It is widely argued that politics crosses the boundaries of the personal: as the great saying goes, “life is politics” (Swoboda, 2019), from our households to the workplace. Politics are not merely exercised by some kind of elite, contrarily to popular belief: they can be found in all aspects of our everyday lives, from our households to our workplaces (Bryson, 2003). This means we can acquire political knowledge in a way that is much easier to retrieve. The general population provides this knowledge through its contribution in society: art, film and pop culture are all its byproducts as they reflect its sentiments in regard to a multitude of issues, extending to the realm of the political; thus making these pertinent to academic research. Although art, film and pop culture are not inherently political, it is society that attributes them this quality: they become vessels of communication as they express society’s views. To understand how these contribute to political knowledge, we must first understand how the general population utilizes them to shed light on significant political events that are not widely discussed enough by political actors. In addition, we must evaluate all of the ways in which society can denounce political issues through these means. Finally, we will discuss how the utilization of these vessels by society can lead the way for new alternatives to dysfunction within the political world, through the propagation of research.
To assume that every government serves its people’s best interests is a gross misconception of the reality of politics. The harsh truth is that a society’s needs, contestations and voices can be ignored by the body designed to protect them. As a result, massive political issues, events and movements that can deeply affect society at large are left unaddressed, further damaging the population. A significant challenge is ensued from this phenomenon: it becomes exceedingly difficult to collect knowledge on these issues, events and movements to effectively conduct academic research because there are far less sources that allow for this to take place.
The absence of legitimization of political contentions by governmental bodies can cause them to appear less valid, therefore weakening academic researchers’ position. However, if political issues are being actively legitimized through another source, then this research can take place far more effectively. It is for this reason that art, film and pop culture are so useful to academic research: if these are the byproducts of a population’s political involvement, then these have the capacity of being recorded for the purpose of accumulating political knowledge.
Art, film and pop culture are central to a society’s ability of self-expression: through these we are able to understand the political events that are pertinent by society’s standards, as they would never be addressed if they did not enharbour some kind of relevance to the population’s wellbeing and security. For one, pop culture “does not belong to just the elites” nor is it “ideologically acknowledged as the dominant culture any level” yet “its discourse has enormous significance in the formation of public attitudes and values” (Banerjee, 2018: 3). This means that because of how easily pop culture spreads - being widely received by multiple audiences – pertinent information that could significantly alleviate a population’s suffering can be propagated with ease.
We have established previously that a government does not necessarily fulfill the obligations of a democracy, meaning the population’s interests are not upheld by political institutions. As a result, the people must find ways to uphold themselves through their own contributions within society. An example of this can be found in India, where Bollywood films are “used as the medium to disseminate information” on matters relating to “health and hygiene, sex-ed, maternity and family issues” which are especially beneficial to “rural communities”, where they do not have access to this kind of information. (Banerjee, 2018: 3). This elevates the standard of living in these impoverished areas.
In addition, the impact of the 1980’s musical hit, Free Nelson Mandela (The Specials, 1984) contributed to socio-political action. As the song suggests, it was created with the objective of spreading information about the apartheid in South Africa, as it deeply oppressed people of color in the country- including the anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, who served 27 years in prison for protesting systematic racism and discrimination enacted by the government. To western societies, this political issue was quite insignificant as it did not impact them directly.
However, because of the popularity of the song, it became a cult classic during its time period. Paul Gambaccini, a presenter on BBC’s Radio 2, has stated that the success of the song can be attributed to its pop quality, in that “it's catchy and sounds good”, as well as how direct it is, seeing as the title of the song immediately conveys a “clear message that the audience agreed with” (Wilkinson, 2013: 4). Through the commercial appeal of the song a fundamental political message was brought to the attention of several societies and mainstream media, fulfilling the goal of The Specials to bring awareness to the suffering brought by the apartheid.
When accumulating political knowledge through academic research, we must consider how different perceptions of political issues are noticeable in the sources from which this knowledge is recorded.
As we have established previously, states can delegitimize the presence of political contentions if it is in their best interest to do so; meaning researchers will find more difficulties in acquiring political knowledge if it is invalidated by a top-down source. However, if a bottom-up source – such as pop culture – legitimizes the existence of political issues, researchers are able to determine what is considered politically relevant to a society; which becomes the foundation of much of the research surrounding politics. As such, it would be a careless mistake for academic researchers to disregard art, film and pop culture in their profession as these can provide incredibly useful information not only regarding political issues but also how political issues are perceived by the general public.
That being said, we must also take into account how art, film and pop culture are utilized not only to spread pertinent information regarding political issues but also to actively criticize reprimandable actions caused by political institutions that come at the expense of the general population.
If a society is being undermined by a political entity that silences its demands and rightfully placed criticism of issues that reinforce its general discontent, then it will turn to self-expression to address its concerns and dissatisfactions. We have established previously that art, film and pop culture are central to a society’s creative expression and entertainment, making their propagation amongst the people an easy task, as these are present in the population’s everyday lives. As a result, the public can utilize these means to express the wrongdoings that their respective governments have inflicted onto them in a way that foreign societies will notice- art, film and pop culture being universal and present in all societies.
When these become political, they often become correlated to specific political events that are relevant to the contributor’s time period.
This is exemplified through many artistic currents that have taken place over the course of history, including “arte comprometido”, or “engaged art” in Spain; which was popular in the 1930s-40s following the rise of the right-wing fascist dictator Francisco Franco, whose influence led to a massive Civil War resulting in more than 500 000 casualties. This “engaged art” is a form of political protest that denounced Franco’s regime as the atrocity that it was.
