Joshua Wells: Not with a Bang, But with a Whisper

NOT WITH A BANG,  BUT WITH A WHISPER

This is admittedly something of a rant , but a rant of value in its subject, at least for its author. The weight of the topic bears import for one primary reason: The art a culture produces, be it in music, poetry, prose ,sculpture, paintings, or any other of the myriad forms art takes, is as much an influence on the direction that culture takes as it is a reflection.

I recently heard, in the film “Homeless to Harvard”, a profound statement: “If my words have any value, I want them to be correct.”  If that comment bears serious consideration, and I believe it does, should not the converse also be true? If the effort is put forth to shape or create something pleasing, for its quality of production, should it not also hold the intrinsic value brought by expression of true substance?

Art has , in our current culture, taken on a definition of “self –expression”. Thus everything-navel gazing prose and rhyme. A child’s finger painting, and angst of youth spewed out on a page or canvas, discordant notes, bland chord progressions, and ambiguous or shallow lyrics, the most vile and morally degrading yet “beautifully presented” pornography -all of this is called “art”. Yet should not the standard of art aspire to something greater? Has the concept become so cheapened?

Continued…….

See full essay in pdf form Not With a Bang,but with a Whisper

THE BLAME GAME Part I   March 2015  read full essay in pdf form 

THE BLAME GAME Part II   April 2015  read in PDF form