H5

Applied Humanities

What Is Art? A Window on Culture 5 Module Five: Impact of the Humanities / Page 5.1.2 A Window on Culture On this page: 0 of 3 attempted (0%) Objective: Analyze a photo to understand how art necessarily embodies culture.

This photo shows Cam Newton, wearing full football gear, smiling in celebration with his fists on his chest.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton celebrates a play.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Every artifact of our humanity emerges from a culture and carries evidence of that culture with it. We need to know about that culture to understand an artifact, which is why we look into the context of creative works like paintings, songs, and poems. Similarly, examining these works—which subjects they portray, and how—helps us better understand the cultures they came from.

Take a look at the image above. Your thoughts about this photo—what’s happening in it, what it intends to show, why it was worth taking—depend on how much you know about the culture that underlies it. You need only a passing familiarity with sports to recognize this person as an NFL player. But you need a lot more sports knowledge to

recognize him as Cam Newton or to know that he’s the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers.

If you don’t know much about Newton, you might wonder what he’s doing here. Is he thumping his chest? Tugging on the straps of imaginary overalls? About to fist-bump himself? But if you do know something about him, or if you did a little research, you could safely assume that this gesture is part of his signature victory dance in which he pretends to open his shirt like Clark Kent does when transforming into Superman. Of course, recognizing the reference to Superman requires familiarity with a particular culture. If you know nothing about Superman, American football, or Cam Newton’s personality, you may not understand the moment of celebration that the image intends to portray.

Now think about what this image says about the culture it’s based in. Newton’s choice to compare himself to Superman reveals that his culture holds Superman in high regard. And it reveals something about Newton himself. He’s a proud man who won’t hesitate to remind you about his greatness after he does something amazing. A viewer can interpret this image in more than one way; maybe Newton is a hero, or maybe he’s a braggart. If you already think of Newton as a hero, that’s probably what you’ll see in this image. But if you think of him as being full of himself, he’ll probably look arrogant to you here.

POLL QUESTION

In light of his Superman gesture, how do you view Cam Newton?

The human experience, including emotions like pride, can’t be portrayed in the abstract. It needs to be shown in an image or narrative that emerges from a particular time and culture. Think back to “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché. We can understand this poem better if we know something about the context—the revolutions and civil wars that ravaged Central America in the late 20th century. At the same time, we could study those conflicts for years without coming face to face with this description of a man who brings out a sack of ears to represent who he is to a visiting poet. From his act, we learn about the brutality of the civil war in El Salvador. Context can shed light on what’s

He’s just another player, photographed here in a typical NFL pose.

He’s a man who is too eager to celebrate his own greatness.

He’s a spirited player who is totally justified in celebrating great plays.

happening in a creative work, and the work itself can bring to life the cultural context in which it was created.

Response Board Name a creative work that you feel conveys the human emotion of pride.

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Response Board Think about what you’ve learned about the context of one of the works you’re focusing on in this course. What is important to know about that context?

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