Monday, March 8, 2021

Miss Fisher; Feminist.

 




Dear Gals and Allies,

(Gallies, perhaps?)  Yes, beginning a sentence with parentheses is something you can do here!  Isn't it marvelous?  There is so much we can do, if we go ahead and do it.  You feel, I bet, like there isn't much to do right now, but I saw something the other day that really crystalized this spacious opportunity for me- But, that's not what I wanted to write to you about just yet.

I am writing you today to talk turkey about Miss Fisher and her Murder Mysteries.  You may think that you don't want to watch any more screens, and I hear you, that's valid, that's good.  That's noble and pure and dignified of you, too.  And if you find yourself with some time that you don't want to be noble and pure and dignified, maybe you will remember to check these stories out.  

Miss Fisher is every girl-child feminist's dream of a female character: she has power, money, prestige, and compassion and empathy.  She holds to principles that go beyond the law and religion, and she is sympathetic to everyone's plight.  She also gets to try everything (racing cars! adopting young ladies in need! piloting a plane! joining the circus!) and she garners the esteem of everyone she encounters.  She also maintains enough humility and vulnerability to prevent her from slip sliding into some awful kind of super hero archetype.  She is a flawed character; like you, like me.  

I love her; she is the answer to James Bond, for me, and I hope you will take a look at her and her adventures sometime!

Oh, but wait!  I intended to talk to you about the place we are in, the times we are having; about the opportunities for you to tell us all what you think and what you want and what you believe.  

In the old days, there were things called galleries, I know, they are like covered wagons; no one uses them anymore, so don't worry about what they were; quaint little rooms and buildings where people sold art to pay the rent.  It sounds nice, doesn't it?  To show your artwork in a place that would sell it for you?  Thinking on it now, it sounds absurdly romantic, and totally impossible- like winning the lottery: too good to have actually been true!   Well, now you don't need that gatekeeping system- you can put your work in front of anyone using the internet.  You are saying, "well, sort of..., what about selling things?" To that I say to hell with selling things- nothing good ever came of putting a price on creativity anyway.  "And what about all these viewers?  What about getting my work in front of millions?"  To that I say, don't be greedy- if two people see it, that is plenty!

What I have here is glorious and irrefutable proof of just how broad and big the available exhibition space is on the internet:




Well now!  Is it art?  Is it good?  It surely is spectacle, and I don't think I care much about the other two 
appellations.  I care more about the impulse to decorate, to make, and the invitation to all of us to view it, and to perhaps be impelled to respond in some way.