Individual Medium post #2
YING YING ZHOU
Art and the Society
Art is influential to societies through its potential to instill values, change opinions, and translate divergent experiences across space as well as time, with research depicting that art affects the fundamental sense of self (Colon, 2009). Literature, music, sculptures, paintings, and other forms of arts are often regarded as the repository of societies’ collective memories. Art preserves what fact-based historical records cannot preserve: mirroring how it felt to exist within particular places at specific spans of time. In this perspective art is communication as it allows people or group of peoples from different cultures and times to communicate via sounds, images, and stories or any other form of art conveyance. Art is often a social change vehicle because it could provide voice and power to the socially or politically marginalized. A piece of art can provoke emotions in those who experience it and inspire them to call for change.
Scientists have for a long time been researching the relationship between and human brain the art. For instance, in 2013, Newcastle University researchers found that seeing contemporary visual art positively affected the personal lives of home-bound, nursed elders (Hogan, 2015). Art plays a big utilitarian role in societies, with a noticeable, positive correlation between school-going children’s grades in literacy and math and their participation with music or drama and other artistic activities. Of late, art has been beneficial for artists as a working outlet and not only promotes the human need for self-actualization and self-expression but as well as being also economically viable. Being a major source of income in many societies, the formation, management, and distribution of various types of art provides employment opportunities to people in almost all societies in the world.
There are generally two theories concerning literature and art. The first is referred to as ‘art for the art’s sake,’ while the second is referred to as ‘art for social purpose.’ The first theory, ‘art for art’s sake,’ stipulates that art is only meant to provide attractive or entertaining works for pleasing and entertaining purposes the audience or viewers and artists themselves, without the intention of propagating social ideas and interests (Heywood, 1997). In this theory, if art is used to propagate social ideas and interests, it ceases to be an art and changes to be propaganda, according to proponents of this theory. The other theory, ‘art for social purpose,’ stipulates that art should serve the people in the society and help them to better their lives by arousing their emotions against injustice and oppression and cumulating their sensitivity concerning the people’s humiliations and sufferings (Heywood, 1997).
Regarding which of the two theories should be adopted by artists is subject to a never-ending debate. Before attempting to give a reasonable solution to the debate, it is essential to note that there have been exceptional artists in both schools of thought (Colon, 2009). For example, Shakespeare could be categorized as a playwright who belongs to the ‘art for art’s sake’ school of thought. His plays did not serve any social purpose beyond entertaining people and understanding human motivations and impulses. While it is apparent that Shakespeare was basically a realist, he did not have intentions of combating social evils or reforming society. Yet, Shakespeare is undoubtedly an artist of high rank.
On the contrary, George Bernard Shaw has written his plays almost exclusively purposed on social intents, particularly for combating social evils and reforming societies. Whether it is ‘The Doctor’s Dilemma,’ or ‘Misalliance,’ or ‘Mrs. Warren Profession,’ plays prove to be powerful denunciations of evils and injustices against people in the society. Similarly, Dickens attacks the social injustices and evils in his novels in his time in England, e.g., the terrible jails, schools, the judicial system, and orphanages conditions (Heywood, 1997).
The ‘art for social purpose’ concept in its active sense — the sense of using art for societal reformation is largely a recent origin. It is a theory that could be very influential on basic social structures in the future (Hogan, 2015). Personally, I think that the role of art, media, and literature in the current societies must be created to help the people in their daily struggle against injustices, discrimination, poverty, unemployment, and other social problems and make the earth a better place to live in. The current societies are experiencing terrible socio-economic issues. Artists, musicians, writers, and media personalities must begin acting responsibly and helping the people who are terribly suffering in solving their socio-economic issues. The solution to these challenges can be accelerated by concentrating on the real issues revolving around socio-economic and not by trying to divert people’s attention from such issues to non-crucial issues such as movie stars, baseless fiction, and crime.
For this purpose, scientific thinking, the entire scientific outlook, must be widely integrated with art in society and make people and artists develop logical, rational, and questioning minds and abandon escapism.
References
Colon, C. A. (2009). Joanna Baillie and the Art of Moral influence. Pretoria: Peter Lang.
Heywood, I. (1997). Social Theories of Art: A Critique. New York: NYU Press.
Hogan, S. (2015). Art Therapy Theories: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.
