The Arts in New York City

Most people enjoy living their everyday lives within their comfort zones. Anything out of the ordinary, or anything that will mess with the norms of life is normally avoided. That’s why most people try to avoid controversial topics, they do not want to be exposed to these topics so that they won’t have to think about them.

This is where the artist plays a very important role. If ordinary people aren’t going to think about controversial issues, then someone has to address them right? By creating art that will spark reactions, the artist is creating an environment for a discussion of issues that would normally just be overlooked. For that reason, The Metal Children had the greatest impact on me.

This play by Adam Rapp addressed issues by presenting these issues in such extreme situations. I mean a whole group of teenagers vowing to get pregnant and form their own society to fulfill the “mission”, what is the likelihood of that really occurring? Well you probably wouldn’t have ever thought that something like that could even be a possibility until you read this play. Adam Rapp is able to not only bring up the issue of teen pregnancy in this play, but also is able to bring up the controversial issue of censorship.

In the play, a town has completely banned a school district from reading a book that was written by a young author Tobin. Sound pretty normal. Doesn’t this seem to occur quite often? Don’t schools always pick and choose what their students will be allowed to read? Well the reaction that is shown in this play is certainly not the reaction that we always hear about. This reaction was extreme, to the point where the whole community was divided and acts of violence were occurring. By creating such an extreme situation Adam Rapp is setting the stage for important discussions to arise. How much should a school be able to control what it’s students are and aren’t allowed to read? Is censorship a good idea? Does censorship take away from our freedoms? Are we not allowed to have the right to freedom of speech and expression? What’s next, is society going to try to control our very own opinions too? Well maybe that last question is a little too extreme, but you can see how so many questions can arise after just reading this play. That’s exactly what a good social critic should be able to do. They should be able to create a work of art that will be the source of further discussion. They should highlight the very issues that need to be highlighted.

This piece of artwork further appealed to me most and affected me most because it not only dealt with the very important issue of censorship, but also the topic of teen pregnancy. Once again Adam Rapp presents this controversial topic in such an extreme way. His play doesn’t involve one girl who wants to make a statement and therefore gets pregnant. No, it involves a whole group of girls who do this. This issue so important in society today and this is why I felt as though this artist was most effective as being a social critic because he was able to address and issue that is so common in our generation. His play puts teen pregnancy in the spotlight. This obviously is going to draw some attention to his play. Should teen pregnancy be glorified? Is teen pregnancy still such an important issue today? Should it be something that we’re paying more attention to.

In class when we discussed teen pregnancy and talked about shows such as Teen Mom and 16 and pregnant, I couldn’t help but wonder why such shows would even exist. Were these shows meant to raise awareness? I believe these shows were definitely made with good intentions. These teen mothers wanted to show everyone else how they had made a mistake in their lives, and how they now had to deal with this, and just how difficult it was. They hoped that girls would learn from their mistakes. However as I turn on MTV and see commercials for the new season of 16 and pregnant (/www.mtv.com/shows/16_and_pregnant/season_2/series.jhtml), I can’t help but wonder if this show was meant to get teens to realize that teen pregnancy was very difficult then why would they need to have another season to accomplish this? Shouldn’t they have been able to accomplish this within the first season? Now it’s just becoming a form of entertainment.

So in the end an artist can have a great impact as a social critic. The artist’s work is what stirs up such controversial discussions. We need artists to expose us to these controversial issues so that we can talk about them. Adam Rapp, through his extreme situations in his play the Metal Children was able to do an exceptional job in putting the spotlight on two very controversial issues, censorship and teen pregnancy. While I was reading his play I felt myself getting outraged by many of the things I was reading. This is when I knew that Adam Rapp had achieved his task.

Art is something that I felt was there for pure self-expression and entertainment. I really never looked at art as something that could be used to critique societies customs and traditions. However, reading and watching various pieces of art throughout this semester (so far) has made me realize art can be used for something meaningful and important.

I think the piece of art that has affected me most was the piece by Andy Warhol where he takes a bunch of pictures of celebrities and showcase their lifestyle. I feel affected by this the most because I believe strongly that our society is too influenced by media in all forms. Therefore, I think its important for at least one person to show and reveal how celebrities live and that they are just normal people like the rest of us. Additionally, kids, teens, and even some adults practically worship these people that come on television and movies and are influenced by their actions as well. Many people don’t stop and research issues on their own but instead believe what they are told on television, radio, etc because that is their only source of information. I think that this is especially true in today’s world and is also kind of sad. We should all be responsible enough to find out and research various issues by our own means and shouldn’t rely on someone else’s opinion.

Andy Warhol does a great job in portraying the lifestyle of all these celebrities and the essence of their lives. As soon as I walked in the room I felt like I was there with Warhol, meeting all those people. It was nice to observe and even be apart of. An artist as a social critic is a very important role that I believe should be part of some piece of all artists. This piece that portrayed the glamorous life of a celebrity showed a good side but also critiqued it in its own way. All the celebrities together were overwhelming to look at and this illustrated the pressures that this sort of life can have. This pressure is portrayed in Warhol’s other pieces also but this particular work shows the cause of it.

It’s important for us to be aware of our surroundings and know what is going on. Many times something may look good but isn’t or vice versa. It is everyone’s responsibility to know what’s happening and find the resources that will allow him or her to know this information. Warhol does a great job in portraying a lifestyle that we all want to achieve and bring this idea back to earth. Looking at his piece and others I realized art doesn’t just have to be present for entertainment like I previously thought. Art as a form of social critique is present everywhere if you look and this is has been and will be an important aspect of society. I think that Warhol’s message in this piece is a strong one and deserves some credit. =)