1 and 4 represent extremes; 2
and 3 represent intermediate steps between these extremes.
When the word `art' is used
below, it includes ALL art: - music, movies, television, painting, sculpture,
novels, poetry, etc.
Choose
one:
A Great Art: Skill vs.
Inspiration
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
When I see some of the stuff today that's supposed to be `great art', I think, "Anybody could have done that!" Although an artist needs talent, no one is born able to do Great Art; it takes a lot of work. Great Art can only be produced by a person with great skill or learning. |
Imagination should inspire artists, but art is ¼ inspiration and H perspiration. Imagination is important, but great art has to be guided by reason and common sense. |
Great art is produced when artist allow their imagination free reign to the limit of their skill. |
Art is any imaginative expression of the inner person. It is truly great art as long as it is honest. Inspiration is the most important artistic quality; too much `training' merely fixates the artist into the rut in which the art world is already stuck. |
B Art, Society, and the
Individual
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Art should communicate.
In order to do this, the artist must understand and be able to portray
the emotions, values, and beliefs that people share and understand. When an artist has a clear understanding of
what it means to live as a human AND when the artist has the ability to
communicate it, then society will judge that individual to be a great
artist. |
Art should show one person's view of the human
existence. Some great art will appeal
to some people and not to others, but in the greatest art we should all be
able to find something of ourselves. |
Art is the true expression of one person's experience
converted into a form which allows the many (the audience) to understand the
one (the artist). We may not agree
with it, but we should be able to understand it. |
Since great art is the most truthful expression of one
person's experience, it may necessarily take a form that a wide number of
people cannot understand; even great art may not have meaning to any but a
few people beyond the artist. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
`Real-life' is what interests me. I enjoy reading or watching art that is
concerned with real or important people and real or important things. I enjoy movies, television shows, and
stories in which realistic people deal with racism, individual rights,
dysfunctional families, gun control, or drugs. When I read or watch art that does not take
place in our time, I am interested in stories whose characters and issues
clearly represent the issues of our time.
Movies and books that are pure fantasy seem nonsense and a waste of
time to me. |
I mostly enjoy #1 type, but sometimes #4 type. |
I mostly enjoy #4 type, but sometimes #1 type. |
No matter what kind of art I enjoy, I like it because
it allows me to escape the everyday world.
Art with irrational or mysterious elements (ghosts, UFOs, the
paranormal) may interest me; or I am intrigued by the inner workings of the
mind. I like my films to have some
special effects, action, or romance.
“Movies with a message” bore me.
|
D Literature (novel, poetry, and nonfiction)
|
1 |
4 |
|
The greater the literature, the higher, more educated and more beautiful will its language be; the greater the literature, the more serious and important will its subject be. |
Great literature will strive for a simpler, more natural, and more beautiful language; great literature may have any topic. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Before making a major decision, I find out what other people have done. When I know what works and what doesn't, it will save me from making stupid mistakes. It is foolish to blindly plunge forward without even checking to find out what has worked and what hasn't. You'll end up trying to re-solve all the problems that have already been solved. |
Before making a major decision, I seek out people to give me advice. I will keep it in mind as I make my own plans. |
Before making a major decision, I will listen to what people have done if they want to tell me, but I will take it as merely general advice, and then I make my own plans. |
Before making a major decision, I ignore what other people have done; Anything I do within these limits will lack originality, and will never be great; it will only be an imitation of what has already been done. Concentrating on what others have done will only limit my possibilities. I think over the situation well and do what makes sense to me. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Traditions are things that are tried and true and can be relied on. When ideas or methods of doing things have stood the test of time, then we know that they work because things that don’t work have fallen by the wayside. Even when new things are tried, such as space exploration, they are accomplished because they are built on the knowledge that was built up through humanity's long experience. |
While I understand that sometimes completely new ways of doing things succeed, I believe they are few and far between. Most new ways of doing things result in failure. |
While the `tried and true' way is sometimes safer, real success is accomplished by those who strike out in a new direction. |
The only way to burst our restraints and achieve new heights is to try what has never been tried before. Traditions merely limit us to what has already been accomplished. The old ways have to pass into history - which is where they belong. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
Real life IS society. The important things in life are your connections with other people - a person should be as social as possible. People in solitude are just hiding; they are either withdrawn because of fear and past failures, or they are neglecting their duties to society. |
The most important thing in life is getting along socially, but a person should take some time to themselves. |
I do my best work alone. I enjoy quite a bit of time by myself just reading, listening to music, or whatever, but I also enjoy going out socially, mostly in small groups. |
Society is something I have to do to get along in this world, but I usually don't get a lot out of all the yackety-yack. I am either interested in things that other people aren't into, or I prefer to do them alone or with one other person. |
H Government, Society, and
the Individual
Realizing
that for every decision the government makes some people are going to be
favored and others disfavored, the government should:
|
1 |
4 |
|
Try to achieve whichever result will provide the greatest benefits for the greatest amount of people. When the majority rules, it is as close as we can get to fairness in an imperfect world. The larger portion of people who are happy, the better the government is. |
Look out for the little guy. When the majority rules, the little guy gets hurt. The individual is always more important than the society. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
It is extremely important for a well-rounded person to
keep up with what's going on in the world around them, not only current
events but also cultural affairs such as new music, TV shows, and movies,
celebrity news, etc. People who don't
know about these things are out of touch with society. |
It is very important to keep up with what is going on
in the world, but a person should be able to sift through for the more
important cultural and political affairs.
|
It is seldom important for a person to keep up with
what's going on in the world. Beyond
knowing about those few things that may really affect the individual such as
elections, wars, and such, news etc. is not important. |
The `news' has no effect on a person's life. It is mostly gossip and trivia, and so
keeping up with it is never really important.
|
|
1 |
4 |
|
History is realistically concerned with the great events of the past and how they affect or affected society. This is more clearly understood as more facts come to light and historians develop clearer, more logical interpretations. |
History can never be truly understood. True history is not merely concerned with great events and `important' people, but is concerned with the common individual. Folktale and myth represent the memories and wisdom of the common people. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
I don't DO `the nature scene'. Nature is dirt and bugs and unpleasantness; when it gets paved, then I'll go see it. |
Nature is something I can put up with for limited amounts of time. I recognize its beauty, but I prefer the modern life to anything that nature can provide. |
Nature is something very special, and I occasionally enjoy camping or hiking. |
Nature is beauty, something unmatched by the concrete and smokestacks of human endeavors. I am comfortable in and seek out nature whenever possible. Being in nature has real meaning for me. |
|
1 |
4 |
|
Everything in nature works in a logical and reasonable
way, much of it is merely beyond our present understanding. If only the laws that governed natural
events could be discovered, then all of nature could be understood and used
to benefit humankind. |
Humankind may discover some of the fundamentals of
nature, but the real essence of nature will always remain an
incomprehensible, mysterious, and beautiful thing. |
|
1 |
4 |
|
Reason is the dominant characteristic of humanity and nature. What is reasonable is good. When people are slaves to their emotions, they often wreck their lives. |
The surest guide to truth is intuition, an inner perception that is independent of and superior to reason. A `gut-reaction' often leads a person to the correct answer long before he or she has proof. |