Writing Feedback / GRE_AW issue 131"The arts reveal the hidden ideas of a society" [4]

My first work of issue OTL... Thx for any comment~

131"The arts (painting, music, literature, etc.) reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society."

In term of individual, art, not only representing truth, genuineness and beauty but also evilness of the world, is considered to be a special approach to expressing himself. Through arts such as literature or music, authors and composers could express their emotion or their opinions about the society at large. In term of the whole society, arts are always affected by political powers and religion. As I concerned, the arts show the subculture of the society to some degree.

To begin with, some kinds of art do demonstrate the deep impulses of a society. For instance, hip-hop paintings and music, which has boomed in America since about thirty years ago, is now one of the most popular art genres worldwide. Hip-hop art began in the South Bronx of New York City, where black men and people from South America are settled. In this poverty-stricken section, underdevelopment caused many social problems such as drug cartel, gambling, prostitution and fistfight. Many youths took part into the underworld, and daubed the logo of their gang on the wall, which is the beginning of hip-hop painting, known as graffiti. Through the dirty words drawn on the walls of the alleyways and in the lyrics of those underground rappers, the poor education condition and living standard of the lower-class are represented thoroughly. Hip-hop reveal people's resentment and insecurity of their life, and this alternative art genre gives us a sight of the hidden opinions of the vulnerable groups.

However, the purity of art is still open to doubt. To spread and be known by more people, the artists always need the permission or even support from the government or the religion. Unless the art, such as architecture and the operas, provides no positive effects for the power group, would they allow the artists to publicize his views and works of art. What's more, most of the art works popularized by the government have some benefits on the people in power. These works may simply provide positive models for the ruling party, thus, their purpose is not expressing the true idea of the artists, but to advertise for the upper-class. The typical examples are the novels and movies in which the ruling party is overly beautified and the enemy of them is vilified. In these art works, hidden opinions of the society are overpassed by the author and the editor, people can merely see the view of the rulers. The neglect of the underground impulses also happens in the religious dominant period. During the Medieval Ages, the power of the Christian Church is stretching in Europe. Reflecting on the medieval arts, the pointed spire of the Gothic cathedral, the devout expressions of people in the paintings，these typical medieval arts are all concerning about religious life, without even taking a brief glance at the secular life. Suffering from the wars of knights and epidemics caused by poor sanitation condition, the common people faced many tough problems in the real life, while the works of arts didn't include any of their feelings and opinions.

In conclusion, the works of art might illustrate the hidden impulses of the society under some conditions, however, art also faces many effects from people in power, which makes the art not so forthright in revealing the underground ideas.