This is not going to be what you expect. Frankly this isn't what I expected when I started this. This is look at the whole disaster that is swirling around writer Neil Gaiman and how it is rattling the cages of the people who found hope and life in his writing.
What this is is me pondering out loud if we can cut the author away and save all of the work that has, honestly and truly, saved the lives of thousands of people who found a life preserver in the words of a guy from England. I am doing this because too I have heard too many stories of how people who were considering dying or doing something worse were made better by reading things like Sandman.
This is me arguing that we should forget the author, never buy another one of his works except used, so he never makes a dime.
I know it's stance that many of you may not like, because I am not saying burn it all down, but I have been told "I was lost until I read...." too many times for me not to argue that the work should be saved and not be tossed on the trash heap. I don't want to risk our losing people because they did not get that "oh my god someone understands" moment.
So, what am I to make of the charges against Neil Gaiman?
If you don't know, increasing number of women have come forward to say that they were forced into sexual situations that they did not want by the award-winning author.
My initial thought was to wait and see what the real story was because of the source of the initial charges from two women, Tortoise Media, had a reputation for going after and trying to take down people who were trans-friendly or just opposed to their conservative way of seeing the world.
Things became complicated when it was clear the Tortoise story was, if not on target, definitely close to it. Gaiman, then said something did happen, and it wasn't what was being reported. He would explain soon. While some people I know tried to bend the stories as they waited for Gaiman's side of the story, things became infinitely more complicated with additional women coming forward, and questions about things that are alleged to have happened appearing. As people pointed out we should be taking Gaiman's own words and simply "believed the victims".
The additional charges effectively broke much of his fan base and social media was full of people saying they were going to junk all of their Gaiman materials.
Personally, I was never a big fan. While never a member of his fan base I was close enough to it because of friends that I might as well have been part of it. I have friends who were close to him, and they are shattered. A rock of their existence was now gone.
I drifted into the fringes of the Gaiman fans through friends. They loved his work and they dragged me along. While they would go to all the local events I would stay on the outside. The closest I ever got to actually meeting him was pushing two programs from the New York Film Festival in his face when Princess Mononoke played.
I was jokingly banned from ever meeting Gaiman because since I was on the fringe I was hearing all sorts of stories. Actually, people were afraid I would ask him about Scientology...
Scientology? Remember when that was the big bugaboo regarding Gaiman? No one wanted to have to worry about his possibly secretly putting Scientological messages into his comics and thus turn every one into followers of Xenu.
Why did people think that?
Through it all Gaiman's public stance was always for the underdog. He championed free speech, women and trans rights. He did benefits for survivors of sexual violence. Gaiman was always on the right side of history, always insisting we need to believe the victims.
More importantly through it all he was turning out work that connected with people and brought them hope. He showed millions of people that there was place for them and that they were never alone. His work saved countless lives by showing people where they belonged was somewhere out there. For many people Gaiman was the guy who "got" them.
Neil Gaiman was the best of the best...until recently when he suddenly wasn't.
The revelations sent shock waves through his fandom. People don't know what to do because the guy who "got" them has turned out to be a not so nice guy. In response people are purging their collections... most of the fans I mentioned above are looking to get rid of their Neil Gaiman books and memorabilia.
What troubles me about this is that Gaiman's work was the literal lifeline for many of them. Over the years I have heard how the words of Neil Gaiman saved lives. I have been told numerous times over the years how his work was what people turned to when things got bad. Reading Sandman or one of the novels centered people and gave them the ability to go on.
Because of that I have to ask "Now that Gaiman is on the outs, can we save his words?" Not the man, but his words and stories.
I'm going to be honest and say I have no dog in this fight. Whatever happens is not really going to affect my feelings toward his work because I was never that invested. All I know is that Gaiman's words and stories kept people alive and I want to keep that going.
For me, any work of art exists as its own thing. The creator be damned once they give it birth and it's out in the world it has its own life and becomes its own thing regardless of what the creator wants... and most importantly regardless of what the artist does after that. The work exists on its own.
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The question everyone is asking is how am I to feel about his stories when he is a bad man?
My response is the same way you always have - just kill the notion of their creator and just see them as standalone stories. Let the stories still fill you with joy, just stop thinking about the man who wrote them. The stories aren't about him anyway they are about you and how they make you feel.
The stories stand, even if the man who created them has fallen. The stories are not the man. The stories are the stories. Nothing in them changed when Gaiman was revealed to be less than a saint. Indeed most people I know came to their first Gaiman story without knowing the man and so found hope with the tales with no figure head. They only knew the stories. The stories spoke to them. The stories healed them when they were divorced from the creator.
