The Ethos of the Body in Art and Media
From Tob
Contents |
[edit] Theology of the Body General Audiences 60 - 63
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[edit] Notes on Terminology
The terms subject/object, subjective/objective in description of visual culture been (in the history of my own study) extremely confusing.
Subject vs. Object: the subject of a work of art is the person, the item that is described, the topic, etc. that is being represented through the work. For example, the subject is the model that is presented for a painting or photograph. The object is the person, item, topic from that representation that is being received, meaning the static version that is stylized by the image or work and that is ultimately viewed.
Subjective vs. Objective: objective is considered reality, something that exists as a universal (or real to everyone) that is calculated or scientific; an individual perspective is absent from an objective representation. Subjective is a representation that is particular to the view of an individual.
Pope John Paul II also splits our subjectivity into two aspects:
Subjective Consciousness: we are aware and conscious of our own body; our own personal reality of “the body.”
Subjective Experience: we are aware of our own personal experience with the body, how we control the body in our interhuman communication, etc.
[edit]
Audience 60
60.1 - Practically all of the problems with the ‘ethos of the body’ are linked to the identify of the body as self (living in one’s own body) and in interhuman relationships.
- “Purity of the heart” also points to these two dimensions (we should keep our individual bodies with “holiness and reference”).
60.2 - Works of culture allow these dimensions to extend outside of the self. We encounter these dimensions as we ponder not only our own condition, but also as we see these dimensions represented for us (as we look or observe).
- The “look” which is by its nature “aesthetic” cannot be completely isolated in man’s subjective consciousness from the look of concupiscence that Christ speaks about in the S.O.M.
60.3 - Aesthetic experience lies in the realm of the ethos of the body
- We must create a climate favorable to purity (purity is threatened by the objectifications in works of culture and social communication
60.4 - The human body is a perennial object of culture. Man is himself a subject of culture.
- The thematic representation (objectification) of the body in works of cultures is the central issue.
- The distinction between the living human body (dance/theatre) and the body as a model for material arts. Also film/photography as and objectivity (there is no transfiguration of the model, instead the model is an object of a mechanical reproduction).
60.5 - Reproduction loses contact with the man/body (object) through reproduction and becomes anonymous.
- Veiling or hiding identity is a problem with regard to the ethos of the body.
[edit] Audience 61
61.1 - The human body has the meaning of a gift from person to person.
- Artistic objectification (human --> model --> work of art) is outside the original intention of the body as an interpersonal gift.
- Taking possession of the body is occurring in reproduction.
61.2 - Shame and intimacy: “The anonymous nakedness of the man-object contrasts with the progress of an authentically human culture of morality.”
- Shame belongs to the human ethos and reinforces the spousal meaning of the body. It is undermined by the possession of anonymous bodily representations.
61.3 - Those who have shame cross its limits with difficulty (undressing, even for medical reasons, is difficult and brings about feelings of shame). “Man does not want to become an object through anonymous nakedness” and vice versa.
61.4 - Porno(graphic/vision) happens “when one oversteps the limit of shame or personal sensibility with regard to what is connected with the human body.
- Pornography/vision violates the body’s right to intimacy (between the masculine and feminine), the deep order of the gift, and reciprocal self-giving.
[edit] Audience 62
62.1 - We cannot forget the words of Christ about the “concupiscent look” (from S.O.M.) in the context of art, visual culture, mass culture.
- The intimacy and self gift inscribed in masculinity and femininity of human are decisive in the spousal meaning of the body (and in participation in the “communion of persons”)
62.2 - The deep inscription of meaning of the body can be violated only in the intentional order of reproduction and representation (of the human subject)
- Violation happens when the subject becomes the object; when transferred into social, public property.
62.3 - The human body in nakedness becomes the source of interpersonal “communication” (the communion of persons vs. the communication to the masses).
- Because of the value of the body and femininity/masculinity, the truth about man (and identity thereby produced) creates limits to how the body should be used in communication.
62.4 - The artist must recognize these limits.
62.5 - “Through works of art and the activity of audiovisual media, this whole content and these values can be formed and deepened, but they can also be deformed and destroyed ‘in man’s heart’.”
- Are we looking with concupiscence as ‘adultery committed in the heart’?
[edit] Audience 63
63.1 - The problem of the ethos of the image/description and the ethos of receiving the image/description (there is both an ethical issue on the production end, and the reception/consumption end).
63.2 - Can the body (and in what measure of visible truth of identity in masculine and feminine) be a subject of a work of art and social communication?
63.3 - In history, the body has been such a model or subject, and in history this subject has been frequent and important.
63.4 - Previous reflections should not be taken to doubt the RIGHT of the subject, but instead point out the responsibilities.
- The artist must be conscious of the full truth of the object and the intention must be pure.
- The viewer communicates not only with the objectification, but also with the truth of the object.
63.5 - There are works that can present both dignity and beauty; the whole person of mystery of man. In these works the viewer does not look on with concupiscence.
- The intentionality and truth put into production becomes accessible in the representation.
- The same can happen with pure objectification where we look on solely to satisfy concupiscence.
63.6 - The ethos of seeing: create a climate favorable to chastity.
63.7 - A circuit is created between the image and the act of seeing. The artist is obligated in intentions and the viewer is obligated in control over “looking”.
[edit] Visual Examples
[edit] The Disfigured Body
Society has long objectified the disfigured or abnormal body, presenting conjoined twins and hermaphrodites as side-show freaks.
Human ailment that causes disfigurement is also represented, particularly in contemporary art and objectifies the body of the disfigured person for the purpose of creating a hero or a poster-girl for a cause or an injustice, and presenting the abnormality as both normal and beautiful.
In instances of human disfigurement, the body is even used itself as a canvas to turn bodily ‘ugliness’ into beauty, and when photographed, turning the newly adorned body into an object of the feminine, where the body itself is seen as lacking feminine attribute.
[edit] The Medicalized Body
The body, as medical curiosity, has been an object of scientific art from at least as early as the Italian Renaissance.
[edit] The Body and Salvation
While the Italian Renaissance is not known for a renewal in religious fervor, but instead, a turn towards naturalism, the continued patronage for religious art caused painters and sculptors to present the body that they were so interested in making beautiful, into a symbol of suffering and redemption.
The naturalism and reality presented in images of the body that are used to represent Christ and early church martyrs, were and still are used to elicit emotion in worshipers who more closely identify with a real, bodily figure that is has the same characteristics of their own bodily experience.
[edit] The Body and Procreation
The pregnant female body is rightly seen as a work of art, and reproductions of a pregnant subject have become very popular as part of the tradition surrounding childbirth. These images (including the one below) can portray the male and female object where the intention of the spousal meaning of the body along with the truth of femininity and masculinity are clearly presented to the viewer.
Other aspects of childrearing and procreation are less popular as images. Images of the body as a vessel holding the expected child illicits no shame, however images of the female breast, even in the act of breast feeding are typically taboo.
“By 1750 the public meaning of naked breasts was largely medical or erotic. I have not been able to find a single religious image of the breast painted after 1750. By that time, it was impossible to symbolize God’s love by depicting a nursing Virgin. Meanwhile, crucifixion scenes increased in number and in their graphic depiction of violence and suffering.” – Steve Thorngate
