Erwin L. Salang BS Biology 3A Ms.

Marianne Martinito

How can Art Change the Society?

What is art? According to the definition mentioned in the short movie clip, art is an expression of anything beautiful and has significance. In my own definition, art simply awakens our conscious mind to do something different in which it affects our own personality and has a given message behind it. The question is can art really change the society? Through the course of time, art already existed. It existed ever since man learned how to make something from anything around him. Art was already present since the prehistoric times. It was already here when man first carved the first wheel. It was here when man already knew how to make leaves serve as covers for their private parts. It was here when Thomas Edison made his first light bulb. It was here when man made the first car. It was here when man first made a plane. And until now, art is everywhere. The point is everything around us can be considered art if anything expresses something and it is of a particular importance. Art has changed the society. Art has changed the society because art is something that makes man think. It is something that gives ideas or concepts in a more attentive way. It has changed society because man makes use of art in order to convey his message towards another person. In the short film, Mao Zedong was mentioned. Mao Zedong founded the Peoples Republic of China and made the country a communist. It wasnt his poems that made China a communist country but it was his idealism. His idealism was from art. It was from art because his idea came from a literature that made him conceptualize, that communism is good. And because of that art changed China. Before an art can change a society, it must first start with the individual. If the idea of the art gets into the individual then it will be easy for the concept or the message to affect the

society. It is true that no poem ever stopped a tank literally. In the superficial level, art could never stop something as huge as a tank. But if we look deeper into it, perhaps it could. It could because the idea or concept given by art will never fade because art is full of symbols. When symbols are present, what we really emphasize is the meaning of that particular symbol. It is just like when we are looking at a traffic sign. When we look at a traffic sign what we instantly think is the meaning of that particular sign and not how good the sign is. Art is everywhere. It is not only limited to the traditional perception that art can only be found on paintings, sculptures, music and literatures. It is found everywhere and because of that it has changed our society. It has changed our ways of communication, means of transportation and the progress of our society. The uniqueness of an art is not based on how it is made. An arts uniqueness is based on how it captures our awareness and our minds. Because it captures our minds, art is important in our everyday lives. We should learn to appreciate art because it is found everywhere. We should give importance to it because its meaning and symbolism does not fade.