Art is Poisonous
Andres Serrano's "Pieta II"
Artists struggle with their artwork being censored, and artists even modify their final piece of work to be deemed acceptable by certain committees. Artists are censored for many different reasons like promoting un-American acts, using vulgar words, or sexual deviancy. There have been many accusations against art and media for creating adverse effects on society, and this holds some truth. For example, musicians like Marylin Manson have been accused of inspiring horrible acts of violence with their violent and sadistic lyrics, like the Columbine high school shooting. Although the people who carried out this violence listened to Marylin Manson and possibly found inspiration from his lyrics, the media is not to blame for heinous acts in society. Art and media should not be censored or blamed for acts of consumers.
In 1993, an artist Andres Serrano created a piece of art that shows a plastic figurine of Michelangelo's statue of the Madonna and Jesus submerged in cow's urine and blood. Students from the University of Alabama and county officials wanted the return of the photograph, which had been purchased by the university arts department, because they considered the work offensive and blasphemous. Before exhibiting the work, gallery officials were receiving letters of protest from students and government officials. The University President Charles McCallum said that although he found the photograph offensive, he supported, "free and open discussion of such matters as the nature of art, freedom of speech, and the role of religious beliefs in the academic environment. The students and officials attempted to have this piece of art censored because they were offended by the blasphemous act. It would have been unfair to censor this artwork because in doing so, the artists’ rights would have been violated. There are no limitations, or details in small print in regards to freedom of speech, and so art should never be censored.
Let’s consider another example. If the art has violent undertones and suggested violent acts, should we blame the artists for the acts of the consumer, and thus censor their art? In 1984, a young American shot himself in the head while listening to the song “Suicide Solution” written by Ozzy Osbourne, and performed by Black Sabbath. Ozzy claimed his song was about slowly killing himself with alcohol, and dedicated the song to his late friend. The parents of this teen then sued Ozzy, claiming that his song contained subliminal messages telling listeners to get a gun and shoot, and the pounding rhythm and tones encouraged self destructive behavior. The young teen was already suffering with depression and emotional instability. Art can be interpreted and taken differently depending on the consumer, and the artist should not be blamed for the individual differences, or previous mental conditions of the consumer. The courts dismissed the case, since the first amendment was an absolute bar to the lawsuit.
Music has taken a great amount of heat for creating adverse effects on society. Major music stations on TV like MTV and BET are being accused of subjecting their young audiences to profanities, and sexually explicit content in their music videos. These videos may include vulgar, profane and sexually explicit lyrics, with soft core porn to go along with the lyrics. Women leave little to the imagination, dancing and catering to men with loads of cash and nice cars in some of these videos. The critics of the major stations like MTV and BET are claiming that these videos are influencing young boys to treat women with disrespect, and young women are being taught to objectify themselves, and tolerate the disrespect. Music videos should not be censored from MTV or BET because these videos are art and expression, and not reality. If the viewer doesn’t understand this, then their parents and guardians should not be letting them view this material. These channels are directed at young viewers, but ultimately the parents should be deciding if their child is mature enough to separate entertainment from reality.
The television show “Jackass” on MTV gives a disclaimer at the beginning of their television show, warning viewers that the stunts on the show are stunts performed by professionals and could result in serious injury if done by a viewer, and that the show is for entertainment purposes. Although rap music videos don’t have this disclaimer at the beginning of their videos, I think the youth will understand the divide between entertainment and real life if they have people to teach them this before they begin watching adult material.
Watch and make your judgment!
WARNING! Explicit lyrics
Suicide Solution performed by Black Sabbath
WARNING! Explicit rap video
Rack City by Tyga
You make an interesting argument in this. Don't forget in future blogs that you need to cite where you got your quotes (like the one from the university president). Also, how do you think the process of encoding and decoding and the "reads" from chapter one of our text feed into your argument?
ReplyDelete- Ruth
While musicians have the right to write whatever kind of lyrics and music as they wanted to, they need to understand that there are hundreds of people watching them, and their music really does have an effect to its listener. Parents and guardians might restrict their children from things that they perceive as harmful, but with the technology nowadays, it is relatively easy to obtain those contents covertly.
ReplyDeleteI think musicians know and fully understand that hundreds and millions of impressionable people are watching them, but I think musicians and artists believe in the freedom of art, and they dont feel as though they should censor themselves just because it has some effect on the listeners. I think it is easy for children to get this kind of material, but in the end I still think the responsibility falls on the parents because they should be teaching their children what is art and entertainment, and what is real life starting at an early age because the media is so influencial to young people.
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