Anyone Can Cook

Before we rejoin Pete’s travelogue of the most boring cities in the United States (next up: Dover, Delaware!), I’d like to briefly discuss an ongoing debate I’ve had with a former WAWGDWATT correspondent. The debate concerns the notion that anyone can be an artist.

I have an acute DIY/indie/punk ethos that firmly maintains that any man or woman, regardless of background or training, can pick up a brush or guitar or camera and start making art. This is how I got my start making music and movies, and I always appreciate artistic endeavors made by devoted individuals outside the world of commerce.

My friend (oh, let’s call him Schmashish) contends that, sure, anyone can pick up a brush or instrument and make something with it, but without some sort of innate talent or ability, whatever that person makes cannot be called art. Just because somebody wrote a novel, doesn't mean they should now be mentioned in the same sentence as William Faulkner or Don DeLillo. I believe his point is that for art to have value, it has to have an effect on an audience. It doesn't matter if that audience is only two people or two million, but it has to move them somehow. Amateur films or music that make no impact are not art; they are hobbies.

For years, I’ve thought Schmashish was wrong. I had on my side noted filmmaking crazy person Werner Herzog. In the Les Blank documentary short Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Herzog tells a small audience that it is only fear that prevents people from doing what they love, and that any person in the room, if they had the courage and work ethic, could go out and make a great film. That notion has encouraged me for years. You don't need a record company or fancy equipment or a huge budget to accomplish something amazing. Make it yourself. Anybody can do it.

The first concert I attended was a Pearl Jam show on April 8, 1994, the day the news reported Kurt Cobain's suicide. At the show, among many other in-between-song speeches by Eddie Vedder was this plea: go out tomorrow and start a band. "This is easy," he said, while playing the simple three-chord pattern of the song "Not For You." "You don't even have to move your hands," he said. "Anyone can do it."

Brad Bird's Ratatouille carries this same theme throughout. Remy, the main character rat, idolizes a French chef whose most popular book is called "Anyone Can Cook." The film uses food as a metaphor for art, and the point the movie later makes is that "not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere."

This debate has lasted nearly three years, and after all that time and breath expended, I think I'm a big enough man to admit: I am wrong. I see that now.

Werner Herzog was encouraging the artistic spirit, not claiming that some YouTube short is as artistically important as Citizen Kane. Eddie Vedder was demystifying the notion of rock star, pointing out the simplicity of his band's songs.

Not everyone can become a great artist. I understand that now. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying.