And I'm finding more and more that comprehension of what is written is flawed or misinterpreted. Comprehension is a childhood skill. What is happening?
Overlooked in this essay is the REAL economy. Money, or lack of it, makes it difficult to attend high-priced performing arts. I have been producing and presenting the performing arts for 50 years and have seen audiences to opera, ballet and classical music evolve from broad middle-class (with children) to much older affluent retirees. The problem: Ticket prices which have outpaced wages. Something had to give in the family budget. Taking a family of four to the ballet or opera is a $500 plus hit. On occasions when event producers make those events inexpensive, specifically to attract young and new audiences, they sell out.
There are other factors such as lack of early exposure to these so-called high art forms. Not as many schools take their students to see live performing arts as before. And there are not as many school band, orchestra and dance programs as there once were.
Fortunately, there are other types of art: performing arts, visual arts AND experiential arts, that are not expensive and which younger people find their way to in droves. Creativity will live on.
OK, Boomer. (I am 64.). My three children, ages 30, 26, 24, are much more focused on experiential art consumption. Festivals, combining art and music are sold out globally. Take a look at Lightning in a Bottle on Instagram. It’s amazing. And the focus is on real-life, person to person contact. It’s a deep and engaging experience, and they often last 3 to 5 days. The festivals are global, and they range from Coachella, which is huge, to much smaller festivals. My daughter is an EDM (electronic dance music) agent, which is one of the most popular segments of this market. The arts are far from dead … but the arts of the past centuries are moribund. What is Art, if not a new perspective?
Thankfully the arts of the past are NOT moribund but in greater demand because of their innate value and supreme importance. The audiences may be smaller but the contents and meaning of the old persist and are sought out by those who value history. My condolences to this person whose life lacks the things that make life precious. Caravaggio, Dickens, Brahms are what keep me breathing. They will never be discarded except by those who are too lazy to open their eyes and ears.
We can appreciate the classics, as well as the new. After all, the classics were once breakthroughs or even heretical. The article was addressing the lack of appreciation for Art in general amongst the young. I have no doubt that the classics will endure, but they can exist side by side with the new. I fully endorse the teaching of Western Civilization and its expression in art, music, literature, and architecture. But Art is a reflection of the culture. And as always, our contemporary forms of art are trying to tell us something.
Your point about distraction touches something real, yet attention itself is not the final cause of decline. We lose artistic vitality not only because we scroll or have gotten used to shorter forms but because we no longer believe the act of seeing can reveal truth. Once that trust in perception is lost, opera, poetry, and painting etc can no longer speak convincingly to the soul.
The deeper loss comes from an ideology that traps us inside the philosophy of suspicion. It teaches that every form hides manipulation and every beauty conceals power. Under that view, wonder itself becomes dangerous. The result is cultural anemia: people stop attending the high arts not from boredom but from disbelief.
The crisis of art is spiritual before it is neurological. What has withered is devotion. Without it, attention becomes mechanical and memory collapses into data. Rudolf Steiner called the antidote the moral imagination, the inner faculty that restores meaning by uniting thought, feeling, and will in acts of creation.
Totally agree. Its now impossible to go to the movies without the person in front of you whip out a phone every 15 minutes. In movies actors have to describe what they are doing, less people not notice distracted.
As Jonathan Haidt emphasizes, it seems that many of the ills of society go back to Silicon Valley. I’ve spent a significant amount of time in Silicon Valley, and the interesting thing is that the tech gurus disallow their own children to use the very tech and algorithm driven platforms that the parents themselves have designed.
Forgive me if this sounds harsh- I teach classical drawing and painting, and I will only teach homeschool students now. I used to teach public school and private school students, and somewhere around 2019, the large majority of them lost the ability to focus, and simply could not follow a task through to completion. The common ingredient in public and private school kids? Smart phones.
There’s no need to be a Luddite, the point is to just live with intention. Though homeschool kids seldom have smart phones, what screen time they might have is typically limited to, say, math or physics instruction. I myself have an online classical art education website, used by many homeschool students. What is significant is that the homeschool culture in general eschews social media for children. I have a class of over forty homeschool students that I teach, and they are fantastic, and their ability to follow through and complete an assignment is wonderful. And they have a deep appreciation for the art they are studying.
My question is why has gutter culture taken over? Is it out of guilt from the civil right movement (which I like everybody I knew at Stuyvesant H.S. was propagandized by - and led by Dylan. 'We oppressed you for so long now let's make it your turn': every other word 'Mofo' and seven words is the sum total of used vocabulary. Everything is based on drumming. Or eye-hand coordination as opposed to making a choice the way you have to do in Special Forces (guess what race the overwhelming population of t hem are). Cuz now having said what I've said I also want to point out how one can change in maturity. Is that the way life goes? In any case, sad thing is we are in a period of great power competition and braggadocio, gold chains and hos just isn't get to keep us at the top of the food chain. I hate to admit it and certainly the Brits and people stemming from Elvis have amped it up but I have to admit as much of a Rock and Roller that I've been I now do wonder - did it all start with that? 4 notes and a beat? After Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Strauss and 2K years of high culture. Spengler wrote Decline of the West - civilizations rise and fall. Cuz it seems like Samson and Delilah did we're bringing the house down on ourselves. So, why all the self-hatred?
I am stunned that someone can ignore the influence of the internet and website on the arts.
Today it is cheaper to watch films on a computer, cheaper to get electronic news than buy
actual newpapers or magazines, not to mention easier and more convenient. Attending opera, concerts and movies in person are now expensive by themselves, not counting refreshments or dinners prior to events. The pandemic sent people to their living rooms, not to distant theaters or concert halls. Print publications took more time to read than picking and choosing on line what interests you. This is all cultural dilution, not enhancement. Add on AI and you have a
subservient society that demands instant short time span information. Read books? Forget about it. A consumer society obsessed with money and status is a society that is trimming the harder stuff so readers dont have to work as hard. A numb society is one that makes no demands because it has no more intellectual patience. A numb society is an exploited one.
A numb society is an obedient one. George Orwell only saw one part. The bigger one is now destroying the arts and culture right before our eyes.
Hollywood is not dead. It is on Netflix. Movie theatres are dying - expensive, inconvenient, and only worth it for the biggest thrills - Marvel Universe, Disney family event, big scary movie, Barbenheimer, etc. Scarlet Johansson sued when Black Widow was moved to Netflix too soon. So what we will get is new contract, negotiations, reflecting this new reality. It takes a lot to get me into a movie theater… In Los Angeles it’s a minimum $60 night with parking… And that doesn’t include the popcorn. We are starting to see partnerships between the streaming services… It’s just the new cable package. They will suck every dollar they can out of legacy cable, mostly consumed by 50+. Hollywood is a business. Our Hollywood of the past… And movie theater culture… Is what is dying.
Western Civilization has devoted itself since WWII to raising ever more worthless children (when they even produce any children at all) and substituting Third World people to replace their worthless children because, after all, somebody has to carry the weight of the dwindling number of the old culture.
Thank you. Every day that I am alive is a nice day. Especially learning that folks like you with weird fake names appreciate my comments. Jon-quellia Rakeem agrees with you but she doesn't post because she's busy on TikTok. BTW: it's "jeez", a euphemism to avoid taking Jesus' name in vain. You're welcome.
And I'm finding more and more that comprehension of what is written is flawed or misinterpreted. Comprehension is a childhood skill. What is happening?
Overlooked in this essay is the REAL economy. Money, or lack of it, makes it difficult to attend high-priced performing arts. I have been producing and presenting the performing arts for 50 years and have seen audiences to opera, ballet and classical music evolve from broad middle-class (with children) to much older affluent retirees. The problem: Ticket prices which have outpaced wages. Something had to give in the family budget. Taking a family of four to the ballet or opera is a $500 plus hit. On occasions when event producers make those events inexpensive, specifically to attract young and new audiences, they sell out.
There are other factors such as lack of early exposure to these so-called high art forms. Not as many schools take their students to see live performing arts as before. And there are not as many school band, orchestra and dance programs as there once were.
Fortunately, there are other types of art: performing arts, visual arts AND experiential arts, that are not expensive and which younger people find their way to in droves. Creativity will live on.
Fair enough but I would also mention rubbish quality and wokery out of Hollywood.
OK, Boomer. (I am 64.). My three children, ages 30, 26, 24, are much more focused on experiential art consumption. Festivals, combining art and music are sold out globally. Take a look at Lightning in a Bottle on Instagram. It’s amazing. And the focus is on real-life, person to person contact. It’s a deep and engaging experience, and they often last 3 to 5 days. The festivals are global, and they range from Coachella, which is huge, to much smaller festivals. My daughter is an EDM (electronic dance music) agent, which is one of the most popular segments of this market. The arts are far from dead … but the arts of the past centuries are moribund. What is Art, if not a new perspective?
Bravo! You are right. The arts will always be there for the young and those who remain curious.
Signed: A Boomer
Thankfully the arts of the past are NOT moribund but in greater demand because of their innate value and supreme importance. The audiences may be smaller but the contents and meaning of the old persist and are sought out by those who value history. My condolences to this person whose life lacks the things that make life precious. Caravaggio, Dickens, Brahms are what keep me breathing. They will never be discarded except by those who are too lazy to open their eyes and ears.
We can appreciate the classics, as well as the new. After all, the classics were once breakthroughs or even heretical. The article was addressing the lack of appreciation for Art in general amongst the young. I have no doubt that the classics will endure, but they can exist side by side with the new. I fully endorse the teaching of Western Civilization and its expression in art, music, literature, and architecture. But Art is a reflection of the culture. And as always, our contemporary forms of art are trying to tell us something.
The arts are failing because culture has changed. Culture change geared to absorption
of culture other than European
Very true. World views lack depth of understanding. Responses reflect shallow thinking. The media is catering to that lack of attention span.
Your point about distraction touches something real, yet attention itself is not the final cause of decline. We lose artistic vitality not only because we scroll or have gotten used to shorter forms but because we no longer believe the act of seeing can reveal truth. Once that trust in perception is lost, opera, poetry, and painting etc can no longer speak convincingly to the soul.
The deeper loss comes from an ideology that traps us inside the philosophy of suspicion. It teaches that every form hides manipulation and every beauty conceals power. Under that view, wonder itself becomes dangerous. The result is cultural anemia: people stop attending the high arts not from boredom but from disbelief.
The crisis of art is spiritual before it is neurological. What has withered is devotion. Without it, attention becomes mechanical and memory collapses into data. Rudolf Steiner called the antidote the moral imagination, the inner faculty that restores meaning by uniting thought, feeling, and will in acts of creation.
I recently explored this idea on my Substack, reflecting on how moral imagination might heal the split between intellect and wonder that both Chalamet and your essay describe: https://substack.com/@avamikael/note/c-227369875?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=fhj2v
Very thoughtful. Thank you.
La adicción a la gratificación instantánea es el nuevo camino.
Conditioning an addiction to instant gratification is the new pathway. It compromises capacity for critical thinking.
And good riddance. May something less corrupted of purpose and much less perverted arise out of their ashes.
Totally agree. Its now impossible to go to the movies without the person in front of you whip out a phone every 15 minutes. In movies actors have to describe what they are doing, less people not notice distracted.
As Jonathan Haidt emphasizes, it seems that many of the ills of society go back to Silicon Valley. I’ve spent a significant amount of time in Silicon Valley, and the interesting thing is that the tech gurus disallow their own children to use the very tech and algorithm driven platforms that the parents themselves have designed.
Forgive me if this sounds harsh- I teach classical drawing and painting, and I will only teach homeschool students now. I used to teach public school and private school students, and somewhere around 2019, the large majority of them lost the ability to focus, and simply could not follow a task through to completion. The common ingredient in public and private school kids? Smart phones.
