Kids is a game about the process.
After binging "When They See Us" I don't know how I am supposed to feel, and I hate every part of that statement.
I don't remember when I became an "Art as a service" person, but here I am. Nowadays whenever I hear a person tell a story my immediate thoughts lead to what is this information doing for me? When those have passed I need to know what the information is doing to help the characters in the story receive the "good ending."
My guess is that over time I slipped into a very particular version of learned helplessness. The acceptance that reality is the shitshow it is has trained me to expect a lot form my escapism. I somehow decided that art is synonymous with escapism and stories can be controlled. Therefore any story I choose to ingest that dedicates itself to being a 1:1 reflection of reality, warts and all, is a betrayal to me, personally. That's fucked up.
The bad guys should lose, the good guys should win, and while there should be drama in between to ramp up the stakes and keep me entertained, there should never, ever, be any moment in any story that reaffirms my pessimistic worldview, or validate the worldview of the ops.
In "When They See Us" the kids got bullied by a societal infrastructure, convicted of rape and lived most of their life in prison for crimes they did not commit. The bullies went on to such great heights, a few even made it all the way to the top, good for them.
So yeah, to quote the great philosopher Jay-Z, "I'm from the hood, stupid. What type of facts are those?" I think the real reason I am stuck feeling some type of way about this film is that, ok, like it exists or whatever and that is cool because future generations can find it and better understand just how fucked up everything is here now. I love that, that works.
The problem I keep running into is putting myself into the shoes of a person that sides with law enforcement, the prosecution, and the public that then and now believe all of it was still the right way to go.
I can't imagine a scenario where they wouldn't say, "Well they were a group of wild monkeys running in packs in the night, maybe they didn't do this, but they still did something, or they were gonna do something. Look, they are something, and you know what I mean." So for those people, this type of art is just ineffectual sputterings of an argument they believe monolithic. And that is the nut of my problem. Why am I sweating the perspective of the people on the other side? Then again, why wouldn't I if I expect them to?
What happens when two sides of a problem reach the point when they can no longer communicate?
I am starting to believe that spicy tweets and bludgeon art isn't gonna cure the problems of the world. That is a dangerous place to be because if art and snark can't change the world, what can?
Anyway, Kids is great, about 15-30 mins, totally worth your time. Also rip TB rip TC rip Tall-T love is wise, hatred is foolish, get out there and do great things, we believe in you, also Jobz.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Codify
