It's also a bit of a culture divide. In the West, this would be seen as incredibly edgy and even (as already pointed out) blasphemous by some. This is mainly because cultures in the Western world are predominantly Christian. And while Christianity does thrive in certain Eastern cultures, one generally won't find the level of zealousness that one would find in the Western world.
With that in mind, we need to consider the audience. While he does acknowledge that he has a fairly sizeable fanbase in the West, Gackt is an Asian artist. Those who buy his music are also predominantly Asian. Given this, I doubt he's going for shock because it simply wouldn't work on a large-scale basis. Most likely, he's playing on artistic concepts of sacrifice and devotion...using Christian imagery as a base. I mean, once you strip away the whole religion aspect from it, "Christianity" as an idea could be considered very poetic in many respects.
As he is a musician, I'm not surprised at all to see this from him. As he is a true artist, I expect this sort of perspective and depth from him. Admittedly, this is one of the reasons that I like him so much.
In any case, I do agree with the views on freedom of creative expression. If there are people who really have a problem with the fact that he is using this imagery, they might want to re-evaluate their position simply because it is rather silly to denounce someone for finding something aesthetic and worthy of becoming art within the confines of religion. It's closer to veneration than it is to sacrilege.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-10-17 02:47 pm (UTC)With that in mind, we need to consider the audience. While he does acknowledge that he has a fairly sizeable fanbase in the West, Gackt is an Asian artist. Those who buy his music are also predominantly Asian. Given this, I doubt he's going for shock because it simply wouldn't work on a large-scale basis. Most likely, he's playing on artistic concepts of sacrifice and devotion...using Christian imagery as a base. I mean, once you strip away the whole religion aspect from it, "Christianity" as an idea could be considered very poetic in many respects.
As he is a musician, I'm not surprised at all to see this from him. As he is a true artist, I expect this sort of perspective and depth from him. Admittedly, this is one of the reasons that I like him so much.
In any case, I do agree with the views on freedom of creative expression. If there are people who really have a problem with the fact that he is using this imagery, they might want to re-evaluate their position simply because it is rather silly to denounce someone for finding something aesthetic and worthy of becoming art within the confines of religion. It's closer to veneration than it is to sacrilege.
I'm done rambling.