Crappy Firetruck

Susan Sontag in 1964 wrote “Notes On Camp” to which basically defined and explored the ideas of camp art and camp taste. Her examples of camp included the Nouveau art movement, the movies For Whom the Bell Tolls and Samson and Delilah, and even the theatrical technique of method acting. Though in contrast, whether these examples could be considered as “Camp” is entirely left open to the viewer and to his or her's own personal taste. Which left me with one question: Is there one good example of camp using Sontag's definition of “Camp” and “Camp taste?” She expresses the importance of camp being “naive” to the fact that it is camp, and must be “good because it's awful.”(Sontag 292) Her examples in the essay could just as easily be on the other side of the “camp” line if a person, for instance, loved the movie Samson and Delilah because of its believable acting. If this person believes his or her own statement then Samson and Delilah can not be considered as camp in his or her eyes.

So who can be capable of drawing a work of art that evokes the same emotional response no matter the viewer, the answer is children. No other demographic can consistently make there own art without judging eyes except for the toddler nation. They are free to explore color, size, line as much as they want and grandeur is only met with more enthusiasm. This is the way we view child art and why each and everyone of us has “camp taste.” Camp taste is a “tender feeling,” Sontag says. This enthusiasm for the young comes from our “love for human nature,” as Sontag puts it. Camp taste “relishes rather than judges, the little triumphs.”(Sontag 286) This is why even the harshest of art critics will have camp taste no matter how much they would deny it being so. Worldwide the young are put on an artistic pedestal. No matter the end result, their art is not considered to be “bad” art, and this is due to the fact that as emotional creatures we are in love with our own youthful human nature. Also childrens' art is not subjected to the demands of time. Everyday art, after time, becomes the art of an era, its meaning is lost when the era passes and no longer carries the same impact again. This is not the case for kids' art. Kid's have made the same art for centuries, maybe with different mediums but with the same passion, so even antique childrens's art is looked at with “camp taste” eyes, as long as we know it was made by a child. They are alone in this fact, their crappy firetruck will always beat your crappy firetruck because you are an adult and your firetruck sucks.

by: James Battle