Timehost: Who are the key cultural figures of our time? That's the
question we're going to answer tonight -- or at least we'll talk a lot about it.
What do Bart
Simpson and T.S. Eliot have in common? TIME magazine has picked them both as
two of the most important cultural figures of our century. What do you think
about that? Let us know!
Bruce Handy: Both Bart and Eliot are partial to nonsense words like
Cowabunga. More seriously, I think those two choices are pretty indicative of
the range of 20th century art, the span from high to low as the century
progresses.
Timehost: Hello everyone. Bruce Handy, senior writer for TIME
magazine is just joining us. Bart's right up there
with Picasso and James Joyce. And Frank Sinatra. Our guest tonight, TIME
senior writer Bruce Handy wrote about Sinatra for the issue. And he joins us
now to talk about it all. Thanks for being here.
Bruce Handy: My pleasure.
Timehost: Let's start with a question from online... one of the ones
people have been asking all week...
JLW19 asks: How does Bart Simpson even fall into this category of one
of the most important cultural figures?
Bruce Handy: Um.... Well, for one thing you have to look at this as a
predictive choice. Bart hasn't been around long enough for his real impact
to be assessed. But we're betting it will be felt well into the 21st
century. What Bart, or really the Simpsons, have done is merge
social satire with popular animation in a way that hasn't really been done
before. And you can't talk about 20th century art without taking
into account pop culture. It's almost what defines the century. And when you look at animation--which is arguably the
purest form of cinema-- I truly believe the Simpsons is both first rate and
of lasting quality. I think when people a hundred years from now want to
get a sense of what the 90s were like they could do a lot worse than watch
The Simpsons. It will still be being viewed and enjoyed when a lot of
contemporary, serious literature is forgotten. Does anyone think, I don't
know, David Foster Wallace is a better satirist than Matt Groening? Blah
blah blah. Have I answered the question?
Timehost: We'll see if people agree about Bart.
JLW19 asks: Who selected these figures?
Bruce Handy: Basically Time editors and writers in consultation with
CBS and outside experts and artists like Martin Scorcese. On the subject of selection, it was a very disputative
process. Obviously, when you're talking about the arts, all is subjectivity. Frankly, we were hoping to generate argument and
discussion, so maybe this chat is proof we've succeeded. Which isn't to say
we made deliberately stupid or outrŽ choices.
CoventryChapel asks: How significant was Bob Dylan to the political
thought of America?
Bruce Handy: I don't know if Dylan was, or ever presented himself as, a
serious political thinker. I think what's significant about him is that he brought
political subjects and--really more to the point--political anger into
popular music. This was something new. I think he also crystallized for people what had been a lot
of inchoate emotion and anger at the system. But I don't think he was into agitprop. That's why we
still listen to him.
Det_David_Mills__NYPD asks: is Jim Morrison on the list? Jim Morrison
should have been at least on the list.
Bruce Handy: No, Jim Morrison isn't on the list. To me, a lot of his
music hasn't worn too well. He may have taken the music as bloodletting thing further
than some others. But I think it's hard to think of him as an
innovator--especially compared to Dylan or--here's the people who might be
more aggrieved--some of the great blues musicians Morrison was emulating.
Curly_Sue69 asks: Did you like writing about Sinatra
Bruce Handy: I love writing about Sinatra because I love Sinatra, and
because he's so compelling in so many different ways-- as musician, as
public figure, etc. But it was hard trying to write a 1000 word tribute
explaining why he was great two weeks after his death when every publication
in America had already written 1000 word tributes explaining why he was
great. I ended up being contrarian and looking at some of his
worst recordings and trying to see what was good, or at least
quintessential, in them. You haven't lived if you've never listened to the
"Future" disc of the Trilogy album. It's a 40 minute suite written especially for Sinatra
where he sings about space travel and getting old and all kinds of
ridiculous things. It even rhymes "Hades" with "ladies." (don't ask me the
context). For sheer weirdness, it blows away anything Jim Morrison
ever did. And Sinatra was pushing 70 at the time. Now that's a committed
artist!
Timehost: Here's a follow-up...
Mister_Wonderful asks: So you didn't have him on the list before he
died....oh...really....so you didn't consider him "great" until then?
Bruce Handy: No, Sinatra was on the list long before he died. He was
one of the more consensus choices. I just didn't get around to writing my Time 100 piece on
him until last week.
