Art as a Challenge…
Year 12 General Studies
Exploring what is acceptable form of
art?

Minority Art-forms
e.g.







Ballet
Grand opera
Sculpture
Painting
Theatre
Choral singing
‘Arthouse’ films

Popular Art forms
e.g.







Pantomime
Circus
Soap operas
Musical shows
Hollywood films
Pop music
Stand-up comedy
All of the above are types of art that are often
appealing to some people – they are not
necessarily challenging
What do we mean ‘as a challenge’…



Sometimes art can be used to call into
question social norms or challenge the
‘normal’ way of thinking. Often minority
art forms can be used such as novels,
plays, poems and films.
They might challenge social acceptable
thinking (i.e. in the past the role of
women) or political decisions (war)
Others forms of art that can be used to
challenge are visual forms
Art as A Challenge
Click on any of the three words below (hover
over until the cursor turns to a hand) to
explore three different types of art and
consider how they have challenged peoples
ideas. Use the hyperlinks provided to gather
further information.
Keep to any action buttons when they are on the page to keep
slides in order
Over to you
1.
2.
Identify two other books, two pieces of art and
two more films that you believe challenge the
norm. Justify your choices by explaining your
reasons and comment on whether you think
society have changed opinions as a result.
Prepare your answer for the following
question…


If you need
some ideas to
get started
then click here
Can arts change our minds and or
behaviour?
It is one of the roles of art to give
pleasure, and another to provide
entertainment. To what extent is it
their role to make us think? (P40 can help
you plan this)
To get you started

Art –

Literature –

Films – look into the following films The Last
Damien Hurst and Tracy Emin have tested the
world of art recently by addressing the issue of acceptable
art – find out about them and see how they have
challenged the norm.
look at George Orwell, Arthur Miller
and Thomas Hardy. They have all written contraversial
novels that challenged the traditional view of society at
their time of writing. Also explore Hitcher by Carol Ann
Duffy – can you see why it was taken of the school
curriculum.
Temptation of Christ (1988) Martin Scorsese, Natural
Born Killers (1994) Oliver Stone and Crash (1996) David
Cronenberg
Art…

Visually art can be very powerful and often has
been used in the past to bring to the peoples
minds what may not be spoken about. For
example


Guernica was made famous by Picasso when he drew
one of his most famous paintings about the bombing
by Hitler of the entire village in 1937. Guernica
epitomizes the tragedies of war and the suffering war
inflicts upon individuals and brought the Spanish civil
war to the worlds attention. Click below to see the
picture
To do: Choose 5 adjectives that describe
each of images that you see in the
following slides.
Guernica
Art cont…

Other artists that have challenged
ideals are…



Edvard Munch – ‘The Scream’ and
‘Anxiety’ where the impact of the
image is immediate
David – ‘The Dead Marat’ where the
image is easily held in the mind
Goya – ‘Execution of the Defenders of
Madrid’ where the image symbolises or
represents historical situations
The Scream
Anxiety
The Dead Marat
Execution of the Defenders of Madrid
Literature…

Many novels in the past and today have
challenge the normal ideals. For example




‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee challenged
the idea that a black man had less legal rights
than a white person
Wilfred Owens poems challenged the idea that
war was glorious and ennobling
Charles Dickens ‘Hard Times’ challenged the idea
that divorce was only okay if you were rich
And ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck
challenged the idea that it was okay to exploit
the poor without any regard for social justice.
Click here to see the original trailer for the film.
Films…

Many films have taken on the idea of other
art forms and heightened the awareness
amongst the people. For example




Click on the
names to see
trailers/clips
Samara L Allsop ‘Battle Royale’ 2002 paints a bleak
picture of Japan on the brink of social anarchy
Schindlers List by Stephen Spielburg, 1993 and
based on the 1982 novel ‘Schindlers Ark’ looks at
the treatment of the Jews in 1930-40 and german
thinking
Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979 by Terry Jones
focused on the followers of religious doctrine and
made it comical. It was banned all over the world
and TV channels initially refused to show it.
To do: Sum up one of these films in 50 words
or less. Rate the film from 1-5 (5 = most) on
how much the film challenged public
thinking, and write a paragraph to justify
this.