The first passage “Better Living Through Criticism” resonated with me because I have been doing reflection often about how I view forms of art such as photos, movies, and music. While I’ve been compiling my essays to submit to film school I can’t just merely say I like a film, but I need to be able to articulate why. AO Scott talked about how aging results in more varied tastes and growth in general in how the average person consumes art, and I couldn’t agree more. Recently, I have been trying to grow in my music taste and discover new and revisit old records. I found my tastes have grown out of many mainstream rap and pop albums, but some more mature cuts stood out to me in ways they never could have when I was younger. Experimental and avant garde records I deemed “noise pollution” in the way they used unorthodox sounds to create melodies and beats are now some of my favorite music to listen to as I can appreciate the artistry applied in new ways. Many of these new experimental records I listen to are not widely listened to and accepted by a mainstream audience, but just as Scott talks about not all popular pieces equal quality and vice versa. Beauty can be found in other ways than simply popular outlets taking risks to find art that highlights beauty in unorthodox ways can create an individual taste. Scotts words stood out to me as his descriptions of criticism, beauty, and individuality put into words the journey of discovery I have set out on in finding art over the past couple months. Now in the future, I will be able to apply his philosophy and understand what I am doing better.
The main idea that stands out to me from my journal pages is about the journey to find beauty in an individual path. The ability to be self aware of criticism and every step of enjoying and being moved by a piece of art is a centerpiece of the quotes I collected from Scott’s writings. Authority also ties into the search as one person should not always look to a higher power to find the “right” answers in criticism. Likewise, the notes on the Louvre point out that even when we don’t realize it, authority can be molding and emphasizing certain forms of art before our eyes. Accepting and coming to terms that what we see in acclaimed museums as the “proper” forms of art defeats the journey of self-discovering that comes with reading in and evaluating for yourself what you see in each piece. Finding one’s own examples and reasons are more important. All of these notes lead me to believe that in the upcoming year, AP Lit will be based on looking inward when reflecting on a piece and asking ourselves “why does this speak out to me?” instead of merely focusing on what the work is saying on a surface level. Diving deeper into text and finding our own feelings and tastes towards pieces of literature will help the class and ourselves grow over the upcoming year.
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March 2020
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