Media and the Arts

By Gianze

On a recent trip to New York I went to see the Broadway show Cats. In the audience sat my peers. Throughout the performance they were disruptive, disrespectful, and just rude. It came to my attention that today's youth is no longer educated on the arts and therefore they do not appreciate it. Why one may ask? Perhaps one reason for this is the influence of television and Hollywood.

In 1933 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers began entertaining the world with their fancy footwork. It was a time that if you could dance and sing you could be a star. The arts took America's audiences captive. The ballet, musicals, operas, and symphonies once had only been for the great kings and nobles. Then came a day that everyone could enjoy them, because they became glamorized in the movies. There where many greats like Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl, My Fair Lady, Bye Bye Birdie, Annie, Let's Dance, An American in Paris and many more.

When did America lose appreciation for these shows that demonstrated the abilities of these multitalented entertainers? Now it seems like today's pop culture only embraces action-dramas, comedy, and sappy love stories. Today's pop culture teaches you how to be superficial, and actually undermines an appreciation for the arts. Television seems to diminish the arts and unfortunately this is where many youth pick up their views.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Bart, the main character, is forced into taking ballet. He hates it at first, but then when he gives it a chance, he becomes aware of what a fantastic feeling it is to dance. He is still scared to show this love and therefore only performs when wearing a mask. After the approval of his classmates he reveals himself, but then is ridiculed and called insulting names like "sissy" and "girly-man" This demotes the men who dance ballet. It gives a misconception of them and devalues their position as a dancer. Instead of encouraging youth to get involved with the arts it seems to push them away.

Another television show that discredits the arts is an episode of the "family" show Home Improvement. In this episode the main character, Tim, tries to go to the opera with his wife and a hockey game at the same time. He does this because he says the opera is boring. This gives youth a prejudgment of opera and the arts. It also gives a view that if you enjoy the opera you are not a "real man." Instead of trying to enrich young people's lives with the arts, television helps disintegrate its values. Hollywood does not help either. It seems that movies have given musicals and the arts a cold shoulder.

But not everyone has done this. There is one company that is keeping the spirit of musicals alive, Disney. In 1997 Disney had a rebirth of its show The Wonderful World of Disney and came out with two made for television musicals: Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and the Broadway Musical Annie. In Cinderella, Disney even took a big step in making it multiracial. Thanks to Disney for keeping the spirit of musicals alive.

As time tells we will see if greats like Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Julie Andrews will rise again from a new generation. Hopefully one day there will be a revival in arts education through televison, and movies, so that one day children can dream of dancing like Fred and Ginger and singing like Julie.

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