Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Arts in Argentina

One of the most fascinating parts of the Depression to me is the the way that the arts reflected and responded to the mood at the time.  Consider the ways in which music, art, dance, or other means of expression functioned in Depression Era culture.  What do you think these forms of art said about society at the time?

17 comments:

  1. Overall, there are many ways in which music, art, dance, or other means of expression functioned in the depression era culture. For example, art can say/ tell a lot about a time period especially when the artist puts their own personal feelings about the time into the artwork. Also in the reading last night it talked about how the cinema was started coming to Latin America and was a big deal between 1930 and 1940. In the article it says, “Wen the cinema first developed, it focused on ‘tango melodramas’ and comedies. For much of this period the middle classes eschewed the cinema as vulgar and so the films concentrated on pleasing working- class audiences and the stories overwhelmingly featured the poor triumphing against the odds”. This quote explains how the culture of the people enjoyed the cinemas and how they were sort of adopting the British ways with their tragedy’s and comedies plays. Also in the article it talks about Gustavo Martinez Zuviria who was an author, which books can also be a form of art and show expressions of culture, mood and show exactly what the depression was like. Overall, I think that art in any form can show a countries expression and how they functioned in the depression era.

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  2. The most appreciated and valuable art is one that represent the time it was in. Just like the U.S., Argentina's art during the Depression features pessimism. Blues is invented in U.S., while Tango transforms to a "reflection of people's frustration". The film industry starts tango melodrama. The story line is often a hero who, lives in a slum, goes through many troubles, and eventually be saved. The literature can be categorized into two sides: the pessimist and the solutions. The pessimist argues that Argentina is damned and cannot be saved. This idea is best exemplified by Martinez Estrada, who writes an essay Radiografia de la Pampa. He enumerates Argentina's problems implicitly. For example, he argues that Argentina was a victim of its geographical isolation; Argentina lacked any avenues for meaningful values; etc. On the other side, some writers offer solutions. Some of them make sense, some of them are ridiculous. For example, Gustavo Martínez Zuviría wrote a series of novels blame the jews. His work is extremely popular among the people, even though its only fiction.

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  3. The art forms in Argentina during the Great Depression were mainly literature, tango and cinema. According to the reading, it really emphasized how people used those different art forms to reflect their emotion and their wills during the Great Depression. It was a period that caused many frustration and people tend to express themselves through out dance, movies, and text. And I can see how much Argentinian society wanted to express this unsatisfied emotion, it was a kind of angry, impatient emotion, and I personally believed that it was obvious in tango (because I do tango), that there is a strength between the two dancers, to keep them away from each other, but still close to each other, and it is very expressive...

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  4. During the depression, big intellectual writers such as Eduardo Mallea and Ezequiel MArtinez Estrada wrote about the society in Argentina during that time. They were called the pessimists because they showed the malaise and misery of the society and all the cons that Argentina had and that brought her to the Depression.
    However not all the literature in Argentina was pessimist at that time. Some writers tried and give solutions to the problems that Argetina was going through by writing novels or other text types: Manuel Galvez (by attacking decadence) , Gustavo Martinez Zuviria (influenced by anti-Semitic literature) , Alejandro Bunge and Benjamin Villafane (both blamed the corrupt radical party politicians).
    Not only literature was important in the nation but also other types of arts such as tango which "had developed in the 1920s into a powerful reflection of people's frustrations and demoralization". The lyrics were pessimistic as well.
    The cinema took also a big part of the society during the 1930s. Its development was divided into two periods: at the beginning cinema first developed comedies and the middle classes saw cinema as vulgar and the plots of the films were about poor triumphing against the odds.
    THe second part of the cinema development showed more a social realism. By 1943, cinema in Argentina declined because the USA disliked its success in Argentina and they started investing more into Mexican cinema.

    Therefore the arts had themes pretty extreme during the depression in Argentina, showing the two extremes in people's thoughts: either the themes were very pessimist either they were optimistic, exposing solutions; sometimes for the cinema we encountered realism.

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  5. Well as time passes the arts, music, dance and many more change. People begin to listen and find other things fascinating. What they were doing really reflected on there emotions and how they were doing. It tells a lot about the time period and the tango was big in Argentina during this time. Believe this or not I am the master of the tango and I would be glad to teach the class. But the tango really deals with frustration and people used the tango to let out there anger.

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  6. Music, art and dance all did different things during the depression. They all made people happier and more cheerful in times of need. There were many musicians back then, and even though they weren't getting paid for their performances, they still performed for people to be happy and enjoy it. During the depression people were very upset and depressed but when they heard music they would want to dance or sing and it made them get in a better mood. Even in todays day we still turn to music when we are in any kind of mood. When we're happy we listen to music, and when we're sad we listen to music. We turn to music no matter what mood we're in and it helps us. It worked in the depression and it still works today even though things aren't nearly as difficult now. I think these forms of art said that people just need to cheer up and forget about what was going on and focus and be grateful for the little things that they had. I think this because mostly everyone was just focused on what they didn't have instead of what they did have, and art, music, and dance were things that helped them to forget about everything.

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  7. Art is a way for people to express themselves, its something that no matter what people will always have with them. no matter where you are, at what time period, or even who you are, there is no way people can stop you from expressing yourself or creating art in your own eyes. Just as people do today, people used art as a release and something that they knew would always be there during rough times, and wouldnt change. SO while countrys were going through difficult times and they lost all their money and houses, they didnt lose their love of arts music and dance. People coudl express themselves and how they were feeling in ways that other people could relate to and enjoy in the same ways, like dance or song. THourgh acting they also could express other frusterations or other things they were going through in another art form. All in all, the arts are just something that people can always count on to be there for them, and to let them express themselves through. also. i highly doubt chandler can dance at all, not to mention tango. i reccomend we take a fieldtrip to a tango school of some sort instead.

