http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015857,00.html
read the linked article.
It is TWO PAGES- so please read BOTH.
Form an articulate opinion on the issue that is discussed, because we will be having our first discussion -for points- on this topic TOMORROW!!!
You can post your opinion today- but DON'T forget what you 'said' because you'll need to actually SAY it tomorrow for points!!!
ALSO- for further information about the MONA LISA- where I left off yesterday- find out WHY she was smiling for Leonardo... There is a few wacky theories about this...
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this is sort of rediculous. it's saying that if you're not the right kind of happy, then you're being un-american. if you're not in a crowd, smiling all the time then you're not the right kind of happy. i think it's kind of ironic that this is article is saying that our "lack of happyness" is because of advertising, when this article is surrounded by advertisments.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the article is incredibly logical and almost completely correct. It's true that people, especially in America, feel like they have to be happy all the time, even to the point where doctors are diagnosing depression left and right to the people who don't have a lot to be happy about in the first place. I agree that the most sincere form of happiness comes from the aspects of life that make us most vulnerable - allowing the possibility of failure. It only makes sense that the most frustrating tasks, such as parenting, can be so rewarding. I feel like a lot of what true happiness is, is working for something because then we have to realize that there's a chance we won't obtain it.
ReplyDeleteChelsea Kopp
I agree that most pieces of art are not happy and are some form of sad. Art is a way to express yourself and many people are sad, which is why the art turns out the way it does. People tend to wear masks. In public they're happy and smiling, but when not in the public eye they're depressed and looking for a way out. I think the article was right about that, but not about the happyness in advertisments part.
ReplyDeleteStephanie
I think that the article is trying more to say that art, even the sad stuff, is meant to refresh us. It lifts us up from whatever low point we resided originally. It is unfortunate that some artists suffer their whole lives, in depression, just trying to get recognized for what they're putting out there. If you are having a bad day, and you are driving along, and suddenly hear this song that hasn't been played sense the 90's or 80's, and you remember how much you loved it, you are bound to be picked up by it. -Toni Graham
ReplyDeletei agree with the article that the picture they depict as happiness is an unrealistic one, because their basically saying if your perfect and beautiful and rich and have every single product your going to be happy which we know isn't true but we still buy into. Art is something more realistic because it shows pain and imperfection which everyone faces and sort of brings us out of our ideal of perdection and let's us see pain as beauty too.
ReplyDeletei read an article about why the mona lisa seems to smile then frown is because when you look at her eyes where most people look your peripheral vision catches her smile, but once you look at her mouth your fovea vision sees it as a frown so it's just a trick of the eye and they say to do this you would
would have to be looking away from the mouth.
-tosha rodriguez
I believe this article is somewhat true. Advertising is a terribly deceitful business, full of lies and greed. It's only human nature to be sad or even depressed from time to time. Truth is, you should be diagnosed with some sort of stupid syndrome if you are HAPPY all the time, rather than sad. Americans are surrounded with crazy ads promoting their product, everyone in these ads seem happy all the time. Art - and the deep emotions within it - is a fantasic wake-up call.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa D.
I think this article is true about people today they don't think they can be happy without the next best thing. They forget about what truly matters.-Ashley P.
ReplyDeletei believe that art is mostly unhappy but there have been some pieces of art that are happy and i dont think that theres anything wrong with that. but i do see that americans seem to always have to be happy but avertisments dont make people happy.Most art looks sad because the time they were in was all misrible but the painting looks like they want you to help them but we cant.
ReplyDeleteThe therioes i read why the mona lisa is smiling were like its leonardo but as a girl, they were secret lovers, she knew a secret but didnt tell anyone, and it was for a bankers wife.
---------> Jake:D
I agree that most art work that people are doing now is sad, but i also think that the reason why it is sad is that it is how the artist is feeling. I think that it is fake if someone is happy all the time, and people need to show that it is okay to be sad. You dont have to hide it because its your own emotion, not anyone elses. I think that being sad is more powerful than being happy, because its the norm to be happy, and that is a reason why all Of our art is sad.
ReplyDeleteAshley N
It does seem like people in America are almost pressured into being happy and that is done by advertising and media, they show all the celebrities and people in ads so happy and always smiling and people want that kind of life, and when it doesn't turn out the way they see in magazines they are disapointed. Back in the days they were "surrounded by reminders of their misery" therefor, they had more happy art than today. Because americans are supposed to be happy thats all they see, they need something to remind them that not everything is perfect and happy, there is sadness and anger and many more emotions and art shows that. It's ok not to be happy all the time, it doesn't make you "un-american" like the article said. Art that shows other emotion besides happiness is showing reality and the fact that your going to feel other emotions, not always happiness.
ReplyDeleteAshley Jacobson.
I sort of agree with this article. Ads are based on making people happy, even though 50% of the time the product doesn't work. The reason why art looks sad today is because we have so much happiness today. Sad art sort of counter-balances all the happiness. One of the wacky theories behind the Mona Lisa is that Leonardo used himself as the model. Another wacky theory is that there are a bunch of hidden gorillas painted in.
ReplyDelete-Zach Noble
Average Americans, myself included, have an extremely good life. We don't have to constantly worry about an attack or suicide bombing as we walk down the street, or if we'll eat today. The ubiquitous Taco Bells provide a meal, albeit an unhealthy one, to those who might have only 99 cents to spare for the day, and we don't walk miles for water. Because all of our basic needs are taken care of and there is no real danger of war violence where we live, we don't really live in unhappiness or notice the unhappiness of those who do. Art can be a reminder of things that are unfortunate but real, messages we may not want to be reminded of, etc. It isn't necessarily only sad, but shows other realities that we in our cushioned lives are saddened to think of out of empathy, guilt, or more cynically, because it distracts us from our relatively carefree lives.
ReplyDeleteMiranda W