Evaluation of Artwork by Moral Standards - Essay Example

Evaluation of artwork by moral standards

Introduction

What is art? Different people have different definitions for it, but at the end of the day it all boils down to an expression of how humans think creatively and visualise their thoughts through drawing, painting, sculpturing and modelling. The work made is appreciated for their beauty and the emotions that they invoke in people. Evaluating artwork comes down to analysing and making a judgement on how appropriate the work is. Ethical artwork is something that, in my opinion, should be achieved through morality since the artwork goes a long way in influencing the lives of all people who come in contact with it. In this essay, I will focus on why artwork needs to be evaluated according to the moral standards of society.

In recent times, the amount of movies and television shows has increased exponentially worldwide as the production companies try to quench an insatiable appetite of their viewers for these shows. Under such circumstances, the companies dig deep to find more ideas of movies and shows which they can give to their audiences. Plato, a Greek philosopher, wrote in the Republic that, “the function of actors was a fake, as they presented the dangerous illusion of reality and masked the truth of existence by the pretence of acting”. This move has made some productions to make films that are outright immoral to society. Take the example of the film Wolf of Wall Street, by Martin Scorsese in 2013, which was a crime and comedy movie. The movie in itself had a lot of drug use and sexual content that made it get banned for viewership in other countries and get censored for a lot of its viewers. That in itself shows how deep the freedom to make artwork liberal without the thought of morality in it makes it hard for the good morals to be upheld. The movie also constituted of how criminal activities such as embezzlement, fraud and money laundering is done in the world of which should be stopped and not encouraged. In such circumstances, the thin line between art and morality is often crossed making it hard to control. Since many people are exposed to art every day, such films or show of artwork may influence their decisions and the actions they take. Some of the actions may prove to be detrimental in the end, being that it can cause bodily harm and losses to the perpetrators and even to others. Such a case occurred in the Hungerford Massacre, where Michael Ryan, killed 17 people, he included, in 1987 in a grisly shooting spree. The tabloids claimed that he was influenced by the film Rambo. The shooting rocked the small English town which was very quiet and far from controversy. From a tender age, he had a liking for the ‘army life’ judging from the fact that he had an Action Man toy, a commando-type plastic doll, fully kitted with uniform and weapons. In such instances, it clearly shows that the influence created by the artistic world goes a long way in influencing the ideologies of people and hence the world at large.

Authors of books usually write from experience and their fantasies. Such is the case with many novels with many of them pushing their boundaries as well as those of the society. In 1961, Penguin Books published a book by D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover which was later banned in England and the United States of America on the grounds of obscenity riddled throughout the book. The book is said to contain explicit sexual content as the author explained all the sexual exploits of his characters in his book. This move did not go well with most of the people as they rejected the book in the public domain. Even the Post Master General refused to mail the book to its clients. The book went against the social norms of the people, especially at a time when such material was deemed immoral to the people. The book later won a court battle that had the decision overturned and given a not guilty verdict for obscenity and also the Post Master General's decision also saw itself overturned. Such circumstances always end up affecting the society as a 'work of art' influences its audience to perceive certain situations or occurrences in the society as being okay to the public eye yet they keep on eroding our moral values in the world. There are possibilities that the readers of the novels could have tried to replicate the actions in the book to fuel their fantasies. Such books also distort the mind and increase the growth of pornographic content and prostitution. The society needs to understand that the influence of such artworks is far more detrimental than the naked eye can see. Once a person starts to feed his mind on such kind of literature, it becomes hard to stop and brings a shift in priorities of the person.

Over many years, many have tried to argue that morality and art are not directly linked hence being separate fields in the world as others say that the two are linked and increasingly inter-related in all fields. Leo Tolstoy was one such artist who had mixed feelings and reactions to the matter. He frequently asked himself the simple question which had brought about a lot of disagreements between the world of art and the world of morality, What is Art? In his book with the same title, he reprimanded artists such as Shakespeare and Wagner for not being able to express the truth about morality and instead focusing on the poetic nature of their work according to how he understood the concept of morality. He saw their previous works as discreditable as they failed to tell the moral truths to the public using their talents hence seeing it as a waste of talent. Leo used his influence in the writing world to spread what he believed in as morally upright virtues to people according to the ways of religion. His works in the field went on to influence many such as Mahatma Gandhi who led a peaceful resistance against the British in his country. Mahatma took the initiative coming from one of Leo's books that had the ideas of non-violent resistance to evil in society. Such initiatives have shown over time that morality is one key element that when taken in effect will go a long way in making the lives of people better and what better way than using art as a tool of propelling the moral virtues to the people due to their large audiences.