One artist that contributed to this artistic movement was Pablo Picasso through the painting Guernica, which depicts the violence of the Spanish Civil War in its gruesome and gritty reality. Here he denounces the outcome of Franco’s authoritarian regime in the most brutally honest way possible, all the while demonstrating his artistic flair and skill. This had a significant impact on both the artistic world and the political world, as this painting is memorialized as not merely being a work of art commemorating the victims of the Guernica massacre, but “a painting [commemorating] every war and suffering” on a universal level (Kemmel, 2018: 1). This universalization of human suffering is key for researchers in understanding the objective of political action through art: it is a form of social involvement on the behalf of the artist; it is art with a purpose.
In addition, when an individual utilizes art, film and pop culture to denounce pertinent political issues; they are not necessarily directly correlated to specific political events – such as civil war. They can be used to criticize continuous and ongoing issues that have been embedded in societies for generations due to the systematic oppression of the lesser privileged. These problems – ranging anywhere from social inequities to economic disparity at the expense of the population - can be normalized to the point where it is difficult to even question them due to how heavily they have been institutionalized.
Nevertheless, there have been attempts in denouncing these deeply rooted societal issues, particularly in cinema: cult classics such as Metropolis (Lang, 2017) portray systematic inequalities within social class, where “the workers who toil in the bowels of the city while it is the rich who inhabit an idyllic world on the surface” (Smyth, 2011: 5). This social contrast becomes the sole focus of the film, as though the society portrayed in the film was entirely defined by these inequalities: they are completely exaggerated. This has a significant impact on the viewers, who recognize some key aspects of Metropolis in their own social environments: this recognition blurs the line between the world of cinema and the world of the viewers. This implies that political art, film and pop culture become personally involved in people’s lives to the point where they represent individuals’ experiences through their creative means.
In academic research, it becomes apparent that art, film and pop culture are incredibly useful sources of political knowledge because they are the firsthand examples of social and political involvement on the behalf of the population. Through creative self-expression individuals can address socio-political issues through the denunciation of detrimental political events and heavy social disparities that have shaped societies as we know them today.
Researchers can acquire a personal understanding of populations’ awareness of their political institutions’ shortcomings: their brutally honest accounts of their personal dissatisfactions render a deeper look into the injustices that the general population has to face on a daily basis; it provides a transparent insight into socio-political turmoil that is otherwise exceedingly difficult to acquire by researchers.
We have established that in some cases, art, film and pop culture exaggerate the flaws of a particular social environment to form a “black mirror” of our society’s own shortcomings.
Through these cautionary tales of societies riddled with polarity and intolerance, researchers can gather information on how to avoid these from actually taking place.
Art, film and pop culture are an indication of creative expression from society: through these we can convey a purpose that enharbours significance. When that purpose becomes political, it involves the general population as a whole; as no one is exempt from political influence. The challenge here that researchers attempt to overcome is that of recording this purpose on paper, as it is difficult to exemplify this because it is not physically noticeable. To identify a contributor’s purpose, a researcher must analyze and interpret their work in order to recognize their objective.
We have established previously that contributors in the realms of art, film and pop culture will often exaggerate the characteristics of a society as the sole focus of their work, providing a twisted look into how our own social environments could be shaped under the influence of the wrong individuals and institutions. This is done is to visualize how populations could fall in the hands of oppression if they do not combat injustice effectively, thus reinforcing the place of the population at the heart of the state. This idea is what political academic researchers attempt to exemplify in their work.
This is noticeable in the pop culture staple Joker- a comic book icon that truly embodies what it means to be a social pariah. Throughout his stance in the DC series, he spreads terror throughout the fictional crime-riddled city of Gotham- which becomes an image of how our society could be at the hands of a terrorist of such magnitude like the Joker.
However, the recent adaptation of the character in the titular film Joker (Phillips, 2019) gives a profound insight into how the character became the chaotic villain we know today; by not merely paralleling the city of Gotham as a dystopian inversion of our society but by paralleling the Joker to all of the “lone wolves” (Perlman, 2017) and social rejects of our social circles.
The film portrays the Joker not as the psychopath that he is constantly shown to be, but as a mentally ill, victimized outcast that succumbs to his society’s brutality until he reaches a breaking point- leading to the birth of his chaotic persona, the Joker. It has been stated that “Joker has been hailed as revolutionary for its depiction of mental illness” (Hoffman, 2019: 2). This adaptation aims to humanize the Joker as he becomes the personification of social rejection. For many American communities, the Joker has been perceived as an accurate representation of incel culture- standing for, “involuntary celibates”, a term “assumed by deeply misogynistic men who believe women are to blame for their lack of sexual intimacy” (Halls, 2018: 1). As such, the Joker embodies a form of inner masculine rage that resonates with many men in society.
Joker is a prime example of political art, film and pop culture mirroring the condition of certain groups within society. These creative means can present many benefits to academic research: researchers can obtain a clear understanding of a population’s situation in a socio-political context; which they would not be able to obtain otherwise. If this situation is portrayed negatively by the population in question, through the presentation of these cautionary tales, then this incites the researchers to find alternatives that could help avoid these dystopian realities from taking place in our societies.
Art, film and pop culture present a multitude of resources in terms of political knowledge: they offer varying perspectives on a cacophony of political issues in a way that provides researchers with an insight into the population’s experiences. Political knowledge starts with those that contribute to it: through these forms of creative self-expression, researchers can comprehend the socio-political condition of society and record it in their work so as to contribute to a larger database of political research.
Bibliography
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Perlman, M. (2017), The origins of the term ‘lone wolf’,Columbia Journalism Review
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