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| #1 Post by Dave, on Fri Apr 29 2011 1:7 AM |
| I find these to be in pretty poor taste. |
| #2 Post by realist, on Fri Apr 29 2011 3:53 AM |
| it's not poor taste, it's a sad truth of war. |
| #3 Post by I agree, on Fri Apr 29 2011 4:55 AM |
| Yeah, it's not poor taste, it's the harsh reality that U.S. soldiers go home to little health care and support for a nation that they are giving their lives for. |
| #4 Post by homer, on Fri Apr 29 2011 6:39 AM |
| I'm with Dave. I don't want my kids playing with these "TOY" soldiers. Yeah, it's a sad truth of war, but would you really want your kids playing with a toy soldier with a rifle pointed to his chin? |
| #5 Post by John, on Fri Apr 29 2011 8:8 AM |
| Did the artist make ones of the people we are fighting and their victims too? I suspect not. There should be some beheaded little girls who dared to go to school. |
| #6 Post by D_ass, on Fri Apr 29 2011 10:31 AM |
| Homer, those aren't really for kids but could sure help some over protected rich brats understand the sad reality of life and its values. Kind of like making your teen watch movies like "requiem for a dream". |
| #7 Post by blogger, on Fri Apr 29 2011 12:38 AM |
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| #8 Post by Eggz, on Fri Apr 29 2011 12:50 AM |
| I gree with Dave; very poor taste. Especially the beggr-veteran, and the one holding the rifle. There is no reason for these to have been made. All it does is besmirch the contribution of our soldiers, regardless of the country (I'm personlly speaking of my Canadian Forces). The soldier missing leg? Fine. The others? The artist is a jerk. |
| #9 Post by Dilly Pickly, on Fri Apr 29 2011 2:2 PM |
| @Dave et al.: These aren't actual toys, these are sculptures done by an artist; they aren't for sale. I think it's the best kind of art: the kind that brings attention to a very real problem, in this case the physical and mental trials the men and women who have fought for their countries throughout the recent wars face. It's brilliant to use the classic toy soldiers everyone is familiar with to juxtapose the glorified war hero of pop culture with the vulnerable forsaken veterans that struggle in actuality. It's uncomfortable to see because it's an uncomfortable subject. There is an obvious bias evident in accepting the physical injuries of soldiers over the mental ones. While soldiers who have lost limbs will face challenges for the rest of their lives, the mentally ill soldiers face a stigma that remains against mental illness, whether acquired or congenital. There are still people who see homeless people and think, "He must be lazy, or a drug addict," they hear of people who have committed suicide and think, "She was selfish to take her own life, or weak-willed." No one thinks that way of people who succumb to cancer; yet an illness is an illness, and people don't have much of a choice whether or not they can have one. It's bringing attention to such matters in ways like this, that shock us out of our preconceived notions and make us think, that can bring change to our society. |
| #10 Post by mookie0714, on Sat Apr 30 2011 4:54 PM |
| Very well said Dilly Pickly; I completely agree with you. More than anything else it highlights the huge need for a support system when these soldiers come back from the horrors of war and are forced to adjust to a life that is worlds apart. What they knew, what they did, and how they acted are completely different and basically unacceptable when they return home. I'm not saying that I'm unappreciative for their service, I'm just saying soldiers aren't trained to live normal lives and require a better support system available when they return. |
| #11 Post by Roger, on Sun May 1 2011 11:48 AM |
| I'm glad the President is pulling out everybody like he said he would. Oh wait. That hasn't happened we're sending more in! |
| #12 Post by XXVII, on Sun May 1 2011 12:50 AM |
| these are what art and war are about.. if you don't like it.. bury your head in the sand like everyone else that's too scared or bothered or too upset to see it for what it is.. it's the truth.. terrible and sick. kudos to the artist.. he has turned shock art into something beautiful and distrubing.. hater gonna hate. |
| #13 Post by Guille, on Sun May 1 2011 2:29 PM |
| @Dave et alt: Poor taste. I'm not shure if you know what that means. Art has no morals, art is an independent view on reality. That's never poor taste, but "poor taste" has always been used by obtuse people to disregard whatever makes them uncomfortable. I dare you to see the reality of what war does to soldiers. Those poor kids, brainwashed by the patriotic feeling into a mind shatering endeavor for reasons no one really understads. That's what happens when you declare war. War is never a good thing. |
| #14 Post by Calista, on Tue May 3 2011 11:18 AM |
| I really don't think these were made as toys to be played with. They're clearly artistic pieces. |
| #15 Post by Mike Nelson Pedde, on Wed May 4 2011 5:37 AM |
| "My little Johnny, who was three, climbed with lights in his eyes on Santa's knee. "And what would you like this year my boy? If I can I'll bring your favourite toy." Johnny didn't even need time to think. "I want a dolly", he said, "that will eat and drink." Twelve parents at least, turned to look at me, and a big man said suspiciously, "Next year he'll want a dress or two." I replied, "It's just the father in him coming through." "That's not what some folks would say; a kid's character's built by the way he'll play." My little Johnny, who was three, climbed with lights in his eyes from Santa's knee. And the big man grinned as he watched his son ask Santa Claus for a tank and a gun." Carol Lynn Pearson (more or less; copied from memory) |
| #16 Post by Pokonose, on Fri May 6 2011 2:57 AM |
| Eggz sums up the ignorance of people who thinks its tasteless; so the wheelchair one is fine but the other ones which also reveal the harsh reality of war are going too far? And the people who thought this is intended for kids to play with- you must be joking? So instead of normal toy soldiers which involves formations and shooting back and forth, I guess with these ones kids can wheel one of them from their house to get a newspaper and then back to the house, or pick different imaginary street corners to beg on. People need to think things through before hitting 'Add comment' (Though I think generally most people wouldn't require THAT much thought to see that this isn't being manufactured as a toy, it amazes me someone could think it is). I think a lot of art to highlight problems in society can get lumped in with genuinely tasteless, I don't think these pieces are explicit or horrific, the images you associate of toy soldiers as a child are simply being distorted to remind us that for people who survive war life does not always go on so pleasantly (As described in the article). Ask someone who grew up in a culture without these little green men and they'll wonder why it would be considered so shocking in the first place. For me if it promotes awareness, or discussion, and isn't essentially un-necessarily grotesque (As this clearly isn't) then it's worth doing, it certainly got me to read further into it and of course here we are debating it. Thought provoking and far from tasteless. |
