"Art
is after all communicated through a kind of language even if it is a pictorial
or symbolic language just as music is considered a language. Evaluating or
judging the status of mass culture in contemporary society is still one of the
most controversial aspects of modern life. Many, like the Frankfurt School
believe that mass culture only has a harmful and regressive effect on the
population – even if they are willing to admit that consumer impulses still
contain a distorted demand for respect and dignity". Walter Benjamin: The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.
INTERPRETATION:
I believe the passage is
vividly telling us how art can communicate to us in different forms. What is
being portrayed in most arts are messages that need to be decoded or are just
portrayed so easily for even a layman to understand. Therefore, to me the
pictorial depiction as indicated in the passage might mean; art in a form of
photos. And it is obvious that most pictures give direct meaning to the object
in them, others give indirect meaning. The symbolic language might be a
depiction of symbols and other technique that needs to be interpreted. All in
all, art can be satirical, mysterious, complex or simple, natural, artificial
and all other elements can be made up of, as a way of expressing messages in
them. That is why the passage also talks about it as “one of the most
controversial aspect of modern life.”
How art is related to one photograph from the passage:
Photograph chosen: Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother,
Florence Owens Thompson, 1939
