by Jason Suzuki
Greetings and salutations world leaders. Let’s just come out and say it, being the world’s police must be tough. Deciding which regimes should be in power across the world, and taking corrective action when the wrong ones get elected, is complicated and can get ugly. A vocal minority cries “war monger” and unfortunately with the rise of new media both social and alternative, this small group can seem louder than they are. They don’t know the pressure of having to deal with defense contractor donors or the never big enough military budget. Still, such hurtful words can get to someone who cares as much you do. Don’t fall for it. You’re no Lady Macbeth. Why wash your hands more than needed? Why wash them at all? Sure, there’s a pandemic going on but the majority can wash their hands while you safely get your haircuts and dine in at restaurants. Speaking of Shakespeare, have you ever considered the potential of the arts for your well-being? Well, the following is a proposal to consider how useful this thing called “art” can be for humanitarians as humane as you.
First, let’s talk about the issue of image. For too long artists have been able to receive easy praise for being politically minded. In a sea of love songs even the slightest injection of current events stands out. Take for instance Toby Keith’s powerful protest song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.” Written in the wake of 9/11, Keith inspires emotion that only art is capable of: “Through our big black eye/Man, we lit up your world/Like the 4th of July.” Powerful stuff to say the least. Or most recently the punk band Pussy Riot dropped a new single “RAGE” and dedicated it to the plight of our favorite white nationalist Alexei Navalny. This is in stark contrast to Artists for Assange. Look at that list. I’ve heard of good ole Toby and Pussy Riot (co-headline tour perhaps?) but drew a blank while skimming the names of that collective. It must not be that important of an issue. Regardless, artists shouldn’t have a monopoly on the power of art. Too few politicians see the effectiveness of creative pursuits to either clean up or add nuance to their public image.
Some might say the Iraq war is a blemish on George W. Bush’s legacy. People like disgraced talk show host Phil Donahue scream pretentious falsehoods that we invaded the country under false pretenses but should we let perfection be the enemy of good? Post-presidency, Bush has found the next stage in his life as a painter. Looking at his body of work you see the man clearly has mixed and nuanced feelings about the war: Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden with clown paint on their faces, profiles of veterans wounded in the war, and his dog Barney. Art has become therapy for the artist known as W. and therapy means sensitivity which suggests inner good instead of evil. Can you name an artist that wasn’t tormented but instead the tormentor? Exactly. Pictures of him next to fellow POTUSes Clinton and Obama at Biden’s inauguration were largely seen as positive displays of unity. Mission accomplished indeed. As a follow up to his collection of oil paintings honoring soldiers, we can look forward to his next series of paintings on America’s immigrants entitled Out of Many, One hitting Amazon warehouses in April of this year.
Or what about the case of Antony Blinken? Not only is he the new Secretary of State, he’s also a long-time advisor and a veteran of foreign policy but also about four degrees of separation from Jeffrey Epstein. Whoops. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people don’t have the intellectual wherewithal to separate the sex trafficker from his associates so what to do? You could agree to be grilled on the refugee crises of the world by Sesame Street’s foreign affairs correspondent Grover, which allows those still in touch with their inner child to see your compassion. But that’s still a bit of a downer, the thought of all those displaced souls that you may or may not have had a hand in creating. It’s also boring, a greater offense. However, did you know that Blinken is a bad ass Martin guitar owning, blues and rock aficionado and musician? In 2018 he dropped two singles on Spotify under the stage name ABlinken. The jams are entitled “Lip Service” and “Patience” and are potent pieces of dad rock. They harken back to an era that was better and of which we can build back toward. It’s hard to critique the foreign policy of a middle-aged hobbyist. Don’t want to be seen punching down after all.
Using the arts to clean up your image is nice but you can’t take your legacy with you, so why not find another way to increase that net worth? This next case study is also the most recent. In late January HiddenLight Productions – a company founded by Hillary Clinton, daughter Chelsea Clinton, and Sam Branson (son of former philanthropist Richard Branson) – announced they had acquired the rights to best-selling author and Pentagon contractor Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s to-be-released book The Daughters of Kobani. The book is a profile of the all-women wing of the Peoples’ Protection Units known as the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) and their skirmishes with ISIS. It is through these confrontations dating back to 2014 that this all-female Kurdish militia garnered the support of the US. Yass queen slay indeed. While a case can be made that the YPJ do not share the same values as Hillary Clinton, the greater irony – which speaks to what a masterstroke of artistic genius this is – is the hand Clinton and her neoliberal ilk had with the strengthening of ISIS. Looking at the larger picture, as all great artists do, Clinton had a role in starting/escalating the Syrian proxy war and now gets to make a show about something that arose out of that war. Tugging at the heartstrings of liberal audiences to want more intervention in the name of humanitarianism is certainly a plus.
If we view imperialism and regime change wars as just another form of content creation then Clinton is killing it while Bush was only mildly killing it. Leave it to a Democrat to take a simplistic Republican strategy and do it ten times better. Without Iraq, there would be no veterans for Bush to paint. Without Syria there would be no book to buy the rights to in order to create a series to sell to the highest bidder. I’ll take a streaming deal over a gallery exhibition any day of the week. There are probably more commas on those paychecks.
This is a major step forward for HiddenLight Productions. Another known project of theirs is a partnership with AppleTV to produce a series based on Hillary and Chelsea’s book Gutsy Women. But apart from the previously mentioned we haven’t seen much from HiddenLight apart from some press releases and a logo but its logo, with the letter “I” removed from both “hidden” and “light,” is both bold and evocative. Of what is unclear. There’s no “I” in “team” and certainly no “I” in “truth” either. Compare HiddenLight to Higher Ground Productions which was founded in 2018 by Barack and Michelle Obama who signed a multi-year deal with Netflix and still Clinton comes out looking better. So far Higher Ground has three completed films to their name, the most recent is 2020’s Becoming which covers the former First Lady’s 34-city book tour. I hope Flint wasn’t one of the stops. Despite the steady flow of content (even an Academy Award), none of these projects seem to capitalize on international situations (aka content seeds) that Obama had a hand in. Better call dibs on Libya seeing as how Syria is already taken.
And there you have it, folks. Lights, camera, sanctions. America has had a reputation for not appreciating the arts as much as other parts of the world. Hopefully this will encourage more artists to come out of the Pentagon revolving door. During the Iraq war a famous anti-war mantra was updated to “Make Art, Not War.” It’s a reductive sentiment and begs the question, does it really have to be either or? Tune in next week when we go over the efficacy of streaming video games to manufacture consent for delegitimizing foreign elections.
Jason Suzuki is co-editor of Cinema Adrift. His writing can be found at Cinema Adrift.