Good Morning!
We have been discussing Matthew Arnold's ( a C19th critic and writer) notion of culture as "the best that is thought and said in the world". In a series of essays entitled 'Culture and Anarchy', Arnold explores the civilising effect of culture on people. He believed that by educating people to have a taste for high culture, then anarchy would be prevented. An appreciation of the arts in particular could prevent social disorder, immorality, violence, selfishness and disobedience.
Find examples of different genres of culture that Arnold would class as high culture eg ballet, opera, classical music, theatre, literature. Which artists, musicians and writers would you consider to be high culture? Create a collage of works of art, snippets from texts, pictures of famous artists and writers on Powerpoint or Word that you can share with the class. Research the idea of a 'western canon' to help you.
Create a list of points in your notes supporting the study of high culture, explaining why it has value (start by referring back to Arnold).
Finally, post a comment on this blog giving me your opinion of high culture. What are you familiar with? Is there a particular genre of high culture you enjoy? Does it make you a better person? What are the connotations of the different genres of high culture? What are the problems of suggesting a canon of high culture?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've always been encouraged to enjoy art and have been going to exhibitions since I was reasonably young. I don't think this has made me a better person but it has given me an appreciation for art and inspired me to take it as a subject at GCSE, where I drew inspiration from artists I was interested in, many of whom were modern. Recently my mum and I have also gotten into going to the theatre as I've always enjoyed drama and love watching performances. As with the art I don't think it's made me any better as a person and I think people who aren't exposed to as much art and theatre as myself could still be incredibly knowledged and cultural, but maybe in different aspects. I don't particularly enjoy certain genres of high culture such as music or literature and far prefer modern equivalents, however I think this is true for a large proportion of people my age. Enjoying high culture at our age is sometimes seen as 'geeky' and I think this puts people off fully enjoying it. I think that a main problem of suggesting a canon of high culture is that everyone has different opinions and would suggest different people depending on what they think.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion High culture, shouldnt be seen as a 'higher culture' or a culture that is seen to be superior. But should just be seen as a Different culture to popular culture.
ReplyDeleteI think that high culture is very stereotypical and you can enjoy anything you like and doesn't make you become a kind of culture for example somebody who may not like opera may not be a bad person which has been stated and therefore I think it is very judgemental. I don't really enjoy any of the things involved in high culture but that does not make me any less of a person as I enjoy my own things and my own types of music and books. I think that high culture is very boring and out dated.
ReplyDeletei think some high culture is relevant to modern day but not everyone is that interested in the way that the books are written because they are hard to understand. i am familiar with some of the writers in the cannon like Charles dickens, Mary Shelley, Shakespeare because of having to study them at school and also learning about them outside of school. i don't think that high culture has an impact in making you a better person.
ReplyDeleteI think that high culture is more for national identity as in I would be more likely to want to see something such as the Mona Lisa rather than Shakespeare as you are viewing a different culture. As well as English High culture is more tied into you as you probably will hear about Shakespeare a lot more than Da Vinci possibly due to Shakespeare being an English poet and playwright. I am also more familiar with Shakespeare further backing my point as it is part of the curriculum in secondary school, whereas you don't need to look at others.
ReplyDeleteI would enjoy Art and music more than literature as I feel there is a lot more to explore. I would say that high culture makes you a better person to an extent as you have broadened your knowledge furthering your understanding.
I have never been brought up to be interested in high culture. Although I can appreciate high culture art etc I don't think it makes you better as a person than someone who has more interest in popular culture.
ReplyDeleteI was never that interested in high culture although I've heard a lot about it. I know some artists and writers but their work never interested me enough to research them in-depth. I think that appreciation for high culture comes with age and still, not that many people become interested in it regardless - however this doesn't mean that our world is turning anarchic, there are riots and civil wars all round the world but this isn't because people aren't civilised. I think that high culture has more impact on the individuals but not the society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, high culture is important for society because we should all be familiar with the people from the canon of high culture as it is considered 'basic knowledge', however, I don't think knowing the writers or artists of high culture makes you a better or worse person. I don't particularly like any of 'The Arts' of high culture however I do think is interesting to know about them.
ReplyDeleteThe things I am familiar with in high culture is ballet, opera and Shakespeare. I find that the people who are most interested in these 3 things are older people. It doesnt make you a bad person for not liking these and going to see them and, for Shakespeare, reading his books but reading them and going to see the ballet and opera just makes you more aware of the things that go on around you the way people write the way they think and feel.
ReplyDeleteI believe high culture doesn't make someone a better person but I do believe it gives them nicer qualities. Such as ballet is associated with calmer people.
ReplyDeletei am not quite familiar with in high culture, but i do believe that it's easy to understand and entertaining to the majority of young people for instance poetry and classical music.
ReplyDelete