In my final post for this series, I’m going to quickly touch upon our culture and its influences upon both young and old.

The influence of pop culture on the hearts and minds of today’s young people (arguably, most Americans) is undeniable. Regardless of the contemporary medium you select, pop culture is pervasive. Two of the primary core values of pop culture are:

1. The push to influence thoughts and shape values, and
2. The need to make money and drive more sales.

Influencing Thoughts, Shaping Values

What does culture have to say to my students, or, more specifically, what do they hear when it “speaks?” Both boys and girls equated interest or aptitude in the arts with sensitivity, femininity and, to some extent, gayness. I can’t say that I was surprised by their comments since each is pretty stereotypical and has been around for I don’t know how long. Consider:

1. Many prominent artists in history have carried with them the badge of emotionally sensitive. Probably one of the most prominent historical examples would be Vincent van Gogh. You can probably recollect a few on your own.  Dr. Eric Maisel, in his book Creativity for Life, has an entire chapter entitled The Challenges of the Artistic Personality. I highly recommend the book.
2. Generalization or not, girls often exhibit an early aptitude for coloring and interest in drawing whereas boys don’t seem to catch up for two or three years. Sadly, I think parents don’t take this as a life-lesson opportunity and nurture their sons through the early frustrations of hand-eye coordination needed for color and drawing. Unfortunately, many parents fail to consider that semi-regular coloring and drawing opportunities may not reappear until school introduces them. Even then, most elementary school art programs aren’t particularly rigorous where drawing is concerned so a talent may go undiscovered.
3. Lastly, it doesn’t require much thought to figure out where my students get the idea of gayness associated with artistic types. Television provides ample exposure in both fictional and nonfictional genre. Consider artsy reality shows like Project Runway, Shear Genius or Queer Eye for a Straight Guy. And, once you factor in the strong religious undercurrents in many urban communities, you have another reason why there is negativity associated with this particular image.

Culture’s images for sports are polar opposites to the above. Ruggedness, no gender confusion, always getting the girl, wealth, popularity and fame stand in stark contrast to the characterizations mentioned above. This is why I think the arts have a mainstream image problem.

Making Money. Driving Sales

Once you factor in the backdoor messages that my students have (unconsciously? consciously?) picked up on, the nail on the coffin comes from the sheer volume of cash associated with the sports industry. Sports franchises are about packaging youth and selling athletes for their unique talent. In our free-market economy where entertainment is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, I can’t fault marketers or business people who leverage every possible angle of the sports world to turn a profit. It’s like a legal drug that my students are raised on from a very early age. The sports industry taps into boys needing exercise, teens looking for acceptance, young adults seeking fame and fortune,  and outliers seeking to relive the glory days.

I don’t know how else to end this series except by commenting that until the arts can find an avenue into the hearts of the mainstream population it will remain of peripheral concern for them; a periodic diversion for the masses and a more regular one for the wealthy and more educated. Perhaps I’m wrong in wanting to mainstream the arts, but I have a hard time not seeing that as part of my job as an effective art educator.