Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as βproblematicβ in class and our professor was like, βThatβs cool, but βproblematicβ doesnβt really mean anything. It means that the thing youβre describing has a problem, and in and of itself thatβs not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else itβs not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like youβre trying to say that this is bad, but you donβt want to say βbad.β Is that right?β
So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the βbadβ thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, βIβm uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.β
Once we stopped calling things βproblematicβ and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, βthatβs racistβ or βthatβs misogynisticβ or βew capitalism grossβ out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, βUhhh... Iβm not sure whatβs so bad?β and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.
Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I canβt help but think of this professor being like, βGood starting point, now letβs get specific.β I think when we have to commit to saying βthatβs ___β it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever weβre claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes itβs art, and it should be full of problems, because thatβs what art is.
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