The stories are still those magic touchstones that saved lives. They are still these wondrous stories. The author doesn't need enter into it- the stories now exist on their own in the world.
Why not put the stories away for a while and wipe your memory of Neil Gaiman.
I know some of you are going to be upset. you want them all gone because of what he did and I respect that. Hell my attitude is not to buy his works new anymore but buy them used or better yet trade the existing books. That way he makes no money. He has no power and he will eventually fade away. I know this will complicate the TV series and films, but perhaps bootleg them?
It is not an easy to figure out what to do with those who have fallen from grace and their work. How are we to handle their art. This is an important question since ultimately no one is a true angel.
For me I look to see if what they did is reflected in their art. If their art is connected to what they did I cut them off entirely. JK Rowling's tirades against trans people make it hard to deal with her Harry Potter books where we are supposed to be accepting of everyone. Likewise, I can't watch the work of filmmaker Nina Paley whose Seder-Masochism said that everyone should be free to be who they are, and who said the divisions are the work of the patriarchy spews hatred concerning trans women. While I never liked Louis CK his material which often concerns the same subjects he got in trouble for, made it easy to cut him off.
As for people who spread hatred like Dave Chappelle I just cut him off and wish him well and hope the door hits him on the way out.
I'm not going to lie and say that I can shut everyone out for bad behavior, largely because I am human and I waffle. Much like my gay friends and family who will go to Hobby Lobby Lobby and Chic-Fil-a despite the owners of those stores pathological stand against anyone being gay. “Yes I know they want to kill me because I'm gay, but I love their chicken” is what they say as they give money to their potential murders.
As for the work of people like Eric Clapton and Van Morrison whose racist tirades about people of color and of differing religions, I find that I am okay with what I grew up with but I will not give them any more money. The same with actors like Kevin Spacey predatory behavior makes it hard to watch many of his films.
It’s hard to go back and undo the past. Gaiman's books are part of people's lives and it will be hard to remove that so I’m again saying don’t.
Box up Your Gaiman
Now that the mask has been removed from Gaiman, I know many of you want to take all your books and burn them.
Stop wait don’t.
I’m going to suggest that instead of just doing it, that you box them up put them in the back of the closet and wait a year or so. Seriously put all the books and DVDs into a box tape it shut and put it in the back of the closet and think no more of this Gaiman person.
And then in a year or so, when you are looking for that great pair of shoes you can stumble on it and figure out what you want to do with his shit.
No seriously, give it some time before you do the grand purge.
Why am I suggesting this is simply because odds are that the writing in Sandman or in the novels means something. I suspect that if you are reading this the words really do mean something deep and meaningful to you and are in fact etched upon your soul. I’m guessing the words, which you probably discovered before you knew who this Neil person was, touched you in ways that no other words ever had. It’s entirely possible that the words prevent you from doing something stupid and kept you among the living. (This is why I am what I am saying)
These words matter to you do not throw them away without careful thought and reflection. These are words that you may need again.
You need to really be sure you really want to remove part of you before you throw them away – which is why I am saying don’t throw them out in a fit of emotion.
The first thing you need to remember is that the words are not the writer. Yes, the words came from him, but they are not him. The words once published and out into the world are now something else entirely. They are a living and breathing thing that are now part of you. They live in your heart and your soul and as such the words belong to you as much as they once belonged to the writer. I say this because as the words get adapted into other forms our feeling change – that is not how we saw it- that is not what I would have done. Why do you feel this way? Because the story is now part of you.
The writer doesn’t enter into it. Indeed, when you think of the stories you think of the characters and situations you don’t think of this writer person who is oh so far away.
The words are not this shadowy person who you barely know but they are instead something you carry with you in everything you say and do and are.
Words matter because they move us. They, in the right hand make us better. The words have power to change the world- which why people try to ban them- and you must remember, that outside of this mess, that the words I am arguing for you not to lose are the target of people who want to keep you small and dull and stupid and in their control.
Words are the key to freedom.
The words in Sandman and the other works opened doors, broke down walls and showed you and other people that there was life and community outside your and their darkness. The reason that you are hesitating in throwing away the words is that Sandman opened these doors for you.
In the case of the fandom it gave you each other. Friendships that would not exist if not for the words.
Embrace the words and the stories and use them to reconnect to the friends you have made along the way. Use the words to be together without the writer. Throw the writer away and keep the stories & friends that are now part of you
Remember the words are going to live on well past the writer’s demise – so you should be connected to them and not that other person.
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