Directed Entry: Art Shaping Reality

Greuze's "Beloved Mother" is an example of art not reflecting reality but instead being used to construct a new reality. Give an example of visual culture used in that way today. What does this imply about the power of art; what does it imply about society; and what does it imply about us as consumers of art?


An example of visual culture being used in an attempt to construct a new reality is one that was mentioned in class on Wednesday: the various military ads used to promote enlistment into the armed forces. These ads are mostly targeted to young high-school graduates, exalting the benefits of joining the army. The benefits are not bad things in themselves--leadership, money for college, learning a skill, a chance to see different parts of the world--but in all cases the ads completely fail to mention the much more weighty negatives associated with being exposed to death on an almost daily basis. Obviously if the ads were to say something along the lines of "Join the Army! You'll learn a cool skill that can be applied to general society, but be so messed up after your tour of Iraq that you'll never be able to put it to use!", it's certain their enlistment rate would see a drop in numbers.
The thing is though, most people do know these things. They know joining the military right now, when your chances of being deployed to an area in turmoil are very high, is probably not the best idea, but they do it anyway. In this sense I don't believe the visual material is in itself shaping reality, but letting people justify in their minds a decision they were going to make anyway (or in some cases a decision that through life circumstance was made for them, but that's a whole different rant). Our Western society is shaped by guilt, constantly in need of a paternal figure approving our actions; we have a need to feel that we are always doing "good" and are in the "right" when acting on decisions. And if our art and visual culture reflect this, we can be content in making choices that we know (whether subconsciously or not) will eventually lead to disaster, because it has been sanctioned by our leadership.
What this implies about us as consumers of art is while we know what the reality of a situation is, we still desire the fantasy--in some cases we want to be lied to. It makes it easier to justify our actions, it makes it easier to see ourselves as martyrs and saviors; it makes it easier to wake up in the morning and shut out all of the unpleasant or inconvenient situations in the world and be content with our own existence. Sometimes people need that separation between self and reality, because if one spent all their time dwelling on the reality of humanity they'd go crazy from remorse. I don't think that in any way justifies the creation of ads such as those used by the Army and armed forces--which intentionally mask the unpleasant parts of the reality of military service--but I understand their motives, why they see it as a necessity for their continued operation, and why some people are easily swayed by this construct of reality.