The Same Old Shit

You gotta sink, gotta sink, gotta sink to swim
impersonate greater persons,
cause we all know art is hard,
when we don't know who we are.
-Cursive, from the song 'Art is Hard'

Sometimes I wish I could revert back to when I was a child. I didn’t
care about what art truly is, or what makes good art; I just did it for
fun. To a kid, art is what art is: art. It is projection of what is
going on in your mind. It is a form of expression that is pleasurable.
To look for the origin of art or where it came from cannot possibly be
determined because art is inside all of us. Today in class we talked
about how as humans we try to distinguish ‘good’ art from ‘shit’ art.
Throughout history, art has belonged to the more elite classes because
they had the education to appreciate the art, as well as the cash to
shell out. What makes a painting worth money? It might be the
uniqueness and the exclusivity that is tacked onto it. Rich people want
to impress other rich people, and make those below them realize they
aren’t the same. Everyone is out to seem better, or more knowledgeable,
or wiser than everyone else. Those who can’t have what they want, want
even more. Contemporary artists like Andy Warhol came around and tried
to prove that art isn’t just for the wealthy. His interpretations of
consumerism turned into art when he painted a can of Campbell’s soup.
Advertisement and consumerism is a huge part to our society today, so it
has meaning to us. That copy of the Campbell’s soup print isn’t unique
by any means, but the message behind it is what makes it art. Art is a
statement through the individual. Is a Warhol print less valuable or
less artful than a Picasso painting? Is one superior to the other?
Those are only famous artists too. They probably both got their
recognition from some group who said their art was cool, and everyone
else wanted to follow. Can people really explain why they like a piece
of art? I know I can’t. Walter Benjamin makes the argument that art is
always reproducible. Theodor Adorno argues that art loses its meaning
when it “organizes the consumer.” Current forms of art fall under both
of these categories. People are always learning from each other, so
their art undeniably reflects off of other influential individuals. Art
comes out of the mind, and our mind is formed by the world around us.
It seems logical that we would create art that is similar to others. Is
there any such thing as complete individual thought? At the same time,
Adorno’s beliefs can be widely seen in contemporary art forms like film.
I refuse to go watch the same cliché movies over and over again.
Through the demand for mindless entertainment and special effects, the
meaningfulness of the “art” is lost. I can’t say film today isn’t art
though. It is still a form of expression and has an audience. Without
an audience, what good would art be? Who is to say I’m not an artist?
My mind is projecting a viewpoint, and it is meaningful. Maybe not to
you, but to someone out there. Defining art all depends on the receptor
and how they like it. I’ll go out on limb and let you know I’m no less
of an artist than a genius like Shakespeare. You disagree? Why is
Shakespeare considered a literary genius? It’s all in the mind of the
beholder. It is whatever they decide is “genius”, “good”, “bad” or utter
“shit”. I say we go back to aimlessly drawing like we once did as kids,
and forget about what makes it art.

It Sounds Crazy

Throughout all the chaos in this world that we live in, the one thing
that helps me keep my peace of mind is music.  Music is full of emotion
that can pull your spirits out of almost any bad situation.  In movies,
music is used to convey emotion, and sets the mood for each scene.  In
Stanley Kubrick’s movie rendition of A Clockwork Orange, Ludwig Van
Beethoven’s symphonies express the power behind music and its emotion in
a disturbing fashion.  I don’t think anyone thinks of rape and violence
when Beethoven’s 9th symphony comes into one’s ears.  The scenes of
violence are hard enough to watch as it is, but with Beethoven
cheerfully blaring in the background, the mood is transformed.  It is
transformed into something that the senses can handle.  That is the
power of music.  Even after being dead for almost two centuries,
Beethoven’s music lives on because of his musical genius.  The notion
that Beethoven’s music was meant to convey anything dark about the world
seems like madness.  His music is pleasurable to listen to, and it sets
the highest standard of what music really is.  For Alex DeLarge, a
hooligan with a lust for pleasure, Beethoven is his escape from facing
the reality of the atrocious crimes he commits.  To Alex, his acts are
not sinful because he doesn’t see them to be.  One can really understand
this when Alex goes into special government treatment and is forced to
watch scenes from the holocaust and other acts of violence with
Beethoven’s 9th symphony playing in the background.  Without being able
to look away or stop listening, the sheer horror he was forced to
witness caused him to hate the song.  It’s interesting to note that Alex
kept screaming “it’s a sin” pertaining to the fact that they were
playing his favorite composer of all time during the treatment.  It
ruined his ultimate listening pleasure.  When I think about it, if I was
forced to watch the most violent and disturbing of acts while listening
to my favorite band, I can’t fathom how badly that would damage me
psychologically.  After Alex is “cured” from being able to commit
violence, he is reunited with F. Alexander, a man who he crippled and
raped his wife.  It is ironic that F. Alexander wants to lead Alex to
kill himself, but only at first because he believes that the government
killed his wife by letting young gangs run rampant.  It is purely out of
hatred, something that Alex can no longer possess.  One can fully
understand the traumatizing pain that was inflicted on F. Alexander when
he hears Alex singing the song that was sung while his wife was raped
and killed.  In the end, Alex is used for political change, and promised
a good life if he helps one particular political party to keep order.
Throughout the whole story he is in the middle of a world of chaos, but
he finds clarity and happiness through music.  The music allows him to
envision and embrace his deepest desires, no matter how blind he is to
his own sin.

On an interesting side note, my father has a similar experience with
music.  Ever since I can remember, there have been a handful of times
where my dad and I have been listening to the radio, and this one U2
song comes on and my dad has to instantly turn it off.  I never really
understood why he did this until one day when he wasn’t close enough to
the radio to turn it off, and he got really angry at me when I didn’t
turn it off in time.  The song had played for maybe 15 seconds, and my
dad was dry heaving; about to purge.  He explained to me that one night
when he was younger, he was violently sick from alcohol, (I think
possibly some other drug) and the song came on the radio and ruined it
for him forever.  He says that he gets a flashback of the same horrid
sickness he felt over thirty years ago.  I found this hard to believe
that someone could be so psychological damaged that a song could induce
that anxiety and panic.  The thing is, my dad’s favorite band is U2!  He
told me that ever since then, he’s never even been to another U2 concert
in fear of them playing the song.  I could definitely use the song as a
weapon against him, much like what I viewed in A Clockwork Orange.  Not
that I would ever do that though.  I definitely found the techniques
used in the movie to brainwash people with sound to ring true through my
dad’s experience.