Portfolio : To what extent is art a tool to help self development by denouncing the failures of the society ?

My portfolio is made up of four documents. The first document is a painting by Norman Rockwell which is entitled “the problem we all live with” in 1964, Secondly, the song “boys don’t cry” by the Cure, a British rock band. Their song focuses on the stereotypes that boys live with and was released in 2010, the third document chosen is an extract from the novel “the curious incident of the dog in the night time” written by Mark Haddon and published in 2003, the narration focuses on a boy who is autistic, and tries to solve the murder of a dog, and lastly “love Simon” written by Becky Albertally and published in 2018, which focuses on a gay high schooler who would like to come out of the closet.

My portfolio illustrates one theme: the expression and construction of the self. It shows that following the norms weighs heavily on people, it becomes a burden / weight for the people and society’s sake. So we can ask ourselves, To what extent is art a tool to help self development by denouncing the failures of the society ?

With the help of my documents, I will firstly highlight what ARE the failures of the society and then I will focus on the changes it did and how it builds self esteem

First and foremost, art helps denouncing the failures of society because the differences between people outshine the others. Such as homosexuality for example. Back in the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, it was defined as gross indecency with men or as a mental disease and people were charged, imprisoned (hard labour) and sometimes executed if they got caught doing homosexual activities. Thus, homosexuals needed to “come out of the closet” to their family or their friends to have more support which would make them feel more accepted and then be able to face society. In the movie “Love Simon”, it conveys the message that it seems unfair that only gay people have to come out of the closet and with this mindset, he preaches gay and lesbian people to be equally free like straight (heterosexual) people.

Art is also denouncing racism. In education for example back in the 20th century only white people had access to education and very very few black teenagers could go to school. However black people needed to work in factories or as servants because their parents couldn’t afford any education. Norman Rockwell is emphasising this point with his painting. For instance, there is a young black girl in it and she is holding a book and a ruler and it seems like she is going to school so it is highlighting the fact that she wants to be educated. But she was admitted in an all- white school and the white community refused / refuted that integration. Parents demonstrated, insulted her on her way to school, she had to be protected by marshal represented by men in suit around her.

Moreover, the failures of society is also coming with stereotypes due to the burden it gives to people. Though The Cure with its song shed light on the fact that living with stereotypes is conveying close- mindedness such as phrases that parents or external people tell to young people like “boys don’t cry” or “it’s okay to cry because you are a girl”. Also in the song “boys don’t cry”, The Cure highlights stereotypes as something absurd. As a matter of fact, the lyrics denounce some well anchored traditions such as the title of the song “Boys don’t cry”, it is absurd to think that crying is a weakness and to accept that idea, people are submitted to the society way of thinking.

In comparison, autistic people are no different from us, nevertheless because of the society, they are considered as inferiors and shown as “weird”. For instance, in “the curious incident of the dog in the night time”, Christopher is autistic which causes people look down on him because his disability is discrediting him, even if he is successful at maths, more than average people. Like Christopher said “i am going to prove that i am not stupid. Next month i ‘m going to take my A level in maths and i’m going to get an A level” and by that he intents to prove that any autistic person can overcome difficulties.

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