So let’s say you’re an artist who works in very personal themes. You’re a comedian, or a nonfiction writer like me, whose work explores the way society treats you. You delve into some ugly realities, and you deal with fears and insecurities.
Now, hypothetically of course, let’s say you’re in a situation that prompts you to do what you feel is some interesting or insightful musing on these themes. Leaving aside the question of trying to objectively measure their quality, you’re happy with what you came up with. You want to share it.
And let’s, still entirely hypothetically, say that the situation that sparked your musing was public. The people involved are known. They have reputations of some worth. The way the public views them makes a difference to their lives and livelihoods.
In this wholly speculative situation, if you take your musings, which were tangential to reality, and label them as such, you’re being honest. You’re saying, “This is what my brain did, and I think this is interesting enough for you to pay attention to.” You’re presenting truth, however polished it is by your skills.
If you present a fictionalized version of this event, with your musings presented as though they had really happened under other circumstances, you’re taking artistic license. How much license you have depends on what your audience allows you. If they all understand that some of your stories are more about the messages they convey than historical accuracy, everyone should be more or less happy.
If, however, you take this real event and these real people and insert your musings as though they were also real, with no disclaimer, you’re lying. If these people don’t consent to you lying about them, you’ve gone well beyond the bounds of artistic license. You’re using them and abusing them.
Just for fun–or because it’s important; you choose–let’s also add the hypothetical that you’re a white woman lying about a black man. Let’s add that the lies you’re telling are about him assessing you as a sex object.
Well. In that case, what you’re doing is thrusting him into a historically dangerous situation. You’re casting him in a part that got many men like him lynched. Your lies are putting him in a role that continues to be deadly.
You already ran out of artistic license when you dragged him into your fictions by name. There is no art or artistic process in the world that could justify putting him–his livelihood if not his life–in danger without his consent.
