How do social movements enable art creation ?

As far as people have fought for their rights, art has always been present. Therefore, in the context of great social movements in England in the early 70’s, a lot of art was made, reflecting the violence of relations, the yearning of more equality and respect among communities. Thus we can wonder: how do social movements enable art creation ?

To answer this question, we have a set of five documents, The first is The Buddha of Suburbia, a novel written by Hanif Kureishi in 1990, then witten just before in 1985, an extract of the dystopian novel,The Handmaid’sTale written by Margaret Atwood. Following this document, we have a song from the Pogues “Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six), written in 1988, then a picture of mural in Belfast whose author is unknown and which is set in a context of Troubles. Finally we have an article about rock against racism written by a journalist from the BBC.

First of all, this oral will show that social movements are a direct inspiration and then, art as a voice and a means of protest will be tackled.

I - To begin with, artists create according to what they witness. Thus most of the time, in a context of strong protests, art often shows the injustices suffered and the discriminations.

Indeed, here in the Buddha of Suburbia, the place of women is discussed. These ones are treated as inferior and powerless. For example Karim’s mother, at the beginning, is qualified as a plump and generally miserable Englishwoman. She’s completely erased and stays in the margin, she has no temper and isn’t even respected all the time.. Moreover, in this novel, Jamila, a young lady is forced by her father to marry Changez, an older man from India because her father decides to follow the patriarchal attitudes, thus women don’t have a word to say, and can't always decide. This is also the case in the novel The Handmaid’s Tale which shows a patriarchal society, Gilead, in which women are separated in class, and by functions. Indeed, in the extract the narrator, Offred who is the protagonist, speaks about the women in red, in dull green, in black, those of the poorest men and those in cars. The colors, here, have a great importance to show the categories. Indeed, the red color has a symbolic meaning, it is the color of the Handmaid’s dresses and refers to the menstrual blood. These women used as objects by commanders have to undergo a ritual rape every month to make them babies. Commanders' wives are in black cars, they are linked to their husbands and black refers to authority, fear and control . Furthermore, the name of the narrator points out the hierarchy between men and women. Offred means she belongs to Fred, the commander, women are at the disposal of men and the fact that it’s an internal narrator makes the reader live the story and underlines the inferiority of women.

However unlike the handmaid's tale, the article on rock against racism shows a hierarchy based on origins. Indeed, it depicts racial discriminations, the rise of the extreme right and racism.The article deals with racist poison music just before mentioning a hostile environment just as it is shown in the Buddha of Suburbia. Indeed, Karim experiences several times differences of treatment related to his origins. When he visits Helen for example. There, Helen’s father represents the

archetype of racism calling Karim a Blackie or a dog. Thus, art depicts injustices and differences of treatment between individuals.

Yet art also emphasizes the violence of the oppositions between the oppressed and the oppressors.

Indeed, in documents A, C and D, social movements lead to violence and death. In the Buddha of Suburbia, changez is attacked by a national front gang, and Karim learns about the suicide of Gene, Eleanor’s boyfriend, because he was overwhelmed by the racism he experienced. The music Streets of Sorrow depicts a gruesome atmosphere, it mentions the slaughter of young men. Thus, there’s a lexical field which plunges the auditor in the dull and morbid situation, as sorrow, slain, horror, terror, torture. And the fact that the author speaks directly makes the situation even more relevant. Death is also shown in the mural but not explicitly. Indeed, in the quote, the author talks about his memorial, which is linked to death. Moreover the mural pays tribute to the dead men of the irish hunger strike. But unlike the two other documents, death is not the major actor and isn’t shown as morbid. Thus, art depicts the violence of some social movements.

Finally, art is inspired by reality, it is all taken from history. Indeed, social representation of women in documents reflects social evolution of these ones in the 20th. In the handmaid’s tale, Offred shares her memories, and she remembers a world which is like ours. She remembers the old rules which are now replaced by new ones. This extract reflects many conditions of the past, such as the fact that women couldn’t choose for themselves, women couldn’t participate in politics, women couldn’t work and spend money without permission and couldn't socialize with men.

Rock against racism and the buddha of suburbia go the same way, they are completely inspired by political movement of the 70’s in england, That’s also the case with the two other documents which both represent the social situation between Ireland and England in the period of Troubles.

II - We saw that art is inspired by social movements, but it also conveys clear political messages which belong to social movements. Thus it´s a complete part of the fights.

1- First, art brings out the presence of power figures which exert a negative influence. Therefore, it denounces the hold these figures own, for example in document B, the Aunts are the power figures and the spokesperson of the government of Gilead which controls the population and sets restrictions, especially for women. Indeed, Aunt Lydia reminds Offred The Republic controls everything, it is within you, and she shows the opposition between the past which was anarchy and the present where women are given freedom from instead of freedom to. (antithesis light and darkness) There’s the same criticism of strong political figures in the article in which Enoch Powell the national front and Clapton are denounced. According to the article, they exert influence on society which therefore become more and more racist. Furthermore the name of the festival shows the direct opposition, rockers against racists. In Streets of sorrow, the government is directly accused. The author

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