Art as a Challenge…

Year 12 General Studies

Exploring what is acceptable form of art?

Minority Art-forms e.g. Ballet Grand opera Sculpture Painting Theatre Choral singing ‘Arthouse’ films

Popular Art forms e.g. Pantomime Circus Soap operas Musical shows Hollywood films Pop music Stand-up comedy

All of the above are types of art that are often appealing to some people – they are not

necessarily challenging

What do we mean ‘as a challenge’…

Sometimes art can be used to call into question social norms or challenge the ‘normal’ way of thinking. Often minority art forms can be used such as novels, plays, poems and films.

They might challenge social acceptable thinking (i.e. in the past the role of women) or political decisions (war)

Others forms of art that can be used to challenge are visual forms

Art as A Challenge

Click on any of the three words below (hover over until the cursor turns to a hand) to explore three different types of

art and consider how they have challenged peoples ideas. Use the hyperlinks provided to gather further information.

Keep to any action buttons when they are on the page to keep slides in order

Over to you1.1. Identify two other books, two pieces of art and Identify two other books, two pieces of art and

two more films that you believe challenge the two more films that you believe challenge the norm. Justify your choices by explaining your norm. Justify your choices by explaining your reasons and comment on whether you think reasons and comment on whether you think society have changed opinions as a result.society have changed opinions as a result.

2.2. Prepare your answer for the following question…Prepare your answer for the following question… Can arts change our minds and or Can arts change our minds and or

behaviour?behaviour? It is one of the roles of art to give It is one of the roles of art to give

pleasure, and another to provide pleasure, and another to provide entertainment. To what extent is it entertainment. To what extent is it their role to make us think? their role to make us think? (P40 can help you (P40 can help you plan this)plan this)

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To get you started

Art – Damien Hurst and Tracy Emin have tested the world of art recently by addressing the issue of acceptable art – find out about them and see how they have challenged the norm.

Literature – look at George Orwell, Arthur Miller and Thomas Hardy. They have all written contraversial novels that challenged the traditional view of society at their time of writing. Also explore Hitcher by Carol Ann Duffy – can you see why it was taken of the school curriculum.

Films – look into the following films The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Martin Scorsese, Natural Born Killers (1994) Oliver Stone and Crash (1996) David Cronenberg

Art…

Visually art can be very powerful and often has been used in the past to bring to the peoples minds what may not be spoken about. For example Guernica was made famous by Picasso when he drew

one of his most famous paintings about the bombing by Hitler of the entire village in 1937. Guernica epitomizes the tragedies of war and the suffering war inflicts upon individuals and brought the Spanish civil war to the worlds attention. Click below to see the picture

To do: Choose 5 adjectives that describe To do: Choose 5 adjectives that describe each of images that you see in the each of images that you see in the following slides.following slides.

Guernica

Art cont…

Other artists that have challenged ideals are… Edvard Munch – ‘The Scream’ and

‘Anxiety’ where the impact of the image is immediate

David – ‘The Dead Marat’ where the image is easily held in the mind

Goya – ‘Execution of the Defenders of Madrid’ where the image symbolises or represents historical situations

The Scream

Anxiety

The Dead Marat

Execution of the Defenders of Madrid

Literature…

Many novels in the past and today have challenge the normal ideals. For example ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee challenged

the idea that a black man had less legal rights than a white person

Wilfred Owens poems challenged the idea that war was glorious and ennobling

Charles Dickens ‘Hard Times’ challenged the idea that divorce was only okay if you were rich

And ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck challenged the idea that it was okay to exploit the poor without any regard for social justice. Click here to see the original trailer for the film.

Films… Many films have taken on the idea of other art forms

and heightened the awareness amongst the people. For example Samara L Allsop ‘Battle Royale’ 2002 paints a bleak picture of

Japan on the brink of social anarchy Schindlers List by Stephen Spielburg, 1993 and based on the

1982 novel ‘Schindlers Ark’ looks at the treatment of the Jews in 1930-40 and german thinking

Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979 by Terry Jones focused on the followers of religious doctrine and made it comical. It was banned all over the world and TV channels initially refused to show it.

To do: Sum up one of these films in 50 words or less. To do: Sum up one of these films in 50 words or less. Rate the film from 1-5 (5 = most) on how much the film Rate the film from 1-5 (5 = most) on how much the film challenged public thinking, and write a paragraph to challenged public thinking, and write a paragraph to justify this.justify this.

Click on the names to see trailers/clips