Artistic Expression
What Purpose does artistic expression fulfill for individuals and cultures?
Artistic expression gives structure to, and represents a culture's or an individual's set of values and perceptions of the world. It also gives people a way to both express and experience emotion. It's an important part of any culture or person, and without it we would be a very dull people. We would be lacking in music, dancing, art, writing, perhaps even language. We wouldn't even have stories to read! Without our stories, where would we be today? Artistic expression fosters so much creativity, and lends another perspective to life that I think is very necessary.
Our morals and values generally come from our family and culture. That is actually a scientific fact, and you can find it in my Psychology textbook (Myers, 2010). That's not surprising to most people I'm sure, it's something that we see every day. These morals are given voice in the way we express ourselves through stories, music, and other forms of art. When we write them down, put them in context, it gives them structure. When I read A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, he will tell stories that his grandmother told him, stories with morals that had been passed down for generations, and were part of the culture. The stories that he was told gave voice to his culture's values, and were themselves a part of the culture.
Artistic expression is not just for the culture, it is also very important to individuals. Individuals also use it to express their morals, or to just talk about ideas they have, express their creativity. In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomkvist is an investigative journalist and uses his writing to express his opinion about what he thinks is right, and to inform the public. So artistic expression is also a vehicle for important information. The English Bible, which I read about in Wide as the Waters, started with one person's idea of translating the obscure Latin into English that everybody could read, and he expressed his belief through the Bible itself. The English Bible did a lot more with artistic expression, it showed also showed a culture's values, and gave future people guidance in their set of beliefs and morals. It also touched people's hearts, and fulfilled the emotional side of artistic expression.
In Wide as the Waters, I read about how the different people translating the Bible into it's different phases would put a little of their own personality and feelings into the prose, often changing the feel of a story. That is another example of what artistic expression does for people. They use it to express themselves, and to express their own emotions and make others feel them. And that goes way beyond just the Bible. Any form of art you can think of does this. Music and dancing come to mind for me. I think that music is one of the most emotional forms of art, and what do people sing about? They sing about their emotions, their situations, their opinions. They express themselves through the music, and music is a perfect form to communicate what they are expressing to other people. When I think of what we did this year, a few things come to mind in relation to this. I think of the children dancing in Invisible Children, they're expressing happiness, and the music is comforting them at the same time. I also think of a sadder part, when they show drawings the children made after being abducted. The children made these drawings and expressed their feelings of fear at the time through the gory drawings. And you can see what they felt, and feel it for yourself. The art they make, and the dancing you see, express their emotion and transmit it to you.
Artistic expression is undoubtedly important. It is the ying to the yang of the drudgery and work of our everyday lives. I think the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" sums it up pretty nicely. In our world, artistic expression is a way to express our values, and give structure and form to our cultures. It passes things on to the next generation, and allows us to get a bit of our personality out there. It allows us to experience the emotions of others, and also give the experience of our emotions to them. It has many purposes, all important in our lives.
Artistic expression gives structure to, and represents a culture's or an individual's set of values and perceptions of the world. It also gives people a way to both express and experience emotion. It's an important part of any culture or person, and without it we would be a very dull people. We would be lacking in music, dancing, art, writing, perhaps even language. We wouldn't even have stories to read! Without our stories, where would we be today? Artistic expression fosters so much creativity, and lends another perspective to life that I think is very necessary.
Our morals and values generally come from our family and culture. That is actually a scientific fact, and you can find it in my Psychology textbook (Myers, 2010). That's not surprising to most people I'm sure, it's something that we see every day. These morals are given voice in the way we express ourselves through stories, music, and other forms of art. When we write them down, put them in context, it gives them structure. When I read A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, he will tell stories that his grandmother told him, stories with morals that had been passed down for generations, and were part of the culture. The stories that he was told gave voice to his culture's values, and were themselves a part of the culture.
Artistic expression is not just for the culture, it is also very important to individuals. Individuals also use it to express their morals, or to just talk about ideas they have, express their creativity. In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomkvist is an investigative journalist and uses his writing to express his opinion about what he thinks is right, and to inform the public. So artistic expression is also a vehicle for important information. The English Bible, which I read about in Wide as the Waters, started with one person's idea of translating the obscure Latin into English that everybody could read, and he expressed his belief through the Bible itself. The English Bible did a lot more with artistic expression, it showed also showed a culture's values, and gave future people guidance in their set of beliefs and morals. It also touched people's hearts, and fulfilled the emotional side of artistic expression.
In Wide as the Waters, I read about how the different people translating the Bible into it's different phases would put a little of their own personality and feelings into the prose, often changing the feel of a story. That is another example of what artistic expression does for people. They use it to express themselves, and to express their own emotions and make others feel them. And that goes way beyond just the Bible. Any form of art you can think of does this. Music and dancing come to mind for me. I think that music is one of the most emotional forms of art, and what do people sing about? They sing about their emotions, their situations, their opinions. They express themselves through the music, and music is a perfect form to communicate what they are expressing to other people. When I think of what we did this year, a few things come to mind in relation to this. I think of the children dancing in Invisible Children, they're expressing happiness, and the music is comforting them at the same time. I also think of a sadder part, when they show drawings the children made after being abducted. The children made these drawings and expressed their feelings of fear at the time through the gory drawings. And you can see what they felt, and feel it for yourself. The art they make, and the dancing you see, express their emotion and transmit it to you.
Artistic expression is undoubtedly important. It is the ying to the yang of the drudgery and work of our everyday lives. I think the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" sums it up pretty nicely. In our world, artistic expression is a way to express our values, and give structure and form to our cultures. It passes things on to the next generation, and allows us to get a bit of our personality out there. It allows us to experience the emotions of others, and also give the experience of our emotions to them. It has many purposes, all important in our lives.