Thursday, December 30, 2010

Art and its power in propaganda

The beauty of art lies in its abstraction. Artistic finesse can be conjured in cinema, drama, paintings and much more. Though I am not a connoisseur in paintings or drama, quality cinema attracts me. What fascinates me is art’s ability to seduce us to believe in its meaning. Truth is, true art has no meaning from a vantage point. But individually it is interpretable and achieves a degree of semblance that may be coherent to the viewer. Cinema in its winged omnipotence conjures individual acceptance and views. One can have multiple meanings for cinema. If we understand the true meaning of this facet, there are boundless realizations about what cinema can portray and convey. 

Its powers, as one may know, can be used as a tool of propaganda. Such subtle propaganda that it is insinuated in the subconscious mind and is so hard to break. It can stand with vainglorious pride about its propitious potency and destructiveness with equal measures. This quality of abstraction delights and enchants us. To know the many interpretations one can achieve is indeed, pleasantly shocking. Art cannot and should not achieve perfection. Its true recognition is accomplished when the consumer swears by its perfection. When one is convinced of its meaning, and seems to have understood its ramifications, art has achieved its perfection in the eye of the beholder. To me, this is what I would call true propaganda; when one loses meaning between truth and fiction. And no other form than visual paralysis can induce you to believe in fake truth.

~ To Aldous Huxley, after reading Brave New World, and the lost love. Nothing will ever be the same again.

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