Big Eyes: How Stealing Creative Property Damages the Artist’s Soul

As Tim Burton’s film Big Eyes opens, talented painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) is leaving her first husband, daughter in tow. She moves to San Francisco, eager to enjoy freedom and a new life. She is content to sell her artwork for pennies until she meets aspiring painter Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz). He encourages her to charge more for her art and celebrates her talent. Initially, she is completely charmed by the classy man who is fast pursuing her. His charm hides his narcissism and deception. They get married at a dizzying speed (much to the dismay of her dearest friend), partly influenced by the whirlwind romance and partly by the misogyny of the era which would deem Margaret an unfit mother unless she were married.

Things begin to unravel over time. Walter’s paintings are not selling, but his personality attracts people. Margaret is the opposite. Her personality is far less winsome, but her paintings of children with enlarged eyes, windows into their sad souls, begin to become trendy. Walter is a genius at marketing, donating paintings to celebrities and world leaders to get them in the news, getting photographed with famous people, and charming people right and left, even as prominent art critics sneer at the “big eyes” paintings. But there’s a catch: instead of admitting his wife is the painter, Walter claims he is the artist. Initially, Margaret is horrified. But slowly, over time, she begins to believe she has no choice and begins to go along with the scheme. Privately, she is devastated and feels as if Walter has stolen something very personal to her. But once a lie is established, what can she do without jeopardizing all they have? The powerlessness of women in her era plays into her decision prominently.

The thing she feels worst about is lying to her daughter about who is doing the paintings. But when she goes to a priest for confession, he tells her that some children need to be sheltered from the world, and that, after all, the man is the head of the household so she should simply submit to Walter.

The film is the story of Margaret’s journey from powerless to powerful. It’s a story about the potency of the truth to help a woman reclaim her identity and even her soul. At one point, Margaret says that her paintings were “a reflection of my feelings.” She says that when Walter stole her paintings, “it was like losing a child.”

Big Eyes made me think of the sacred connection between artist and art. The internet has given us all–artists included–many gifts. But it has also made it much, much easier for one’s intellectual property and art to be stolen. Copy and paste and slap the name of another person on some written work. Steal an image and post it to your site without attribution. Illegally download pirated books, music, film without paying the creator. Internet theft of creative work is all around us. Margaret’s painful journey to reclaim her art was not just an attempt to regain her profits; it was an attempt to rebuild her shattered soul. The creative work that emanates from an artist, writer, or other creative person is part of them. When we steal this work, we commit not just a financial crime, but we also commit a crime against their soul. Big Eyes made me think of our important responsibility in this information era: a responsibility to protect and care for both the artist and their work in a way that guards their soul.

What challenges to the artist’s soul do you notice in this day and age? Do elements like race and gender still influence artists’ ability to claim their own work–or is that mindset a relic of the past?

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