Quick hit: Who gets, and needs, catharsis in art?
I’m reading some interviews with Hannah Gadsby and a few of them are asking her, repeatedly, in a bunch of different ways, “But wasn’t…
I’m reading some interviews with Hannah Gadsby and a few of them are asking her, repeatedly, in a bunch of different ways, “But wasn’t doing the show cathartic for you? Healing?” Etc. And I get the point of that question, people really want to know what an artist’s process looks like on the inside.
But I’m also reminded of people asking me that question after the episode of This American Life I was in came out. Or they’d phrase it like a statement: “It must have been cathartic to be able to tell your story.” And I would say, “Well, kind of, but it’s not quite so linear. It was more devastating emotionally, with, like, explosions that hit at different times, in different ways, and then recovering from them…” And their eyes would kinda glaze over, and they’d say, “But it was healing, right?” This happened several times, and I started to realize that people needed me to say that it was indeed healing for their sake — to have listened to all that pain (in the whole episode, because man, it’s just an emotionally brilliant piece), and sit with it, was too much for them to process. They needed closure. And I didn’t realize that until much later on, and was resentful, feeling like they just wanted a clean answer.
Anyhoo, these interviews brought that resentment up again, and I was tempted to write yet another finger-wagging “what not to do” post, but found that teeny path back over to compassion for everyone else going through their s*** too, and… yeah.
I’m also thinking about what we can do in general to create spaces for emotional processing as art triggers these kinds of deep, highly social responses more and more. Heidi Boisvert has talked a lot about how yes, it’s great that VR & AR are creating empathy, for example, but it might also be irresponsible to create visceral emotional experiences in those media without aftercare. (My words/interpretation, not hers! Heidi, correct me if I’m off here.) And I don’t think artists like Hannah Gadsby should be creating/worrying about the aftercare, but maybe it’s something we can and should be considering in our communities.