Art and Pornography - Assignment Example

Answer Questions Answer Questions Question One Socially, politically, and artistically, the Walt Disney cartoon Der Fuehrers Faceor Donald Duck in Nazi Land is a great piece of American propagandistic art. These three perspectives are linked by the fact that the cartoon was a nightmare. Socially, it was a message to the Americans that their country was better than Hitler’s Nazi land. During the war, Nazi land was barely left with anything to eat and his nightmare, Donald Duck was shown to feed on heavily rationed food. The cartoon played a significant role in boosting the morale of Americans during the difficulties of the war and gave Americans courage. Essentially, it was a nightmare working for and being part of Hitler’s society. Politically, the cartoon was significant because it served the purpose of educating Americans about their enemies. At that time, the cartoon was aimed at more audiences than children. The political message in Donald Duck in Nazi Land painted the enemy in a ridiculous way. For the Americans who were at home, the cartoon delivered the grim picture of dictatorship in Nazi land, especially when Donald Duck had to keep saluting every time Hitler’s Portrait appeared on the conveyer belt. Essentially it implies that it is great to be an American especially when Donald Duck wakes up from the nightmare and is glad not to be a Nazi. Artistically, the short is a satirical work that showed art can successfully be used to deliver serious messages while cleverly making fun of fascism. Here, art is used to show how badly fascism treated Nazi soldiers. It can also be seen that the shifts Donald Duck works “48 hours every day” is just an artistic but very effective way of communicating the oppressive situation in Nazi Germany. Question Two The aspect of selfhood that Cindy Sherman and Nikki Lee were examining in their work was identity. It is possible to know this because Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills conveys the message that gender is a constructed and unstable position, suggesting the lack of an inborn or natural biological female identity. Essentially, she communicates the stereotypical roles the society gave women. Nikki Lee’s Projects examines how people are made up of numerous distinct identities (MCP, 2015). She also looks at how one is perceived by others changes when they surround themselves with people who share their identities and personal traits. The main similarity between the two bodies of work is the subject matter. Both were examining identity from social and cultural perspectives. Further, both artists mainly include themselves in their photographs to convey their message. The main difference between the two bodies of work is that while they both examine identity, one focuses on a stereotype created by the society while the other focuses on cross-cultural identity. Sherman examines the female role while Nikki examines cultural differences. Nikki’s work is most applicable to my life experience because the function of cultural differences exists in every stage of life I have gone through. In the social setup, people interact with others from different ethnic, religious, racial and cultural backgrounds. The significance of her work is that such differences will always be there even with globalization. Question Three Art and pornography are ideally not the same because in pornography people are represented as objects but in art the audience is invited into the represented person’s subjectivity (Ellis, 2006). Reflecting on the two, pornography can be said to be explicit while art retains a suggestive disposition and draws viewers into the extraordinary qualities of what is portrayed. Pornography always has its interest and focus on organs rather than the person as seen in art. Even when art has sexuality or sex as the subject, it focuses on the face and not sexual organs. The line between pornography and art can be drawn at the point where one aims to distract viewers from the troubles associated with reality by evoking erotic desires while the other has a purpose and is manner-specific. For example, pornography has the main aim of sexual arousal and is not manner-specific but art, even if intended to be sexually arousing, is manner-specific. Therefore, art will target aesthetic experiences and entail attention to the manner and form and partly treats images as opaque. Pornography, on the other hand, aims sexual arousal and manner and form are essentially excluded and images treated as completely transparent. An image will turn from non-pornographic to pornographic when its key purpose is sexual arousal and typically to facilitate sexual self-gratification. When the focus is on the sexual organs and sexuality rather than the value of the portrayed work, the aspect of it being art ceases and becomes pornography. Question Four To make their work more effective and elicit social change, artists use strategies such as music, sculptures, theatre, painting and even controversial or ironic symbolism. It is worth noting that such social change is elicited differently by different types of artists such as teaching artists and activist artists. Such artists champion the cause of making the living conditions of disadvantaged people better by essentially fusing art with social change and culture. In the image, the artist uses activist art to communicate a sociopolitical message and there are two perspectives to the suitcase used and the setting in which it is used. First, by putting a human in a suitcase clearly explains that human trafficking pays no regard to the dignity of humanity and instead treats people as goods or luggage. This is further emphasized by the fact that the suitcase is placed on a luggage terminal. The manner in which the woman is squeezed in the suitcase and the frightened look on her face communicates that victims are placed under vey dehumanizing conditions and need to be freed from them. The activist artist also communicates a very sensitive matter by using a transparent suitcase. Although the woman is in a suitcase that is meant to hold luggage and not display it, it can be deduced to mean that the authorities responsible of putting human trafficking to an end simply watch as it is practiced. Ideally, it means that they are aware of the problem and the inhuman conditions the victims are in but just watch as the perpetrators go by their business. The strategy is effective because it exposes the dreadful nature of the trade by the look on the woman’s face and the fact that humans are reduced to commodities by the trade. Question Five The exaggerated or overemphasized features of the images of the Paleolithic and Neolithic Mother goddess figurines, the Hindu gods with multiple hands and faces, and the idealized Greek gods and goddesses represent a form of “expressionist art”. Just like the modern concept of exaggeration, the exaggerations depicted in the gods and goddesses mentioned here have several things in common since they all communicate certain traits, prove certain points and support a people’s point of view (Guerrero & Anderson, 2007). For example, to support their view that their gods were omnipresent, the Hindus gave their gods multiple faces and hands to show they could see and do many things at the same time. On their part, the Paleolithic and Neolithic Mother goddess were worshiped because the womb of a woman brought forth life and the breasts gave milk to the infants. The female genital was viewed in awe because of the way it bled and not out of death or violence yet synchronized with the appearance and disappearance of the moon. Hence, the exaggerations of these body parts on the images were to prove that a woman was actually held in high esteem. Human exaggeration is founded on both unmet needs and psychological goals, which leads people to idealize certain circumstances to suit what they feel they should be. In the same way, the Greek gods were idealized in a bid to create the godly community the Greeks yearned for. Question Six The most important instance of the gaze in this scenario is when the viewer meets the gaze of the woman on the right. First, the woman is the only one who is facing the viewer directly and does not seem to be engaged with any other figure or object in the gallery like the other figures but rather, is looking at the viewer. By placing the woman in the foreground but without blocking the central focus of the painting, the artist manages to split the viewers focus into two, which makes that gaze the most important instance. This creates an important instance for the viewer because the image can be perceived from the perspective of a surprised viewer, according to the appearance of the woman, and also from the view of one in a gallery. This perspective of a woman deviating attention is strategically placed in the image to give it a significant instance of gaze. It is imperative that the viewer notices the setting is in a gallery where there are a number of objects to be viewed, but the focus is immediately taken away by the gaze of a woman. References Guerrero, L., & Anderson, P. (2007). Close encounters: Communication in relationships. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Ellis, C. (2006). Art and pornography. New York: McGraw. Museum of Contemporary Photography (MCP, 2015). Nikkii, Lee S. New Bury: Author. 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