segunda-feira, 14 de outubro de 2013

Caught up by catching on

"What defines art? Throughout these lectures I've been using the term art broadly, to cover a range of activities from Jim Lee's drawing a page of Batman, to Shakespeare's company printing his plays after his death, from the stories of the Holocaust to the stories of Donald Duck.

In this, I seek to recognize a number of creative endeavors as legitimate forms of the human imagination. I run the risk, however, of failing to define my terms and so, of appearing confused about the differences between high art, fine art, literature, popular art, and commercial entertainment that is not traditionally considered art at all. I want to be clear.

What defines art, and particularly what defines literature, is the university system. It is long been the  responsibility of the university system to define what constitutes art and legitimize it by bestowing it with authority. In this case, the university is the father of art.

For a long time, excluded from the university curriculum, comics were considered, like so called genre fiction, science fiction, crime, mystery and fantasy, even film, simply and merely commercial entertainment. More recently, as graphic novels, comics have won major awards outside of the university system and original comic art has been included in gallery and museum exhibitions. Universities have caught up by catching on."

Do curso Comic Books and Graphic Novels, de William Kuskin, na aula onde analisa o que é arte a partir de Fun Home de Allison Bechdel. É de facto um privilégio este tempo contemporâneo onde os géneros e os meios de expressão tradicionalmente menorizados pelo mainstream são alvo de merecidas análises críticas e reconhecimento como vertentes do vasto campo da expressão artística humana. G33k is cool e espero que seja mais do que moda, mantendo-se a visão abrangente de uma cultura global que não se confina aos limites espartilhantes de um cânone que representa um único ponto de vista.