Would it be possible to say that artworks which work to propound a message (thus treating their audiences as passive objects to be programmed) are morally objectionable even though they may be felt to be politically "correct" in other ways?
I think there has to be a difference between politics and morality.
I move the the morality of art is more to do with the position it adopts with respect to its audience, then with its message. Personally, what I'm really against is the model of the didactic dictator, but that's another matter.
I would agree that I prefer things more open-ended and less dishonestly slanted. But a slant is inescapable.
Still, I don't know if there's any art that isn't pure abstraction, that deals in the substance and themes of life, no matter how open-ended it's approach, that isn't going to favor or emphasize certain values or perspectives over others. Even a painting of fruit can be formally representing an approach that, from the perspective of it's period and culture, was tied to certain political, philosophical, cultural, or moral currents. Some morality plays might be more blatant, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't implications and themes galore in everything else. That's not to say that all art can be summed up in simple political or moral binaries, or that some aren't so open-ended that they can't be tied to any idea, but if you consider the context of the artist or culture that that created it, there's still a lot of value-packed information. Taking this into mind, one could also make the argument that realizing that art can, even if arbitrarily, put forth certain ideas or qualities which may in turn be adopted or internalized, then maybe it's not always a purely passive, value-free act regardless of intention. Which of course is why movements happen that revise the approach, because the current mode of expression doesn't ring true enough, so they actively revise it. I don't know if I'd tie it to some dictator model, because nothing is purely passive and without consequence or meaning.
and even abstraction or non-linearity can be put forth in a way to suggest (although it doesn't have to mean this) that there is no value, which is a value statement in itself, and one that can be adopted and have it's own possible effects on minds and culture if it's the dominant sentiment. Just presenting that thought as open-endedly and without judgement as possible.
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