题目：ISSUE131 - "The arts (painting, music, literature, etc.) reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society."
字数：585 用时：00:40:00 日期：2007-8-20 11:32:46
提纲
1 同意，觉得历史也有用
2 反映社会事件
3 反映社会价值
4 历史也有用
5 结尾
The speaker asserts that the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society could be revealed by art works. I agree that it is one of the functions of art works. However, art works are not the only way of getting to know the values and ideas, history could be competent, too.
Art works, which is created against certain historical settings, can definitely reflect the impulses and society condition. No art creations operate in a vacuum. After all, no matter how isolated the artists are, they are more or less branded by their times. Even for those fantastic works that are completely free from reality, we can find the shadows of society in them. Art works, actually, are the reflection of society with extra retouching by the artists' finesse. And the example involving Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Mrs. Stowe adds reasoning to this point. In this masterpiece, Mrs. Stowe described the miserable life of slaveries in South America plantations. Also, the cruel and merciless figures of planters were vivid in the book. The whole book, although it was a fiction, reveals the truly ugly reality of slavery and it was the charge against humanity. After its publishing, people got to understand the necessity and importance of abolishing slavery. Without a doubt, the book pushed the tide of anti-slavery to a higher level. And what followed the book was the breaking out of Civil War. Art works' background, even though they have been modified or exaggerated, they are the genuine reflections of social events, thus, they can serve as the mirror of history.
Moreover, art works can reveals the ideas of society indirectly compared with the direct revelation of social events. The creation of art works is a spontaneous activity. Nevertheless, it is not the spontaneous activity of individuals. It is, as a matter of fact, the willing of society members as whole. Artists are only those who finish and fulfill the willing. The example that aptly illustrates this point involves the preliminary development of musicals in America. The first golden time of musicals appeared in 30s and 40s in twentieth century. At the same time, there were two events influencing all aspects of American society –Great Depression in 30s and the closure of Second World War in 40s. The whole society was trapped in a gloomy atmosphere because of economic crisis and countless casualties followed. And the abundance of musicals was not a coincidence, because their seemly happy ostensible appearance placated the hurt hearts of Americans brought by these two historical events. Through boisterous musicals, people could escape away from the bleak reality temporarily. In response of society, the change of people's values naturally asks for the new forms of art. Thus, art works in any period reveals the ideas of people by satisfying people's pressing needs.
However, art is not the only channel to understand otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society, history can do well too. History is the true social reality in every period without the artistic recreation. Hence, studying history offers us the original face of society. And understanding the historical events makes us capable to decode the hidden values and ideas of society. For example, in the study of Second World War, we come through the countless battles and casualties to get to know the desire for peace and humanity around the world.
In a nutshell, because art works directly reflect the social reality and indirectly reflects the ideas and values of society, art reveals the ideas and impulse which we cannot see and understand ostensibly. History, which is the plain revelation the society in each era, is also a useful source. Furthermore, determining how to understand the values and impulses of society is not that crucial, making good use of what we have learned from them matters.作者: angelach 时间: 2007-8-20 19:52:35