Realism as an Art Movement - Essay Example

REALISM Realism as defined in visual arts is the precise and objective representation of the ordinary, visible world which is much evident in painting. It means showing things as they really are. Realism began in France in the year 1850 up to 1880, wherein artists prefer the exact image or form of the subject rather than the abstract. Doing so means promoting truth and precision in the world of art. Realists’ works from the life around them and paint things as they appear.  Realism sets as a goal not imitating past artistic achievements but the truthful and accurate depiction of the models that nature and contemporary life offer to the artist. However, Realism as an art movement does not focus merely on the beautiful sceneries of the society but rather on the ugly manifestations that has an impact on the political, social and moral features of the society. Realist movement chose to paint common, ordinary, sometimes ugly images rather than the stiff, conventional pictures favored by upper-class society. The thought of this art movement is still in use today. Not just in art but in the whole system of our community; from politics, to religion, to literature and many more. If there is one thing that we should learn from this movement, it is the idea of expressing our thoughts in many ways and how we could reach and affect people’s perspective in the society in a more unique way. Realism presents the most relatable material to its spectators in the art and literary world of writing as it allows readers to connect on several levels associating it with their own personal lives. ARTIST: LEONARDO DA VINCI If I have to choose an artist that is worth discussing, that would be the famous Leonardo da Vinci. Many people say that the way Da Vinci painted seems as if you could see into the souls of the paintings. Da Vinci, as a painter, architect, sculpturer, engineer and geologist presented a different attitude towards his works which is one of the reasons why most people appreciate him as a person. Mona Lisa and Last Supper were two of his most famous works that attracted millions of people around the world and even adopted his concept in arts. Mona Lisa which he worked on from 1503 to 1506 and The Last Supper which also took him 2 years to finish (1495 to 1497) presented his patience throughout his works. Most of us only knew him as a painter, but what makes Leonardo more interesting is that behind his famous works and admired reputation, he is a troubled man. Leonardo da Vinci was known to suffer from dyslexia- a learning disability that can hinder a persons ability to read, write, spell, and sometimes speak (U.S National Institutes of Health). It is for this reason that Leonardo da Vinci wrote his notes of invention backwards which according to him, may not be read by others who tend to copy his ideas. It is also known that most of his works were unfinished and destroyed because he is a perfectionist. But despite this, it is proven that he is a “gifted” dyslexic. He conceptualized a number of inventions in his time that was just created nowadays. Given the idea of armored cars; it is said that an American was one of the first to really invent the armored car in 1898 but Leonardo drew the plans for the first armored car in the year 1485! Indeed, Leonardo da Vinci is a man worth knowing. PAINTING: MONA LISA Mona Lisa is a painting known to be as controversial as Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci in 1503 to 1506. It was 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in.) in size and used oil on wood. The first argument in this painting is Mona Lisa’s smile that seems to be gazing on the person looking at it. And if we stare at it and analyze her expression, it may sometimes look as if she is smiling and the next is that her face may look perplexed. We can also observe that Mona Lisa have no eyebrows, some say that Leonardo da Vinci do not usually put eyebrows on his paintings while others testify that it the eyebrows may have been erased while they were trying to clean and restore the paining and others argue that since he was a perfectionist, he never finished the painting, as most of his paintings were left unfinished. The bigger controversy lies in the question; “Who is the woman in the painting?” Many speculations point out that the lady in the picture was Leonardo da Vinci himself in a female form. While others believe that the lady was Lisa Gherardini, born in 1479. She was 24 years old and the mother of two sons when she posed for the painting. Other controversies of the painting include: (a) the name “Mona Lisa” was supposed to be spelled as “Monna Lisa”, wherein Monna in Italian was the short for Madonna which means, my lady. Also, the painting actually has a flaw. In 1956, it was said that a man named Ugo Ungaza threw a rock at the painting, which resulted in a small patch of damaged paint next to her left elbow. Specialists from the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France found that da Vinci painted up to 30 layers of paint on his works to meet his standards of subtlety. Added up, all the layers are less than 40 micrometers, or about half the thickness of a human hair to achieve its dreamy layout, researcher Philippe Walter said. MUSIC: ROCK MUSIC “Music springs from the deepest emotions within the soul, and with or without lyrics; music conveys a message, deepest feelings and emotions. It is a world beyond our world. It is a reality, at the same time, a fantasy.”-Stainer The emergence of rock music in our modern society have lots of implications primarily to the youth. Rock music as most of us describe it refers to loud and noisy sounds associated with shouting and strong lyrics. Most elders find rock music as a menace in terms of the attitudes of our youth, the lyrics itself presents an aggressive impact on its listeners inducing them to release their heavy feelings as well. That is one of the reasons why most rock stars create a strong impact; some of their movies refers to violence like banging their heads, slamming the guitar or even an outrage of behaviors. The argument in this issue focuses on the effects of Rock Music to our youth. Some may say that people have a freedom of expression that is why they have the right to choose the genre of music that they want. Rock Music is also helpful in a way wherein people would prefer letting go of their angers through music than in any other forms of violence. Some elderly may prefer it that way. But for some, they argue that rock music alleviates the feeling of anger which can put an individual into greater risk. The lyrics of this song may also have a negative impact on the children listening to such music. It can impart ideas and ideologies, powerfully and emotionally conveying a way of life. Our choices in music, the intensity and frequency of the music we listen to, can have a bearing on our mental health. Mood disorders can be affected by the type, intensity and amount of music we listen to. TV SHOW: THE JERRY SPRINGER SHOW It was voted by TV Magazine as “the Worst Show ever” and it received widespread criticisms and caused controversies because of the