Hating Art

[Dodo25]

I need some help here..

I have recently had a great idea (at least at the moment I think so) for a new short story I want to write. I have a lot of the plot already in mind. The main character is driven by a destructive hatred against 'the Arts'.

Now I need to do some research to fill in a realistic background. Does anyone know books or stories with a similar theme? Are there psychological reasons for hating art? Is it a 'condition' determined by genes?

I'm talking about all kinds of arts, especially books, pictures and music.

So any sort of advice on how I can explain the main character's hatred for art would be welcome. Especially hatred for music seems hard to explain, but I've heard that some people hate all music!

[hillwalker]

Well, Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' (which you probably know of anyway) springs straight to mind as a novel exploring censorship and an imaginary society's attempts to suppress art by the destruction of books.

So for the Arts in general - perhaps one of the driving forces behind your hero's hatred could be that he does not believe in free expression, or was brought up in such a restrictive home environment that he cannot handle ideas and thoughts that threaten his limited belief system. Philistinism to the max!

As far as hating books is concerned - another train of thought might be that he is dyslexic (an extreme reaction to such a condition, I know - but who knows how frustrated he might be? - especially if his life suffers because of it).

Hatred of the visual arts - again, perhaps he sees a need to exercise an extreme form of censorship (acting out some kind of psychological defence mechanism - he would rather destroy images that give him inappropriate thoughts than handle the thoughts themselves).

Music? - more difficult. Unless he has a neurological problem that makes him unable to decypher, and so appreciate, the intricacies of melody, etc.

As for a genetic cause - I cannot see that working even as a fictional condition so I would not pursue that.

I cannot think of any real-life instances where individuals have acted in this manner so you have certainly discovered an original plot - the story you have in mind will be fascinating I am sure....

Good luck with it

[dizzydoll]

Hate -- a very unsettling, strong word. I believe its overused in writing and speech, as is the word -- Love [in the West at least] with no thought to the deeper meaning of either.

Hatred speaks of extreme anger and resentment towards something or someone. People often tend to hate something they wish they had also, just to throw the cat in among the pigeons as well.

[Dodo25]

Thanks for the inputs so far, they were quite helpful.

Hillwalker's comment opened a perspective I didn't think of before. For my story, the belief system part doesn't really fit, but it is an interesting thought nevertheless. And the being dyslexic gave me a good idea, supported by dizzydoll's comment about hatred.

I think one big factor will be envy. The character is untalented when it comes to arts, and he envies the succesful artists (in whatever fields) that get lots of money, attention and girls. Additionally, maybe his mother left his father for an artist..

Another factor would be the snobbishness of the people who appreciate 'pieces' of art and (meaningless) conversations about it as status symbols.. One theme would then be the question of whether art is useless or not.

That's what I'm thinking about, but I still have no idea how to do it for music.. But I do know that some people just don't like it..

[Dodo25]

Additionally, maybe his mother left his father for an artist..


... or his girlfriend!
yeah that's much better :)

[hillwalker]

You mention snobbishness - the 'litterati' or whatever they call themselves.
In respect to music, personally I prefer popular (rock). There is some classical music I am particularly fond of - but I have to confess I cannot abide opera, probably because I don't understand it. Perhaps your hero equates certain types of music with people he believes to be superior to him - so in a kind of reverse snobbery he undervalues and attacks 'higher-class' media such as opera or classical music because he feels inadequate.

Is art useful? Well, some of the displays that recently graced the Tate Modern, like Tracy Emin's unmade bed, or someone's trash bags, would make one wonder.
And often artists do place a huge value on their own personal expression of what they believe to be art - when to most people it's something that could easily be 're-created' in their own home given a half hour or so.
So taking such thoughts to the extreme, if your hero believes most art is not worthy of anyone's consideration then perhaps that would motivate him to destroy all art regardless of its quality.

Wow, this could turn out to be some story Dodo.

[Dodo25]

Great ideas, I was thinking along similar lines. I'm about to assemble the plot line in my head and draft the crucial scenes, soon I can start writing. I hope I can condense it to about 5000 words, but I wouldn't want to cut it down just for the sake of a word limit.. I hope I can finish it before my motivation dies.

But yeah I think it's a good idea, and I do have some great scenes and twists in mind already;) If you're interested I can send you the end product (or at least a draft of it) once this is done, but it might takes months because I tend to procrastinate..

[hillwalker]

I shall await with bated breath.....

and good luck