This semester began with a definition of art. I defined “art” as the expression of emotion or thought that evokes a response from it’s audience. So “selling out” would be the production of content that lacks that expression. This lack of expression most commonly roots from the artist creating content with the sole purpose of pleasing the audience and getting the most financial benefit from their disingenuous intentions.
Having said this, I think that there are several major ways to succeed. Some people create content they are passionate about and through pure luck they are noticed and other people find themselves connecting with the idea. The other way, of course, is to understand what the people want to be exposed to and create that and shamelessly promote. And then there’s the cross section between these two extremes. A compromise of sorts. An artist can weave their message into something they know will have all the teenage girls spending their parents money. I believe this is an ideal situation because the artist is able to sustain themselves and simultaneously produce content they are proud of and content that resembles their beliefs.
The interesting thing about selling out is its parallel to instant gratification. It’s bubble of popularity bursts as quickly as it builds. There’s minimal residue and the world continues as if it never existed. Truly meaningful art that holds the message of people who had something to say affects the lives of many and outlives the artist.
To answer the question I think it’s very possible to create successful work that also has important social or political value. Looking over the list movies we’ve watched this semester I see some of the ones that really stood out to me. First we have, Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”, which made an adjusted gross revenue of over fifty six million dollars. The movie was made almost twenty five years ago and still hits so close to home today. Had Lee made an easy to watch it wouldn’t have had the relevance it does today and in my opinion that is the true measure of success. Scorsese’s film “Taxi Driver” explores the dark sides of New York that are often coincidentally left out of media portrayal of the city. Scorsese has a point to make and he makes it along with a lifetime gross revenue of nearly thirty million dollars. Both Scorsese films starred famous actors for their lead role which is often a tactic used to gain popularity. It worked for “Taxi Driver” but not so much so for “Gangs of New York”. Not that DiCaprio didn’t do a good job, but the movie as a whole didn’t work as well and thus wasn’t as powerful in its message as “Taxi Driver”. DiCaprio appears in another one of Scorsese’s films, “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Much like “Taxi Driver”, this film showed beyond the facade into an unfortunate truth. To me, this film remained true to Scorsese’s intentions. Yes, there was a lot of money put into the production of this movie and yes, it was promoted without end, but as a whole the movie went beyond being entertaining. This goes to show that at the end of the day, a movie can be highly funded but not one be whose artists are “selling out”.
