Select several works of art that reflect cultural evolution and progress, and cultural regression and degeneration?
It has been said that many forms of art, from poetry to music, contribute to the way we feel, think and see, and helps us to discover the hidden beauty of art. Oftentimes, art provides a historical connection to social and secular ideas. The messages in these ideas serve many purposes, whether it is rhetorically, visually or politically saying something about the way a particular artist feels or the issues the artist is trying to address. The focus of this brief paper is on the works of performance artists, theatrical artists and blackface minstrels and how their art helped draw attention to the inequities in America during their time period.
Music-
Considered Gaye's most unusual, yet successful album by critics, Gaye's album is generally thought of as his "rebellion" from Motown. Through his music, he talked to an entire generation and his music continues to touch most who hear it.
Marvin Gaye in 1973
Gaye's relationship with Janis Hunter inspired him...
A screenshot of a 1967 performance by Gaye and Ter...So movingly, in fact, those few who hear it ever forget it.
The strength of Gaye's critique is manifested in What's Going On. The song highlights the effect of the conflict on the most basic unit within the American community: the nuclear family. Rather than a collection of politicized rhetorical strategies put to music, Gaye chose to personalize the conflict as a consideration of his brother's presence in Southeast Asia. Comparing the family unit with an example of a broader national community, Gaye links the escalating war effort to the role of ruling
patriarch in the "traditional" nuclear family and by extension, the ruling patriarchy of the nation. Gaye's critique is amplified by his own well-documented relationship with his father and the manifestations of patriarchy and power that his father wielded over him. As...