Retour

Axe d’étude 1 : Art et contestation

🎲 Quiz GRATUIT

📝 Mini-cours GRATUIT

Art as a form of protest

Works of art can be acts of defiance and used as a form of protest. Most artists question the way things are but some artists also see themselves as activists whose role is to bring about change. Art can thus be used to raise awareness of social or political problems and spark a debate. Protest artists include writers, painters, photographers, film makers, singers and musicians. 

For example, The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by J. Steinbeck is often described as a "novel of social protest". The novel, set during the Depression, tells the heart wrenching story of a family of migrant agricultural workers who are forced to leave Oklahoma for California. 

During the 60s, protest songs, such as Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind or P. Seeger's Bring Them Home,  were an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement, the counterculture and the opposition to the War in Vietnam. American folk singer Pete Seeger, who rose to fame in the 60s is even described in his New York Times obituary as "a catalyst for social change". 

A street artist like Banksy has drawn attention to the plight of refugees and the absurdity of Brexit among other topics.

British film maker Ken Loach in one of his latest films Sorry We Missed You denounces the evils of the gig economy

Quotations

"One of the purposes of music is to help you forget your troubles; another, help you learn from your troubles (some do), and, some will help you do something about your troubles." Pete Seeger

"It’s holding a mirror up to the world we live in." Ken Loach said about his films.

"…when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need." J. Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath)


Compare these quotations with what James Joyce wrote about being an artist :

"The artist, like the God of creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails", James Joyce (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man).

What Joyce means is that an artist is, like an indifferent observer, only concerned with his artistic creation.

Vocabulary

  • protest: contestation

  • to question: remettre en question

  • to raise awareness: sensibiliser

  • to spark a debate: déclencher un débat

  • to be set: se dérouler

  • heart wrenching: déchirant

  • to draw attention to: attirer l'attention sur

  • obituary: nécrologie

  • the plight: situation difficile

  • to denounce: dénoncer

  • the evils: abus, fléaux

  • the gig economy: l'ubérisation de l'économie

  • handiwork: ouvrage

  • to pare: couper

📄 Annale PREMIUM

PREMIUM

Sujet d'entraînement corrigé — Spé LLCE Anglais

Nomad+, Le pass illimité vers la réussite 🔥

NOMAD EDUCATION

L’app unique pour réussir !