Hotsy-totsy Notsy
[H]ow does one enjoy the transcendent clothing of John Galliano without feeling that one is somehow patronizing the bigot?
How to sanction the artist, while admitting that his art brings beauty and joy to the world?
The Manolo, who loves the poetry of Ezra Pound, the music of Wagner, and the clothing of John Galliano, has no easy answer to this question.
I remember my own send-off for the late Ike Turner, which mentioned, albeit obliquely, that he was a Horrible Person, but concentrated on matters more purely musical. At the time, nobody accused me of making excuses for Ike, which was something of a relief, especially when you consider what passes for making excuses these days:
In a phone interview this afternoon, [Patricia] Field described Galliano’s controversial videotaped behavior as “farce” and said she was bewildered that people in the fashion community have not recognized it as such.
“People in fashion all they do is go and see John Galliano theater every season. That’s what he gives them. To me, this was the same except it wasn’t in a theater or in a movie,” she said. “John lives in theater. It’s theater. It’s farce. But people in fashion don’t recognize the farce in it. All of a sudden they don’t know him. But it’s OK when it’s Mel Brooks’ The Producers singing ‘Springtime for Hitler’.”
The Ha Ha Only Kidding defense, often used by politicians (and people who think they’re politicians) confronted with the transcripts. It plays no better on the catwalk than it does on the nightly news.
And there’s this question, posed by La Petite Acadienne, one of the Manolo’s commenters:
What does it say about us, as a society, if we continue to pad the pockets of someone so hateful and abhorrent, just because he makes beautiful things? What message is that sending?
Frankly, why SHOULDN’T the uber-talented be held to the same standard as the rest of us? Permitting crap behaviour, on the grounds that the person is somehow more valuable to society, is the sort of mindset that leads the very rich or the very famous to think that they’re above the law and above society’s mores.
Roman Polanski, line one, please.
But there’s this:
Let the Gods forgive what I have made
Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.
From Ezra Pound’s Canto CXX, a title he himself never applied to it.
