Culture and the Arts

When did it become such that culture influences the portrayal of art? Was there not a time when it was the other way around ... that art was a source of culture, not a reflection of it?

This afternoon, I went to the opera with two fellow seminarians. The music itself was magnificent. The sound of a full orchestra under the skillful direction of a conductor ... the sound of well-trained singers ... it all brought me back to the days as a music major in college. But the stage production and blocking of the actors seemed to communicate a hidden agenda. It seemed as though there was an increased portrayal of sensuality which was more bordered on the erotic. There was a confused depiction of the struggle between good and evil. There was a lack of heroism in the main characters that once inspired audience-goers towards higher ideals. Rather, the production seemed to reflect the prevalent sociological trends of our contemporary society ... one that exalts alternative lifestyles as normative, one that does not promote magnanimity, one that debases the true beauty of women. All this packed into a three hour opera!

I walked away from the opera house a little dejected about the state of the arts in our society. However, I was reminded that the late Pope John Paul II wrote a Letter to Artists in 1999 whereby he exhorts those with artistic gifts to communicate beauty through their medium that connects us with the transcendent Beauty whom we call God! It seems as though this work is highly influenced by a theologian named Has Urs Von Balthsar who has written extensively on the revelation of love as beauty. His voluminous work, Theo-asthetics, is a detailed explanation of how beauty is an analagous encounter with the Triune God.

As soon as I've got some free time on my hands, I'd love to read these! Someday .....