Aesthetic Pleasure

In introduction to cognitive skills we are taught about opposite, the purity of opposites. It is the ability to distinguish the contrary that is our primal experience in aesthetics. The purity of the distinction renders the object laudable. When we speak in adjectives, we are praising the proposed noun (the object of art, a general object) for its purity or attribute. So is has shown with the some experiences of society, for e.g.; isolation, desolation, links in symbolism, references to adjective and noun, object of certain distinction, for e.g.; black sheep /black cat.

In lessons of morality symbolism is used to depict good and bad, good versus evil. We suggest that good perhaps described as predictable, that a positive end can be met with prudence, that good is "as plain as day", as foreseeable as a scene saturated with daylight on a cloudless day. Whereas bad has often been associated with obscurity of the night, in which occurrences are unforeseeable. Hence little is known of the occurrences of the night, all comes to light in the break of day. I offer the e.g. of the saying of dark horse, definition given as "a person of little is known"; it is the fear of the unknown that hence becomes the evil, the fear of the dark.

Pre-dating Christian idealism are mythological characters and deities whom were strong in certain attributes, that often acted as human do, rather hastily. Those characters and deities were not necessarily deemed as wholly good or wholly evil but identified by the distinction. This allowed for a depiction of a colorful world, a scene permitting contrasting ideas, beings. In this way humanity allowed its' own varied palette of emotion and action.
The myth is a reflection of human experience. In some myth all the attributes coexist together while in others there is a constant check and balance of the attributes with the insistence that one attribute reign over another.
I refer to the tale of Greek myth of King Minos and his Minotaur. King Minos learns a valued lesson upon his refusal to sacrifice his divine bull. Conceived out of a union between his wife Pasiphae and a white bull acquired as an answer to prayer of success to Poseidon, the bull-manchild Minos was the symbol of the ego King Minos. Having allowed for the conception of a monster, rather than destroy it Minos decides after considering the advice of Oracle of Delphi, to commission a palace for the Minotaur, the labyrinth. To satiate the onslaught of a plague, King Minos orders a sacrifice of virgin men and women to the Minotaur within the labyrinth. The eventual destruction of the Minotaur at the hand of Theseus could be considered the final end to the ego of King Minos, deemed a tyrant.
It is through the vehicle of the violence of sacrifice, the preservation of the ferocious Minotaur that his concluding salvation from ego is determined.

If we look at the relevance of, for e.g.. the Farmers' Almanac, it is certain that it is a fleshed-out moon calendar. The Farmers' Almanac was first published in the year 1818 in North America. Included in the Farmers' Almanac are long-term weather forecasts, which are based on astronomical formula, planetary and lunar positioning, most definitely showing the phases of the moon. A kind of pagan almanac, it has proven to be valuable for farmers, gardeners and homemakers alike. We can determine that the existence of this kind of publication proves that more is required for a successful harvest than rain and sunshine. Certainly more is required than light, the so-called good.

The study of astronomy had not been completely accepted by the Roman Catholic Church because it challenged it's theory that hell existed upon the Earth, that Earth was impure while the heavens, the universe, was unchanging and pure. If we observe this theory of the Roman Catholic Church we can note that the universe reigned over the earth, according to their theory. However, much was known about our Earth as oppose to the heavens. We must look further back to find the purity of the distinctions of dark and light, unknown and known. If we dare to reject the study of astronomy, useful information, we dare to divorce ourselves from nature. It is the unnatural reigning of light over dark that lead us to Mainstream principles of aesthetic beauty. This leads us to the depiction of an unbalanced scene, devoid of challenge or contrast. We reject the contrary therefore we reject human nature. To redeem an ingenuous morality would be to reveal the parity of the opposites. We would step outside of the true moral obligation to present a resolved image/story/moving image.

With depiction of the failures of character, the unexplained, we can have a fuller understanding of our possible reinstatement of the original idea of self. Whether flight from the inevitable, the recovery of some kind of order, is experienced through brutality or nihilism, it is worthy to tell a complete story. In my opinion it is the complete story that gives us the most pleasure. Simply for the lack of real depiction of psychological conflict in Mainstream art, we are refreshed, even made hopeful by works that stray away from contemporary ethical model.

It is essential to refer to the egocentricity of Underground art as it is truly expressive. It is not artisan crafting a work with a deliberate and self-conscious end result, commissioned for the consumption of the masses therefore compromised for end result. The Mainstream is designed for the inexperienced individuals whom are not yet weary of the moral confines of Popular culture. The Underground art scene is the artist revealing the underbelly of humanity, the underrepresented inspiration of a great amount of action of humanity. When one sees a Mainstream film, there is usually little room for improvisation. The strength a definite action done for the means of good or bad is quite clear. However there is no real humanness, we see persons in the role of Hero and doubt or contemplation are underplayed. The lead characters tend to be very contrasting, as if to suggest that it is not morally possible to be a possessor of more than one attribute. The action of the Hero would characterize them as a Redeemer. These kinds of plot ideas can be applied to Underground film as well, however more so when reversing the lead characters attribute to a negative.

A painting from last term.

A painting from last term.