'All art is propaganda of some form.' Discuss.

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'All art is propaganda of some form.' Discuss.

     Propaganda is a sort of message that is directed at changing the opinion of people about an issue. The insinuation is that propaganda is usually filled with untruths and half truths. Art is expression of any form including literature, music and painting, dancing and lately even the cinema. It seems to be an unusual allegation to say that art is propaganda. By a little stretch of the meaning, we can take propaganda to mean that art intends to send a message and change the belief in something — probably on what art is.

     Art in die form of literature could fall under propaganda. Writers are constantly seeking new ways of expressing themselves. If we look through the centuries we see that writing has changed a great deal. Word meanings have changed; what is not considered poetry in one age is the rage in- the next; what is banned as being offensive in one generation is hailed as a breakthrough in the next. It is obvious that in this form art may be accepted as propaganda. Somehow writers, through their writing, are able to persuade their readers to accept their new forms as breakthroughs and that is propaganda.

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     Can paintings, sketches and sculptures be propaganda? We could accept that anything with a message can be propaganda. Paintings, sketches and sculptures do have messages. Every artist has a message in his work, though many of them are personal and often express the artist's beliefs, experiences and even moods. What often happens is that an artist creates something according to his mood or feelings and calls it what he pleases and tries to get others to accept that it is art — and often expects to be well paid for it. Often he gets paid but as ...

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