Capping off this week of posts about political action in the arts…
- “No Gatekeepers” Part 1: Make your own guerrilla National Parks Guides
- “No Gatekeepers” Part 2: Yarnbombers
- How much can we expect from artists that get involved in politics?
- Social change through beauty and fun: Paperhand Puppet Project
- Art as a Source of Strength: Going to the LA Opera
…I’ll share two social media posts: one that features whimsy as political action, and a great example of understated pop culture as activism.
First, a brass band defuses tensions at a protest and shuts down the Proud Boys in this clip from the Rachel Maddow Show. According to the comments, the band is playing “Bella Ciao”, an Italian folk song that was used as an anti-fascist and anti-Nazi song during World War II. (I can’t independently verify that, not knowing brass band repertoire.)
Second, here’s a clip of two writers from Schitt’s Creek and actor Dan Levy, who played David, describing the multiple levels of a scene that showed Dan and Patrick falling in love. On one level it’s representation that normalizes the love of a gay couple by putting them in a scene you’d seen in a rom com with a straight couple, and on another level – as one of the writers describes – extends comfort to people whose defenses have built up after years of facing discrimination.
I hope this week has given you a bit of inspiration to take your own action in a creative way and reminded you that there are really no gatekeepers on enacting your values in the world.
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Hannah Grannemann 