For fiction I would suggest looking at the wave of recent SFF writing that handles this balance really well. Maybe it's because they're less unencumbered by realism but writers like NK Jemisin, Charlie Jane Anders, RF Kuang, and Nick Harkaway (among others) are all doing really interesting and fresh stuff, and dealing with political issues and the genres' own histories of racism and sexism etc. in new ways, without falling into the kind of box-checking you're describing.
In my opinion, your understanding of art is superficial, nd you appear to lack knowledge of historical precedents or even how to read what is in front of your eyes. I am a subscriber and value your political opinions, but this is my field, and your column is flat, flat flat. ( I read it, back when you first posted it, but time has not improved it.) Simply put, you cannot possibly guess how work will be read in the future, or even the present, by different audiences--all meaning is contextual. Further, there is no such thing as a universal art, any more than there is a universal audience. Finally, what's your problem with propaganda, again?--and who should make it if not artists?
For fiction I would suggest looking at the wave of recent SFF writing that handles this balance really well. Maybe it's because they're less unencumbered by realism but writers like NK Jemisin, Charlie Jane Anders, RF Kuang, and Nick Harkaway (among others) are all doing really interesting and fresh stuff, and dealing with political issues and the genres' own histories of racism and sexism etc. in new ways, without falling into the kind of box-checking you're describing.
In my opinion, your understanding of art is superficial, nd you appear to lack knowledge of historical precedents or even how to read what is in front of your eyes. I am a subscriber and value your political opinions, but this is my field, and your column is flat, flat flat. ( I read it, back when you first posted it, but time has not improved it.) Simply put, you cannot possibly guess how work will be read in the future, or even the present, by different audiences--all meaning is contextual. Further, there is no such thing as a universal art, any more than there is a universal audience. Finally, what's your problem with propaganda, again?--and who should make it if not artists?