There’s no need to be a Luddite, the point is to just live with intention. Though homeschool kids seldom have smart phones, what screen time they might have is typically limited to, say, math or physics instruction. I myself have an online classical art education website, used by many homeschool students. What is significant is that the homeschool culture in general eschews social media for children. I have a class of over forty homeschool students that I teach, and they are fantastic, and their ability to follow through and complete an assignment is wonderful. And they have a deep appreciation for the art they are studying.
My question is why has gutter culture taken over? Is it out of guilt from the civil right movement (which I like everybody I knew at Stuyvesant H.S. was propagandized by - and led by Dylan. 'We oppressed you for so long now let's make it your turn': every other word 'Mofo' and seven words is the sum total of used vocabulary. Everything is based on drumming. Or eye-hand coordination as opposed to making a choice the way you have to do in Special Forces (guess what race the overwhelming population of t hem are). Cuz now having said what I've said I also want to point out how one can change in maturity. Is that the way life goes? In any case, sad thing is we are in a period of great power competition and braggadocio, gold chains and hos just isn't get to keep us at the top of the food chain. I hate to admit it and certainly the Brits and people stemming from Elvis have amped it up but I have to admit as much of a Rock and Roller that I've been I now do wonder - did it all start with that? 4 notes and a beat? After Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Strauss and 2K years of high culture. Spengler wrote Decline of the West - civilizations rise and fall. Cuz it seems like Samson and Delilah did we're bringing the house down on ourselves. So, why all the self-hatred?
Stephan Morrow
Artistic Director
The Great American Play Series
I am stunned that someone can ignore the influence of the internet and website on the arts.
Today it is cheaper to watch films on a computer, cheaper to get electronic news than buy
actual newpapers or magazines, not to mention easier and more convenient. Attending opera, concerts and movies in person are now expensive by themselves, not counting refreshments or dinners prior to events. The pandemic sent people to their living rooms, not to distant theaters or concert halls. Print publications took more time to read than picking and choosing on line what interests you. This is all cultural dilution, not enhancement. Add on AI and you have a
subservient society that demands instant short time span information. Read books? Forget about it. A consumer society obsessed with money and status is a society that is trimming the harder stuff so readers dont have to work as hard. A numb society is one that makes no demands because it has no more intellectual patience. A numb society is an exploited one.
A numb society is an obedient one. George Orwell only saw one part. The bigger one is now destroying the arts and culture right before our eyes.
The visual arts are also affected by these “short attention spans”. Surprisingly though, NFT’s crashed and haven’t recovered.
Hollywood is not dead. It is on Netflix. Movie theatres are dying - expensive, inconvenient, and only worth it for the biggest thrills - Marvel Universe, Disney family event, big scary movie, Barbenheimer, etc. Scarlet Johansson sued when Black Widow was moved to Netflix too soon. So what we will get is new contract, negotiations, reflecting this new reality. It takes a lot to get me into a movie theater… In Los Angeles it’s a minimum $60 night with parking… And that doesn’t include the popcorn. We are starting to see partnerships between the streaming services… It’s just the new cable package. They will suck every dollar they can out of legacy cable, mostly consumed by 50+. Hollywood is a business. Our Hollywood of the past… And movie theater culture… Is what is dying.
NFTs were always incomprehensible to me. What is the point of owning a digital, reproducible token? Apparently there was no point.
Western Civilization has devoted itself since WWII to raising ever more worthless children (when they even produce any children at all) and substituting Third World people to replace their worthless children because, after all, somebody has to carry the weight of the dwindling number of the old culture.
Jeeze, old timer. Have a nice day.
Thank you. Every day that I am alive is a nice day. Especially learning that folks like you with weird fake names appreciate my comments. Jon-quellia Rakeem agrees with you but she doesn't post because she's busy on TikTok. BTW: it's "jeez", a euphemism to avoid taking Jesus' name in vain. You're welcome.