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Age of Anxiety and Uncertainty
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Transcript of Age of Anxiety and Uncertainty
AGE OF ANXIETY
AND UNCERTAINTY
R E A D I NG : S
M I TH , E
T AL . ,
9 1 3 - 9 2 1
OVERVIEWWorld War I was really awful for most people Technology had so transformed the face of
the war that many things were called into question.
Even before the war, there was tension as people were asking questions and doubting that everything was so wonderful.
There was a crisis of modernity.The idea that each generation was better off
than the one before was questioned.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Nietzsche (1844-1900) Western civilization has
emphasized rationality at the expense of passion and instinct.
Christianity glorified weakness, envy, and mediocrity
“God is dead” Democracy isn’t working Respectability stifles self-
realization People have no
authenticity Will to power
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE (1905-1980)
ExistentialismGod has nothing to do with
giving life meaning.Human beings simply exist. There is no God to help them There is no reason to help them.“Man is forced to be free” To be free, men and women
must become engaged and choose actions correctly.
Human beings are responsible for their own behavior.
Became really popular after World War II, a war in which actions and consciousness induced men and women to either act courageously or abominably
Science foundation of Enlightenment, reason and progress.
At the end of the 19th century, scientists found atoms not hard, permanent little balls.
Atoms consists of many smaller fast-moving particles, including electrons and protons
Marie Curie (1867-1934) and her husband found that radium emits subatomic particles so it has no constant atomic weight.
Max Plank (1858-1947) found that subatomic energy is emitted from vibrating electron in uneven spurts or “quanta”. Calls into question old distinction of matter and energy.
He also called into question atoms as stable building blocks of nature
NEW PHYSICS
ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)
Light propagated through space in the form of particles (photons)
E=mc2
Special theory of relativity.
Time and space relative to the viewpoint of the observer
General theory of relativity
Newton’s universe three dimensional while Einstein’s universe four dimensional space-time continuity
Rutherford (1871-1937)
Showed atom could be split into smaller particles.
Crucial for subsequent development of atomic weapons
Werner Heisenberg (1901-1927)
“Principle of Uncertainty”
Instead of Newton’s certainties, we now have a physics based on tendencies and probabilities
RUTHERFORD (1871-1937) AND WERNER HEISENBERG (1901-1927)
FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Interested in unconscious behavior
Theory of psychoanalysis
His conclusion was that human behavior is basically irrational, not rational behavior of Enlightenment thought.
Franz Kafka captured the sense of nightmarish 20th century world in The Metamorphosis, as well as others.
Oswald Spengler wrote Decline of the West which was the obituary of civilization.
Also two war novels were written:
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.
Erich Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
German expressionist films came out during this time period.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) which was trying to answer the question, “Is the director of the insane asylum himself an insane murderer?
Metropolis was about the madness of industrial capitalization.
MODERN LITERATURE AND MODERN CINEMA
MODERN ART--OVERVIEW
Camera invented in 19th Century.
Great images of U.S. Civil War—Matthew Brady’s photographs
Kodak personal camera introduced at the end of the century. Why paint realistic paintings if camera can better capture reality. No color photos yet.
IMPRESSIONISM—FRENCH PAINTERS
FRENCH PAINTERSClaude Monet (1840-1926)Camille Pissaro (1830-1903)Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)Their goal was to capture the overall picture of things by
capturing light falling on the scene before their eyes.
MODERN ARTISTS
Painted what is in his mind
Increasingly form became more important than light
Paul Cezanne (1893-1906) Henri Mattisse (1869-1954) Pablo Picasso (1891-1973) Cubism—all of these
artists trying to capture in form inner essence of things not superficial “surface”
CUBISM
DALI AND SURREALISM
Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was involved in Surrealism which exalted the irrational, the violent, and the absurd in human experiences
DALI AND SURREALISM
Western music tradition since the Renaissance “major-minor” system of tonality
New musicians began to explore polytonality.
Igor Stravinsky Achieved effects through
polytonality, dissonant harmonies, and percussive rhythms
Rites of Spring was a pre-World War I ballet which undermines common conventions of ballets with his jarring music. Dancers engaged in representation of reproduction
Extremely shocking when first performed in Paris in 1913. It became more popular after World War I
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) abandoned traditional harmony and tonality altogether and arranged the 12 notes of the scale in an abstract mathematical pattern, the “tone-row” which stresses disharmony
MODERN MUSIC
Bauhaus was an institution in Germany that brought together architects, designers, and painters.
Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was the first director of Bauhaus. He believed in functional designs, simplicity of shape, and lots of glass.
Implemented philosophy “form must follow function”
Influenced Swiss-French Architect, Le Corbusier
MODERN ARCHITECTURE
GLOBAL IMPACT
Europeans searched for non-Western inspiration.
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) searched the South Pacific for unspoiled beauty and a primitive way of life.
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was an African American who was a dancer, singer, entertainer who was popular in 1930s Paris
Jazz was the music from the American Blacks which combined gospels, African rhythms, and erotic blues. It was very popular in Europe.
MORE ON GLOBAL IMPACT
Trinidad was where Calypso was a popular music. Songs about urban hunger, unemployment, and social upheaval.
Negritude Movement in France was closely connected to surrealists.
The Democratization of Desire
RadioHollywoodShopping
ModernismA word to collectively describe these common features of Western art and culture.
Form is emphasized at the expense of content.
A systematic and determined rejection of the classical models
Culture is increasingly global
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF DESIRE AND MODERNISM