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The
Twentieth Century: Arts and the Media
The
twentieth century is a great age of
modernism, which brought tremendous
change in the society. Industrialism,
urbanization, demographic explosion,
development of mass communication, advance
state of science and technology have
radically changed the attitude of human
beings. The so-called tradition is sacked
by different innovations in 20th century.
People of twentieth century have already
experienced two devastating world wars
which brought great destruction and
havoc in the world. Due to the frequent
wars, and the destructive activities;
people's psyche is shaped by fear of
third world war. The sense of humanity,
morality religiosity all are gone from
the society, now mores are replaced
by money, mere anarchy is defused everywhere.
Around the above mentioned atmosphere
people are fated to live life. Since
art is the true replica of the society,
therefore, twentieth century art captures
those realities.
The
greatest artists Picasso and
Baroque have helped
us to see what is happening to our lives
and what may occur in the future. Picasso
in his painting "Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon" has shown distorted
female figures unlike traditional paintings
about female by applying cubism, modern
movement in painting. Similarly, in
his world famous painting "Guernica"
we find the horror picture of Spanish
civil war and its aftermath. Braque
also painted capturing the displeasing
scenario of modern life by using different
colors without any systemeticity to
reinforce the chaotic atmosphere of
twentieth century. He also applied cubism
in his paintings.
Pollock, an
American artist painted an expressionistic
symbolic style. Similarly Rothko, in
his works relied chiefly on color and
ambiguous boundaries on rectangular
forms to create a range of mood. He
mainly painted recognizable subjects
including city scenes full of chaos.
He also brought theme from myths and
set it in modern scenario so as to bring
home that there is no different between
the destructive activities found in
myth and modern society.
The 20th century has seen a revolution
in architecture almost as radical and
far reaching as the revolution in painting
and the sculpture. It has not only affected
individual building but also changed
the look and the very idea of the city.
Le Corbusier is often considered as
the most important architect of 1900s.
He showed his mastery of designing a
series of houses during the 1920s.
During the
1930s and 40s he built few buildings.
His interest in city planning became
dominant. He proposed the demolition
of urban areas and their rebuilding
according to his own ideas on planning
and architecture. His major achievement
in city planning was his plan and design
for the principal buildings of a new
city of Chandigarh, India in the 1950s.In
the field of literature also we find
the sordid reality of modern life. The
degenerated life of modern people is
shown in the masterpiece of T.S Eliot
'The Waste Land'. This is the poem where
the poet is trying to show how the modern
people are hankering after material
comfort at the cost of having sense
of religiosity. Modern people are also
sexually perverted disregarding bright
side of life.
Another literary
figure of 20th century is W.B. Yeats
who through his poetry has done operation
of 20th century, full of war and destruction.
In his famous poem, 'The second coming',
W.B Yeats has shown the chaotic and
destructive scenario of life where only
anarchy can be found. The place of religion
has been occupied by war and destruction
in the 20th century. As he says:
"Turning and turning in the widening
gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart, the centre cannot
hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world".
Since the psyche
of 20th century people is affected by
mass killings and destruction brought
out by wars, they began to be disenchanted
towards life. A sort of existential
problem has come. What is life? How
can it be fruitful? And such so many
questions started being raised among
people. Such existential problem is
shown by Sarnuel Backett in his famous
play 'The Waiting for Godot'. In the
play, two characters Estrogen and Vladimir
wait Godot but that Godot never comes
in their life. Here, Godot may be anything.
It is the fate of every human being
that they are waiting their own godot
but they die before meeting with so
- called Godot.
The problem
created by colonialism is also discussed
by writers during 20th century. In the
last phase of 20th century, almost every
country got freedom from the grip of
colonization. But still the problem
of culture, language and behavior can
be found. Such problem and misunderstanding
between two cultures are shown in E.M
Froster in his famous novel, 'A Passage
to India' misunderstanding between English
and Indian is discussed there.
Mass
Media and Education
In the 20th
century, the press, radio and television
are very important things which focus
the attention on certain personalities
and issues, and many people subsequently
form opinions about these issues. Now
because of the development of mass media
life style of people has dramatically
changed in comparison to earlier ages.
Since about 1920 the growth and apparent
influence of communications technology
have attracted the attention of many
specialists who have attempted to isolate
communication as a specific facet of
their particular interest.
For
instance
1. Psychologists: useful
of communication for their investigation
of person's mind.
2.
Social scientists: they have
identified various forms of communication
by which myths, styles of living, mores
and tradition are passed either from
generation to generation or from one
segment of society to another.
3.
Political scientist and economists:
They have recognized that communication
of many types lies at the heart of the
regularities in the social order.
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