Awake My Soul

You know what I love about art? There's no right or wrong to it. There's no one piece of art that is completely 'right', nor is there one piece that is completely 'wrong'. It all comes down entirely to the individual's own personal view. I think art is the only thing that is like this, where there are no boundaries or guidelines to it, it can be anything and everything. 'Art' of course is a very broad term, it can mean and relate to any number of things, like music, photography, paintings sculptures, hell, anything creative really. It, to me, is a very powerful medium, due to the fact that there isn't, like I said before, any right or wrong way to 'do' art. It is, in essence, an expression from the mind of its creator.

A true work of art? Or the work of a baboon with sticks and mud? It doesn't matter.

The fact that there is no real right or wrong to art also to me means that there is no way to judge any form of art, or to criticise it. And this applies to all mediums of art. You can't really criticise someone's view on art, because there are no guidelines to it, so how can one person's view be 'wrong'? And how can you be right? This particularly irks me when someone I know has a go at my taste in music. When anyone has a go at anyone's taste in music, really. Music is a form of expression and emotion, and just like art, there are no guidelines, boundaries or rules for it. There's no criteria for a song to be good or not, it is completely up to each listener and how they will relate and react to the song that defines whether or not they like the song/band. There is no set correct or incorrect viewpoint. So no one can be criticised for their taste in music, because they have simply related to it in a different way than someone else.

I also personally don't see the point of movie critics. I mean really, this is a paid job? To 'judge' whether a movie/tv show/whatever is 'good' or not? Who the hell are they to assume that their own personal opinion is somehow representative of a number of people - or even more heinous - worth more than some 'commoners' view? I find that laughable. I pretty much completely disregard the opinions and 'reviews' by professional critics, because to me, they are still just the opinion of one person, and therefore not infallible, and in no way worth more than the opinion of one of my friends or someone I know. People who decide to watch a movie or TV show based solely on the opinion of one of these professionals to me, are sheep. Get out there and decide for yourself, you'll be better off.

This whole 'no right or wrong for art' thing does have the effect of a double-edged sword though. It also means that Justin Bieber's (spelt correctly? I really don't care)... *cough* music is also 'good' to people. Mainly 12 year old girls, but still. People out there do think that musicians and artists like this (where there is a general consesus from the public at large that these people suck), have a lot of talent and deserve to be heard. I'd be shooting myself in the foot to rag on the Bieb after what I've just written in this post, so I'll just say "Whatever. To each their own." If it's good to a certain group or demographic, good. Carry on, good sirs. Just don't blast it in public areas where a lot of people can hear it against their will.

I'll tie in my next post into this one. It'll sort of be a 'twofer', but I don't have the time right now to fully do it justice, so it shall be seperate.

Good day, sirs and madams.

Awake My Soul
Mumford & Sons
Sigh No More, 2009