艺术的美学冲突和道德的适应性

这篇essay， 主要讲诉了艺术的美学之间的冲突和道德的适当性，找到一个平衡艺术的审美和道德的适当性,最重要的问题是,什么是艺术。艺术,通过其优雅华丽的物质以不同的形式,以其新颖性和创造性,并向观众传达一定的思想和价值观。一件伟大的艺术,包含了闪光道德分,将引发人们思考和反省。这可能是一种启蒙,人们从日常生活中不能正常生成的。即使艺术不为函数作为中介传播思想在艺术家的初衷,其物理形式仍然可以由观众变成了某些类型的认知,与个人经历和性格以及社会价值。

  There is never a shortage of artistic examples showing the conflict between the aesthetics of art and the appropriateness of moral, for instance, Chris Ofili's ‘Holy Virgin Mary’ which was exhibited in the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, but later was removed out. The controversy of this painting lies at the manner it praises the virgin mother since some of the elements in the picture are pornographic. People find it difficult to keep balance between these two criteria of judgment towards art pieces like movies, books, music or paintings. The moment we meet exquisite art with evil thoughts, we come into this embarrassing situation in which we would certainly doubt in minds whether it is appropriate to accept and appreciate it or should we abandon it completely. 
  To find a balance between the aesthetic of art and the appropriateness of moral, the most essential question comes to what is art. Does art has any connections with moral or it is simply a combination of aesthetic skills and elements? Art is never a novel object to human beings, however the definition of art is somehow less acknowledged commonly. A lot of critics, common audiences or even professionals have divergent opinions and decisions about whether a controversial artwork should be banned, which, to me, the reason for this kind of divergence is largely determined by the loosely defined and ignorant definition of art. According to the definition of the word ‘art’ given by Oxford Dictionary, art means “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for its beauty  or emotional power.” The definition of art can actually be summarized into two dimensions, firstly, the crystallization of beauty originated from human imagination, secondly, the carrier of human emotion. According to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, art is a virtual, which indicates it is developed from the inner part, or soul and value of artists. I have no doubt in the deep connection between art and ethics. Art, through its elegant or fancy substance in various forms, and with its novelty and creativity, does conveys certain thoughts and values to its audiences. A piece of great art, to me, has to be this containing shinning morality points that would provoke people to think and introspect. It could be a kind of enlightenment that people cannot normally generate from daily life. Even if art does not serve to function as intermediary to broadcast ideas at the original intention of the artist, its physical form could still be turned into certain kinds of perceptions by the audiences, associated with individual experiences and personality and also social values. 
  Now, could the question be solved? If what makes a great artwork is, to a large degree, what makes it, which is the soul of the artist, could we just abandon any artwork the moment we find it contains vicious ideas? Even though, there is this bottom line that art does act as the medium of spirituality and we should treat immoral arts with caution, the question is still tough to answer since there are still many factors in this situation that would make the answer or solution of this dilemma various, like how exquisite is the exact piece of art, what is the thoughts conveyed, what are the audiences of the art in the deal, and to what extend people detest the thoughts contained in that art. The Analects of Confucius is a great series of aphorisms written by Confucius during the Spring and Autumn Period in Ancient China. In the analects, Confucius stated his opinions and thoughts considering a wide range of issues, from national issues to personal development. Confucianism is originated form Confucius and is regarded as the crystallization of ancient Chinese culture and thoughts. However, Confucius strongly advocated feudalism and his works inclined to reflect his admiration towards feudalism. The political theme of this artwork completely violate what is promoted in modern China, then why are Confucius and Confucianism still elected as representatives of Chinese culture? We could go back to the conclusion made above, that it is inappropriate and reckless to ban any art piece with immoral thoughts. In fact, there are more merits in Confucius’ thoughts than the evil ones, and the long history has already made the bad thoughts less prominent. There is a certain way of Chinese government to balance art and morality considering Confucianism, to absorb what is good and abandon what is bad. In the Chinese textbooks of primary school students, the article taken from The Analects of Confucius would never be that of any relationships with feudalism, instead of this are those associated with study or career, and indeed, Confucius did provide some good suggestions on the ways of study and how to handle inter-relationships with others. As far as I could recall, I have never got the chance to read any article of it praising feudalism, but that of good. 
  Considering the functions of the uncertainty coming from variable factors considering the question of balancing art and morality, I should like to suggest, when considering whether we should or should not abandon arts with vicious values, it would be better if we take the influence or power of the vicious part of art into consideration. If it is way out of the moral bottom line or could provoke any kinds of propagandas or chaos, maybe it is time for relative organizations to ban it legislatively. Professionals in art, no matter what realms they are from, like musician, historian or critics, should now provide their own opinion and try to come to a consensus solution whether it is to adopt the artwork in discussion, or abandon it completely, or absorb the good and delete the bad. Apart from the influences of the immorality in some pieces of art, it is also necessary to take what kinds of audiences may be affected most, for instance the age, the nationality or the religion of the audiences, and try to avoid those groups of audiences from getting in touch with them. Take film production as an example, many countries around the world do have their own system of censorship. In America, films are ranked as following four level, E, T, M, A, which represent everyone, teenage, mature, and adult only respectively. Chinese government also set an office named as The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China to decide what kind of films can be approval to the public. There is an interesting phenomenon that some movies produced in foreign countries, like America, are not allowed to be introduced home or can just be approval only if the violent or sexual part being eliminated by the organization in China stated above.
  For artists, when they are producing artworks, it would be better if they fully considering the consequences to the public. Even if they determine to reveal the real thought, which could be true but a reflection of the evilness of the society, they may choose to depict or express in a more euphemistic way, like using a fictitious setting, and try to avoid violent and atrocious way of expression. I suggest this would be a better way balancing the freedom of artistic expression and the appropriateness of morality. There is a famous movie released in 1998 in American called the Truman Show which has employed exactly the same way of expression mentioned above, fictitious setting. Instead of letting the hero live a true society in the movie, the play writer made a virtual society out of the true one in the movie and uses this way to express some degree of the phoniness in our present society and the insignificance of individuals. Another thing that is noticeable is that many plays or movies would add a line as “ The story is purely fictional” which I believe could serve the same function as easing some of  the pain and strike that a direct and clear way of expression of art would bring to its audiences. 
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