Odd and offputting

<n>The Art of Living</n> (1967), a <n>Surrealist</n> painting by <n>René Magritte</n>.

Poster for the 1973 animated film <n>La Planète sauvage</n>, directed by <n>René Laloux</n> with art by <n>Roland Topor</n>.

The desire to exclusively engage with media and art made by “unproblematic” artists is a direct result of Americans viewing media consumption as an inherently political act because that is the supreme promise of Western prosperity and the religion of consumerism, and because it’s seemingly all that’s left. We’ve been stripped and socialized out of any real political energy and agency. Our ability to consume is the only thing remaining that’s “ours” in late capitalism, and as a result it’s become a stand-in for (or perhaps the sole defining quality of) every aspect of being alive today — consuming is activism, it’s love, it’s thinking, it’s sex, it’s fill in the blank. When the act of consuming is all you have left and indeed the only thing society tells you is valuable and meaningful, the act must necessarily be a moral one, which is why people send themselves down manic spirals deciding what, who is “problematic” or not, because for us the stakes are that high now.

1980s airbrush illustration by Japanese artist <n>Hajime Sorayama</n>.

A still from the 1973 animated film <n>Fantastic Planet</n>, directed by <n>René Laloux</n>.