Jim and I recently watched a George Carlin stand-up special on DVD. It was Carlin’s HBO special Doin’ It Again from 1990 (the year definitely showed, given all the mullets and Jeff Foxworthy mustaches seen in the audience). During the special, Carlin uses several pejoratives to demonstrate a concept that so-called “dirty” words are nothing more than just phonetic sounds spoken by Man; what makes words “evil” is not the word itself, but the person who is speaking the word and the context behind it. The graphic below simplifies Carlin’s philosophy:
Carlin’s “Words are just words” philosophy can also hold true in art. When you look at a work of art, you’re looking at an artist’s context. There’s idea, thought and meaning put into the work, and it’s up to us as the audience to do one of two things: decipher the original artistic meaning behind the piece, or develop an entirely different one completely personal and from within based on our own ideas, thoughts and meanings.
Language and art aren’t so different when you think about it.
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