"One often has to wonder as to Buttress' intentions. When she chooses
'Good as Hell' as the source material with which to create a twenty
minute improvised breakcore masterpiece, does she intend it to be a
sarcastic comment on the world of plagues, protests, unemployment,
riots, death, and collapse that we find ourselves living in? Or is it
simply a literalisation of the song's title - that we are all currently
feeling as good as if we were literally living in Hell? Perhaps it's
some kind of deconstructive analysis of Big Entertainment's escapist
insistence on us all 'feeling good', no matter the strife we find
ourselves in, rather than 'making good' the world around us through
activism and action? Is it a bitter commentary on race relations in the
U.S - and here in Australia - where people of colour are expected to 'be
happy' and stay in their place, rather than speak up and out against
institutional racism? That would make sense, given the recent riots and
police brutalities - but is it what Buttress intended? Perhaps it is
instead just a comment on the mass media machine, churning out 'feel
good' ditties to placate the proles, a la 1984, which are then
overplayed propaganda style until love becomes hate and no-one ever
wants to interact with that piece of music ever again. It's honestly hard to tell what she was thinking.
Is this piece a protest, a meaningless jam, a piece of political detournment, a sarcastic jab, a standing-with-in-solidarity, a piece of intellectual tomfoolery, a heart-driven reworking of something loved or hated? Was the source material completely random? All we know for sure is that piece was improvised for the Make It Up Club, and broadcast on the 14th of July, 2020 - everything else is speculation. Was it created to make us dance? Make us think? Make us angry? Make us happy? Was it created with us in mind at all? Or was it just about Buttress getting a gig? We will never know. But of course, all engagement with 'art' is subjective, and we all have to make these kinds of interpretations on our own, with no-one holding our hands or guiding us through.
It'd be nice to have some sort of clue though."
Department of Critical Overthinking
IWML
2020
Is this piece a protest, a meaningless jam, a piece of political detournment, a sarcastic jab, a standing-with-in-solidarity, a piece of intellectual tomfoolery, a heart-driven reworking of something loved or hated? Was the source material completely random? All we know for sure is that piece was improvised for the Make It Up Club, and broadcast on the 14th of July, 2020 - everything else is speculation. Was it created to make us dance? Make us think? Make us angry? Make us happy? Was it created with us in mind at all? Or was it just about Buttress getting a gig? We will never know. But of course, all engagement with 'art' is subjective, and we all have to make these kinds of interpretations on our own, with no-one holding our hands or guiding us through.
It'd be nice to have some sort of clue though."
Department of Critical Overthinking
IWML
2020
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