Time to Kiss Legalism Goodbye

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Time to Kiss Legalism Goodbye

Dear Editor,

On Mar. 9, The Collegian published Samuel Musser’s  article written entitled, “‘Kiss Me, Kate’: Did we kiss morality goodbye?” which seemed to assert that Cole Porter’s musical is unsuitable for families, incompatible with Biblical commands to fill our minds with good things, and too easily offends the moral sensibilities of Hillsdale’s community. The author seems to miss the point of art, which cannot, and should not, always be family-friendly, mistakes the portrayal of immorality for an endorsement of it, and confuses Biblical admonitions with contemporary fundamentalist legalism.

I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent cast of “Kiss Me, Kate.” But, the content of the musical itself made me quite uncomfortable. And that is a good thing.

The audience should be uncomfortable with physical violence towards women, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, and shameless promiscuity. The backlash towards those elements of the show is a testament to the ability of the actors to portray the gravity and deplorability of such things simply by acting them out without ever needing to clarify that such things are wrong.

The very portrayal of such immorality on stage, however, is apparently enough to offend the sensibilities of some, and that is a problem. The beauty of art is its ability to make moral statements that touch the core of our humanity in a way that “do and do nots” could never do. Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” was arguably a statement condemning the misogyny of his day, and “Kiss Me, Kate” should be taken no differently. When we obsess over the mere portrayal of immorality and the way it offends us, we lose sight of the true value that art can offer when it critiques human flaws with a poignancy that only it can offer.

Sure, such content may not be for all audiences, especially children. Neither was most of what I read in my Great Books classes. Neither is much of the Old Testament for that matter.

While the Bible frequently admonishes Christians to entertain what is good, that does not mean Christians are to be so sensitive to the mere mention of sin that they cannot stand to see it portrayed artistically or literarily. If that were the case, then much of the Bible itself would be quite unfit for the eyes of any Bible believer.

Herein lies the distinction lost within the blind legalism so often demonstrated through zealous, sheltered fundamentalism. Portrayal is not the same thing as an endorsement. The Bible portrays a lot of immorality, yet nobody seriously suggests that the Bible endorses such things. So why are we incapable of making the same distinction with art?

Sincerely,

Kyle Huitt