Artists know how much of an influence they have on their spectators, and so they like to bring up important world issues even to their audience members who are at the ripe age of… 5 years old? That’s right, sometimes even younger. Social class distinctions play a role in just about EVERY piece of artwork. Sometimes the class structures are shown explicitly, such as in Robin Hood, where children from a young age learn that the rich guys? They’re evil sadists who take money from the poor and sit in their castles all day counting their gold. While the poor people? They’re honest and humble hard working citizens who just need a hero like Robin to get back their money for them. Who knew that stealing and committing crimes would be such a fantastic idea!?
Other times, a piece of art can suggest the distinctions of class more implicitly, such as in Jean-Baptiste Greuze’ Portrait of a young peasant girl. Although the title clearly labels the girl as a peasant, her smile captures the piece of art and makes the viewer grow fond of her; and as her ragged clothes, dirty face and tired eyes slowly make their way into our view, emotions of anger and sadness as well as questions as to why she is so poor takes over. What heartless animals would let this happen to this precious little girl?
Whether art is depicting class distinction in the explicit view or the implicit one, I found that there are generally two themes that aritsts choose from when reinforcing class structures. The first theme is that the people with less money are the hardworking innocent ones who can’t seem to catch a break, while the rich people are selfish and greedy thieves that will stop at nothing to make more money. This is greatly portrayed in the movie Wall Street, where Charlie Sheen’s character Bud Fox devotes his life to getting out of the never-ending cycle of being a middle class citizen. Oliver Stone creates many contrasts through out the movie that compare the middle and upper classes, such as the unorganized and messy one bedroom apartment that Bud lived in versus his designed multi milli
on dollar condo that had a beautiful view, as well as his crowded cubicle in comparison to the rich businessman Gordon Gekko’s spacious and beautiful office. Just when you think Stone couldn’t make his view any more clear, he adds a scene where a man in a suit and tie is standing next to a homeless man. Stone’s film very obviously emphasizes class structure, and his choice of making the rich guy a villain and Bud’s father Carl, an old caring father who works hard in his blue collar job, the middle class man, appeals to a middle class audience, and greater reinforces the idea driven into our minds as children when we watched Robin Hood over and over again.
The second theme makes Robin Hood the “bad guy”. The artist presents the poor as dangerous criminals with no morals, and was strongly portrayed in Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver. Filled with prostitutes, pornography and murder, the film compared the lower, middle and upper classes, making the lower class look like an abomination in comparison to the people in the middle and upper classes who are doing bigger and better things and have their lives together. It is clear that the poor are stuck in a vicious cycle as the movies main character, Travis Bickle, becomes mentally worse though out the film, and when things seem to be going up as he meets Betsy, a middle class citizen, it does not last long and Travis plunges time after time into new all time lows; becoming a murderer and attempting to assassin the upper class man in the film, Presidential Candidate Palantine.
Class is an inevitable structure in everyday life and as art is a representation and part of the culture of a society, class distinctions and even a lack of class distinctions in a piece of artwork express the ideas and opinions of the artist. As a young girl I’ve always said I’d wish I’d have a job where I could be influential to a large group of people (now I’m going for speech pathology so I guess that didn’t exactly work out), but since the artists of the past and the present did get that chance of being an influence, they’re using that power to talk about serious global affairs, even if their audience are 5 year old kids.
