The Downfall of Art
The concept of art has become widely known throughout the world, beginning in the Renaissance era. Art can come in many different forms and give a certain attractive appeal to many different people. Anything can be considered art, including paintings, movies, literature, woodwork, etc. The appeal ranges towards many different kinds of people. But recently it seems as though art is becoming more and more unappreciated and taken for granted. So how and when did the downfall of art in our society begin?
If you go to any art auction it’s clear to see that the paintings there are highly expensive. Buying art is often thought of as just a game millionaires play. It doesn’t matter if the art is “good” or not, only if it’s sold by a popular artists. The wealthy people love buying extremely expensive art from a popular artist, then bragging to their other wealthy friends about the art they bought. For example, just recently a higher-up artist duct taped a banana to a wall, called it “art”, and sold three editions ranging from 120,000-150,000 dollars. One of the couples who bought the “piece”, claims that they “believe it will become an icon”, according to Fox News. Situations like this keep the already famous artists popular and the prices sky-high. There’s no room for the underappreciated artists to grow and become famous, even if they have exceptional art that should be seen by the world. They just don’t have the right name.
Something similar is happening in the cinematic field as well. Uproxx.com states that, “movie theater audience has hit a 24 year low”, as of 2017. Most movies coming out today often get bad reviews or present unoriginal content that doesn’t appeal to the audience. Other movies are sequels or part of a series that people only watch if they are already fans of those particular movies. Some movies are even remakes of classic, such as Pet Sematary which got mostly worse reviews than the original from 1989 (all respect to Stephen King, he still rocks). Perhaps if Hollywood put their focus into making cinematic classics rather than politics, they could make some good movies that the audience actually likes. Just a thought.
Along with this, not many people are reading books anymore either. As technology advances more and more people are getting addicted to the newest device and aren’t paying attention to books. Even kids as young as seven are getting iphones, computers, or ipods, and aren’t able to focus on reading or even going outside to play. Authors are still writing and releasing great books, but people just don’t have the motivation or attention span to read them anymore. Although people may have heard of classic literature such as Moby Dick or To Kill a Mockingbird, no one is actually picking up a copy to read anymore.
As a society, we need to bring back the importance of art. We should support small artists, and try to help them get their foot in the door. We need to find a way to make Hollywood realize that people will go see a movie if they come up with better ideas. We need to put our devices down and pick up 375 pieces of paper binded together that tell an excellent story. It’s time we connect ourselves with the world and what’s in it. It’s time to bring back Art in order to prevent our society from becoming illiterate, uninformed, and uneducated.