blog




  • Essay / How Visual Arts and Music Contribute to Cultural Development

    Throughout American history, people have used a variety of methods to combat injustice and fight for what they believe in. From organizing movements and unions to violent protests, people have resisted oppression and social injustice. Often, cultural productions accompanied these resistances and gradually became powerful as means of protest in themselves. In particular, music and visual arts have played an important role as means of expression for individuals who may not have access to the means of communicating with the public to disseminate their messages. As emerging cultures, music and visual arts serve as platforms for new ideologies that may be opposed to or different from dominant ideologies, and therefore allow people to challenge hegemonic norms. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayMusic has always been enjoyed by people from all walks of life, regardless of race, class, gender or background. gender identity; as a result, various musical genres emerged and became platforms for expression to communicate, address social issues, and challenge hegemonic norms. Since the development of capitalism and the privatization of companies, worker movements have emerged to counter capitalist exploitation. However, while strikes and boycotts sometimes worked, they were not always successful, and most of them resulted in bloody deaths. As an alternative, music could call people to organize and could also spread the message of their cause to the general public, thereby contributing to movements' efforts to unite workers. In particular, folk music could be easily sung collectively, so it was generally adopted for singing during the labor movement. People such as Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin and Woody Guthrie (Workers of the World, Awaken!, The Story Of Woody Guthrie "This Land Is Your Land") wrote songs based on existing tunes with altered lyrics, and the audience could easily sing along as part of the larger movement to fight for workers' rights. Easy access to folk songs, particularly through materials such as The Little Red Songbook, provided a platform for lower-class citizens to combat the process of class formation and challenge ideology dominant economy of capitalism. a means of expression for women in feminist movements to oppose the hegemonic ideology of patriarchy and the structural and representational aspects of gender formation. On the one hand, starting from the blues born towards the end of the 19th century, women like Ma Rainey were important figures who led to the emergence of the musical genre to express their thoughts on sexual desire, independence, domestic violence, rejection of marriage norms, etc. (Angela Davis). This gave rise to a cultural platform and outlet for black women to convey their views on society to the public. On the other hand, rock music, generally considered masculine and embracing misogynistic ideologies, was countered by disco and hip hop. Although disco music originated with black, gay men in the 1970s, when it became mainstream thanks to the film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta, white women were able to express their identities as well. White women were able to ignore.