Is all Art useless?
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Is all Art useless? |
| Creator: | Stephanie A. Wiltse |
| Date(s): | October 1990 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Beauty and the Beast (TV) |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Is all Art useless? is a 1990 essay by Stephanie A. Wiltse.
It was printed in Wiltse's newsletter, Pipeline v.3 n.10.
Some Topics Discussed
- a review of Nan Dibble's Acquainted with the Night #1, also comments on the story The Bridge by Cynthia Hatch, comments on Sue Krinard's art
- a mention of Beauty and the Beast International Quilt
- introspection about creating the newsletter
- comments about how fanworks (and syndication/"shows in the can") will carry the fandom into the future
- comments on the value of debate and discussion
- the show as a multi-faceted crystal that allows for a long of interpretation in fanworks
Excerpts
...every time I would put a chapter [of "Acquainted with the Night] aside, my own thoughts, random and at ease, welled up and spilled over. I longed for it not to be 4 in the a.m. or for "Pipeline" not to be due at the printer in a week (little did I know it would be even sooner! arrrgh.). I wanted, needed, to gather up the fresh streams, all the new becomings, and write them down, or play them with music, or form them in clay, or design them in colour and glass and set them to sparkle in the sun. Without some discipline it is all adrenalin [sic], liquid without a container — formless and spreading in every direction, accomplishing little but fleeting elation. I've never quite identified inspiration so well since Beauty and the Beast itself first charged my batteries with such torrents. Channeling it and putting it to as practical a use as "Pipeline" became, has been a rare personal achievement (a friend once labeled me a manic-digressive). Sensing that excess energy in others, and sharing the need to share it, is a kind of community I've never known before and am grateful for.
I came away from TunnelCon feeling that we are all very lucky people. Any show that makes it on the air, let alone stays there for 3 seasons (no matter how uphill a battle it was) is considered a success by industry tradition. And thanks to those last 12 episodes we have enough "in the can" to carry us into perpetual syndication (hopefully). Such an airwaved afterlife has nurtured the "Star Trek" genre to this very day. Because of these accomplishments, more is yet possible for us and the show's alumni in a theatrical sense. And it's particularly satisfying to think that in some small way our support not only benefited B&B, but so many careers as well.
For ourselves, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that as Mark Hartman (of Helper's Network) put it at TunnelCon, we have reached a "critical mass" that insures that the community will endure and continue to grow.
In my own 'speech' at the orientation I stated the obvious, "We all know what our differences are," and that the time had come to start rediscovering what we still had in common. Not a "like it or lump it" situation, far from it. I agree with Mark that debate within fandom will always have its place and healthy function. Or was it Oscar Wilde who said, "Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital." Beauty and the Beast is indeed such a many-faceted crystal. That B&B's format is suggestive rather than rigidly sacrosanct is its gift to all our creativities.
What we have is the best of many worlds. As of right now just about any character or scenario you favour, any variation or alternative you can imagine, is alive and well ...secure in the hands of some skilled fan artisan or writer. Just consider the case of Catherine Chandler. One of this editor's favourite alternate-reality stories by Cynthia Hatch (which I'm grateful, Constantia, for your insisting I read it), is an excellent mind mystery, The Bridge" (from the fictionzine "Kaleidoscope") .... won a 'Golden Vinnie' (ok, fan quality award) this year. In this total turnaround tale, Catherine's the survivor, the only real one. (!?)
Not every wordsmith or artist always does the character this level of justice. But artist Sue Krinard not only manages the likeness effortlessly, but chose Japanese watercolour as her variation, complete with kimonos. This work received recognition in TunnelCon's Art Contest. Yet another twist was a portrait in oil of Diana. A small sign set up next to it read, "Look into her eyes." Reflected there were twin images of Vincent, making this not only a study in seeing but of what is seen.
This community has long maintained an ulterior dialogue via its art and craft. The Quilt unveiled at TunnelCon is one such utterance, an unmistakable 'statement' of love and unity.
Creative response, the art of variation and inspiration, like Nan Dibble's or Sue Krinard's or Cynthia Hatch's work, has been this fandom's best voice all along, be it raised in dissent or consent. If, as good ol' Oscar [Wilde] contended, "All art is quite useless," why is it we all care so much what is said or done in its name? Why is it admired so intensely?
"Beauty and the Beast," like that fabled magician "Merlin," has passed beyond our waking sight into the realm of dreams. But the magic remains, a vehicle within which our own imaginations can travel ad infinitum. And as the old saying goes, it's the journey, not the destination, that's the thing.