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Originally posted by: wandering
I have a question for you, Evan. Why is art important? Is it so important that the amount of time and money we spend on it is justified? Wouldn't it have been better, if the hundreds of millions of dollars that went towards making the Lord of the Rings movies, had gone instead towards helping people who are starving and suffering?
I have waited to respond to this question because my answer is specifically religious. So if this gets locked and you hate what I said, please e-mail me or write a blog or something; discussions like these need to happen.
Kairon started out with some good premises, bringing up Maslowe's hierarchy of needs, and placing morality as one of the abstract concepts that are dealt with after we fulfill the basic needs for ourselves. But truthfully, all of human experience is wrapped up in morality and ethics; we were created with design, and our needs for love, companionship, stimulation, friendship, entertainment, and everything else are born out of our created nature.
There are needs that are more important than others. The hierarchy is real, in that art comes late in the game. But it is still a need. Creativity (and the response to that creativity as an audience) is not some random genetic thing that occurred to us. It is part of our nature. Since everything is wrapped up in morality, we know (through various debatable means) that creativity is good.
Art appeals to us in the same broad "stimulatory" sense that an essay or history textbook appeals to us. It is an engagement of the mind. But art (of which entertainment is a form) is less intellectual; the aesthetic sense is a combination of beauty receptors, intellect, emotions, and feelings. That means art can appeal to our sense of justice and beauty at the same time (and in the same way). Art does add to a person in the same way a history textbook adds to our knowledge; good art is an engagement of our multi-faceted minds, and makes us better people. Art, like religion, affects the inner man, with outward consequences. The inner man needs help just as much as the outer man - spiritual death is maybe more important than physical death.
The needs of others are more important than our own needs; it is easy for a rich country like the U.S. to forget our responsibility to other people, both within our boundaries and outside. Art can become a God to us; self-improvement can replace cultural reform. Since we are created beings, and we are all governed by the same moral framework, our makeup should be diverse and holistic. We should see the act of creating art or receiving art in the same light as helping others and fighting for justice. All of these actions improve the world, we just have to balance them appropriately.