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A review by mmccombs
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This is a book made up of feelings and no answers and a whole lot of questions. It’s a book where I didn’t necessarily agree or resonate with everything the author brought up, but one that has made me think in new ways about consuming art, celebrity, biography, personal ethics, capitalism, and how all of those things intersect in a messy cacophony of emotion. How, ultimately, the question of what we do with monstrous celebrities/artists/public figures boils down to the question of how we can still love someone when they’re a bad person (and if it’s possible to love ourselves when we are also imperfect).
I do think the conclusion, which more or less boils down to “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” is kind of a weak way out. Some people might come out of this saying “phew, I can watch X movie and not feel bad about it” and I’m just unsure if that’s exactly the most productive outcome of a book like this. Sure, we can’t consume/not consume our way out of a huge systemic issue of abuse in the art industry, but what other method, as individuals, can we leverage in an attempt to show the industry (and our peers) that we do not condone behavior like this? I would have liked to see her push beyond her “well, what can you do?” ending to do something more constructive, it was not super satisfying and felt like a cop out.
I think I’ll be reflecting on this one for a while, I’m already excited to come back to it!
I do think the conclusion, which more or less boils down to “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” is kind of a weak way out. Some people might come out of this saying “phew, I can watch X movie and not feel bad about it” and I’m just unsure if that’s exactly the most productive outcome of a book like this. Sure, we can’t consume/not consume our way out of a huge systemic issue of abuse in the art industry, but what other method, as individuals, can we leverage in an attempt to show the industry (and our peers) that we do not condone behavior like this? I would have liked to see her push beyond her “well, what can you do?” ending to do something more constructive, it was not super satisfying and felt like a cop out.
I think I’ll be reflecting on this one for a while, I’m already excited to come back to it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape