Opera houses are closing all over the world. Audiences are becoming increasingly smaller (and older). There is also a certain stigma surrounding opera, possibly because it is now considered somewhat elitist. Opera has been around since 1597; is it possible that this art form is no longer relevant? Is it doomed to die out entirely?
I don't know of any sort of stigma attached to opera per se, but this may be something that is demonstrable. Also, you may wish to look at the emergence of atonal music, and see if you could find any correlation - there may not be, but I think it is an avenue worth investigating. – JDJankowski9 years ago
Most opera is tonal, actually, especially the ones performed regularly in major opera houses. It might be worth a look, though! However, it is possible that the average ear is no longer used to complex harmonies or vocal acrobatics in music, which could be why people are less interested. Perhaps it also has to do with attention span; popular songs are usually around three minutes... is three hours just too long for a modern audience?
I personally find that there is a significant stigma surrounding opera. Most people assume that it's terrible without ever having listened to it or seeing one. It seems that it's not "cool" to like opera. In my music history class, we discussed that classical music and opera is now considered somewhat classist and elitist. Perhaps this is because people seem to dress up to go, listen politely and wait their turn to clap (instead of the general freedom of audience reaction in a rock concert, for example), and often pay large amounts of money to go. That's not even considering things like lavish sets/costumes and the years of training and discipline that the performers must have to reach a level where they can perform in an opera or symphony. I'd be curious to read an article about this! – Laura Jones9 years ago
Opera goes through periods of popularity and non-popularity. Take Thatcher's Britain, for example, where high art was very "in" and other forms of performance such as musical theatre sought to mimic opera (les mis, phantom of the opera, and other "pop-eras") In writing this article, one would benefit from talking about where opera has been and the circumstances under which it was popular in order to unlock its future. I, for one, guarantee, it will not die in our lifetime. – Cmandra9 years ago
I agree with Cmandra. The overlap between certain musical theatre and opera is interesting. Why is Le Miserables so popular but Carmen is not? – Peter Prevos7 years ago
Does the content suffer or is it made better for it?
For the most part, creator's politics can bad effect their reputation, but It would not necessarily ruin the reputation of their books. The writer of Ender Game is very public on how much of a homophobe he is, But yet Ender's Game is still a great book, it is just unfortunate it was written by someone with old fashion politics. – Aaron Hatch9 years ago
Another helpful note would be discussing how politics are integral to our lives, and how authors/creators are as a result necessarily tied to certain elements of politics - to reach into Rachel's comment of what this could mean thenceforth – kathleensumpton9 years ago
You might consider whether it's morally acceptable to enjoy an artist's work (and support them by buying their art) if we disagree with them personally. For example, Woody Allen has made many well-loved movies, but he was accused of sexually assaulting his adopted daughter when she was a child. In this case, do Allen's films stand apart from his character, or should they be boycotted? Although there's not much cross-over in this particular instance, there can be a lot of cross-over between moral issues and political issues, so it might be interesting to discuss the moral aspect of politics. – Ali Van Houten9 years ago
Great title, interesting question, yet I would definitely like to hear more. I feel as though this is the slightest of introductions and I would love to see how you elaborate on the topic to get the rest of us thinking. For example, when coming up with this topic, was there a particular work or creator you have in mind? Are you referring to implicit or explicit political renderings in a work? Add some more to this since it is your idea and it would be great if you could read someone's article answering the questions you are interested in. Just a few more points, and this would be a powerful topic, leading to an excellent article. – danielle5779 years ago
This is a tough one. Some would argue that art and politics are very closely tied. A lot of literature today has underlying political themes. Basically any dystopia book is political in nature. It's trying to show you what happens if we believe in some sort of political construct or idea. I guess I'd be somewhere in the middle. If the political issue is central to the plot, well obviously keep it in. If the political issue brings nothing to the piece of art, then it's probably only going to alienate audience members for no reason. – Tatijana9 years ago
It depends on if the politics in the artwork deter the viewer from what the artist is trying to express. The content of the work can suffer because the viewer might concentrate more on the politics instead of the artwork itself. – CamilliaMaye9 years ago
While women have made great strides in the literary world, they are still coming up short when it comes to winning the prestigious literary prizes such as the Nobel Prize, the Man Booker Prize, and the Pulitzer. Of course the historical context comes into play when tracing the history of the Nobel Prize, but I don't think that same excuse can be made for the Booker and the Pulitzer; both prizes have had an astounding number of male winners since the year 2000. Is this a deep rooted cultural bias? Is this a reflection of the judges? Are the groups of judges made up equally of male/female judges? For example, the Swedish Academy which is the body responsible for picking the Nobel winner is made up of mostly men. Are men just better writers? That last question is loaded with sarcasm but still a question to be asked when looking at this trend in the literary prize atmosphere.
One idea could be to look at the context of literature written by female authors who have been shortlisted for the Nobel Prize. Are they dealing with themes which might be controversial and provocative? – Ryan Errington9 years ago
Are you thinking of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction or poetry? For fiction, since 2000, there have been six female winners and nine male winners (no one won in 2012). For poetry, since 2000, there have been six female winners and eleven male winners. For the Nobel Prize in literature there have been five female winners and ten male winners since 2000. – JLaurenceCohen9 years ago
I have never thought about this issue before and would be extremely interested to read about it. Perhaps explore the general bias readers have when reading a female's work as opposed to a male's work...for instance how some female writers opt to use a pen name to prevent this bias. – moespaulding9 years ago
The Australian metalcore band has released several albums over the past decade, notably "Chasing Ghosts" and "Let the Ocean Take Me". In both of these albums, many of their lyrics directly reference rivers, oceans, drowning, storms and sandy beaches. The usage of these themes are reminiscent of the storms of Shakespeare's "King Lear" and "The Tempest". Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of water-related imagery in The Amity Affliction's lyrics. Maybe other bands also use this theme in their lyrics, compare and contrast other artists/bands with The Amity Affliction in that sense and analyze the different effects this imagery has on the listener.
