Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writer.
Conversations about cringe as a phenomenon in modern lingo are frequent, to the point of perhaps being redundant. However, there are many angles from which cringe can be approached, and it does encompass several emotions and motivators that are significant in the context of psychology.
Cringe itself refers to embarrassment, usually secondhand, that comes with the territory of witnessing human behavior. I think everybody has committed, and seen someone else commit, some violation of a social norm, and subsequently experienced this kind of unpleasant recoiling.
For me, the idea of cringing at somebody’s blunders, or simply cringing at their personality and interests, seems mean-spirited. Especially considering that everybody has done something embarrassing, it isn’t productive to revel in other people’s social pain.
However, I find that cringe is a significant part of art and the art world, whether it is literature, music or visual art. It is a modern, albeit vague, way of calling something false, distasteful or plain bad.
When I write something for a class, I tend to start early and then ignore the finished product for a long time. Then, I reread it in full and try to catch myself wincing at something I’ve written.
That wincing cues me into a wrongness about the work that I didn’t notice before, overwrought descriptions or contrived dialogue. This is very helpful in the editing process, but there is also a twinge of self-criticism, and a kind of disappointment in myself for engaging in “bad writing” without realizing it.
I have several friends who paint and draw, and often they will show me something they painted several months or years ago, and I’ll tell them how beautiful it is. Then they respond and say they don’t like it as much as they did when they started it, and that there are a hundred mistakes they would correct if they could do it over again.
Most artists, from my observation, are perfectionists about it. It’s difficult not to be a perfectionist about something one loves, and when part of the job description is receiving harsh feedback regularly, perfectionism is a protective reflex.
It is not only the piece of work that artists create which is critiqued, but the artist themself. I think many people find it difficult to detach themselves from what they make, what they do and what they love, and an affront to those things might feel like an affront to their soul.
I personally don’t find it helpful to fight perfectionism in art. It isn’t helpful to be harsh or cruel about my own work or that of others, but simply having the ambition to get better often leads to getting better.
I do find it helpful to fight off the self-disappointment that can happen in the editing process. In my opinion, even the greatest artists, musicians and writers will produce something bad.
Often, that bad art is a necessary tool for creating better art. The purpose of a first draft is to produce something that is flawed, but also helpful for the following iterations.
It’s been said many times, but it is also the case that art is subjective. What one person considers bad, another person might consider great.
Great art may break the conventions of traditionally upheld work, and it may often come from people who don’t have much confidence in their work. Franz Kafka, for example, famously burned the vast majority of his writing, and doubted its worth his whole life.
So there is a balance to be struck between ignoring and abusing cringe in art. On one hand, cringing at one’s own work can be helpful for making it better, and on the other hand, it can be a huge barrier in the process of creation.
It may be helpful to embrace cringing at one’s own work, while acknowledging that this does not make somebody an unworthy artist. In fact, every artist decides for themself what kind of artist they want to be, and letting go of some level of cringe might be helpful for reaching that goal.
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Contact Alyssa Johnson via email: alyssa.johnson@pepperdine.edu
