Joe Moore
8/2/2013
Module 5
Beauty and Evil
This week we discussed the involvement of morals in art and its effect on the quality and appreciation of artwork. This was a really interesting topic to me and definitely is a hard one to discuss. I saw many different points of views and sides and to me there is a lot of information here that I wouldn’t have thought of before. We read essays from Anne Eaton focused on the topic of Art and Ethics. One essay in particular discussed art and ethics affecting its quality. She spoke about three different viewpoints on this subject. I want to talk about these three different states of mind and which I feel is better and my own opinion on the effect of ethics on art.
The first point of view we discussed is named separatism. All of these different philosophies are trying to get to the heart of the question is it possible for art to be good and still be unethical. The Separatist point of view would exclaim that it is because beauty and the aesthetic properties in art are completely separate from its morality and ethical message or responsibilities. An example of this is the best example I can think of was one we saw in lecture. The example of Leni Riefenstahl’s the Triumph of the Will. This is a video I saw in another class and it is hard to argue that some of the shots and ideas she had weren’t beautiful and good art. The problem is that this is a film trying to make the Nazi party look good and righteous. By doing this it becomes highly unethical because it is taking something so horrible and something that stood for and committed such evil and is portraying it in a way that almost forces you to view it as something good. Separatists would say it still is an example of great art because of its good shots, scenes, and the creativity and effort that was put into it. The fact that it is a Nazi propaganda film would not take away from the value, appreciation, and respect of the artwork in a Separatist point of view.
The next theory that was discussed was the Moralist point of view, almost the exact opposite of Separatism. Moralism focuses on the viewpoint that the greatest art almost always has an important moral truth in it, and art that is immoral and offensive can most of the time never be considered great. They have a highly different point of view and they feel like morality plays a very important inseparable role from art they believe it affects the quality greatly. An example is another taken from our lecture. Dr. Shaw discussed a picture from the artist Andres Serrano named Fatal Meningitis II. It is a photograph of a child wrapped in a blanket that looks asleep, but in reality it is the photograph of a dead child. To me this is disgusting because of the fact that he took this picture with never asking for the parents’ consent. I thought it was horrible photographing a person’s dead child and putting it out there for the world to see without ever asking them. To me in my opinion this picture or anything like it could never be considered great art no matter how good a work of art it might be because of how offensive and wrong it is to use.
The last point of view that was discussed is called Ethicism It disagrees with both theories of both and kind of holds a middle ground position. The theory states that art can still be considered good art and be unethical and disagrees with separatism by saying that morality and ethics definitely effect art and can determine how good something is. Ethicism believes that art that is unethical or immoral is usually of worse quality than art that has a moral truth because the ethical side of art adds to its beauty. They believe unethical art is harder to like because that idea is always in your head no matter how great of talent the artwork has. Think about how much better Leni Riefenstahl’s movie would be if it was for a good cause instead of Nazism.
In my opinion this was a hard topic to dissect and discuss. I would have to say that I lean more towards Ethicism than any other point of view but would probably say I disagree with all them all. At first I agreed with Ethicism the most because many times I find something with a good message easier to like and it adds to the enjoyment but when questioned more closely I began to doubt my initial opinion. I disagree with separatism because most of the time when looking at or enjoying any kind of art I search for the meaning and message behind it. It something I will unconsciously do when viewing art and the message and meaning are almost more important than the talent put into the art to me when it comes to enjoying it or appreciating it at least most of the time. I disagree with moralism because at times I still find unethical or immoral art good and enjoyable. I think it is important to talk about issues that may be controversial and unethical and at times this can make artwork even better. An example of this would be the music of Eminem. The song “My name is”. It contains many controversial lyrics and topics, and even invites kids to do bad things with him. I think this song is still a good work of art because I find it funny and creative. He is expressing himself in a unique way and discussing ideas and sharing a point of view many people don’t want to talk about. I think that this makes a lot of his music good because he isn’t afraid to say immoral or inappropriate things and talks about subject’s people usually would shy away from. I think the honesty and humor make it a good work of art.
Another example of this would be a comedian saying something inappropriate or controversial such as a sexist joke, racist joke, etc. When executed the right way these jokes can be very funny, creative, and emotionally honest. The jokes are funny because they get us to laugh at heavy topics and say and feel things we normally wouldn’t want to admit to anyone else. It gets us not to take ourselves too seriously and this is a healthy good experience for human beings. In Eaton’s point of view it is possible because of the humor in these activities she would say it is not to be considered unethical. Still there are some possibly unethical works of art that are still very good as well as ones with good moral messages for different reasons and appeal to different emotions. I think that it depends more on the artist and viewers intentions and perceptions because art is so subjective and the human experience is so complex. Some things are just plain offensive, unethical, and thoughtless, but some art can border and immoral and still be thought provoking interesting and good I think most people can differentiate between reality and entertainment and find a variety of art good or bad depending on their personality and experience