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  8. Art, music, and dance were people’s way of expressing the struggles and hardships that they were going through at the time. Carlos Gardel was an icon of the tango. As you said, Ms. Sutton, during a Depression people want to do whatever they can to take their mind off the bad things that are happening and the hell that they’re going through. They didn’t listen to the pessimists like Eduardo Mallea and Ezequiel Martinez Estrada. They tangoed, listened to new music, and watched the cinema.

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  9. Education in the arts is essential to students’ intellectual, social, physical, and emotional growth and well-being. Experiences in the arts – in dance, drama, music, and visual arts – play a valuable role in helping students to achieve their potential as learners and to participate fully in their community and in society as a whole. The arts provide a natural vehicle through which students can explore and express themselves and through which they can discover and interpret the world around them. Participation in the arts contributes in important ways to students’ lives and learning – it involves intense engagement, development of motivation and confidence, and the use of creative and dynamic ways of thinking and knowing. It is well documented that the intellectual and emotional development of children is enhanced through study of the arts.

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  10. Argentina's intellectuals and exponents of popular cultures exerted considerable energies in trying to explain what had gone wrong in Argentine society. The tengo and cinema became the main culture of Argentina but the pessimism and despair became the most iconic in the national dance of Argentina: tengo. Many authors such as Mallea and Estrada showed pessimism towards Argentina. They not only felt like there was no solution to Argentina's problem but believed that Argentina had been damned from the start; the argentine people inherited the worst characteristics of their Spanish forbears. Nevertheless, other wristers suggested soltuion to these problems. Galvez clamined that Argentina's problems resulted from the decadent lifestyle of elites and Zuviria blamed the Jews as a scapegoat. For tango, tango was not just a way of enjoyment, but also it was a powerful reflection of people's frsutrations and demoralization. Many of the lyrics were pessimistic and cynical. For Cinema, during 1938-43, Argentine films were very popular that even it was popular in USA. They featured epic stories and social realism. However, post-1943, Argentine cinema fell into decline because the USA disliked the success of the Argentine film industry and began to limit the amount of raw film stock it was prepared to sell.

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  11. The overall message that the various art forms conveyed about contemporary Argentinian society is that most of the population was pessimistic and desperate about the state of its country and its economy. In the literature, some authors, such as Mallea, had no hope about surviving the Depression. They thought that there was no solution and that Argentina was "damned from the start." Others that believed in a solution blindly blamed innocent parties of being responsible for the country's problems. For example, Sr. Zuvira blamed the Depression on an international Jewish conspiracy. One sensible solution that was brought up was increased government involvement in the economy. Other forms like the Tango expressed the people's discontent through lyrics. And movies mostly shared the theme of having a poor person beating the odds and succeeding; going from a loser to a winner. This likely boosted the spirits of many working-class Argentinians. All of these forms showed that people were giving-up, straining for an explanation for their suffering, or looking for ways to cheer up during the Depression.

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  12. One form of dance that came about during the Depression era in Argentina was the Tango. The Tango grew rapidly, becoming the most successful in the Latin American cinema industry. It was a way for people to release some of their frustration. Another source of happiness during the Depression was the explosion of cinema. From 1933-1937 cinema in Argentina focused on “tango melodramas… [that] concentrated on pleasing the working-class audiences and the stories overwhelmingly featured the poor triumphing against the odds.” Later on, cinema focused on epic stories and lavish things. I think that for example, the Tango became so popular was because all the peoples pent up anger due to their living and working situations could be danced out.

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  13. I think the type of art that is presented by a person directly relates to how they feel about something, or what they are going through. Throughout this era there were many artists who were going through different emotions, ultimately creating different art work. For example Martinez Estrada wrote novels and essays and believed that "Argentina was damned from the start," and that "Argentine people inherited the worst characteristics of their spanish forebears." This signifies that his work was angry and he often looked for something or someone to blame for the Depression of Argentina. This connects to the new dance that was formed during this time called the Tango. It was developed in the 1920's "into a powerful reflection of people's frustraciones and demorlization." I think that these forms of art showed how frustrated and angry everyone was with the government and the depression.

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  14. For me, as an art performance student, I have learned that a lot of great music composer compose music based of their moods. In another word, it reflects upon the feelings of themselves. The most famous art I know from Argentina is the Argentine Tango. I am not an master of tango, not like Chandler, however I've touched on tango too. I didn't how to say about the feelings when I hear tango music, but now I know, it's the frustration and depression people have during that period of time. And the intensity and lack of happiness exactly reflects people's mood at that time.

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  15. Just reading the discussion question it made me think of two things: the black plague and zeitgeist. The black plague because, similarly, it sparked a time of artistry and other arts because of its rather macabre setting. The idea that music, art, and all similar are a result of zeitgeist, or the spirit of the time. So the ideas, morals, and events of the time directly affect the arts. For things like the cinema it provided a reprieve to Argentinians and their rough life and the tango was a way for them to show their frustration and passion

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  16. These forms of art represented the depressed mood of the society. They portrayed how everyone felt about their current living situation, and their country. They were truly desperate and they did not know how to handle it. A lot of these artists tried to send messages through their artwork to try and reach people. They did this because people did not know how else to help. And if their artwork could bring some sense into some people, why not try it.

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  17. Some people believed that Argentina was "damned from the start." The arts reflected this pessimistic view. For example, the tango became a dance that reflected the people's frustration and demoralization. Not only was the dance depressing, but so were the lyrics. The attitude of the people was also expressed by the cinema. These forms of art definitely showed that people were finding ways to express how they felt during this time. Everyone was frustrated or struggling, and the arts provided them with an outlet.

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