What I Find to be Art

My example of art is marching band, more specifically “Field Show” marching band (as opposed to parade style). The specific example I provided is of my senior year show, entitled “Believe” which uses music from the movie The Polar Express. For those who do not understand marching band, a typical high school “season” (a time span usually lasting from June to November) consists of: rehearsing for easily 5+ hours a week, memorizing roughly 7-8 minutes worth of music, being able to execute it while marching, being able to march in step in time into forms with your fellow marchers, all while performing with the theme of the show.

I will be primarily basing my connections to Tolstoy based on his definition of the infectiousness of art through his three criteria of: individuality, clarity, and sincerity.

Individuality: Marching band very successfully portrays the individuality of those on the field, be it directly or indirectly. In some cases, it produces individual people and their individuality. For example, in the show I provided there are individual moments in solo parts (for example, my alto solo at 3:24 and/or the mellophone at 3:51 and/or the drum majors in the front, back, and sides of the field conducting). From those you will notice their individual takes on the pieces, seen prominently by the head field conductors bodily movement with the music. Individualism is also seen by each individual marcher performing to the best of their abilities, and from the ability to add their own ideas to the mix at 2:18, where they were instructed to freestyle (some highlights include a trumpet breakdancing, the low winds dancing to the sousaphone section feature, and a trumpet player leaping over another trumpet player) and do what they felt fit the music and conveyed the general emotional idea of the music.

Emotion/Sincerity: While heavily covered in the individualism section, the portrayal of emotion is fairly clear in marching band. For example, when the song transitions from the thrilling excitement at 1:37, to the joyous fun at 2:18, to a deep moment of self reflection at 4:05, to once again joyous fun from 5:37 onward. The emotions are further conveyed through the execution of the music, keeping exciting parts rather loud and quick while leaving more sincere parts slower and softer. The emotion is further conveyed through bodily actions as seen from the dancing at 2:18 to the sway with the music at 4:07.

Clarity: The clarity is seen through the performers ability to convey their emotion through music and action. This is seen through musical transitions of which I explained earlier in the Emotion section.

Tolstoy would probably have very mixed feelings about marching band. On one hand, it is very clear in its portrayal of emotion through bodily movement and song; it is sincere in that every person there wants to be there performing, and that there are many moments of individualism mixed into the group as a whole thus, by Tolstoy’s definition, marching band would be an incredibly infectious successful art form. However, he would also likely dislike in that he has shown his frustration towards theater as a small, minuscule part of art. But, even if he were to view it as insignificant compared to other art forms, he would likely view it as art nonetheless.

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Long Live the King

Aristotle’s definition of tragedy includes inducing a feeling of pity and/or fear, a tragic hero, and its story must hold weight. No movie/play depicts this in a clearer to understand form than The Lion King. While based off the Greek tragedy Hamlet, the Lion King provides a more modern twist to the play, and presents it in a fashion that is significantly easier to grasp.

The major themes of the film are pride, betrayal and redemption; all of which are common in tragedies.

The tragic hero of The Lion King is Simba. Simba, as a lion cub, is blamed for the death of his father, Mufasa, while in reality the cause was due to his uncle Scar. Scar convinces Simba that Simba was the cause of Mufasa’s death, leading Simba to exile. Simba is then left with the guilt and goes off to die in his deep depression. The Disney variation on Hamlet does turn to a brighter side with “Hakuna Matata”, however this is only an attempt to appeal to a younger audience and to make the tragedy somewhat less tragic. It was Disney’s way of putting a shine on this tragic story.

The pride element is seen through Simba, as he finds he cannot return home because he was believed to have murdered Mufasa. Simba, however, returns eventually when he discovers himself through the help of Rafiki. This leads to his redemption in returning back to the Pride Lands to fight and beat Scar, redeeming himself in the process.

The pity and fear produced from the movie is seen throughout the Pride Lands after Mufasas death. This felt throughout the movie, including the starvation of a massive group alongside the depression and exile filled in our tragic hero. This is also evident in that Simba, at the beginning of the movie, feels pride in the leadership role he will gain, he feels pride in the responsibilities he will gain. However these are torn from him due to his fate. He loses everything due to the deception of his uncle.

The pity and fear is also felt in the audience when Simba is blamed for something he did not do. It reminds us that sometimes things happen out of our control that we just have to deal with. These things can be caused by deceiving people or through actions outside of anyone’s control, but still it is just something we have to live with.

The Lion King is a modern tragedy dressed up with periods of brief foolishness and jokes to soften its delivery and appeal to a younger audience.

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