(November 1, 2012 at 11:31 am)jonb Wrote: I find the above posts very interesting, portraying culturally a different reading than I am used to, good art adapts to different audiences.
Another example of missing the point in art that sends a message would be Malcolm X. When that movie came out, both blacks and whites missed the message. The movie was broken up into 3 parts. The first part dipicted his poverty and his criminal acts, but blacks while rightfully pointing out the oppression of blacks glossed over the fact that he was human. The second part rightfully depicted his escape from crime and poverty. But the third part was the reall meassage both sides missed. In the end he finally saw humans as individuals and because of the corruption in his own ranks he finally learned that good and bad happen in all groups and that we really are in this all together.
Whites were in an uproar over the burrning of the flag in the opening scene. Blacks were shouting "Black power" but missed the closing scene where white kids and black kids in a classroom were saying "I am Malcolm X.
Now you skip the religious and political labels and focus on the motifs of that movie and 1984 the lessons are a human condition issue once you strip all the labels out of it. No one wants to live under absolute power like 1984. And you can accept yourself as being human first while not being perfect, which Malcolm X finally learned and that humans struggle is something we all can identify with.
Art is a very benifitial aspect of society, but like anything in life without criticism it's messages can be missinterpreted or parts of it missed which lead to memes I see falsely being used on social issues and economic issues.
Art is a prism, but it is always subjective.