There has been much debate about the representation of Africa (past and present) in popular culture; specifically, in the music and film industries. For example, in Taylor Swift's music video for her song "Wildest Dreams," set in colonial Africa, the representation of Africa is directly through the lens of white Western lives. The trope of white colonial romance in Africa is a main element of the music video.
Why is popular culture so invested in this theme of white colonial romance in Africa and how does this perpetuate racist stereotypes in the media today? How does hollywood and popular culture's celebration of white colonial privilege promote racist stereotypes and silence African agency and voice?
I think you have already hit a key element in this topic when it comes to promoting racist stereotypes and silencing the African voice - representing Africa through the lens of white Western lives. So long as Africa and Africans continue to be represented through a white lens, stereotypes will continue to perpetuate and African voices will only be overshadowed by the white ones. This goes all the way back to Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness," if not further, to today's "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. Only when the African voice can represent itself, like amazing Harlem writers like Zora Neale Hurston try, will it resonate over white privilege. This is a fascinating subject. Good luck! – selysrivera9 years ago
Sampling has always been a big controversy in the music industry, especially since the emergence of hip-hop and electronic music. Numerous legal actions by the original artists have been taken over the music where their music is sampled. Is it a legitimate technique in creating music, or is it ripping off another artist's composition?
It might be worth mentioning the length of the sample. To my understanding when copyright comes into play the amount of the music sampled is important. This is an interesting topic. I would update the title so the first letter of words is capitalized. – Jordan9 years ago
One weird instance of this I've found in a few rap songs are samples of a Japanese Jazz artist named Yuji Ohno, who's written and composed music for a popular anime series since the late 1970s. I've found 3 distinct rap songs that use samples of his music as the base track and part of the percussion. And I'm assuming these artists used his music perhaps because their usage of it would not easily get back to Mr. Ohno's record label in reference to the unlicensed use of the songs. I'm also not sure how these rap artists even got a hold of Yuji Ohno's music in the first place, since I had to know about the guy before I could find out how to buy his music, and then I had to import it all directly from Japan on either CD's or Vinyl. So it's not really all that easy to find or hear his music, and especially not in the late 90s or early 2000s when these rap songs were made. Jazz from the 70s also seems to be the big thing to use in a lot of rap if samples are involved, at least if you want to hide your samples as much as possible. Many of those songs can be really indistinguishable from each other. – Jonathan Leiter9 years ago
Tough one. I believe basically almost everything is creation. But it would be hard for me to say the original artist shouldn't have rights to their original work. But at a basic level, I think that breathing new life into an old sound or idea is art in and of itself. – Tatijana9 years ago
I think that sampling music can add interesting nuances to a song, and I'm actually a fan of it in hip hop and rap, which constitute the basis of my familiarity with sampling. In addition to contributing to the creation of a multi-faceted and nuanced work, I think sampling also has the potential to breath new life into songs that have transitioned out of contemporary culture as products of a different social milieu. As a result of looking into songs that are sampled in the work of Kanye West (to name one artist in particular), I feel like I've been able to rediscover songs that otherwise would have been lost to me. I also feel that sampling can add complexity to the song if we think of it as an influence upon the work of the artist who incorporated the sample. – csheehan9 years ago
Discuss and analyse the rise of makeup culture, particularly among millennials and within the past decade, through a feminist lens. Women at this time can be daring or unconventional with their cosmetics or embrace a natural, "no makeup" look, but both fall under a new movement of body positivity. This new makeup culture rejects the idea of covering up in favor of flattering the wearer and experimenting with standards of beauty. Have women reclaimed cosmetics that were designed to make them "look more beautiful" and re-positioned the industry to celebrate their ability to manipulate beauty and the ways in which society perceives them?
I think something you should absolutely mention is the insane popularity and mass amounts of "beauty gurus" on YouTube, and how that effects how makeup is almost idolized and thought of as a necessity-- a bare face is seen as negative and these companies benefit. – madistyle949 years ago
Additionally, there are add campaigns that sell make-up that ironically, is suppose to make you look like you are not wearing make-up. These predatory industries will use whatever tactic they can to sell their chemicals. This could be another avenue to include in the article. – Venus Echos9 years ago
Something else to consider is the psychological effect the makeup fads, advertising, and the pressure from social media has on girls, young ladies, and women. How often do we check our reflections? What standards are we trying to live up to? Who set those standards? You could also compare and contrast the "I need makeup to make me look beautiful" vs. "I use makeup as a form of self-expression" mentalities. – Megan Finsel9 years ago
It would probably be worth it to mention the movements push back from people with opposing viewpoints. Also, if going in the YouTube beauty guru direction, mention the hate/bullying comments that some of those channels receive. – Austin Bender9 years ago
There's an Instagram star Essene O'Neill (age 20) who blasted social media for making her appearance-obsessed and shut down her IG despite it making her thousands every month. This development is recent (past week or so). Her Instagram is gone, but there have been many news stories on the subject. Also, there's a trend of celebrities going "bare faced." Demi Lovato did a cover of Vanity Fair recently. Personally, I found that depressing rather than liberating. Lovato is young and has flawless skin. – cleopold9 years ago
Drawing from an extensive multicultural databases and resources, attempt to comprehensively cover multiple aspects of Korean design from fine art and architecture to product and graphic design.
Fantastic topic, it would also be worth considering, talking about Korean performing arts or mentioning what other regions were inspired by older Korean architecture and design. – Austin Bender9 years ago