On the subject of influence, art usually affects everyone it comes in contact with, from young children, adults and even older people in the society. So it is worth noting that artists should make sure that the content they avail to their audience is one that will distort the morals standards of people and even beyond the scope of their targeted audience. In a world that is constantly changing day by day and communication becoming an important tool, it is worth noting that the type of artistic work made available is one that will not harm people. The flow of information has increased tremendously and made the world a global village. In this way, artists can send their artwork more rapidly to audiences all around the world. Such technological advancements have made it almost impossible to control the information sent such as music, movies, pictures, and so much more content. If artwork such as a film of a violent or sexual nature manages to reach the hands of a child, it could prove to be a defining moment since the psychological effects of such content will affect the child greatly. Being as it may, controlling how and why a form of artwork reached a certain individual is hard, it is the mandated duty of the artist to make sure that the artwork is one that upholds to the moral standards of the society so that everyone who will get exposed to it is not affected negatively.

The relationship between art and morality is intertwined. Art is quite subjective as it will be received and interpreted and judged by different people in society. Due to its subjective nature, it makes art to be vulnerable to ethical judgement. Such kinds of work are most vulnerable in societies that have not yet been exposed to such kind of artwork before. Many of the people will judge the artwork of the artists mainly by taste and the moral level of artwork. In this case, there is a visual dialogue occurring between the artist and his work and society. For the society to accept such work, the artwork needs to find the balance between the two of not being too immoral and also not lacking the artistic nature and information that the artwork is supposed to reveal to its viewers. There must be a mutual understanding between the two parties. The society needs to understand that freedom of expression encourages great artistic work while the artist needs to mindful and open to the public’s disposition in matters concerning morality. Over time, society will grow to accept the work if it upholds the moral standards that they are well conversant. The move will also aid the artwork to grow in popularity.

Morality in art is important because the interpretation of the art is solely left upon the audience, in as much as the artist will try to make sense of what is occurring and try to explain it to the audience, the final verdict will eventually come from the audience, whether to accept it or not. Many of the viewers of immoral artwork end up imitating what they see. An example is when people start to imitate gangster rap music and all the vices they promote in their content. Young minds are much more easily susceptible to change as compared to older people. The kind of information that they get from such music videos will eventually become a lifestyle for them. The young will try to imitate the words and actions of the artists, which are purely fictional, and it will eventually become a habit of mind and speech. The main moral concern is the effect of art on the development of the minds of the citizens of the world. Plato states that, a society where morally bad art is allowed, "Souls of men are corrupted". In a society where morally good art is allowed, the educating effect of the action will be drawing likeliness and sympathy to the voice of reason between individuals in a society.

Art should also be made in such a way that it is not harmful to those who come across to it. The art made should not be one that encourages dangerous activities and distorts the thinking of the mind. Take an example of horror movies; the majority of them express a very scary feeling to its viewers. Some of the viewers end up being terrified of things that they so and would normally not be afraid. Once the mind is in anguish, a person cannot live in a comfortable state. The person may not be able to make sound decisions and may end up creating a phobia for things that would be either beneficial to them or not even cause them any harm. Emotionally disturbing art is considered to be immoral, in my opinion, because it changes the rational thinking mind of a person by inciting unhealthy thoughts and emotions. Such individuals make a person be less productive when needed.

Quite often, the phrase today's children are the leaders of tomorrow is used when trying to show the value of children in society. In this context, the children need to be brought up in a society that has a mixture of all the right 'ingredients' needed to make them succeed in life. The mixture includes the kind of food, environment, and education and even what form of art they are exposed to in the society. Art affects the education, development of the character of people, especially those of young children by instilling different ideas and values that are manifested in the forms of art availed to them. In so doing, certain types of art are the ones that should be shown to them like those that encourage hard work, obedience and friendship. To positively shape the minds of the young children and their characters, exposure to the right content should be shown to them for an ethical and upright society that will be brought up over time.

