#if we loosen the definition of what we traditionally think of as cultural appropriation a little this is cultural appropriation

[princecrows]

i was talking about will wood and taylor swift and the similarities in how people treat them publicly with a friend of mine. and the similarities we were talking about is how people will consume art about mental illness or struggles or whatever and then turn around and not really know how to effectively advocate for people with mental illness in real life? (we were talking about this during enies lobby so you can see how the conversation drifted)

will wood is seen as overwhelming a "trans internet person" artist and reduced down to his identity and one song about being gnc and people reducing him down to that despite the fact most of his songs are about the experiences of someone struggling with severe mental health issues (bpd, ocd) and most of his fans have the attitude of just labelling his extremely well thought out and well articulated experiences to "well, he just sounds insane and thats goofy silly and im an idiot"

taylor swift on the other hand has been publicly forbade from talking about her mental illness (often by the same people who would reduce will wood down and ignore his experiences go figure) despite the fact she has very publicly earned the right to be mentally ill despite the fact that isn't a thing you should earn. i dont know if you know this, person reading this, but taylor swift was in the public eye while she was literally being groomed. you have to be deliberately ignorant of any of the conversation around her and the things shes gone through to outright police the way she expresses herself.

but it once again comes down to i am taking the narrative around this artist and shifting it into a way that deliberately ignores what they are expressing through their art because i may enjoy their art about what they've gone through but i feel no obligation to truly support them and people like them.

that concept the concept that someone would enjoy art but not truly engage or advocate for what its expressing or even go as far as to be deliberately dismissive or ignorant terrifies me. both as an audience member and as a creator