I was talking to a online friend and this subject came up:
Me: i've always wondered to some extent is it okay to like the works that somebody did if they were a [crappy] person
Me: like if a musician puts out a bunch of good music and then turns out to have done a bunch of really bad things
Me: is it still okay to like their music?
Me: even if you hate the musician for doing those bad things
I guess this sort of thing also ties into a lot of the stuff that came out in the last few years where it seems that half of Hollywood was involved in either sexual-assault scandals or covering it up.
I might be phrasing this question not so well, but: Do bad acts committed by a person remove the value of their works?
For me personally, I kind of feel a bit uncomfortable watching/listening/reading something, but I try to separate the artist from the work.
I've been in several arguments about this issue, some here in the A&E forum (I am informed that I am no longer allowed to enjoy Leonard Nimoy's performances because he played a non-white character in the Marco Polo miniseries in 1982).
I have also gotten into arguments with various people regarding Marion Zimmer Bradley's husband and her being suspected of aiding and abetting his crimes (he was convicted of sexually molesting children). The online reaction to this has been... hysterical (not in a funny way, but in an overreaction way). First of all, nothing I've read has ever stated that there's ironclad proof that she did this. Second of all, a transcript of her being questioned about it was posted, but what tends to get ignored is that this questioning occurred
after MZB had suffered a series of debilitating strokes and her memories were no longer reliable; in short, the police were questioning someone who was no longer of sound mind about events that had happened years in the past.
I am in no way defending what her husband did.
If she aided and abetted those crimes, that would have been reprehensible indeed.
BUT... does that take away from her life's work, most of which was creating and writing the Darkover series, and mentoring new writers (mostly women) so they would have a greater chance of building writing careers for themselves? MZB was also a magazine and anthology editor, and there are many SF/fantasy writers with solid careers now who owe their start to MZB mentoring them when they were starting out (anyone here read Mercedes Lackey? Diana Paxson? Jennifer Roberson? They're MZB protegees).
So yes, I can separate what happened/might have happened in her personal life from her writing and have no intention of building a bonfire and burning all my Darkover books (as some fans have hysterically insisted they would do).
Oh, btw... another reason not to go off the deep end about MZB is that she and a few friends started the Society for Creative Anachronism. That organization helped me learn so much, whether various crafts, dancing, history, cooking, and a hundred other things (including Civ; a lot of SCA people are also gamers and SF/fantasy fans). I gained a lot of self-confidence during my 12 years in that organization, and some of the things I learned can be applicable to any other organization (I was the local branch's secretary, treasurer, and media liaison as well as the first contact for new members who learned of us via the newspaper, posters around town, at demos, or me slipping a little note into the public library's copy of
Murder at the War - a novel written by an SCA member about a fictitious murder at one of the society's major war events). The SCA is where I first got into writing and editing newsletters.
Now let's take the case of an actor. Mel Gibson is a bigoted <jerk>. But I do enjoy his performance in
Hamlet. Or how about the recent revelations about Liam Neeson? I've seen
Rob Roy several times and haven't decided to stomp my DVDs into smithereens (either of Neeson's movie or Gibson's). I just won't be checking out any
more of their work. As for MZB, she died many years ago and the Darkover series has been 'inherited' by a couple of other authors who still produce occasional novels and an annual anthology.
