The Interplay Between Art, Aesthetics and Politics in The Xyz Show

Gladys Mbithe John; Larry Ndivo; Charles Kebaya

doi:10.37284/eajass.7.1.2069

Gladys Mbithe John Machakos University
Larry Ndivo, PhD Machakos University
Charles Kebaya, PhD Machakos University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37284/eajass.7.1.2069

Keywords: Activism, Aesthetics, Animation, Artivism, Comedy, Politics, Popular Art

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Abstract

Artivism, a neologism of art and activism, has attracted the interest of scholars who have studied artivism in various popular art productions. The XYZ Show, the first animated Kenyan puppet comedy, has received fair attention; however, the nature of artivism in the show has not been consistently addressed. This study therefore interrogated The XYZ Show to determine how as a popular art production it engages art to ridicule various omissions and commissions of political leaders in Kenya. The interpretation is guided by Grace Musila’s model of reading popular art: Politics/Power/Agency, to corroborate the artistic aesthetics that make the show politically textured. The study is qualitative and it engages in textual analysis of purposively sampled episodes to explain the nature of artivism as depicted in the show. Videos of sampled episodes were watched and data was collected using structured observation checklists and analyzed using thematic content analysis. From the analysis of the data collected the study determined that The XYZ Show employs artistic strategies to speak truth to power. It uses allusion, allegory and imagery among other techniques to present events that are intelligible to the Kenyan audience with a view to satirizing government officials and the Kenyan political landscape. This article expects to add knowledge on the subject of popular art and artivism in Kenya

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