Lately, I have been seriously bothered by one specific question. What is the reason violence is so much more accepted in our culture than sex? And don't tell me it isn't. Yes, most people agree violence is bad and sex is normal. But where we encounter the problem is publicity. Ryan Gosling, who was one star of the movie Blue Valentine, mentioned something along these lines in an interview and it got me thinking. Blue Valentine barely avoided an NC 17 rating because of sex scenes. As Ryan said, why is it that you can show a woman being beaten, or even raped, and get an R rating no problem, but as soon as you show her getting pleasure, they try to slap you with an NC 17? And not just violence against women, but violence in general. Movies starting at PG warn against violence, even if it's just "cartoon" or "fantasy" violence. Look at some of the video games kids play. And as most people what they'd rather see: A person being beat on the street or two people having sex on the street, and I'm sure most people would pick the former.
To me, that's weird. Beating someone is an act of hate, an act of violation, something destructive. Sex, when consensual, is something natural and loving and the essence of creation. Why is it more acceptable to see people fight than see people have sex? Wouldn't we rather expose our children to love instead of hate? Now, I'm not saying all children should be told to watch porn or anything like that. But, in my opinion, I'd much rather my children see a sex scene than a war movie.
But maybe that's just me.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Why Art Matters
I'll admit straight out that I have a bias 0n this subject. I have taken an art class every year, even if it's only a semester long, since I took a GATE art class in third grade. First it was GATE Art, then GATE Art Through Geometry, and then GATE Ceramics. Once I got into middle school, it was a semester class in sixth grade. IN seventh grade it was Art Club and totem pole carving, and in eighth grade I took art all year. I have taken at least one art class every year of high school. Freshman year it was Art 1. As a sophomore, I took Art 2. As a junior, I took Art 3 and Photography. This year, as a senior, I'm in AP Studio Art, Printing and Graphics, Advanced Drama, and I TA in an Art 1 class. The event that prompted this blog occurred in that Art 1 class.
There is a boy in my Art 1 class with ADD. He's not always a model student. He got suspended recently, for telling off a campus monitor. But in art, for the most part, he's just so incredibly centered. And he's good, too. He has his off days, sure, where he fucks around and gets scolded. So, a few weeks ago, they started a still life from life. It's this massive pile of stuff in the center of the room, and they have to pick an area and draw it. One day, while I'm standing in my teacher's office talking to her, I glance over and there he is, sitting at another kid's table, helping him compose. Completely unprompted. He saw him struggling and wanted to help. And it just further proved to me, that here's this kid with a penchant for misbehavior and a pretty bad rap with the teachers helping another kid just because he wanted to.
THAT is the power of art. That is the power of a class with no rights or wrongs, no formulas, no one set way of doing things. Art provides an outlet, an escape. How dare the school district deem us unimportant and take away our funding.
Just because we aren't a fucking sports team, and we don't have games, people don't cheer for us, we don't bring the school local acclaim? How DARE they? If you take art out of schools, you take away the only thing holding some of your students together. And if your school isn't helping your students? Then why the fuck do you even bother?
There is a boy in my Art 1 class with ADD. He's not always a model student. He got suspended recently, for telling off a campus monitor. But in art, for the most part, he's just so incredibly centered. And he's good, too. He has his off days, sure, where he fucks around and gets scolded. So, a few weeks ago, they started a still life from life. It's this massive pile of stuff in the center of the room, and they have to pick an area and draw it. One day, while I'm standing in my teacher's office talking to her, I glance over and there he is, sitting at another kid's table, helping him compose. Completely unprompted. He saw him struggling and wanted to help. And it just further proved to me, that here's this kid with a penchant for misbehavior and a pretty bad rap with the teachers helping another kid just because he wanted to.
THAT is the power of art. That is the power of a class with no rights or wrongs, no formulas, no one set way of doing things. Art provides an outlet, an escape. How dare the school district deem us unimportant and take away our funding.
Just because we aren't a fucking sports team, and we don't have games, people don't cheer for us, we don't bring the school local acclaim? How DARE they? If you take art out of schools, you take away the only thing holding some of your students together. And if your school isn't helping your students? Then why the fuck do you even bother?
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