Art, Culture and style

You first have to understand how cultures evolve. The culture of any civilization, old or new, is comprised of its people, their way of life, their traditions such as their beliefs in religion. The Gods, Goddesses, customs, rituals, practices etc., make a culture strong or weak. Many civilizations have evolved based on the cultural changes that they undergo. Some have just died too, after foreign invasions. A few civilizations such as the Indus valley have undergone huge cultural changes in the 5000 years of existence. Bearing all attacks on its character it has still emerged as a fully grown and developed modern nation called India.

Different cultures evolve along a different time pattern depending on their birth. Some advance faster towards technological modernity, while some, although being older pause behind. Modernity as we presume today is also the social outlook the people have towards life, the freedom they enjoy, their independent social set up (social security, parenting, relationships, marriage etc). Cultures that are not strongly bound to their traditions advance faster. And cultures that have their traditions strongly rooted take time to progress towards this modernity. In the Indus Valley culture, which is today the Sind culture or Hindu culture, the belief of the people is so strong that tradition and modernity are linked together. There is technological advancement but the attitude and social set up is strongly traditional.

As regards to style in the arts, the style of any art form is based on many factors that rule it. The economic factor, the social factor (the social conditions of the people, their approach etc) cultural factors (religion, beliefs, heritage from the past) and Geographical factors. All these are important when you study the style of a particular art piece from a particular direction. So, one concept, for instance the concept of contentment, will be treated differently in different cultures. The style of the art work differs according to the period in which it was created and will not necessarily evoke the same kind of response in people belonging to different cultures and time frame.

I would like to quote one example to you. The concept of ‘the kiss’ (a common emotional exchange in people) has been treated differently by artists around the world. You can look up works of Brancusi, Munch, Klimt, khajuraho temple in India on the subject. All these artists deal one subject differently. And the style of the work is not just that of the artist but that of the time and culture he belongs to.

As for Bollywood, again the style is so different from Hollywood film making today. Most of Indian cinema (Hindi and other regional languages) is packed with sentiments. An European or an American of present day will never find the ‘contentment’ he is seeking in these movies. But an Indian surely will and does too. As these movies cater to the traditional beliefs of an Indian, his lifestyle, his preferences, his emotions, they provide him all the satisfaction he wants. So in a technically advanced media, traditional themes prevail.

I would not call this as lagging behind as far as modernity is concerned, but people’s choice of living. Indian cinema (if you care to see a few) is very advanced technically. Directors vie with each other to come out with new innovation in film making to match that of Hollywood., but the themes are always about interdependent joint family, mother sentiment, marriage sentiment (belief in marriage to one person only) etc., these rule the roost being the prevailing culture. To conclude we can say art alone truthfully reflects the society in which it exists.