Dying Traditional "High" Arts of Today are Pop Culture of Yesterday, Being Replaced by Pop Culture of Today
In a previous post, this blog argued that patronage of the arts is often a privilege reserved for the wealthy cosmopolitan elites of the developed world. The sheer cost of maintaining opera troupes, orchestra ensembles, and opera singers ensure that impoverished countries with little extra resources simply do not have the means to allow their populations to enjoy supposedly "higher" forms of entertainment that have been passed down and refined through generations. The absurd concentration of classical concerts, operas, and plays in the developed world's major metropolises reflect such reality.
However, at the same time, people tend to forget that the likes of classical concerts and opera, which people today term as "high" arts targeting the rich and the sophisticated, they were pop culture for the most ordinary of peoples. Just like pop music and movies are for the common men of today, opera and theater provided entertainment for the most ordinary of peoples centuries ago.Changing social circumstances, however, made the "base" entertainment of yesteryears incomprehensible for ordinary folks now, so that they have become exclusive forms of arts accessible to a selected circle of connoisseurs.
Playing for a small crowd is undoubtedly expensive, as the lack of scale and unchanging need to maintain large manpower in ever-increasing cost of living ensure that such exclusive arts are simply not affordable for most people to partake in. All the better for the elites who frequent them. The fact that something is unaffordable for most people makes it even more exclusive and elitist. The elites, then, keep up the highprices for traditional arts, in the hope that common folks stay out. Logically, of course, they are not incentivized to educate the masses in appreciation of traditional arts.
The exclusionary principles by which elites keep such arts elitist is only broken when even the elites, with their financial standings, can no longer keep such small-crowd art forms operational. After all, with their busy schedules and large number of hobbies, they cannot devote enough attention and resources to any individual art form to keep it going. At such point, the elites are forced to enlist long-neglected masses as potential audience for the art form, if just to get enough money and publicity to keep their beloved traditions going in the face of unprofitable economics.
Hence the talks of cultural preservation, of educating the youths on traditions, and of making "high" arts more accessible to everyone. Free workshops and performances are held to attract those who are not normally willing to fork out large sums for obscure arts. Museums are built, exhibitions are held, and performance venues are renovated. Even foreigners with little understanding of local histories are pulled in to demonstrate international interest, in order to attract more publicity, more attention, and ultimately more audience and attendance to keep tradition financially alive.
Yet, as the elites do everything they can to get everyone to appreciate what they have seemed to appreciated for generations, the very meaning of cultural awareness become distorted. Instead to focusing on the cultural knowledge that form the foundation of certain art forms, educating the masses became much more superficial, with focus on costumes, instruments, and the performance methods. However, at the same time, it is difficult to get people of today, used to contemporary sense of fashion and performance, to appreciate the same from a few hundred years ago. The result, then, is often disappointment, rather than appreciation.
Indeed, given that many people are not even into the historical backgrounds of their own countries' traditional art forms, it is difficult to expect creation of loyal mass audience even if awareness campaigns focus less on the superficialities of the visual and the actions, and more on the depth of how the art form came about. The whole effort to spread traditional arts beyond the elite circles may just be futile, with little returns on all the time, energy, and money invested. Perhaps it is inevitable that some forms of traditional art, no matter how refined and sophisticated they are regarded as, will eventually end up in history books rather than the stage.
And that unfortunate outcome may just as well be the case, given the disdain elites have shown to sharing their appreciation for "high" art with the common people before it is too late to save them as living forms of art. While the elites chose to stick to tradition and jealously guarded it, masses, without access to tradition, developed alternatives that are more fitting to modern circumstances. Just as opera and classical music were developed for the people back in the day, perhaps the common men's creations of today will be passed down the generations to become traditions of tomorrow.
However, at the same time, people tend to forget that the likes of classical concerts and opera, which people today term as "high" arts targeting the rich and the sophisticated, they were pop culture for the most ordinary of peoples. Just like pop music and movies are for the common men of today, opera and theater provided entertainment for the most ordinary of peoples centuries ago.Changing social circumstances, however, made the "base" entertainment of yesteryears incomprehensible for ordinary folks now, so that they have become exclusive forms of arts accessible to a selected circle of connoisseurs.
Playing for a small crowd is undoubtedly expensive, as the lack of scale and unchanging need to maintain large manpower in ever-increasing cost of living ensure that such exclusive arts are simply not affordable for most people to partake in. All the better for the elites who frequent them. The fact that something is unaffordable for most people makes it even more exclusive and elitist. The elites, then, keep up the highprices for traditional arts, in the hope that common folks stay out. Logically, of course, they are not incentivized to educate the masses in appreciation of traditional arts.
The exclusionary principles by which elites keep such arts elitist is only broken when even the elites, with their financial standings, can no longer keep such small-crowd art forms operational. After all, with their busy schedules and large number of hobbies, they cannot devote enough attention and resources to any individual art form to keep it going. At such point, the elites are forced to enlist long-neglected masses as potential audience for the art form, if just to get enough money and publicity to keep their beloved traditions going in the face of unprofitable economics.
Hence the talks of cultural preservation, of educating the youths on traditions, and of making "high" arts more accessible to everyone. Free workshops and performances are held to attract those who are not normally willing to fork out large sums for obscure arts. Museums are built, exhibitions are held, and performance venues are renovated. Even foreigners with little understanding of local histories are pulled in to demonstrate international interest, in order to attract more publicity, more attention, and ultimately more audience and attendance to keep tradition financially alive.
Yet, as the elites do everything they can to get everyone to appreciate what they have seemed to appreciated for generations, the very meaning of cultural awareness become distorted. Instead to focusing on the cultural knowledge that form the foundation of certain art forms, educating the masses became much more superficial, with focus on costumes, instruments, and the performance methods. However, at the same time, it is difficult to get people of today, used to contemporary sense of fashion and performance, to appreciate the same from a few hundred years ago. The result, then, is often disappointment, rather than appreciation.
Indeed, given that many people are not even into the historical backgrounds of their own countries' traditional art forms, it is difficult to expect creation of loyal mass audience even if awareness campaigns focus less on the superficialities of the visual and the actions, and more on the depth of how the art form came about. The whole effort to spread traditional arts beyond the elite circles may just be futile, with little returns on all the time, energy, and money invested. Perhaps it is inevitable that some forms of traditional art, no matter how refined and sophisticated they are regarded as, will eventually end up in history books rather than the stage.
And that unfortunate outcome may just as well be the case, given the disdain elites have shown to sharing their appreciation for "high" art with the common people before it is too late to save them as living forms of art. While the elites chose to stick to tradition and jealously guarded it, masses, without access to tradition, developed alternatives that are more fitting to modern circumstances. Just as opera and classical music were developed for the people back in the day, perhaps the common men's creations of today will be passed down the generations to become traditions of tomorrow.
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