Many aspects of contemporary culture like politics, social beliefs, or commonly shared themes may influence the humanities and creative expression. For example, people demonstrate improved attitudes toward racial and gender equalities and promote international and intercultural relationships. Creative expression reflects current achievements and the ways of how people understand themselves and each other. Humanities teach students how to express themselves, be empathetic, and respect the past (Rice, 2014). Instead of thinking about differences and challenges, people recognize available opportunities and resources. Recent technologies help break the rules and standards, and access to human experiences encourages confidence and variety. The relationship between modern cultural concepts, humanities, and creative expression is strong, and the main value is how individuals can use and share their knowledge with the next generations.
Response to Joshua Stafford
Dear Joshua,
Thanks for your post and attention to the theme that I also find rather critical for humanities and creative expression. I like the idea of technological progress being a serious factor in how people promote their creativity. However, I am concerned about the possibility of technology to replace such vital artifacts as oil painting and human-made sculptures and neglect the ethical value of artworks. For example, Goya’s work “The Third May” proves how the choice of brushstrokes can share the mood and feelings of people of that time. Not many modern projects focus on emotions but their technological advancement.
Response to Kim Maloney
Dear Kim,
Thanks for your discussion and recognition of social media as one of the modern means of creative expression. This approach provokes a number of thoughts about the ethical and social impact of today’s works of art on future generations. It seems to be easy for a person to share their posts online and create images with the help of available templates and software, which saves time and delivers the necessary message. Social media artifacts do exist today, but they have nothing in common with those left by well-known painters and sculptors. No professional program can repeat the maturity of Goya in “The Third May” in terms of its darkness and hopelessness.
Reference
Rice. C. (2014). Here are 9 reasons why humanities matter. What’s your number 10? Web.