Issue 131习作

Daniel2007UID：2347849

131. “The arts (painting, music, literature, etc.) reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society.”
艺术（绘画、音乐、文学等等）揭示了隐藏的其他方面的社会理念和动力。
  The speaker asserts that the hidden ideas and impulses of a society can be revealed through the arts such as painting, music, literature and so forth. I think it unfairly generalizes about art although the assertion does have merit. Because art focuses on the spiritual needs of people, it is possible to reveal the human consciousness and motivation that concealed in the society. However, art, an important and prevailing cultural form, has a complex and rich content related with every aspect of humans’ spiritual lives. We can not simply determine the significance of art is confined to that it reveals the hidden ideas and impulses of a society.

  Admittedly, as a ubiquitous form of culture, arts constantly tend to represent people’s emotional responses to life, such as hope, happiness, anxiety, which are hidden in the deep mind of all human beings. These invisible subjective feelings are well revealed through various forms of art such as movies and literatures. Take the growing number of the shooting of disaster films in recent years for example. The movie The Day After Tomorrow revealed people’s worry of their own living environment and the hope to educate people to live in harmony with nature. Another striking example is Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literatures. The novel, attributed to Shi Naian, vividly details the trials and tribulations of 108 outlaws to reflect the political corruption as well as the chaos of society of Song Dynasty. The strong discontentment with the corrupt regime and impulses to overturn that regime of the people in that society are vividly demonstrated by the author.

  The nature of art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake. Failing to understand the nature of art, the speaker asserts that the arts reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Art serves to reveal the individual impulse of the artists in emotion, imagination, and inspiration rather than the social ideas and impulses. Consider, for example, the painting of Galloping Horse, which was painted by the distinguished art educator Xu Beihong during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1941. At that time the Chinese army lost the Battle of ChangSha to the Japanese. Xu felt worried for his country when he heard the news that ChangSha was occupied and painted all night along to express his personal concern for the fate of China.

  Another aspect overlooked by the speaker is that art is an integral part of entertainment. Drama, opera, and many other kinds of arts which are similar to entertainment games can be seen as a form of entertainment. By watching drama and opera, people are amused and their inner feelings are enriched. Furthermore, some works of art are elusive and can be appreciated in more than one way. Therefore they are often susceptible to many different interpretations. These diverse interpretations, which in turn have enriched the connotation of art, will attract people to pay more attention to understanding of the art. For example, the statue of Venous has provided people with imagination on how the arm of Venous was lost. In a word, through appreciating, imaging and understanding the hidden meanings of works of art, people entertained themselves and more importantly they might lead a happier and more motivated life.

  In conclusion, I agree that some kinds of arts can reveal the hidden ideas and impulses of whole society while others can not. As a form of human practice as well as a way of understanding the world of mankind, art constantly regulates, improves and enriches the inner world of human beings to make us be more capable of creating a colorful world.