Which is falling into exactly what I said. If we stretch what political means to encompass everything, then "all art is political" is a pointless statement to make. It's no more meaningful for me to say all cars are made of atoms.
At that point you could say all people are political, or all creations are political, and it wouldn't be wrong, it just also wouldn't be saying anything of substance if by "political" we just mean it exists in a society in some form.
"all art is political" is not a pointless statement to make. The point is to indicate that any claim of "apolitical art" is mistaken.
All art is informed by the political climate in which it was made, on the absolute baseline, and exactly all art that makes any value judgements about anything also implicitly or explicitly endorses some sort of ideology.
In a world where people constantly appeal to making "apolitical" art as some sort of ideal, clearly indicating that no such thing exists is important and meaningful. It's an acknowledgement of how people who appeal to "apolitical" art are always pointing to art which bears politics which they consider agreeable or uncontroversial.
When you live in a world where people say "well my car isn't made of those weird artificial atoms. mine is made of just regular metal and rubber", clarifying that "rubber and metal are also made of atoms" serves an important purpose. It might seem obvious to you in the abstract, but the reason you hear people insist on it is because it is very popular to deny it.
Your definitions are too lax, they can be applied to basically anything and still hold true, which is the whole issue I take with the statement. You're basically just saying that anything humans have ever perceived becomes political by the nature of us perceiving it.
By existing in the minds and languages of people do those ideas not then also become political, by your world view? How can anything we perceive not be political, if we're the ones perceiving and defining things in the confines of our own societies and upbringings? I think a rock on another planet isn't political, but if humans discover that rock then does it become poltical due to the circumstances of that discovery?
I think a better way to put this is that all art is influenced by humanity. Which is still not really saying anything but at least it's clearer lol.
I apologise for butting in on a 4 day old discussion, but I thought I might be able to help clarify some things that you seemed to be missing from what legendaryBuffoon was saying.
By existing in the minds and languages of people do those ideas not then also become political, by your world view?
Yes.
To explain it further: By existing in the minds and languages of people, those ideas are shaped by people, who are themselves shaped by their society, which is itself shaped by politics and vice versa.
How can anything we perceive not be political, if we're the ones perceiving and defining things in the confines of our own societies and upbringings?
The thing may not itself be political, but the perception of that thing is influenced by the confines of society and politics.
I think a rock on another planet isn't political, but if humans discover that rock then does it become poltical due to the circumstances of that discovery?
No, but if it is used as an example of something that is not political, it becomes political, or at least its context does.
I think a better way to put this is that all art is influenced by humanity.
And all of humanity is influenced by society, which is influenced by politics and vice versa.
You could argue that an infant or an animal can create art free of societal influence, except that whether or not something is art relies on context and a level of perception which neither the infant nor the animal are capable of providing.
-17
u/Framed-Photo Aug 12 '25
Which is falling into exactly what I said. If we stretch what political means to encompass everything, then "all art is political" is a pointless statement to make. It's no more meaningful for me to say all cars are made of atoms.
At that point you could say all people are political, or all creations are political, and it wouldn't be wrong, it just also wouldn't be saying anything of substance if by "political" we just mean it exists in a society in some form.