The Beauty of Violence : Philosophy Forums

Philosophy Forums » Philosophy of the Arts » The Beauty of Violence » The Beauty of Violence

The Beauty of Violence
On Suffering as an artform

Page: 1 2

The Beauty of Violence

malneyugnfl
Initiate

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Dec 23, 2005
Location: Orlando, Florida

Total Topics: 2
Total Posts: 17

Posted 09/21/09 - 06:45 PM: Subject: The Beauty of Violence	#1
Violence can be both emotional and/or physical. It is everywhere in art. In paintings, in poetry, in novels, in movies. What is so attractive about violence towards another human being? Why is it celebrated in art, literature, film, and video games? Is there a certain type of beauty in such "vulgar" things? And if there is, explain?!

Schlitz
Hulkamaniac

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Feb 09, 2009
Location: Home of the Cougar, Illinois

Total Topics: 3
Total Posts: 232

1 of 1 people found this post helpful Posted 09/21/09 - 09:15 PM:	#2
You are failing to make an important distinction between "commands my attention" and "is beautiful," and if you genuinely find violence towards other human beings attractive, I suggest you find a good psychologist, soon.

bert1
Graduate

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Dec 11, 2007
Location: Morecambe, UK

Total Topics: 9
Total Posts: 237

Posted 09/21/09 - 10:33 PM:	#3
I think there is joy to be found in the exercise of arbitrary power without regard for consequences, while accepting that there will be consequences. Violence motivated not by fear or hatred but by self-expression, the sweeping aside of obstacles, the "laughter in slaughter". With this naturally comes an acceptance that one may also be killed in turn by a higher power, and there is perhaps joy in the submission to that too. There is security in fearlessness. I also think violence is a subject of art, in particular tragic art, because physical violence is often the result of failure to relate harmoniously. Conversely, reconciliation can also be the result of violence (not necessarily physical violence). Conflict and resolution is the stuff of art because it is what preoccupies us in life. We progress (become more functional) when we break down or transcend barriers (differences) within ourselves and between ourselves and others. Violence, or the will to overcome difference, is an essential part of that, I think. And it can be an attractive quality in a functional, well-controlled person. Just as it is a repellent quality when it manifests in physical acts of violence because of a failure to assimilate difference.
"Like a ungroomed dog in which the desired look is it’s long hair but it has been so unattended to, that combing is impractical, and it might be better if the hair was cut and attended to as it grows back." d_martin

Desidude666
Assistant Professor

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Jun 17, 2007
Location: Singapore

Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 334

Posted 09/21/09 - 11:18 PM:	#4
malneyugnfl wrote: Violence can be both emotional and/or physical. It is everywhere in art. In paintings, in poetry, in novels, in movies. What is so attractive about violence towards another human being? Why is it celebrated in art, literature, film, and video games? Is there a certain type of beauty in such "vulgar" things? And if there is, explain?! Explicit pictures and nudity are often portrayed in art as artistic. There were works of art of abused children I once saw somewhere. These art forms were political statements, so it all depends on what you project in your work. If you project violence as destructive, you might be accepted and your projection be admired. However, should you, say, project violence as appropriate then it depends on your own audience, society in general might reject it from the mainstream. I don't think artists like Giger have been commended for their work, but recognition exists. Some people find his work 'beautiful', I don't but it is 'popular'. I think it's important taht you project the message society is receptive of, if not, it's not 'beauty'. What good a beauty that no one adores?
What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven. - Ludwig van Beethoven

rutherfordrock
Initiate

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Sep 23, 2009

Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 1

Posted 09/23/09 - 09:50 PM:	#5
Violence in art can be recognized from a variety of different perspectives. My suggestion is generally that modern art uses violence as a means of effectiveness. Perhaps the best examples of this being the Dadaists. But then there is what I refer to as directly violent art (that is, art that features physical violence as its subject matter), which uses the same logic to establish a dialectic on the problem of human suffering. My favorite example of directly violent art evoking a sense of beauty is in Gerhard Richter's homage to the Red Army Faction, a series entitled 18 Oktober 1977 (1988). My perspective is generally one of psychoanalysis, specifically modeled on the establishment of the collective/individual dialectic. By presenting audiences with violence done to another human being, these works are able to negate cultural understandings of violence by placing it in the reality of the individual. This recognition pushes viewers to a sense of compassion that might otherwise not be acknowledged, and in this compassion lies the beauty of the work. My thesis was written on this subject, although summarizing my work has always been a weakness. I was quite influenced by the writings of Georges Bataille, specifically a section from The Tears of Eros on an image of a man undergoing Leng-t'che, a form of torture often referred to as death by a thousand cuts.