violence that it portrays on TV. The Jerry Springer Show is one of the most controversial shows around the world. It is a show where people in different places come to discuss their problems in front of an audience which in turn, the host and the audience will offer suggestions of what can be done to resolve their conflict. The more controversial issue about this show is that guests tend to fight in front of their audiences. Television news, due primarily to its obsession with crime and violence, definitely has a negative impact upon our society. The uniqueness of the show led to its popularity; however, we may not be able to ask ourselves as to what are its implications most especially on the children watching the show. According to research, approximately six percent of daytime talk show viewers are under 11 and according to a New York Times journalist, shows like that of Springer’s cause violence in society and argued that the source of the problem lies in the insatiable lust of the audience for more and more violence. Why are people mesmerized with such topics? What says it of our society? The only way to stop violence on television either on the news or on Springer-type shows--is to cut the demand for it, thereby removing the profit. However, in the society that we are living in, sometimes, money is more important than our moral. The rise of fame and popularity in our world destroyed most of the dignity of human beings. The question “what is to be done?” will remain unanswered if we ourselves do not have the will in making a difference and continue seeking for our personal satisfactions and pleasures. MOVIE: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (A Fiction for Real Love) The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an American romantic fantasy drama film that employs the elements of science fiction and neuro-realism (reality inside a person’s mind) to cohesively interpret the nature of human memory with romantic love. The film used non-linear narration (portrayal of events out of chronological order) in telling the story. The film’s story started when emotionally withdrawn Joel Barish (performed by Jim Carey) and free-spirited Clementine Kruczynski (portrayed by Kate Winslet) bore a relationship on a train. They were inexplicably drawn to each other, despite their different personalities.Though Joel and Clementine apparently do not realize it at that time (using ‘media res’ – starting a story by telling a certain latter portion and going back to the beginning for a reader/audience to understand better the reason behind the events), that they are in fact former lovers, now separated after spending two years together. After a major fight, Clementine hired a medical firm called Lacuna, Inc. to erase all her memories of her relationship with Joel ("lacuna" literally means a gap/missing portion; in the film’s context, this term represented lacunar amnesia, a gap in ones memory about a specific event). The procedure was applied to Clementine while she was asleep (same as to all of Lacuna, Inc.’s patients). Upon discovering this, Joel was devastated and decided to undertake the same procedure. Most of the film took place in Joels mind. During the procedure, while Joel’s memories are being erased, he finds himself revisiting them in reverse. In realizing his happy time with her, he struggles to preserve at least a few memories of her and co-existentially his love for her. Nevertheless, the memories were slowly erased – with the last memory of Clementine telling him to meet him in the same place where they first met and fell in love with each other. As the story unfolds, the employees of Lacuna are revealed to be ‘real’ characters. Patrick (portrayed by Elijah Woods), one of the Lacuna’s technicians performing the erasure to Joel, was currently dating Clementine while viewing Joels memories, and copying Joels moves to lure her. Another character, Mary (portrayed by Kisrten Dunst), the Lacuna receptionist, who had an affair with the married, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak. Mary agreed to have erased her memory of her relationship with Dr. Mierzwiak when it was discovered by his wife. She later on discovers this and decided to steal the companys records and sent them to all of its clients. Joel and Clementine correspondingly received their files shortly after re-encountering each other on the train. They were shocked by the fact that they had a relationship and they had their memories erased. Joel tried to convince Clementine to start their relationship all over again but Clementine was hesitant because of the possibility that they might end it anyway. Nonetheless, they still ended up loving each other again. This film simply tells its audience the realism of love – how people treat and handle love differently (from beginning to end – and back). Joel represents men who easily falls in love but tends to be shaken or gives up when struck by great pain (caused by a tragic experience out of love) – but eventually goes back to give ‘the greatest love’ of their lives another try (despite the odds). Clementine on the other hand represents women who hastily decides to give-up everything but eventually (but with hesitations) takes the risks of falling again with the same person. Other characters like (a) Mary, represents canning women who retaliates to teach his unfaithful man a lesson, (b) Patrick, who represents people who falls in love with other people whose hearts are already taken, and finally (c) Dr. Mierzwiak, who represents those who tries to cover all unfaithful acts by all means necessary). THEATER PLAY: MS. SAIGON Ms. Saigon’s story revolves around Kim, a bar girl in Vietnam who falls in love with Chris, an American soldier during the Vietnam war. Kim and Chris got separated because of the retreat of the Americans in Vietnam. Chris went back to America, got married to Ellen, had a family of his own – with Chris not knowing that he and Kim had a son. Three years passed, Chris and Ellen decided to go back in Vietnam to search for Kim and his son – with Kim not realizing that Chris is already married. The story ended with Kim dying (by way of suicide) in Chris’ arms. Ms. Saigon is a classic love story of people who are but victims of uncontrollable circumstances. Kim, coming from a poor family, enters into prostitution. Chris being a rightful man, stands for love. However, due to war, they were physically separated – with Kim’s undying love, waited for Chris to come back. As expected with this line of story, Kim and Chris’ love dies due to the tragic turn of events (Chris having settled in the US). Kim and Chris’ characters represent real people who lived their lives either by choice or by fate. There are people whose sacrifices for love are immeasurable. There are those, who simply goes on with life as fate brings them things that are not as originally planned. There are also those who stand by their decision in the hope of getting the most important things that they desire in life. Ultimately, people live their life by choice no matter what life brings or unfolds. Circumstances are mere hurdles when people choose how their life will be lived. Read More