The Truth Can Only Show Through Art and Music

My father has always enjoyed music. He is a 63-year-old chemical engineer with a heart of gold and a very specific taste in music. He enjoys Blondie, Boston, Eric Clapton, and many other artists that I have never been able to string together with a genre other than maybe “oldies”, which I find to be a little vague and possibly a bit belittling.

As my father has fearlessly battled cancer for three years, I have noticed how important the context of music can be in art and representation. The subject of death for example, is uncomfortable and depressing for all of us. It is easy for people to dismiss the dying because it is a difficult topic to think about. We like to think that dying people are old, serious, or whatever else comes to your mind. So, when my father was forced to spend more of his time than he ever would have spent in bed, I was forced to see how music can bring a reality to situations that people are not often willing to see.

My father is strong, kind, and incredible, with a pretty fantastic taste in music. So, when I watched him in his hospital bed, with his battle scars striped across his bald head, wearing loose pajamas instead of blue jeans, instead of seeing the cancer patient in front of me, I heard Eric Clapton grunting about cocaine or Blondie belting out about perseverance. Every time I am confronted with the sometimes unrecognizable image of my father, the music he listens to outshines this and casts a picture of who he really is and will always be in my memory.

This same concept is applied in classic films like Coffee and Cigarettes. I believe that good art can show one image, while making you feel something completely different. In my last post I talked about 80’s music and how it has been reinvented through the genre of vaporwave. This is another good example of taking an original expected emotion in a period of time and making it completely different, or even exposing what one individual may feel about something that the vast majority of a culture does not understand. I think this is a great way to bridge gaps between cultures, generations, and emotions. Although the preconceived images that people are confronted with on a daily basis about other cultures, generations, and emotions are strong, I think they can definitely be overridden with the truth through art and music.