wittge

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Aug 15, 2009
Location: Athens, where philosophy was born

Total Topics: 1
Total Posts: 19

Posted 09/23/09 - 11:51 PM:	#6
Do not forget that violence is a primitive instict that modern man tries to restrict in his ordinary life as much as possible. Man was a hunter some thousand years ago and killed animals to feed himself and survive. Nowadays, the majority of men haven't killed an animal in their entire life. Wars have altered too. After the second world war there hasn't been a generalized slaughter of millions of people. My point is that man's instict of violence doesn't have a ground to be expressed other than art in most cases. Otherwise there are serious consequences that nobody can avoid. Violence is "beautiful" because it is something in our DNA, that society doesn't allow us to do without consequences, which finally hold us back. But it is still there...
"Nothing to be done" - from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

ciceronianus
Tenured Poster

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Sep 20, 2008
Location: USA

Total Topics: 11
Total Posts: 1021

Last Blog: Trials in which "Failure is not an option"

Posted 09/24/09 - 09:40 AM:	#7
We're a violent species. I doubt there's any "beauty" to it, but as its in our nature, it's naturally in our art.
"Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts."--C.S. Peirce "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it."--Marcus Tullius Cicero "Philosophy recovers itself when it ceases to be a device for dealing with the problems of philosophers and becomes a method, cultivated by philosophers, for dealing with the problems of men."--John Dewey

Wosret
Tetsugaku no mongaikan

Usergroup: Sponsors
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Location: Nova Scotia Canada

Total Topics: 14
Total Posts: 2874

Posted 09/24/09 - 12:20 PM:	#8
I absolutely love fictional violence. I'm a vegan in actuality, and am pretty well anti-violence in almost every real world situation, or circumstance -- but I'd do just about anything in a video game (I was unable to bring myself to kill the little girls in bioshock for the alternative ending though...), and the beauty and elegance of a skilled sword fight, or action sequence, or martial arts display, leaves me in ecstasy. I think that as a species, we have a blood lust about us that I think is satisfied by our violent simulations, and fictions. Should I like gore and violence? I don't know. Does it affect my behavior, or in anyway desensitize me to real world violence and suffering? I don't think even in the minutest of amounts. Think I'll go watch some violent AMVs (like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFUvI8sFyrI&feature=channel_page ), and let the endorphins flow. Goku: "Hey! What's your problem?" Freiza: "Well, basically I'm trying to kill you." Edited by Wosret on 09/26/09 - 04:36 AM
"If you've got any last words, say 'em now." - Nadie. "I am Horo the Wise." - Horo the Wise.

Nihilistic Locomotive
Coprophagic coprophobic

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Nov 27, 2003

Total Topics: 61
Total Posts: 1692

Posted 09/24/09 - 12:23 PM:	#9
Violence is done from the desire for beauty. Here we can lift up beauty as the aesthetic end all goal of everyone's life and a manifestation of human will: the force behind continuity. If that which we desire requires killing, as just a step in the process of life, then we might as well reconcile the deed to other pleasantries. The pig farm and the chicken coup are beautiful in a sad way. There have also been societies were humans willing gave up their lives in tremendously beautiful ritualistic displays.
Pseudophilosophy is a blessed art not to be taken seriously but to be enjoyed deeply.

Hamandcheese
Ham of state

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Mar 05, 2007
Location: Canada

Total Topics: 3
Total Posts: 128

Posted 09/24/09 - 12:54 PM:	#10
Art is based on discord. Stories require conflict, a reversal of fortune or some kind of drama to keep our intention. No one would read a book about how everyone is happy and nothing bad ever happens. Visual art isn't any different. Happy paintings of scenery are trademark kitsch according to even the minimally sophisticated connoisseur. Its also no mistake that the best art is often activist. Violence is just hyperbole.
theham88@gmail.com

Page: 1 2

Sorry, you don't have permission to post. Log in, or register if you haven't yet.