In society today, we have seen how art can influence the people and society directly at large. Art in any of its form can also influence other areas of the world like animals and plant species. Humans constantly come across other living species in our daily activities and influence them either directly or indirectly. Take, for instance, the 1975 movie Jaws. The movie provides its audience with the story of how stranded sailors got attacked on their boat by a shark and how they struggled to fight it and survive. To the literal man, it brings forward the thought of working as a team and always fighting to survive. But what type of thinking does it bring to the audience about the shark? After the premiere of the movie and its overall success, it was noted that the killing of sharks in some parts of the world had risen by 50%. So which begs the question, how does the type of artwork that we are exposed to affect the other species available. Many people in the presence of what they fear, mainly born out of the type of artwork they had been exposed to do not think rationally hence act out of fear and commit horrors that would not be justifiable. Such killings of such living organisms destabilise the living cycle of the world, making it harder to sustain. It makes it hard to think and act soundly. Work of art that bring forth the destructive effect and undermine the moral codes of conduct should be discouraged as it will lead to only further destruction of the citizens.

Conclusion

Ethics and aesthetics have long been a challenge for human beings to grapple around, bringing conflict between factions of people in society. In my opinion, morality should be used in evaluating the art that is presented to their audience since without exercising control on the things that directly influence human life, we cannot control some of the social evils that continually degrade the society. Tackling the social evils that influence the lives of people should start at the grassroots. The move will enable the young to grow up not being exposed to such vices and reducing the production of artwork that is detrimental and promotes immorality.

Authors of books usually write from experience and their fantasies. Such is the case with many novels with many of them pushing their boundaries as well as those of the society. In 1961, Penguin Books published a book by D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover which was later banned in England and the United States of America on the grounds of obscenity riddled throughout the book. The book is said to contain explicit sexual content as the author explained all the sexual exploits of his characters in his book. This move did not go well with most of the people as they rejected the book in the public domain. Even the Post Master General refused to mail the book to its clients. The book went against the social norms of the people, especially at a time when such material was deemed immoral to the people. The book later won a court battle that had the decision overturned and given a not guilty verdict for obscenity and also the Post Master General's decision also saw itself overturned. Such circumstances always end up affecting the society as a 'work of art' influences its audience to perceive certain situations or occurrences in the society as being okay to the public eye yet they keep on eroding our moral values in the world. There are possibilities that the readers of the novels could have tried to replicate the actions in the book to fuel their fantasies. Such books also distort the mind and increase the growth of pornographic content and prostitution. The society needs to understand that the influence of such artworks is far more detrimental than the naked eye can see. Once a person starts to feed his mind on such kind of literature, it becomes hard to stop and brings a shift in priorities of the person.

Over many years, many have tried to argue that morality and art are not directly linked hence being separate fields in the world as others say that the two are linked and increasingly inter-related in all fields. Leo Tolstoy was one such artist who had mixed feelings and reactions to the matter. He frequently asked himself the simple question which had brought about a lot of disagreements between the world of art and the world of morality, What is Art? In his book with the same title, he reprimanded artists such as Shakespeare and Wagner for not being able to express the truth about morality and instead focusing on the poetic nature of their work according to how he understood the concept of morality. He saw their previous works as discreditable as they failed to tell the moral truths to the public using their talents hence seeing it as a waste of talent. Leo used his influence in the writing world to spread what he believed in as morally upright virtues to people according to the ways of religion. His works in the field went on to influence many such as Mahatma Gandhi who led a peaceful resistance against the British in his country. Mahatma took the initiative coming from one of Leo's books that had the ideas of non-violent resistance to evil in society. Such initiatives have shown over time that morality is one key element that when taken in effect will go a long way in making the lives of people better and what better way than using art as a tool of propelling the moral virtues to the people due to their large audiences.

On the subject of influence, art usually affects everyone it comes in contact with, from young children, adults and even older people in the society. So it is worth noting that artists should make sure that the content they avail to their audience is one that will distort the morals standards of people and even beyond the scope of their targeted audience. In a world that is constantly changing day by day and communication becoming an important tool, it is worth noting that the type of artistic work made available is one that will not harm people. Read More