooled into buying his stuff.
I have empathy for everyone who did like his stuff and now has to wrestle with how to reconcile the work with the author
Like, when Cormack McCarthy (also brilliant) was revealed to have not been, exactly, a moral paragon, I wasn't all that surprised.
Before this came out I thought it was lampooning Whedon. Turns out it was much more on the nose.
I’m just done buying anything that will put money in any of their pockets ever again.
I feel bad for enjoying 'good omens,' but I am going to give full credit to terry pratchett and pretend Gaiman was just taking notes.
But continuing to enjoy the work of a monster after it has been established that they are a monster makes one's own motivations suspect.
That said, this will be challenging in this particular instance given the nature of Gaiman's work
As in - oh - it wasn't really empathy, it was his own self-loathing he was trying to get across.
What matters is are you still supporting them? Are you buying their books? Are you buying their merch? Are you posting positive reviews & hyping them?
Reading Coraline in your closet where no one can see does not make you a bad person. Singing its praises in public, does.
I will not however purchase any in the future.
Good art is often produced by terrible people. Sometimes artist and art are severable, sometimes they aren't. But one can appreciate the work and hate the creator.
In other words, when Gaiman dies, you can openly praise whatever you want from him without troubles, but until then, you are doing marketing for an asshole
But you can acknowledge the problems while conceding the merit of the work. It's easier when the artist is dead and you don't have to worry about subsidizing them, but it's not impossible while they're alive.
People can still find much of value in the work, and know that the producer is an inveterate pile of garbage.
It's like how the shittiness of a parent does not *automatically* taint a child.
It has been evident for decades that Gaiman was brilliant, but something was seriously wrong there.
Remember Lovecraft was an evil bigot.
The conflict for me is he isn't the only one who made it what it was. The artists, letterers, all gave so much too.