All Writing Is...
Da-da! ...No Wait!
So I’ve finally gotten through Jess Nevins’ pulp lists. But there was a title that really struck a chord with me. The character Padre Metri was a character created in Argentina by Leonardo Castellani, a rather controversial figure historically speaking. Not for being Catholic, he was Jesuit first before getting kicked out. It’s that he was a right-wing sympathizer in his political writing. Except for Metri whose beliefs aligned more with liberation theology. Which is odd considering that Castellani opposed liberalism and communism, not to mention he was an antisemite.
This along with content in a comic called Thin Blue Line by Mike Baron got me thinking about something that always annoys me.
All Writing Is-What You Give To It
The phrase “all writing is political” is something that I just can’t get behind when it comes to titles and characters like Metri.
I guess you can argue that Castellani had views he wanted to express that-
Ugh…Let me show you another example of something…
I am a follower of dada but whenever I try to explain to people about its paradoxical nature, it feels like talking to conspiracy theorists.
It’s the same with writing as politics. Is that supposed to mean writing my name in two different ways on my mom’s Mother’s Day card is endorsing some political campaign or ideology that I’ve never heard of? Isn’t it enough to say that I love my mom and tried to write my name in a trick that she taught me?
That’s what these turn into, nothing becomes meaningful or a problem unless people make it one! Whether that’s the writer or the person experiencing it.
Something That I Heard…
Let’s look back at Padre Metri. Castellani uses his stories to confront a few realistic scenarios and issues even if they don’t line up with a few of his beliefs on how things should be. How?
I dunno! I never read the pulp I just read some biased liberal’s interpretation of it.
But how is that any different to how Thin Blue Line was on the news at one point? People Lied About That!
True enough, I backed a GoFundMe because of that lie. Because if people are going to roast something, they should know the real thing not because some lunatic was chasing their next 15 minutes of fame. A lot of people couldn’t even know it was a lie since the book was shadowbanned because the lie went viral.
What Was The Lie?
It doesn’t matter anymore. The “journalist” was exposed for lying and Thin Blue Line got published by Antarctic Press on all platforms. It’s getting a follow-up too.
What I will say is: there was a scene where pro-police supporters who served in the military wore the Punisher logo. But the leading cop angrily told them she didn’t want their kind of help. A good call, because when readers see them next, they get themselves killed going after a man profiting off riots’ property damage.
Mike Baron has plenty of opinions regarding the Punisher since he wrote that character for Marvel and used it as influence for another title. But does that mean he approves of people wearing the logo in support of…stuff? All that he does say is that Thin Blue Line is realistic in ways the Punisher can never be. He also says stuff that people calling for outright police abolition won’t like.
Isn’t That Political?
When it comes to how people experience anything, their biases can get the better of them. There is such a thing as Author Tract but that doesn’t mean Author Appeal or filibuster. Also audiences can take the wrong implications of something. Remember that book you loathed to read in Middle School literature class; Catcher in the Rye? People prefer to remember that some shooters acted on things that the main character didn’t even consider. Meanwhile if you’re anything like me, you just got bored of all of the monologues. What purpose did they even serve? Basically nothing!
This is what I mean when I say that trying to say or (dis)prove that all writing is political isn’t worth the energy. People are going to imprint what they get out of something. Sometimes it’s things entirely out of the writer’s control. Sometimes the writer writes things from perspectives they don’t want any part of on a whim. Not in a mocking fashion, not antagonistic, not even closeted detail just in a way that suits a story they want to tell.
But isn’t that-
When Reading Or Writing:
This is what Dada really is. Like anything it can change, sometimes lacking a direction. But that’s where it’s real power comes from, approaching anything with a different perspective for better and for worse.
The question I have when it comes to writing and if politics influenced it is… Does it matter?