[YB] 7月18号作业 by weenbopper

weenbopperUID: 2423595

TOPIC: ISSUE190 - "As long as people in a society are hungry or out of work or lack the basic skills needed to survive, the use of public resources to support the arts is inappropriate-and, perhaps, even cruel-when one considers all the potential uses of such money."
WORDS: 611
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2009-7-18 19:05:02

In the hierarchy of human needs, the basic ones, such as food, accommodation, safety, etc, lie in the lowest primary level; and they are the prerequisite of higher usually concerned with mental satisfaction . In this sense, we first consider human's basic needs over art; however, I think the these hierarchies are intertwined, at least art, in terms of arousing the public awareness and convening hope, is related with human's basic needs.

Admittedly, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the pyramid is composed by five levels: the lowest level is associated with physiological needs, they are primarily concerned with survival; while the uppermost level is associated with self-actualization needs, particularly those related to mental needs. And in this pyramid the upper level overwhelms every level that below; in anther word, mental needs are based physiological ones. It is true that people who are struggling for food and accomodation hold little consideration about the satisfaction in inner world. In our hyper-competitive society, numerous individuals drag their exhausted body home after work, how can we still expect them to spend time on music, movies, novels, etc. In this sense, only after satisfying these basic needs, can we own the right and possibility to construct and nourish our mental world.

However, the art by arousing public awareness and by convening persistence, optimism, epathy, compassion has undeniable relationship with fulfilling our basic needs. For those people who are hungry, homeless or even disabled, artworks often transmit hope in our lives. For example, the Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film portrays Andy spending nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison and eventually breaking out. The films is dominated by themes of hope, persistence, optimism, faith in tomorrow and ended with a final message: "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." While being stunned by the amazing plot, the audiences have more concern about these themes and thus bear a optimistic mind in the future life to withstand struggling life.

For the other people, artworks often are aiming to arouse their awareness about the weak group in the society. Early in the 16 century, the famous artist Van Gogh used his immortal work--Tomato Eaters--to tell the nobles and authorities that there were a lot of others struggling for food and some other basic needs when they enjoying their luxury and flamboyant life. Also, nearly all the Chinese citizens can not forget an advertisement by Hope Project (A charity group aiming to improve Chinese fundamental education). The hoping and pity eyes of a little girl accompany with the slogan--" I want to go to school" reminds us that he needs our help.

Moreover, a more important value of art lies in approaching our spiritual problems. Lu Xun, for instance, is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century and considered by many to be the founder of modern Chinese literature. The poor medical treatment and countless victim of war in China persuaded him to study medicine. However, one day after class, one of his Japanese instructors screened a lantern slide documenting the imminent execution of an alleged Chinese spy during the war. Lu Xun was shocked by the complete apathy of the Chinese onlookers; he decided it was more important to cure his compatriots' spiritual ills rather than their physical diseases. And he use his pen and articles save China mentally and then physically.

In sum, when the people are suffered from fatigue or lack the basic skills, it is reasonable to invest on it. Nevertheless, art and our basic needs are intertwined; it is more sagacious to strike a balance between them by arousing public awareness and by transmitting hope in the world.

weenbopperUID: 2423595

还有很多错误,上班了,先发
明天改!!!